Wednesday, December 16, 2009
December 16, 2009 – 3:35 pm
Opened yesterday across from the Taco Cabana drive-thru at 2502 Algerian Way, just north of the intersection of Kirby and 59: Randy Evans’s Haven. Evans, who last ran the kitchen at Brennan’s, teamed up with investors Debbie Jaramillo and Rhea Wheeler to produce a certified green restaurant, allowing fans of fine local food to dine on seasonal “farm-to-market” cuisine without having to visit either.
The 5,200-sq.-ft. restaurant was designed by Jim Herd, Geoffrey Brune, and Melanie Pereira of Collaborative Projects, who employed their own menu of environmentally conscious building strategies, including open ceilings, minimal finishes, and refurbished scratch-and-dent kitchen equipment. There’s a raised-bed chef’s garden on site, as well as a parking lot on a raised surface of concrete.
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Read more about: 77098, Green Design and Development, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Upper Kirby
Monday, December 7, 2009
December 7, 2009 – 1:13 pm
When Borders announced back in November that it would be closing 200 Waldenbooks, Borders Outlet, and Borders Express bookstores nationwide, only 3 Houston stores were on that list: the Waldenbooks in Willowbrook Mall, Houston Center, and the Northwest Mall. Not included: the Borders Books & Music in the former Houston Jewelry building at 9633 Westheimer, at the corner of Gessner. But employees have apparently been telling customers for months that that store would be closing in January. And now a reader reports that “Store Closing” sale signs are up in the windows. The shopping center, says an employee, is being redeveloped. Last day of business: January 16th.
Photo: Hennie Schaper
Read more about: 77063, Openings and Closings, Redevelopment, Retail, Shopping Centers, Woodlake
Friday, December 4, 2009
December 4, 2009 – 1:35 pm
What lurks beneath the new 24,000-sq.-ft. Spec’s Liquor going into the former Linens ’N Things in the Weslayan Plaza Shopping Center, at the corner of Weslayan and Bissonnet? “Sources on site said build-out of the space held a few surprises. For example, work on plumbing led to the discovery of an entire street running beneath the original building, complete with curbs.” [West University Examiner]
Read more about: 77005, Houston History, Openings and Closings, Retail, Shopping Centers, Streets, West University
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
December 2, 2009 – 1:17 pm
New westside restaurant doesn’t face onto a parking lot. Chaos ensues:
The dining room of Straits, the swank new Malaysian restaurant at City Centre, looks chaste and serene in its Web site photos. So I was dumbstruck by the maelstrom that greeted me on a school night the week before Thanksgiving, when the restaurant felt more like a thunderous Vegas nightclub.
The bulk of the floor plan was given over to bar/lounge seating, and outdoors–looking upon the grassy City Centre mall plaza ringed with fire pits–tented pavilions held still more tables for the cocktail crowd. A live band on an outdoor stage blared R&B standards as ice-blue holiday lights swayed, wind whipped the fire-pot flames high and merrymakers clustered on the chilly lawn.
“It looks like the Devil’s Playground out there,” murmured my dinner guest as he found me at a table beside the sleek open kitchen. We were both a little shellshocked. Judging by the avid crowds, far west Houston, out by I-10 and the Beltway, has been hungering for a capital-S-Scene, and the restaurant- and bar-heavy new City Centre development has provided one readymade.
Photo of CityCentre courtyard: Misha Govshteyn
Read more about: 77024, CityCentre, Malls, Openings and Closings, Parking-Lots, Restaurants, Shopping Centers, Town and Country Village
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
December 1, 2009 – 3:34 pm
Attack of the more-or-less Pinkberry-like “is it really yogurt?” shops:
- Berripop: Planning new locations “along Washington Ave.,” in Sugar Land, and in the Rice Village. Owner David Lee “plans to open at least 20 franchised and company-owned stores throughout Houston, Austin, Dallas and College Station over the next two years.” Already in Uptown Park, across from the Richmond Costco near Greenway Plaza, on Waterway Court in The Woodlands Town Center, in Meyerland Plaza, and in the Town & Country Village Shopping Center.
- Fruituzy: The owners, who also own Fadi’s Mediterranean Grill, are “currently scouting sites for additional locations.” Already 2 locations on Westheimer, each in strip centers near a Fadi’s: one at the corner of Shadowbriar, just west of Kirkwood, and another at Dunvale.
- Tasti D-Lite: New location under construction underground at Milam and Walker Downtown. Local owner Webster Foods “plans to open four to seven Houston locations in the next 12 to 18 months as part of a pilot program.” Already in Highland Village and at the corner of Post Oak and San Felipe.
There’s more!
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Read more about: Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers
Monday, November 23, 2009
November 23, 2009 – 5:44 pm
Austin gallery owner Arturo Palacios, on why he’s moving his gallery, Art Palace, to the Midtown space formerly occupied by the Finesilver Gallery at 3913 S. Main St. this coming January: “I went to a fundraiser at the Menil Collection and a friend asked me how many people I thought I would know there. And I thought maybe five or six. The event was for the Menil ‘Contemporaries,’ a group that’s under the age of forty who support the Menil on an annual basis. There were four hundred people there! And the whole time, people kept coming up and asking when I was moving the gallery to Houston. Over and over and over again. We were taken aback. I was talking to a collector and he said, ‘looks like it’s time for you to shit or get off the pot.’ And that’s when I decided it was time. That was a month and a half ago. I knew the space [in the Isabella Courts building] had been empty for some time.” [Glasstire; photo]
Read more about: 77002, Art, Galleries, Midtown, Openings and Closings, Retail
Friday, November 20, 2009
November 20, 2009 – 5:19 pm
Unless the owners of the former Tower Theatre on Westheimer just west of Montrose have another feature ready to go, it looks like Houston will soon have a second shuttered and lonely Art Deco theater left to spin its reels. A reader reports:
I went to drop off a video game at Hollywood Video . . . and was told by staff there that they are closing down. I asked the guy there why; he shrugged his shoulders and said, “Bad economy, I guess.” They were clearing the store out and taking down the Hollywood video letters on that Montrose-y iconic sign on the building; I snapped a quick photo while driving away of the letters sitting on the pavement outside the store.
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Read more about: 77006, Montrose, Movie-Theaters, Openings and Closings, Retail
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
November 11, 2009 – 6:50 pm
So much new stuff going on it’s impossible to keep track of it all!
- Opening Soon? A new “Houston Ave. Bar” at the site of the former Farmers Coffee Shop on the corner of Houston Ave. and White Oak. Here’s the evidence: A permit for a “2 story addition” to the property was approved by the city last month. The corner is already a popular gathering place for floodwaters — several commenters on HAIF have posted photos of the intersection after Hurricane Ike (see above) and Tropical Storm Allison.
- Moved: The Central City Co-op Wednesday market, from that Ecclesia space next to the Taft St. Coffee House to new digs at the Grace Lutheran Church at 2515 Waugh, just north of Missouri St. Sunday markets are still at Discovery Green. Next up for the co-op crew: Selling enough veggies to pay off those loans used for the church buildout.
- Opening Softly, Later This Month: A place called Canopy, from the folks who brought you that place called Shade. Claire Smith and Russell Murrell’s new restaurant will go in the spot where Tony Ruppe’s was, in the double-decked strip center at 3939 Montrose, reports Cleverley Stone. Three meals a day, 7 days a week, plus 3 seating areas:
a bright and refreshing dining room, festive bar and side street patio. We will eventually offer curbside “to go” service.
- Opening Early Next Month: The brand-new Dessert Shoppe, in the strip center portion of 19th Streete in the Heights. Fred Eats Houston writes that sisters Sara and RaeMarie Villar will be serving up “whole cakes and pies to individual desserts, along with assorted breakfast pastries, cookies, quiches, cupcakes, and some breads.”
- Reopened, for the First Time Since Ike: The Shriner’s Hospital for Children in Galveston. The combined boards of the International Shriners and Shriners Hospitals for Children had originally decided to close the hospital for good, after 30 inches of water wandered through the building’s first floor during the Hurricane. Shriners voting at this summer’s convention in San Antonio reversed that decision. The new hospital will have a smaller staff and budget. The Chronicle’s Todd Ackerman reports that the hospital should already be open for reconstructive surgery cases; burn victims will have to wait until December for treatment.
And yet even more new stuff:
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6:50 pm
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Read more about Attractions, Baytown, Galveston, Neighborhoods: Downtown, Neighborhoods: East Montrose, Neighborhoods: Houston Heights, Neighborhoods: Hyde Park, Neighborhoods: Montrose, Neighborhoods: Spring Branch, Neighborhoods: Upper Kirby, Neighborhoods: Washington Corridor, Neighborhoods: West End, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers
Read more about: 77002, 77007, 77008, 77055, 77098, 77520, 77550, Attractions, Baytown, Downtown, East Montrose, Galveston, Houston Heights, Hyde Park, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers, Spring-Branch, Strip Centers, Upper Kirby, Washington Corridor, West End
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
October 21, 2009 – 5:57 pm
Just a couple items this time:
- Closing: The Dunkin Donuts at 5406 Bellaire Blvd. near Bissonnet, after more than 2 decades in the same spot. When it’s gone, there’ll be just 4 of the chain’s locations left in the Houston area. The Bellaire Examiner’s Steve Mark:
[Owner Henry] Tsao’s current agreement with the donut chain is expiring; the company requires new agreements to last a 10-year duration with a new set of parameters for facility and mechanical upgrades totaling as much as $400,000. Tsao, 62, doesn’t want to make a long-term commitment at his age and isn’t inclined to make the required financial reinvestment, so his store will close Oct. 24.
- Moved to the Rice Village: Dog- and baby-friendly Olivine has taken over the former location of Back Be Nimble at 2405 Rice Blvd. Making the trip from Uptown Park: owner Helen Stroud’s collection of linens, loungewear, and reproduction and slipcovered furniture. In the back: baby clothes. Cote de Texas’s Joni Webb reports:
Helen spent all of September getting the new shop ready – and if you ever wanted to check out wall to wall seagrass, this is your chance – I think she bought out all the rolls of it available in town.
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Read more about: 77005, 77401, Bellaire, Fast Food, Franchises, Home Decor, Openings and Closings, Retail, Rice-Village
Thursday, October 15, 2009
October 15, 2009 – 3:13 pm
Updates on a few restaurants Swamplot has been following:
- Reopened: Azzarelli’s, an Italian-American restaurant that began the year in Cinco Ranch’s Tuscan-themed Villagio Town Center, then (after a notable exit) camped for a while (as Azzarelli’s Corner Café) in another center at 6455 South Fry Road, opened last week in its 4th location within just a couple of years: 17754 Katy Freeway, Suite B, I-10 at Barker Cypress. “With this great location, I will be open 365 days a year,” owner Frank Triola tells his press-release copywriter.
- Opening Soon: The restaurant going into the former Cue & Cushion pool hall at 510 Shepherd that Swamplot reported on earlier this fall now has a name: Branch Water Tavern — and a more palatable label than “gastropub.” Try “Modern American Tavern.” Chef David Grossman says it’ll open later this month, but the Houston Press’s Robb Walsh, who’s toured the construction site, thinks Christmas is more likely.
More eats:
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Read more about: 77007, 77008, 77094, 77494, Barker Cypress, Brunner, Cinco Ranch, Houston Heights, Openings and Closings, Retail
Thursday, September 17, 2009
September 17, 2009 – 11:00 am
Yes, the Alabama Bookstop carved out of the former Alabama Theater on South Shepherd closed down for good earlier this week. But a few miles to the north, another new business has opened in a reformed movie house. Tonight’s open house at the Heights Theater celebrates its latest incarnation: as a 7,000-sq.-ft. event space.
A quick tour of how the interior looked a year ago, before the latest round of renovations:
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Read more about: 77008, Adaptive Reuse, Event Spaces, Houston Heights, Movie-Theaters, Openings and Closings
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
September 15, 2009 – 2:11 pm
The Penthouse Club just off Westheimer at 2618 Winrock — shut down by the city a year ago for violating the city’s sexually oriented business ordinance — is reopening this Thursday! But . . . there’ll be no nudity this time, promises the club’s global licensing director. Who owns the club? According to KPRC Local 2 Investigates reporter Robert Arnold, that would be admitted murderer turned government witness Vincent Palermo, the former acting boss of New Jersey’s DeCavalcante crime family: “In addition to the mansion on Memorial Drive, Local 2 found Palermo, now using the last name Cabella, also owns the property that is the Penthouse Club on Winrock Boulevard near Westheimer Road. Harris County records show he also owns the Mexican food restaurant [Ruchi's Grill] in front of the Penthouse and the [Super Clean] car wash behind the club. State records show a company called “Hereweareagain, inc.” owns and operates the Penthouse Club, and another company called “6430 Westheimer, inc” owns and operates All Stars Cabaret across the street from Penthouse. Palermo’s wife and son are listed on corporate filings for these companies.” [Click2Houston; previously on Swamplot]
Read more about: 77057, Briargrove, Crime, Nightlife, Openings and Closings, SOBs
Monday, September 14, 2009
September 14, 2009 – 12:10 pm
A reader snaps this photo of the former pink Taco Cabana drive-thru at the corner of Montrose and Westheimer, “now painted white w red stripes at the bottom” — and asks if we know what’s going in there. Fortunately, another reader has the answer:
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Read more about: 77006, Fast Food, Lower Westheimer, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail
Friday, September 11, 2009
September 11, 2009 – 2:44 pm
Former chef Robert Gadsby had named his new Heights restaurant after his hometown, in England. But that was so late-last-year. Here’s the latest: “Partners Bryan Caswell and Bill Floyd announced Friday afternoon they signed papers to take over the Heights restaurant Bedford and will turn it into a modern Italian restaurant. Think Texas toast meets Tuscan steak, Caswell said. ‘We’re trying to draw the similarities between the rustic-oriented qualities of the Tuscan region with the rustic qualities of the Texas region,’ Caswell said.” Caswell and Floyd own Reef and Little Big’s. [Cook's Tour; previously on Swamplot]
Read more about: 77008, Houston Heights, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Theming
Thursday, September 10, 2009
September 10, 2009 – 11:58 am
On the list of dealerships General Motors intends to shut down: Knapp Chevrolet, at 815 Houston Ave. just south of Washington. Back in May, GM notified the longtime Downtown dealership of its intent to terminate its franchise agreement as of Halloween 2010.
Since then, the dealership’s owners have been trying to get the decision reversed: President Robert G. Knapp presented his case to a congressional subcommittee in July, after several appeals to the company were rejected. Knapp claims his dealership has been profitable, and that closing the dealership would significantly hobble GM’s local market share. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee has gotten involved, introducing a bill in Congress that would make it easier for dealerships to appeal franchise terminations in court. Knapp is also collecting a list of supporters through an online petition to GM. More than 6,200 supporters have added their names to the list so far.
One of those supporters: The Greater Houston Preservation Alliance, fans of Knapp’s moderne corner building, completed in 1941, 2 years after the dealership was first established.
Photo of Knapp Chevrolet: Chris Adams
Read more about: 77007, Auto Dealerships, Downtown, Historic Preservation, Old-Sixth-Ward, Openings and Closings, Retail, Washington Corridor
