01/09/14 12:30pm

Koya Asian Kitchen, 2111 Spring Cypress Rd. Unit 900, Spring, Texas

A curious 2-month-old “growing sewage odor” has forced 2-and-a-half-month-old Koya Asian Kitchen to announce that the restaurant will shut its doors forever, its owner claims. Before coming to the decision, owner Lisa Zhou says she employed a sequence of smell-be-gone techniques, including lighting scented candles, deploying a phalanx of air fresheners, and even opening the doors of the Szechuan establishment in a brand-new strip center at the corner of Spring Cypress and Old Holzwarth Rd., across from H-E-B. “In the end,” writes Zhou in a Facebook post published yesterday, “none has been effective against the horrendous smell.”

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Sniff, Sniff
01/09/14 11:30am

PHEW! FISH AND THE KNIFE IS BACK TO ITS USUAL ‘OPENING SOON’ STATUS Fish and the Knife Restaurant, Sushi Bar, Nightclub, and Lounge, 7801 Westheimer Rd., HoustonAfter announcing just last week that it had given up all hope that the 3-and-a-half-year-long construction project on the corner of Westheimer and Stoney Brook Dr. would ever open its doors as a restaurant, the crack team behind the b4-u-eat newsletter declared yesterday that its loss of sushi faith was unwarranted: “Fish & The Knife mystery solved,” the latest email report reads. “The facebook page was removed because it was created by an employee who is no longer there. There were a lot of workers there today and the beautiful fish tank contains live fish now. The owner says they expect to open in 3 weeks.” [b4-u-eat; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Swamplot inbox

01/06/14 10:00am

Marfreless, 2006 Peden St., River Oaks Shopping Center, HoustonThe new owners of Marfreless have updated the website of the shuttered River Oaks Shopping Center bar to indicate that it plans on reopening in January. Which makes sense, since the previously promised summer 2013 re-launch date for the 2006 Peden St. location has come and gone. A comment appended back in December to a Facebook photo album showing renovations of the signless institution’s famed dimly lit interior provides an actual opening date: “probably” January 17th. What delights await inside? A unisex restroom with 2 stalls, chandeliers, plus new VIP areas carved out of what were previously storage rooms: “There will be curtains upstairs that you can pull closed for privacy or open for groups. Or . . . pull closed for groups, if that’s what you’re into.” The stairs, however, will still offer the “same place to hit your head.”

Photo: Marfreless

Behind the Blue Door
01/03/14 3:15pm

RIVER OAKS PLANTS IN RICE VILLAGE Village Flowery and River Oaks Plant House, 6103 Kirby Dr. at Rice Blvd., Rice Village, HoustonThe River Oaks name spreads its tendrils again: Just a day or so after shuttering its location on the corner of Westheimer and Buffalo Speedway, topiary-in-a-pot hotspot River Oaks Plant House has sprouted in a new location, 6103 Kirby Dr., where it’s already open for business. Evicted from its longtime home on land bought last year by the St. John’s School, the greenery retailer has responded by buying the Village Flowery, an employee tells Swamplot. The Village Flowery is perched on the western reaches of the Rice Village on the southeast corner of Kirby and Rice Blvd. [Previously on Swamplot] Photo: Lisa Garvin

01/02/14 11:30am

West University RecyclExpress Recycling Center, 5004 Dincans St., West University, Texas

West University RecyclExpress Recycling Center, 5004 Dincans St., West University, TexasNote: Story updated below.

Yes, we have another Inner Loop recycling center closing to mark for the new year. Swamplot reader Jon Morris caught these shots of the final evening of bottle-clinking at the West University RecyclExpress at 5004 Dincans St., behind Goode Company Seafood, last night. You’ve got only a few minutes left to get rid of those New Year’s shindig empties — the center closes forever at noon today. “Scene was calm but with steady traffic when I was there,” reports Morris. “All the bins were overflowing though.”

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Inner Loop Recycling Apocalypse ’14
01/02/14 10:30am

Former City of Houston Recycling Facility at 3602 Center St., First Ward, Houston

The recycling center at 3602 Center St. closed “pretty suddenly” on New Year’s Eve, reader Debnil Chowdhury reports — with these pics from the scene at the corner of Harvard St.: “Not sure how long the sign was up . . . I don’t remember seeing it a week or two ago but I might have missed it.” The sign directs would-be bottle tossers to 2 remaining City of Houston facilities:

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Inner Loop Recycling Apocalypse ’14
12/26/13 10:00am

WINTER SNOBALLS FOR HOUSTON MAM's House of Ice, 1040 W. Cavalcade St., Sunset Heights, HoustonJust in time to serve up a white Christmas — at least before a few pumps of flavoring are added to your order — MAM’s House of Ice has opened its first-ever non-wheeled, year-round location. It’s at 1040 W. Cavalcade St. in Sunset Heights, about a mile east of the popular mobile storefront’s longstanding trailer-parking spot. That means snoballs (along with a few warmer dessert-y and snack-y items added to the menu) will now be available year-round. [b4-u-eat; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Mam’s House of Ice

12/20/13 12:00pm

Grocers Supply, 3000 Hicks St., Houston

Grocers Supply, 3000 Hicks St., Houston

The group that completed the purchase of a 15-acre agglomeration of tracts at the southwest corner of I-10 and Studemont this week says it’s planning a mixed-use development for the site, including an apartment complex. Most of the land was owned by Grocers Supply, which has operated a 232,352-sq.-ft. produce warehouse and big-rig parking lot there for 42 years. The facility at 3000 Hicks St. is yet another chunk in the First Sixth Ward-area once-industrial swath south of the Heights that’s been turning to big-box-flavored retail bit by bit over the last decade, and now stretches from Target on the east near Sawyer to Walmart just west of Yale St. Here’s an aerial view of that district from 1990, when it was still entirely industrial (you can see the western edges of Downtown in the background):

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A Couple Years To Think About It
12/04/13 11:00am

Bernie's Burger Bus, 5407 Bellaire Blvd., Bellaire, Texas

Bernie's Burger Bus, 5407 Bellaire Blvd., Bellaire, TexasSwamplot reader Dave spots the signs up for Bernie’s Burger Bus in the Bellaire Triangle, giving an actual address (5407 Bellaire Blvd., in the former Christian Community Service Center Sunshine Retail Shop) to the growing vehicle-and-restaurant chain’s previously announced somewhere-in-Bellaire location. Like the other non-wheeled Bernie’s locations, this one will be called a Bernie’s Burger Bus Stop — but Bus Station might be more accurate: Owner Justin Turner told Eater back in September he plans to use the Bellaire spot as a “hub” where production and prep takes place and deliveries go out for all the restaurants — including the new one planned for Katy. And in addition to an in-kitchen table for occasional (non-burger) pop-up dinners, there’s an actual bus planned for the interior. Collaborative Projects’ design will let you pick up your orders as they’re passed through a bus window.

Photos: Dave

Hamburger Transfer Station
11/27/13 10:00am

A WESTHEIMER WENDY’S LONG JOURNEY TO A $200 BURGER Construction of 60 Degrees Mastercrafted, 2300 Westheimer Rd., Upper Kirby, HoustonTracing the culinary histories of several switched Houston hotspots, Marene Gustin catalogs successive scenery changes at 2300 Westheimer in Upper Kirby: “And take the new 60 Degrees Mastercrafted on Westheimer Road. The former home of John Moore’s Palazzos Trattoria, this building goes way back. Originally built as a fast food drive through, when I first came to Houston it was Armandos, then something I vaguely remember called Dish either before or after it was an outside the Loop version of Two Chefs Bistro, which had wonderful angels on horseback, a hot appetizer of baked oysters wrapped in bacon by chef Andreas Zierau. Then for a long time it was Arturo Boada’s Beso before becoming Palazzos. And now 60 Degrees Mastercrafted, yet another new restaurant I haven’t gotten to yet. New restaurants opening in Houston in the final months of 2013 have been as numerous as bluebonnets sprouting in springtime.” [Culturemap] Photo: 60 Degrees Mastercrafted

11/25/13 11:30am

THE END IN SIGHT FOR RANDALLS Randalls Grocery Store, 11041 Westheimer Rd., Westchase Shopping Center, Westchase, HoustonThe Randalls grocery store on the southeast corner of Westheimer and Wilcrest is a goner, reports Catie Dixon. And she tags the chain itself as the likely next casualty in the region’s ongoing grocery wars. Landlord Weingarten Realty, which also manages the Whole Foods Market across the street, sent out notice earlier this month that the space occupied by the former top-performing Randalls in the Westchase Shopping Center is now available for lease. But other new grocery stores are coming to the area: another 60 in the next 18 months, keeping up the recent pace, says broker Jason Baker — who also notes Trader Joe’s is experiencing “challenges” with its new store on S. Voss near Woodway. [Real Estate Bisnow; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Randalls at 11041 Westheimer Rd.: Weingarten Realty

11/22/13 12:15pm

River Oaks Plant House, 3401 Westheimer Rd., River Oaks, Houston

River Oaks Plant House, 3401 Westheimer Rd., River Oaks, HoustonThe River Oaks Plant House — also known as the greenery purveyor that regularly festoons the corner of Westheimer and Buffalo Speedway with dancing bears and other fake topiary — will be closing up shop at the end December. Headmaster Mark Desjardins writes in an email that St. John’s School notified the owners of the more-than-30-year-old store in September that its lease would be terminated by December 31. The prep school had purchased the property from the Henry J. N. Taub family, along with the land under Blanco’s Bar & Grill, in a 13-acre deal completed exactly a year earlier.

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Leaving Soon
11/21/13 1:00pm

Katy Contemporary Arts Museum, 805 Ave. B at First St., Katy, Texas

Where is the new Katy Contemporary Arts Museum? “In the heart of Katy’s Museum District,” boasts the brand-new institution’s website. That appears to be shorthand for “right across from the Katy Railroad Park and Tourist Center“; the Katy Heritage Museum and Park and “G.I. Joe” Museum are a half-mile northeast. The white concrete-and-brick building at 805 Ave. B, at the corner of First St., was originally built in 1953 for the Katy Lumber Company. The museum chose the structure for its easy access to I-10, among other features. Like its more sophisticated metal-clad sorta-namesake in Houston, admission is free; but art blogger Robert Boyd notes there are plans to expand the 5,000-sq.-ft. facility to house an actual permanent collection:

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Trains, Guns, and Art
11/20/13 3:30pm

RecyclExpress Self-Service Recycling Facility, 5004 Dincans St., West University, Houston

RecyclExpress Self-Service Recycling Facility, 5004 Dincans St., West University, HoustonLooks like the typical rush to get rid of empties right after New Year’s could be a little compressed this year from Rice Village to Upper Kirby. A Swamplot reader sends in pics of the new sign that’s gone up at the sort-it-yourself recycling center at 5004 Dincans St., across the street and behind Goode Co. Seafood. West University’s city council voted in October to close the 24-hr. drive-up facility, and the sign announces the January 2 closing date.

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Clink’s End
11/15/13 11:00am

A Downtown office building named after an oil company featuring a new drive-in in its basement? Well, minus all the close-in parking spots. Swamplot reader Doug Gober sends pix showing signs advertising a new Sonic Drive-In plastered earlier this week on the darkened windows of the spot occupied until a few months ago by a General Joe’s Chopstix — in the tunnel-access basement space of Pennzoil Place at 711 Louisiana. Walk-in seating for underground customers is already available, but you’ll probably have to place your order inside.

Photos: Doug Gober

Slurp!