Restaurants

Homebuilders
09/03/08 2:12pm

The Old West Side of Studewood

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Houston Heights, Mixed Use, New Construction, Parking, Restaurants, Retail
8 Comments

Drawing of Allegro Builders Building at 1003 Studewood, Houston Heights

This too-cute-for-Disneyland drawing depicts Allegro Builders’ new Wild Wild West-y development at the northwest corner of Studewood and 10th in the Heights. It’s going up just north of Allegro’s headquarters building, which is home also to the Glass Wall restaurant, and is known for its vaguely-historicist facade of valet-parked SUVs.

A few vans may front the new building at 1001 and 1003 Studewood, but it’ll only be in 2 spots of handicapped parking: The main lot is in back. That’ll likely be a relief for local filmmakers, who are no doubt eager to film Universal Studios-authentic spaghetti-western-style gunfights off those front balconies.

All of which makes this new retail-with-office-above confection an ideal location for Robert Gadsby’s new restaurant, Bedford, named after the chef’s birthplace in . . . uh, England.

After the jump: The interior is gonna be . . . modern!

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Montrose
09/02/08 2:46pm

Anvil Strikes the Daiquiri Factory

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Nightlife, Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Renovations, Restaurants
3 Comments

ANVIL STRIKES THE DAIQUIRI FACTORY Beaver’s barkeeps Bobby Heugel and Kevin Floyd will be opening their own place in the former Daiquiri Factory on the Westheimer Curve: “Our new bar, Anvil, located at 1424 Westheimer, will be opening in mid-November. Beneath the decades of former bar structure and traffic, lies a beautiful building with priceless windows, historic brick, and exciting features that are certain to make Anvil a site to see.” [Drink Dogma]

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Commercial Real Estate
08/27/08 10:34am

Tropioca Midtown: Ready To Move?

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Leasing, Midtown, Restaurants, Retail
7 Comments

Tropioca Tea and Coffee Bar, 2808 Milam St. Suite G, Midtown, HoustonA correspondent sends in this bit of over-the-counter intelligence about Midtown geek-gathering favorite Tropioca:

Tropioca on Milam at Drew is in the process of looking for a new home. They are looking around the midtown area but also at a location near U of H at Cullen and Leeland.

I overheard someone behind the counter saying that their rent has gone up almost 80% and not gradually over a few years, but all at once.

I will be sad to see them go if they leave midtown because they make the BEST frozen cappucino coffee drink inside the loop.

Photo: Yelp user Jill N.

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Afton Village
08/26/08 9:16am

IKEA Checkout Gets Some Sexy

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Public Art, Restaurants, Retail
8 Comments

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmGp3rfOXNc 400 330]

After a summer-long silence, SexyATTACK is back, with this unbridled celebration of . . . uh, retail!

The IKEA on I-10 is a big store. Someone’s got to dance in it.

Sexy does salad bar, after the jump!

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Quicklink
08/25/08 5:47pm

A Tour of Washington Ave. Eateries

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Restaurants, Retail, Washington Corridor
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A TOUR OF WASHINGTON AVE. EATERIES Wabash Antiques & Feed, the Daily Grind, El Rey Taqueria, that big new Benjy’s, and more: Katharine Shilcutt Gleave’s hungry person’s guide to Washington Ave., illustrated: “. . . the first thing you’ll notice is the abundance of new construction. Not only homes, but restaurants, banks, strip malls — a mad jumble of conflicting styles and materials that assaults the eyes. But if you look past the ubiquitous boxes of townhomes and the spaghetti-like telephone wires that crazily line the street, you’ll catch glimpses of old Houston in the tiny row houses, old brick storefronts and 1930s-era tile street signs along the curbs: Houston in a nutshell.” [Houstonist]

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Leasing
08/01/08 10:31am

Avalon Drug: Gone in 2 Weeks

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Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Upper Kirby
7 Comments

Avalon Drug Store and Diner, 2417 and 2427 Westheimer Rd., Houston

No word yet about the diner next door, but the West U. Examiner reports that the Avalon Drug Store on Westheimer just east of Kirby will be calling it quits in 2 weeks:

Pharmacist Bill Morris, who has run the independent pharmacy for 36 years, said “a confluence of events” prompted his recent decision.

Morris is 67 years old — for one thing — and insurance “has made it harder” on independent pharmacy operations, which have low profit margins.

He also pointed to leasing rates that are rising due to the plethora of new construction in the Upper Kirby area.

Update: As owner Coy Ramsey notes in the comments, Avalon Diner is not going anywhere. More from the River Oaks Examiner and Houstonist.

Photo: Flickr user Houstonian [license]

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Openings and Closings
07/29/08 3:17pm

Bennigan’s Rides into the Sunset

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Restaurants, Retail
5 Comments

Bennigan’s Sign, Houston

In one fell soup, Bennigan’s has apparently shuttered all of its U.S. locations. And the store is taking its sister restaurant, the ailing Steak & Ale, along with it. The chains’ are filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Both are subsidiaries of Metromedia Restaurant Group, based in Plano.

Over at Houstonist, Katherine Shilcutt Gleave surveys the confusion resulting from the unannounced overnight shutdowns:

Houston is home to at least 20 Bennigan’s restaurants in the city and surrounding metropolitan areas. Calls placed this morning by Houstonist to the locations netted the same result each time: a phone ringing off the hook and no answering service. Only one location answered the phone when we called: the Bennigan’s in Greenspoint off Beltway 8. The befuddled-sounding manager at that location politely told us that they were, in fact, closed. He further confirmed that all other Bennigan’s in Houston were closed as well.

Steak & Ale had 6 Houston-area locations.

Photo: Flickr user alex_user

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Highland Village
07/25/08 10:55am

Highland Village Sprinkles

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Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Restaurants, Retail
5 Comments

HIGHLAND VILLAGE SPRINKLES “Sprinkles Cupcakes, The Original Cupcake Bakery, opens in Houston this winter at 4010 Westheimer in Highland Village. Let’s see, we have Sugar Baby’s, Crave and Ooh La La Dessert Boutique (they’re actually in Katy, TX, but it’s a suburb of Houston so we’ll count it) and now Sprinkles, the one who started the cupcake craziness in 2005 in Beverly Hills.” What’s next — Pinkberry? [Cleverley’s Blog]

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Openings and Closings
07/18/08 1:22pm

Parting Shots: Houston Starbucks Farewell Photo Album

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Restaurants
7 Comments

It appears our report earlier this week was a bit premature (although this one was more accurate). Rosenberg will be losing 2 out of its 3 Starbucks locations. And a total of 8 Starbucks stores will be closing in Houston — plus 1 in the Deerbrook Mall, which is technically in Humble.

Thanks to the pioneering work of a last-name-free coffee drinker going by the name Winter, who has been on a 11-year-long “personal mission” to visit and photograph every single Starbucks in the world, we now have a well-illustrated compilation of the 11 Houstonish Starbucks locations the company has decided to close as part of its 600-store nationwide shutdown extravaganza. Ready for the tour?

Closing Starbucks, 3821 S. Shepherd at Farnham, Houston

3821 S. Shepherd at Farnham. On the “other ” Shepherd Curve, across from Amy’s Ice Cream. It’s been hiding there for a while, but did it ever have customers?

More shuttered Starbucks below. See them all!

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Buying and Selling
07/17/08 10:32am

Bistro Vino: The Honeymoon Is Over

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Montrose, Openings and Closings, Restaurants
2 Comments

The Former Bistro Vino Restaurant, 819 W. Alabama, Montrose, Houston

Patio of the Former Bistro Vino Restaurant, 819 W. Alabama, Montrose, HoustonIt took 2 weeks, but someone at last noticed: Montrose wedding-reception capital Bistro Vino has shut down. Scooping a number of popular restaurant-review websites, the Chronicle‘s Nancy Sarnoff reports that owner Mohammad Bayegan sold the house-turned-restaurant at 819 W. Alabama (at Roseland) and a small apartment building next door to an unnamed residential developer.

[La Colombe d’Or owner Steve] Zimmerman, who lived in a house behind Bistro Vino in the late 1970s and 1980s, said the area had been a quiet residential neighborhood until the 1990s, when small businesses opened offices on West Alabama.

In a note on the Bistro Vino website, Bayegan bids

farewell to all our loyal customers especially to our hundreds of brides that gave us the honor to be part of the start of a very important journey of their lives.

After the jump: one of those brides, starting a journey!

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Malls
07/08/08 11:18am

Becks Prime Location for a Sports Bar

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Memorial City, Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Restaurants
No Comments

BECKS PRIME LOCATION FOR A SPORTS BAR That space on the west side of the Memorial City Mall where the Roger Clemens Rocket Sports Grill was supposed to open . . . before all Roger Clemens memorabilia was removed from it? It’s now scheduled to open this summer as . . . the Becks Prime Sportatorium. [Houston Business Journal]

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Openings and Closings
07/03/08 12:19pm

Houston Starbucks Closings

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Quicklink, Restaurants
4 Comments

HOUSTON STARBUCKS CLOSINGS No exact word yet which Starbucks locations in Houston will be shut down, but it’s fun to speculate! “Of the 600 stores, 50 of the stores across the nation were told today that they were first onto the chopping block and would be shuttered by the end of the month. However, it’s unclear if any of those 50 stores were in Houston. Our source estimated that between five and ten Houston locations would be affected by the closure. When asked to speculate which locations he thought were least profitable and most likely to close, our source guessed the new Chinatown location (Bellaire and Wilcrest) and a Galleria-area store at Richmond and Chimney Rock.” [Houstonist]

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Leasing
07/03/08 10:56am

The Pig’s New Gig: Sawyer Sportsbar

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Old Sixth Ward, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Washington Corridor
6 Comments

Former Pig Stand Coffee Shop on Washington Ave., Houston

Neighbors in the Sixth Ward have noticed some activity at the shuttered Pig Stand on Washington at Sawyer:

It appears that the former owners of the Pigstand property have retained ownership, but that they have leased the property out to the Sawyer Sportsbar, Inc.

Sawyer Sportsbar, Inc., is a new corporation, formed in April, by none other than Darren Van Delden, owner of The Drake.

I am not sure if Darren or the Dallas property owners are doing the build-out, but it is in its very early stages. (The Pigstand only had an outdoor bathroom, so I expect some relatively expansive upgrades, at least to the interior).

Photo of Washington Ave. Pig Stand (No. 7): Flickr user Fotollena

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