That little shopping district on 19th St. in the Heights will get its second vegetarian restaurant as soon as Radical Eats opens its kitchen just down the street from Shade. (They serve meat at Shade; it’s Cricket’s Creamery and Cafe across the street that’s vegetarian.) Staci Davis, who’s been selling tamales, tacos, and other Radical Eats fare at Antidote Coffee, Smart Meals, and various area farmers markets, will be moving her food-preparation operation from a drug and alcohol abuse counseling center in a former Holiday Inn by the Eastex Freeway near Little York to a significantly smaller space inside Katy Whelan’s planned Heights Ashbury Coffeehouse in the space at 242 W. 19th St. Whelan originally had plans to name her space the Love Street Coffee Shop; it’s going where Balinskas Architectural Imports used to be. Also sharing space with Davis and Whelan: Architect Deborah Morris’s new juice bar, Juicy in the Sky with Vitamins.
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An opening party is planned for March 4th — though Davis tells Swamplot the “sort of cooperative” may not be entirely ready to open until a few weeks later. Radical Eats will be open at 6:30 for breakfast (featuring tacos made with organic tortillas, breakfast tamales, as well as a “grits dish”) and close after lunch, but will keep a cooler stocked with prepackaged foods for dinner. Davis says she expects much of the business during the week will be “grab and go”; the former Kerby Lane chef hopes to work up to serving brunch on weekends. She’s also working on certifying Radical Eats as a green restaurant. And if all goes well with the Houston Kashruth Association, Davis says, the place will become the 8th restaurant in town to be certified Kosher. She plans to serve bread from the Slow Dough Bread Co., but everything made in the kitchen will be gluten free.
- Radical Eats
- Heights Ashbury Coffeehouse [Facebook]
- Previously on Swamplot: The Great Houston Heights Fast Food Slowdown
Photo: Heights Blog
I’m very excited about this. Katy has gone through much grief in this process and I’m glad the light at the end of the tunnel is much brighter for her now.
Oh no! Something NEW in the HEIGHTS? Why wasn’t I consulted?
I am so excited about this! The Heights needs more veggie-friendly places to eat!
This is awesome news! The Heights needs more restaurants. I had to quit going to Pie in the Sky so much — started to gain weight over there…
More veggie choices are always welcome. All the changes in the hood are not just Hummer-home-centric or big box/tall building, additions. Small local flavor is what will keep the Heights a place many of us have called home for years to come. Still the best reason for Houston to be on the map!
So…they’re opening a vegetarian food service inside a coffee shop? This is confusing.
Wow, if only they could merge it with one of those California Weed stores, the Heights would be pretty well set. After all, weed is a vegetable.
It is nice to see small businesses make the progression from a tent at the farmers market to a fixed retail location. And don’t worry if you think the Heights is going to turn into some California alfalfa sprout farm. Revival Meats’ retail location will be open soon. A very nice restaurant scene coming up in the Heights.
Bubba,
Yes, forget the brownies, viva salad greens!
Those were the days…..I do like their logo.
Its a unique combo of activity. More power to ’em.
Cigar shop next door burning vegetable matter, cough cough.
A psychedeli. Right on.
Love the name Juicy in the Sky with Vitamins
“He don’t eat no meat!?!”
“No, he doesn’t eat meat.”
“What do you mean he don’t eat no MEAT!!??!!That’s okay. I make lamb”
DanaX, you win today’s prize!
Eating breakfast out has been the most difficult part of being vegan. Sooooo looking forward to eating here.