Restaurants

Bellaire
04/02/10 12:17pm

Dunkin’ Donuts Coming Back to Bellaire

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Franchises and Chain Stores, Openings and Closings, Renovations, Restaurants
9 Comments

The owner of the Dunkin’ Donuts in Pasadena and on FM 1960 near I-45 is renovating the Bellaire location that a previous owner shut down last October, writes Steve Mark:

“I heard they were closing that store and I called the corporate office right away,” [Harshad] Patel told The Examiner. “We don’t have that many Dunkin’ Donuts close to the city, so I asked if I could re-open that one. . . .”

Patel expects the first donuts will be ready later this month — after the gutted building at 5406 Bellaire Blvd. between Bissonnet and Chimney Rock gets outfitted with a new roof, AC system, and kitchen equipment.

Photo: Bellaire Examiner

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Adaptive Reuse
04/02/10 11:36am

The Sign of BRC Rises on Shepherd

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Brunner, Openings and Closings, Restaurants
14 Comments

“Robots need not apply” reads the recent ad for staff positions at the new BRC Gastropub at the corner of North Shepherd and Blossom. Hey, didn’t that building use to be a funeral monument and gravestone sales center? Reader photos show it ready to come to life — almost directly across the street from that former pool hall refashioned into Branch Water Tavern.

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Adaptive Reuse
03/31/10 11:01am

The Tiny Boxwood’s Hybrid Headed for West University

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Proposed Developments, Restaurants, Retail, West University
No Comments

The West University Examiner‘s Steve Mark reports that the owners of the Thompson + Hanson Nursery and the adjacent Tiny Boxwood’s cafe on West Alabama are expected to buy the former JMH Market building at the corner of Rice Blvd. and Edloe. The company’s new West U retail location might include a café and nursery:

Gregg Thompson of Thompson + Hanson, says upon completion of financial arrangements, he hopes to open doors at the JMH location within six months. Thompson is mulling over varied plans for the available 7,000 available square feet of the property. Texas Citizens Bank occupies a portion and has use of parking. . . .

Thompson is inclined to open a variation of his Tiny Boxwood’s theme. The current structure on Edloe would remain the same, he said.

Photo of former JMH Market, 3636 Rice Blvd.: West University Examiner

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Buying and Selling
03/26/10 1:22pm

Memorial Drive Scrape: The End of Otto’s and Bibas Greek Pizza

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Cancellations and Delays, Commercial Real Estate, Memorial, New Construction, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Rice Military, Shopping Centers
3 Comments

How cheaply did the Ponderosa Land Development Co. pick up the 1.3 acres of land under Otto’s Bar B Que on Memorial Dr.?

“I won’t be able to ride off into the sunset with what I’m getting,” Otto’s co-owner June Sofka tells Jennifer Dawson of the Houston Business Journal. And that’s our only clue. Well, that and the fact that the shopping-center developers still had enough money left over to buy the property next door.

A new 2-story building on the 1.8-acre site between Asbury and Reinicke, on the southern border of Rice Military, is being designed by Kirksey.

The portion with Memorial frontage that will also be torn down to make way for the new project is owned by two sisters, one of whom is Wanda Greb. Their property contains Bibas Greek Pizza, M-T Nails, Memorial Barber Shop, Rich Cleaners and the hamburger restaurant segment of Otto’s, which is leased by the Sofkas.

Ponderosa intends to scrape the entire site and develop a 22,000-square-foot center with retail, restaurant and possibly some boutique office space. The project is expected to cost $6 million to $8 million, not including the land cost.

But wait, maybe not all of those businesses are disappearing from that location!

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Openings and Closings
03/25/10 11:22am

What’s Been Cooking for So Long at Phil’s Texas Barbecue

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Renovations, Restaurants, Washington Corridor
12 Comments

Yes, that’s the former Southwest Muffler and Brake building at the corner of Heights Blvd. and Washington Ave., under new design management. At last, reports a reader, there’s a sign out front indicating the impending opening of Phil’s Texas Barbecue. And in such a tiny little 7,000-sq.-ft. building!

Our reader comments:

While I welcome the addition to the Washington corridor, this place violates Rule No. 1 of successful eatery: a restaurant that spends too much money on looks spends not enough on food. Consider me a hopeful skeptic.

And you haven’t even seen the landscaping yet! Construction has been ongoing since last September. When will those ribs be ready?

An earlier view of that front patio:

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Development Regulations
02/24/10 10:14am

Why There Isn’t More Street Food in Houston

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Public Safety, Restaurants
7 Comments

Sure, Houston has about 1,000 licensed mobile food vendors. (Yes, most of them are taco trucks.) Why aren’t there more? Ruthie Johnson explains a few of the regulations — and other roadblocks:

Most of the standards are a welcome way to ensure food safety, but some are annoying — or downright ironic. Street vendors, for example, must be at least 100 feet from any seating area, yet must have notarized proof of a usable restroom within 500 feet. The tiniest of carts must have a massive vent hood. And vendors are never allowed to be on a sidewalk. Jason Jones of Haute Texan Tacos says that actually “the biggest problem is that there aren’t really any decent pedestrian areas for street vendors in Houston.” Jones, who recently put his truck up for sale, goes on to explain that a fire code which prevents propane-powered businesses from selling anywhere downtown or in the Medical Center takes away a street vendor’s two largest pedestrian areas.

Other obstacles? Powerful restaurateurs don’t want the competition from street vendors, consumers don’t appreciate them, and city officials make it difficult to get questions answered and inspections scheduled. Sean Carroll of Melange Creperie says that “Anyone looking to start a mobile food service business in Houston should expect to be on the sidelines for six months at the very least.

Photo of taco trailer, for sale: Haute Texan Tacos

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Commercial Real Estate
02/24/10 9:14am

The Coming Migration of the Buffalo Grille?

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Leasing, Parking, Quicklink, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers, West University
No Comments

THE COMING MIGRATION OF THE BUFFALO GRILLE? Is the Buffalo Grille, left as the lone strip-center survivor at the corner of Bissonnet and Buffalo Speedway after the recent invasion of the new H-E-B Buffalo Market, looking to shuffle off to a new location? An H-E-B representative did tell the West U city council the restaurant would stay where it’s been for the last 26 years — but that was last May. More recently, restaurant co-owner John McAleer says H-E-B managers have “expressed concerns” about there not being enough parking for the grocery store. So he’s looking into a possible new location for the West U breakfast joint — namely, a portion of the former JMH Market less than a mile to the southwest, at the corner of Edloe and Rice Blvd. “McAleer said the restaurant has not received official word from the grocery store about what will happen in April 2011 when its lease expires. There’s still the chance that The Buffalo Grille will stay put, but the family is exploring all its options . . . ‘They’re worried some of our customers are taking their spots, and their customers are going over to Kroger, which is obviously their biggest competitor,’ he said.” [Instant News West U; previously on Swamplot]

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Lanier Place
02/17/10 1:19pm

What Could Possibly Take the Place of Chicken N Egg Roll?

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New Construction, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail
9 Comments

A hungry reader writes in wanting to know about the new concrete-block building going up at 2802 S. Shepherd, just across Harold St. from the Houston Wine Merchant. Half of the lot is the site of the former Chicken N Egg Roll. Because the neighboring house on Harold was carted away, the new lot is twice as deep.

I have confirmed that it is a commercial establishment, but can’t find any additional info. Do you know? It looks too small to be a restaurant, but one can hope . . .

Here’s one clue our reader will be happy to hear: The original demolition report from last April listed the owner or occupant of the property as Toyama Japanese Restaurant.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

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Comments
02/15/10 3:45pm

Comment of the Day: Reading the Washington Ave Crystal Ball

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Forecasts, Nightlife, Quicklink, Restaurants, Washington Corridor
14 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: READING THE WASHINGTON AVE CRYSTAL BALL “Eventually people will get sick of having no place to park and the hot spot will move on. Prediction is for Brixx to go out of business within six months, Eight will turn into a restaurant within a year and Taps will probably stay as it is. Not sure about Roosevelt – could become a restaurant as it does have a parking lot of its own.” [MC, commenting on What It’s Like to Live on Center St.]

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Hazards
02/15/10 12:43pm

That Fire at Mai’s Restaurant

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Midtown, Restaurants
18 Comments

Midtown late-night staple Mai’s, which has been claiming since 1978 to be Houston’s first Vietnamese restaurant, burst into flames sometime after 10 o’clock this morning, according to an astounding number of Twitter reports — and the Houston Press‘s Craig Hlavaty:

The damage seems most severe on the second floor of the place, which for years has been the subject of various theories about what exactly happens up there. The restaurant itself, on the ground floor, seems in better shape, but smoke and water damage will still be significant.

A portion of the roof has collapsed already. Another view, from across the street:

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Adaptive Reuse
02/04/10 1:45pm

Houstonians Now Eat Their Vegetables in the Strangest Places

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Houston Heights, Midtown, Old Sixth Ward, Quicklink, Restaurants, Washington Corridor
5 Comments

HOUSTONIANS NOW EAT THEIR VEGETABLES IN THE STRANGEST PLACES Food and travel writer Salma Abdelnour, who grew up here, takes New York Times travel section readers on a tour of 5 Houston restaurants carved out of former something-or-others: the car dealership that became Reef, the ice house that became Beaver’s, the burlap factory that became Textile, the appliance warehouse that became Block 7 Wine Company. Somehow the spaghetti-western-themed strip center that ultimately became Stella Sola gets mixed up in this crowd (Abdelnour calls the building a “town house”). She adds: “In the film ‘Urban Cowboy,’ based in Houston and nearby Pasadena, the mother of the John Travolta character told him, ‘You just can’t get good vegetables in Houston.’ You certainly can now.” [New York Times] Photo of Stella Sola: 2Scale Architects

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Discovery Green
02/03/10 3:43pm

How Does a Nice Meal at Discovery Green Sound?

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Downtown, Restaurants, Washington Corridor
21 Comments

The Wall Street Journal‘s Katy McLaughlin picks on a few loud restaurants:

Many of the most cutting-edge, design conscious restaurants are introducing a new level of noise to today’s already voluble restaurant scene. The new noisemakers: Restaurants housed in cavernous spaces with wood floors, linen-free tables, high ceilings and lots of windows—all of which cause sound to ricochet around what are essentially hard-surfaced echo chambers.

Upscale restaurants have done away with carpeting, heavy curtains, tablecloths, and plush banquettes gradually over the decade, and then at a faster pace during the recession, saying such touches telegraph a fine-dining message out of sync with today’s cost-conscious, informal diner. Those features, though, were also sound absorbing. . . .

Restaurateurs often say the only complaints they get about noise are from older clientele. As people age—and particularly when they are 65 or older—they often lose acuity in hearing high-frequency sounds, making it harder to understand speech, says Mark Ross, a professor emeritus of audiology at the University of Connecticut.

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Boulevard Oaks
01/25/10 10:31am

Julia at the Raven, Nevermore: Some Goodbyes for the Parking Lot Chicken of Bissonnet

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Critters, Landscape, Restaurants, Southampton
5 Comments

Julia, the chicken who patrolled the parking lot and schmoozed with patio diners for many years at the Raven Grill at 1916 Bissonnet near Hazard St., passed away earlier this month of natural causes, a reader informs us. “We don’t know where she came from,” reads a note posted on the restaurant’s website, “only that she was a sweet bird who liked people and that she simply made us happy each time we saw her.”

Frequent diners of the Southampton-area restaurant have sent in their own website tributes to the “friendly and fearless” bird, who apparently exhibited much social grace in her daily appearances and egg-laying demonstrations for small impromptu gatherings of children, even while patrons devoured the carcasses of distant relatives only a few feet away:

She may have been ‘just a chicken’ but I watched Julia single-handedly form new friendships between diners. She was a tough, little city chicken. RIP Julia.

And:

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Cancellations and Delays
01/21/10 3:11pm

Otto’s Bar B Que Really Closing for Good This Time, Except of Course for the Hamburgers

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Commercial Real Estate, Memorial, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail
4 Comments

A little more than 2 years after announcing they’d be closing down, demolishing the restaurant and selling the land underneath it, and 9 months after reopening the almost-60-year-old institution with great fanfare, the owners of Otto’s Bar B Que are now saying the restaurant at 5502 Memorial Dr. will be closing for good. Sort of:

Otto’s has a long list of customers, including former President George H. W. Bush. He came by yesterday to get a final plate of food before the business closed. The building will be demolished and replaced with a bank. The owner told us it was hard to say goodbye.

“We have some wonderful people here in the City of Houston that have supported us for hundreds of years. It’s a little, a little emotional,” said owner June [Sofka].

You will still be able to order a hamburger from Otto’s at that location for a few more months.

Photo: Flickr user tamtam.afropunx

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