COMMENT OF THE DAY: FOLLOWING THE GREAT CHAIN RESTAURANT MIGRATION 
“The ironic thing is that surburbanites get made fun of for a supposed lack of urban sophistication, and are portrayed as thinking Chili’s/Applebee’s is the pinnacle of good cuisine.
Now, a lot of ethnic cuisine cannot be found inside the Loop and you need to go to the Beltway to find it (Indonesian, Peruvian, Nigerian, Malaysian) but we get a Chili’s and an evil Chick-Fil-A right near downtown.” [eiioi, commenting on Comment of the Day: How We’re Remaking the Inner Loop] Illustration: Lulu
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Restaurants
Swamplot commenter drlan34 reports (and that Dumpster in the photo above would appear to confirm) that a good gutting is going on to renovate the old dive bar Brazos River Bottom into a new restaurant, identified on that yellow permit window dressing as Docks on Brazos. The building here at 2400 Brazos and McIlhenny in Midtown shares a parking lot with the also-being-renovated Bremond Street Grill and backs up against the opened-just-a-few-months-ago Dogwood Houston, a bar paid for by a team from Austin that includes one-time reality teevee hunk Brad Womack and his identical twin brother.
- Previously on Swamplot: A Pair of New Bars Prepping Old Midtown Spots, Dogwood Houston Opening Soon in Midtown, Austin Rejection Artist and Bar Partners Opening Midtown Nightclub
Photo: Allyn West
A reader sends this photo of the vacant building at 608 Westheimer between Katz’s Deli and Bombshell Tattoo and Piercing Studio that the owners of Vinoteca Poscól have bought and are planning to relocate to next year. Eater Houston reports that the new 6,300-sq.-ft. spot will provide quite a bit more room than the old one owners Marco and Gloria Wiles — who also run Da Marco and Dolce Vita — were renting in that strip center at 1609 Westheimer, across the street from Buffalo Exchange and Hugo’s. Observes Darla Guillen: “The increased square footage will allow them to seat more customers, and they will have a bigger bar with plenty of local brews on tap.”
- A Chef Marco Wiles Restaurant [Poscól Houston]
- Vinoteca Poscól is Moving to 608 Westheimer [Eater Houston]
Photo: Swamplot inbox
EL GRAN MALO TO OPEN ENGLISH-LANGUAGE VERSION DOWNTOWN 
It must be that like attracts like: Another restaurant is getting ready to open near Market Square Park, reports Culturemap’s Eric Sandler: This time, it’s El Big Bad, a Downtown translation of the original El Gran Malo at 2307 Ella Blvd in Shady Acres. El Big Bad will take up that corner pocket at 419 Travis most recently vacated by Pepper Jack’s (and Cabo before that) on the block bound by Preston, Prairie, Main, and Travis — that’s where Hines has said it just might build a residential tower and across Travis from where the 41-story Gensler-designed International Tower just might be going up too. [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot] Photo of former Pepper Jack’s: H-Town in Pics
A reader sends these photos and news of bars getting ready to give it a go in Midtown. The photo above shows the former Opium nightclub undergoing renovations in the Midtown Shoppes on Travis and Anita St.; the reader reports that sometime this fall that spot will become the 3030 Pub. It’s catty-corner from where the Midtown Superblock has been proposed.
It looks like the squat building on the corner of W. Gray and Montrose will be upgraded into something like this rendering, reports 29-95. Pizaro’s Pizza Napoletana, which also has a spot in Memorial, will be replacing long-time tenants Bobbitt Glass and Southwestern Paint here at 1020 W. Gray, converting the space into a 2,500-sq.-ft. restaurant with a 300-sq.-ft. patio — and 2 of those massive brick ovens, adds Alison Cook. They’re expected to open in about a year.
- An Authentic Italian Pizzeria [Pizaro’s Pizza]
- Pizaro’s Pizza announces new Montrose location [29-95]
Rendering: Pizaro’s Pizza
A reader sends this photo of a suite being renovated in the Memorial Bend Shopping Park, where a Japanese izakaya-style restaurant and bar is planning to begin serving, the reader suspects, sometime near the end of the year. And a brief in Ultimate Memorial shows that Izakaya Wa requested last month the permits to operate here at 12665 Memorial Dr., which is just east of the Beltway 8 feeder.
- Memorial fictitious name filings, July 14-20 [Ultimate Memorial]
Photo: Swamplot inbox
THE PARC BINZ GETTING SOME RESTAURANT BIZNESS 
Culturemap’s Eric Sandler is reporting that a coffee shop and wine bar and 2 new restaurants will be opening up this fall in Museum Park, all 3 of them going inside the 5-story, 50,000-sq.-ft. mixed-use Parc Binz building that’s currently under construction at the corner of Binz and Chenevert: “The first . . . will serve light bites and feature the same coffee beans from Greenway Coffee and Tea that are currently featured at Blacksmith . . . . The second will be a Korean fried chicken concept tentatively called Dak & Dop. The third will be a full service restaurant under the direction of executive chef Chris Leung, who’s already partnered with Balcor on ice cream shop Cloud 10 Creamery that’s set to open in Rice Village’s Hanover development this fall.” [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot] Rendering: Energy Architecture
FARRAGO FORCED TO LEAVE COSTLY MIDTOWN GROUND FLOOR 
After 13 years of serving mimosas in Midtown, Farrago World Cuisine is closing. Catty-corner from the under-construction Midtown Park and one of the first ground-floor participants in that two-block urban walkability experiment around the Post Properties buildings at Gray, Webster, and Bagby, Farrago announced the shuttering in a recent Facebook post that suggests how primo the ‘hood is becoming: “We endured the construction, paid parking and towed customers. Alas, the over double rent was more than we could bare.” [Facebook; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Farrago World Cuisine
A reader sends these photos that show a new location — if in name only — of the Tex-Mex restaurant that couldn’t hack it up on the mean streets (and drives and boulevards) that’s getting ready to open in the tunnels Downtown beneath the First City Tower at 1001 Fannin. This would appear to be the 2nd of the version of Maggie Rita’s operated by Tony Shannard, who paid the original restaurateurs Carlos Mencia and Santiago Moreno to use the name; Shannard runs another Maggie Rita’s in the tunnels beneath the JPMorgan Chase Tower at 600 Travis; that’s about half a mile away from here as the mole scurries.
- Tex Mex Grill & Bar [Maggie Rita’s Mexican Kitchen]
- Previously on Swamplot: Maggie Rita’s Closes Shepherd Location, Calls It Quits, Bringing That Lady Home from Maggie Rita’s, Out with Mama Ninfa’s, in with Maggie Rita’s
Photos: philaphonic
DUNKIN’ DONUTS WON’T OPEN MONTROSE LOCATION FOR ANOTHER WEEK 
You might have read here or here that the first one to open inside the Loop of those 24 new Dunkin’ Donuts locations would be ready tomorrow at the former Arby’s on the corner of Fairview and S. Shepherd. Well, it won’t be. A company rep writes in an email that the S. Shepherd team won’t be making (or selling) the donuts until next Monday, July 22. A grander opening will follow on July 30. (You can head to the new one in Westchase if you can’t wait.) [29-95; Eater Houston; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Swamplot inbox
A Swamplot reader writes in to confirm what the sign in the window suggests: “I talked to the people. Said its going to be a restaurant!” This 6,561-sq.-ft. 1925 former food store in the Old Sixth Ward sits at the corner of White at 2003 Union St., just south of Washington Ave. If you’ve got a really good arm, it’s a stone’s throw from Liberty Station. And it’s immediately south of that awkward triangular patch where planning firm Asakura Robinson and other neighborhood futurists plotted visions of a walkable Washington Corridor, with bike repair stations, local retailers, food trucks, and the like.
A reader sends photo of the construction progress of the replacement McDonald’s near the corner of Elgin and Cullen on the University of Houston campus. The McDonald’s that used to stand here was torn down in early June. A regional rep says that this new one should be ready by the time classes resume.
- Previously on Swamplot: No More Golden Years for the U of H Golden Arches, Daily Demolition Report: Gone Underground, Growing Up With McDonald’s
Photos: Thomas Heinold
A WEST AVE SUSHI SHUTDOWN 
Friday was the last day for West Ave sushi joint Katsuya in Upper Kirby. Next up to throw its use into the mix? Nara, which claims in a press release that it will be Houston’s first Korean restaurant inside the Loop. Katsuya was open here for about a year and a half, reports Eater Houston, feeding the likes of NFL pals Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow, but seemed to lose a certain something: “One Eater tipster reported that things had become grim at the end, with the restaurant only serving sushi but not prepared entrees.” Nara is expected to open this fall. [Eater Houston] Photo: Ryan Forbes
A reader sends in this photo of the Oak Forest Mobil at Ella and 1201 W. 43rd St., the death sentence of which was published in the Daily Demolition Report last Thursday. Once the station’s torn down, reports the reader, a Berryhill Baja Grill will be built on this corner; that’s according to a post the reader saw on the members-only Oak Forest Homeowners Association Facebook page. A bit more evidence: A since-deleted brief that appeared in the Houston Chronicle in March 2012 notes that Berryhill had been granted a sales permit at this address.
- Previously on Swamplot: Daily Demolition Report: Running on Empty
Photo: Swamplot inbox
