The little windowless Montrose building across from the University of St. Thomas at the corner of Richmond and Mt. Vernon known as Talk of the Town III (pictured above as it appeared in 2011, shortly before much of it burned in a fatal fire) will soon join the ranks of the original Kirby Dr. Carrabba’s, Divino Italian Restaurant at 1830 West Alabama, and L’Olivier Restaurant and Bar at 240 Westheimer as yet another former Inner Loop adult bookstore turned legit non-porn restaurant. But it’ll be no staid European cuisine going into 1201 Richmond Ave. Former Brooklyn meatbrowner John Avila plans to open a barbecue joint in the building that incorporates a range of Texas food styles; he may or may not call it El Burro & the Bull. Culturemap’s Eric Sandler has a little fun describing the building’s repurposing: “Together with his wife Veronica, Avila plans to remodel the space to expose its original brick and to build a new kitchen and pit room onto the back of the structure. He’s already begun the process of pulling permits for the project and hopes to be open as soon as September.”
- Montrose makeover continues: Acclaimed BBQ pitmaster plans new restaurant in former porn shop [Culturemap]
Photo: ClutchFans poster juicystream
Goddamned internet.
September of which year?
The naive optimism with which Houston restaurateurs predict their opening dates never ceases to amaze.
there’s NO way i’m eating BBQ in there after being a customer :)
I’ll admit I have a soft spot for rehabing old sh*t, but this just doesn’t make sense to me. Why would you try to work with these old, dirty nasty crusty bones? Is it a permit thing? I do remember when one of the old buildings on the Shepherd curve at west gray knocked down all the walls but one and encased it in a new wall and essentially built a whole new building.
I think he should call it Sordid Encounters BBQ.
Note to Self: look into opening gay BBQ joint called “The Pitmaster.”
Why does every new restaurant name have to be “the [blank] & [blank]” OR “the [blank] & the [blank]”
What is the fascination with ampersands? Just call it Avila’s BarBQ and be done with it.
Not enough bleach in Houston to make me want to eat in that place…
“we’ll have peach cobbler coming out of our ass”….
.
That doesn’t do a thing for my taste buds.
I would suggest a teardown is more appropriate than a reno for that building, considering it is constructed not of brick but primarily plywood and hobo semen.
That building has got good boners.
Wow what a relief BBQ joints still outnumber Mattress Stores.
“Good to the Bone BBQ”
So they’ll be serving sausage at this location once again.
There has to be a Comment of the Day here somewhere… I about spit out my breakfast at “hobo semen”!
“Gentlemen’s BBQ: You’ll love our sausage!”
“Bubba’s BBQ: Taste our meat!”
@ WineWineWine: I thought the same regarding Divino but glad that i got over it. After all, Dad always told me to never sh*t where i ate. He never said a thing about other bodily excretions.
It’s like the tapas restaurant next to Numbers. My friend almost got raped in that place after taking a booth to smoke a joint. He he he…that’s a funny story.
Eew