Restaurants

Montrose
05/23/13 10:15am

Moules-Frites to Macaroni in Montrose

by
Openings and Closings, Restaurants
14 Comments

The next tenant in the former Jeannine’s Bistro space will be Jus’ Mac, the restaurant announced on its Facebook page last week. It would appear that this new location will be open by July. Jeannine’s closed here at 106 Westheimer just west of Midtown at the beginning of May. Jus’ Mac has other locations on Yale St. in the Heights and at First Colony Mall in Sugar Land — and a comment posted beneath the original Facebook announcement indicates that a 4th Jus’ Mac is in the works: “We have inside track,” it says, “on a location in heart of memorial.”

Photo of Jeannine’s: Allyn West

, , ,
Openings and Closings
05/22/13 3:30pm

A Downer for Taco Milagro in Upper Kirby

by
Quicklink, Restaurants, Upper Kirby
18 Comments

A DOWNER FOR TACO MILAGRO IN UPPER KIRBY A post on the Taco Milagro Facebook suggests that the restaurant will be leaving the corner of Westheimer and Kirby Dr. where it’s been — almost miraculously, you could say — since 1998. Culturemap, pinning the relocation on rising rents there across from West Ave, reports that the restaurant group Schiller Del Grande that owns Taco Milagro (and Cafe Express, The Grove, and a few others) is looking for a new place for it “somewhere a bit further out.” Attempts to contact Schiller Del Grande for more details haven’t been returned. [Facebook; Culturemap; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Panoramio user Wolfgang Houston

, , , ,
Proposed Developments
05/22/13 11:15am

Rudyard’s Owner Building Bigger Bar in Shady Acres

by
Quicklink, Restaurants, Shady Acres
13 Comments

RUDYARD’S OWNER BUILDING BIGGER BAR IN SHADY ACRES The owner of Rudyard’s British Pub in Montrose has announced that she’ll be building TikTok, a bar, restaurant, and venue for live music in Shady Acres — and, apparently, this new one will be a lot more building than what you get at Rudyard’s. Owner Leila Rodgers tells the Houston Business Journal that TikTok “is expected to have a capacity of 750 to 800 people. She said she expects to be able to host 450 to 500 people in the performance area and 250 to 300 in the restaurant area.” Rudyard’s is at 2010 Waugh Dr. When it opens next summer, TikTok will be at 1412 W. 20th St., near the intersection of W. 20th and T.C. Jester Blvd. — that’s just around the corner from the Hubcap Grill. [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Panoramio user hermieb

, , , , ,
Land Development
05/21/13 10:00am

What’s That New Drive-Thru on Washington Ave?

by
New Construction, Restaurants, Retail, Washington Ave, Washington Corridor
20 Comments

A pair of Swamplot readers, employees at Hughes Hangar across the street and Kwik Lube next door, and the Facebook page of late-night weekend jitney service Houston Wave all have heard that this building going up on Washington Ave will be a new Sonic. But a rep from the company can’t confirm the location, saying yesterday that there is nothing to add about “the specific possibility” of a Sonic here at 2720 Washington, and there doesn’t appear to be any tell-tale signage up yet.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , ,
Buying and Selling
05/17/13 3:00pm

A Heights Retail Resurrection

by
Commercial Real Estate, Demolitions, Houston Heights, Quicklink, Real Estate Investing, Religious Facilities, Restaurants, Retail
31 Comments

A HEIGHTS RETAIL RESURRECTION The Leader is reporting that the Baptist Temple Church on Rutland and 20th St. in the Heights has sold 2 of its oldest buildings to Braun Enterprises, which says it will tear them down and replace them with less sacred spaces — that is, retail or a restaurant. If the almighty dollar has triumphed, there’s still a silver lining — or so Charlotte Aguilar suggests, reporting that the sale of the buildings — the church’s original sanctuary, built in 1912, and a larger one built in 1940 — will fund a $3 million renovation to its remaining 65,000-sq.-ft. T.C. Jester Building on 20th; a new 300-seat sanctuary will be added and classrooms and offices updated. [The Leader] Photo: Charlotte Aguilar via The Leader

, , , , , , ,
Openings and Closings
05/17/13 11:00am

Richmond Ruth’s Chris Moving to Westheimer Bank Building

by
Restaurants, Uptown
3 Comments

So the days are numbered for Ruth’s Chris on Richmond — that much is obvious. And a reader sends us this photo showing the steakhouse’s next location, in that Uptown pad site where Prosperity Bank used to be at 5433 Westheimer. (And you can see the aloft Hotel in the background.) A rep from Ruth’s Chris says it should be open by July. And marketing materials from building owner AmREIT seem to position the steakhouse as an anchor for a redevelopment project on this triangular slice of property bound by Westheimer, W. Alabama, and Yorktown: A flyer on the company’s website mentions “a renovated office building” that doesn’t seem to have had a named tenant since Prosperity moved out and took its logo away almost 3 years ago. There’s also a second, 3,000-sq.-ft. retail space that AmREIT’s advertising as available on that building’s first floor. Attempts to contact AmREIT for details about the project haven’t been returned.

Photos: Swamplot inbox

, , , , ,
Demolitions
05/15/13 10:00am

Houston Club Tunnel Tenants Making Their Escape

by
Downtown, Office Buildings, Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Restaurants, Retail
3 Comments

HOUSTON CLUB TUNNEL TENANTS MAKING THEIR ESCAPE The last 2 restaurants in the tunnels underneath the 18-story former Houston Club Building on Rusk St. are preparing to get up and out of there, reports Prime Property’s Nancy Sarnoff: The below-ground Skyline Deli and KoKoro Sushi will have sold their last lunches by the end of May, in advance of what a rep from new building owner Skanska says will be “selective interior demolition and abatement.” And that demolition is about to become much less selective, adds Sarnoff, since Skanska says it’s designing an office tower for this Downtown lot bound by Rusk, Capitol, Travis, and Milam. [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Silberman Properties

, , , , , , , ,
Apartments
05/07/13 12:05pm

Liberty Kitchen To Open on San Felipe

by
Briar Hollow, Openings and Closings, Restaurants
8 Comments

Looks like there’s a replacement for the former Vida Sexy Tex-Mex: A reader sends in this photo showing the new vinyl sign from Liberty Kitchen & Oysterette at 4224 San Felipe St. That’s the St. Regis Hotel in the background — and a photo taken here a few months from now might also show in the background that 317-unit apartment complex and parking garage that Mill Creek Residential is building nearby on E. Briar Hollow Ln., where another Swamplot reader heard that the restaurant would be located. A Facebook post in late April from Liberty Kitchen says it hopes to open in “early [s]ummer.”

Photo: Lisa Garvin via Swamplot inbox

, , , , ,
Apartments
05/06/13 2:30pm

Westheimer Rd. Cafe Adobe Closing on Mother’s Day

by
Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Restaurants, Upper Kirby
9 Comments

WESTHEIMER RD. CAFE ADOBE CLOSING ON MOTHER’S DAY At the palm-obscured corner of South Shepherd Dr. and Westheimer since 1981, Cafe Adobe announced that it will be closing this Mother’s Day, May 12, reports the Houston Business Journal. The property at 2111 Westheimer Rd. was purchased last year by Hines, which has said it plans to tear down the restaurant to build a 215-unit apartment complex. An up-to-date rendering of the complex-to-be hasn’t been made available. [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Candace Garcia

, , ,
Montrose
05/02/13 11:25am

Updated: Jeannine’s Closing Is Only, Umm, Permanent, Says Jeannine’s

by
Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Restaurants
13 Comments

UPDATED: JEANNINE’S CLOSING IS ONLY, UMM, PERMANENT, SAYS JEANNINE’S Why has the Belgium-by-way-of-Montrose Jeannine’s Bistro stopped serving those moules-frites? Culturemap, it appears, has been following the Westheimer Rd. restaurant’s self-demotion on Facebook: “Earlier posts,” reports Whitney Radley, giving a breathless blow-by-blow, “indicate gradually waning hours — the restaurant temporarily dropped lunch service on April 10 — and chronic staffing issues — it issued a call for ‘good waiters and kitchen helpers’ several days after — before warning . . . that the bistro’s kitchen would temporarily close altogether to ‘make some decisions.'” Update, 12:50 p.m.: Another Facebook post from Jeannine’s says that the restaurant has decided to close for good. [Culturemap] Photo: Allyn West

, , ,
Apartments
04/29/13 2:30pm

Hanover at Rice Village Feeding the Hungry

by
Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Restaurants, Retail, Rice Village, Shopping Centers
10 Comments

HANOVER AT RICE VILLAGE FEEDING THE HUNGRY The retail ring facing Morningside, Dunstan, and Kelvin around the bottom of Hanover at Rice Village seems to be filling out: With Zoës Kitchen opening in February at 5215 Kelvin and Cloud 10 Creamery making plans to since January, Prime Property’s Nancy Sarnoff drops the names of the other 4 restaurants on the way: There’ll be Cyclone Anaya’s (shown in the photo here on Morningside to the right of Cloud 10 Creamery), a coffee shop called Fellini, Punk’s Simple Southern Food, and Coppa Osteria. Sarnoff also mentions the lone non-restaurant planned, “a boutique” called Saint Cloud. [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Allyn West

, , , , ,
Houston Data
04/29/13 12:00pm

A ‘Field Guide’ to Houston Food Trucks

by
Quicklink, Restaurants
No Comments

A ‘FIELD GUIDE’ TO HOUSTON FOOD TRUCKS A new book declares which among the estimated 1,400 are the best food trucks in Houston: Houston Chronicle food writer and UH marketing professor Paul Galvani tells a 392-page story of what he calls “the food truck movement,” providing maps and reviews of his 100 favorites, like Good Dog Hot Dog and The Modular, which gave rise to the recently opened Downtown ramen shop Goro & Gun. Houstonia food writer and El Real Tex Mex co-founder Robb Walsh doesn’t seem to think this is a book meant for the coffee table, blurbing, “I plan to carry a copy in my car as a field guide . . . .” [Houston’s Top 100 Food Trucks; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Houston’s Top 100 Food Trucks via Swamplot inbox

, ,
Lower Westheimer
04/26/13 11:35am

More To Come at the Corner of Westheimer and Dunlavy

by
Montrose, New Construction, Proposed Developments, Restaurants, Retail
8 Comments

A rep from Edge Realty Partners says that that new retail center that’s now under construction at Westheimer and Dunlavy will have 2 tenants. The primary one, occupying 3,600 sq. ft. of the new building’s proposed 4,800, will be a well-bread pastry cafe from Roy Shvartzapel, the globe-trotting chef profiled recently in Eater Houston. A TABC permit application, filed April 17, suggests that the cafe will be called Leaven & Earth.

And the other tenant? The Edge rep says that names can’t yet be named, but that a lease is all but complete for a “boutique” retail shop that’s already in Montrose to relocate inside the remaining 1,200-sq.-ft. suite that’s depicted in the rendering here as right next to Agora.

Images: Edge Realty Partners (rendering); Allyn West (building)

, , , , , ,
Openings and Closings
04/25/13 2:30pm

Now Open: Torchy’s in Rice Village

by
Renovations, Restaurants, Rice Village, Shopping Centers
23 Comments

As of late last week, Torchy’s Tacos is open, having built out and taken up this corner suite formerly occupied by Gugliani’s at 2400 Times Blvd. in Rice Village. This is the Austin chain’s 3rd location inside the Loop: There’s one on South Shepherd Dr. half a block from the Arby’s that’s becoming a Dunkin’ Donuts and another under construction in the former Harold’s in the Heights building at the corner of Ashland and 19th St.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , ,
Lower Westheimer
04/24/13 3:30pm

Dirt and Flour Moved To Create New Place To Drink at Westheimer and Dunlavy

by
Montrose, New Construction, Proposed Developments, Restaurants, Retail
4 Comments

Note: More here.

It looks like that retail center that’s replacing the art gallery that burned down is beginning to shape up. And it looks like at least one of the future tenants intends to serve adult beverages. The sign behind the chain-link at the site names the applicant as Leaven & Earth, and a rep from the TABC confirms that the application, filed on April 17, is pending. The original plans for the site here at 1706 Westheimer describe a 4,829-sq.-ft. building — with 36 parking spaces behind it, accessible from Dunlavy — designed to replace the Galerie Mado Chalvet, which was lost in a fire and immortalized on a backpack in 2012.

Photos: Allyn West

, , , , , , ,
« Previous Page Next Page »