THE WHOLE POINT OF THAT 45-MINUTE CROISSANT LINE AT COMMON BOND — AND OTHER STAND-INS FOR PUBLIC SPACE IN HOUSTON 
Star baker and former b-baller Roy Shvartzapel explains the larger social purpose behind the fact that customers are having to wait in line for 45 minutes to buy croissants at his recently owned Common Bond bakery at Dunlavy and Westheimer: “I think there’s a value in that. Not for me, but particularly in a city like Houston that’s the ultra in non-pedestrian. We, on a scale from one to 10 in pedestrian life, are at a zero. We’re not even at a one. It’s the infrastructure. We cannot have, for example, a subway system. We’re just not designed that way.
What we can have are places that allow people — whether it be in a line or in a tight space in a restaurant — where you’re not sitting far away in your little bubble. We’re already in our little bubbles whether it’s in a car or in a cube. When you’re in a line with a group of strangers, you never know who you might meet or break into conversation with.” [Eating Our Words; previously on Swamplot] Photo of line at Common Bond, 1706 Westheimer Rd.: Amber Z.
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Tag: Restaurants
LUCKY BURGER REPLACEMENT: DRIVE-THRU BANH MI FROM THE LES GIVRAL’S CREW? 
It looks like a new drive-thru Banh Mi spot from the folks behind the rapidly expanding Les Givral’s restaurant empire is hoping to take over the recently vacated Lucky Burger building at the corner of Richmond and Mandell St. in Montrose. That’s the strongly hinted story, at least, implicit in the new teaser Twitter account for the venture, called Oui BanhMi, affiliated with the Les Givral’s Kahve restaurant on Washington Ave (as well as the recently opened Oui Desserts at 3411 Kirby and the Banh Mieria food truck), which pinpoints itself at Lucky Burger’s old 1601 Richmond Ave address. Any more evidence of the plans? Well, there’s this blurred sheet of “brainstorm” notes posted to the Les Givrals Instagram account last month. [OuiBanhMi on Twitter, via Chic Chick Chic Eats; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Lucky Burger: Swamplot inbox
THERE SHALL BE NO NET LOSS OF SUGAR ON GRAY ST. IN MIDTOWN 
Top Chef: Just Desserts contestant and $53,580 Kickstarter winner Rebecca Masson has finally announced the exact Midtown location of the Fluff Bake Bar storefront she’s been working on since late last year, on account of she just signed a lease last week: It’s set to go in place of the shuttered Sweet Lola Yogurt Bar, (pictured) which ended its reign at 304 Gray St. in Midtown last September. The spot is one of the city’s relatively small number of to-the-sidewalk retail spaces with actual apartments above. Downstairs, customers will be able to dig into Fluff’s Chocolate Stout Syllabub, risotto fritters with gingered blueberries, or chocolate beet cake with cream cheese ice cream — along with beer and wine — but give her another 3 or 4 months to build out the space before you come knocking, please. [Food Chronicles; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Bluebirds and Butterflies
NEW ‘CHICKEN RANCH’ OPENING ON NORTH MAIN NEAR SUNSET HEIGHTS WILL SERVE ACTUAL FRIED CHICKEN 
But will it be home to the Best Little Drumsticks in Texas? Josh Martinez, the chef behind the Modular food truck and (until recently) Goro & Gun downtown, and partner Paul Sedillo plan to open an actual fried chicken joint in a not-yet-disclosed location on North Main St., Alison Cook reports. And they’ll be naming it in honor of the establishment of uh, musical repute first brought to widespread public attention back in 1973 by a series of teevee reports by then-new Channel 13 reporter Marvin Zindler, and again later by a Broadway musical and a follow-on movie starring Dolly Parton, Burt Reynolds, and Dom DeLuise. (Not to mention, separately, a haw-along tune by ZZ Top.) But unlike its historical namesake in La Grange (pictured at right in its glory days), the Chicken Ranch “on the fringe” of Sunset Heights won’t be renting out hosted rooms by the hour — it’ll be frying up chickens by the order, though the birds will be available in either regular or “spicy Louisiana-style” versions. Sedillo tells Cook he plans to install a black velvet painting of Zindler in the restaurant when it opens this fall. [Food Chronicles] Photo: Fayette Heritage Museum and Archives via The Signal
What do the Smoothie King at the corner of S. Shepherd and West Alabama, the W Grill at 4825 Washington Ave. (pictured above), and the southern parking lot of the Taco Cabana at the corner of South Main and Old Spanish Trail have in common? They’re all shaped from former locations of Rally’s Hamburgers. After the burger chain’s exit from Houston in the mid-to-late nineties, the distinctive white structures with rounded corners and glass block were repurposed to a range of uses by subsequent tenants. Before its Smoothie King transformation, for example, the spot at 3007 S. Shepherd Dr. did time as a bank. A location of Checkers Drive-in (a rival chain that later merged with Rally’s) at the northwest corner of Antoine and West Tidwell was transformed into a Church’s Chicken — before, that is, being scraped for a drive-up retail box housing a payday lender and a wireless store.
The Drive-Thru Burger Race
“By the time I got back from lunch it was completely demolished,” writes reader Robert Vercher of the long-shuttered former Denny’s Classic Diner at 6415 Richmond Ave., just east of Hillcroft. So he sends us the photo at top, to show us the current status of the chain-restaurant location that once looked so shiny and newish-old (as seen in the older photo at left). Still hungry for a late Grand Slamwich? Try the Denny’s that’s still open, a few blocks west at 8999 Richmond Ave.
Photos: Robert Vercher (demolition); LoopNet (diner)
City-Fried Steak
COMMENT OF THE DAY: TOP RAMEN COVERAGE, BUT YOUR OTHER NOODLES LEAVE ME COLD 
“Another ramen story, Swamplot? Why so much attention on ramen while udon gets nothing?? Udon is part of Houston, too, you know.” [Memebag, commenting on Seattle Ramen House Samurai Noodle Coming to Cottage Grove Strip Center] Illustration: Lulu
Where many have failed — say, 4 restaurants in 7 years — the Bombay Indian Grill now dares to tread. The ‘where’ would be the light-rail-side storefront at 706 Main St., where you might have visited Yatra Brasserie, Laidback Manor, Korma Sutra, or the Downtown outlet of the Burger Guys in previous years. Or maybe (more likely, considering the successive histories of those establishments in this location) you never visited any of them at all. Soon another set of light-rail lines will be running down Capitol, the nearest cross street, so maybe you’ll have fewer excuses? A reader sends in this pic showing the new banner for the Indian-food restaurant hung on the Burger Guys’ signage leftovers.
- Previously on Swamplot: Downtown Burger Guys Closes Down
Photo: Swamplot inbox
Replacing the Burger Guys, and Others
A source tells Swamplot that the Samurai Noodle restaurant that’s scheduled to open in the former Sprint spot in the Durham Shopping Center facing the Katy Fwy. feeder road (at center in the photo above) is in fact a first out-of-state venture for the acclaimed 3-location Seattle ramen shop of the same name. The I-10-facing spot in the strip center at 1801 Durham Dr. is wedged between Golden Hunan restaurant and the SNAP Spay-Neuter and Animal Wellness Clinic (not to be confused, we earnestly hope, with SNAP Kitchen). In Seattle, Samurai Noodle offers non-pork broth options for non-traditionalists, and allows customers to specify their preferred level of noodle firmness.
By the Katy Feeder
Real Estate Bisnow reporter Catie Dixon shows off this helicopter shot taken last week over Hughes Landing, the new mega-development overlooking Lake Woodlands where a whirlwind of construction is taking out a little more of those woods and putting in a whole lot more of those  . . . uh, concretes. And she’s been thoughtful enough to stick some big red numbers on it, so we can make out what’s what and where, and how it’s coming along:
By the Numbers
DON’T BOTHER THE FINE FOLKS AT CAFE JAPON, BUT WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEASE THEIR BUILDING? 
A listing for the 4,000-sq.-ft. restaurant space tucked deep into the space at 3915 Kirby Dr. just north of the Southwest Fwy. appeared last week on LoopNet. “Please do not disturb the tenant,” the listing says, noting that the building is currently occupied month-to-month by “a Japanese restaurant.” That would be longtime sushi purveyor Café Japon. How long might it be until some new-kid-in-town restaurant displaces it? An interloper would have to pay $14,000 per month in addition to a share of property taxes, the listing says. [LoopNet, via Chris Frankel] Photo: LoopNet
Here’s the variance sign (at right) that went up over the weekend at the intersection of Gramercy St. and Kilmarnock Dr., backing up to the power-line easement and ditch that separates the city of Bellaire (beyond the sign) from Houston. Supra Color Enterprises, the Florida-based landlord of the Black-eyed Pea restaurant at 4211 Bellaire Blvd. (above), is requesting a variance from the city as part of an effort to redefine its 1.8-acre property at that address as an “unrestricted reserve.” The variance application doesn’t reveal Supra Color’s plans for the land, but it does refer to a “proposed multifamily development” on the site.
Development Rumors and Mashed Peas
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE ROOMS IN THE OLD RICE HOTEL HAVE BEEN SHUFFLED AROUND A BIT 
“Jim is absolutely correct. The Old Capitol Club was adjacent to The Flag Room, on the first floor. The Flag Room space is now Sambuca. A little internet sleuthing pulls up a dining room shot of some built in booths surrounding structural columns that now frame the stage at Sambuca.” [Josh, commenting on The Rice Hotel’s Storied State Bar, a Favorite Among Lawyers, Will Soon Turn into a Lawless Kitchen] Illustration: Lulu
The 10,000-sq.-ft. Becks Prime location in the Sears wing of the Memorial City Mall — dubbed the Sportatorium on account of its 30 big-screen teevees showing major league sporting events, video game room, and conference room — shut down for good on Saturday. The location had been open since 2008, when the local hamburger chain was substituted late in the game for a venture originally planned to feature Roger Clemens, back in the days when the former Astros, Yankees, and Red Sox player was best known for his standout pitching.
Burgers Are Out!
The sign is down and workers are moving equipment out of the Brio Tuscan Grille at the corner of Kirby and West Alabama. The restaurant shut down yesterday, a reader informs Swamplot. “They had a bunch of stuff all over the floor and about 3 rental moving trucks with guys hanging out,” writes the informant, who adds that one of the unnamed workers said the restaurant had been “not that busy” and wasn’t making enough money. Brio took over the space formerly occupied by Pesce at the 3029 Kirby Dr. spot in the Centre at River Oaks Shopping Center 2 years ago, around the same time the former Borders Books in the same building was being carved up into separate spaces for a pediatric clinic and Ulta Beauty. The Brio CityCentre location remains open.
- Previously on Swamplot: Borders Activity Report
Photo: Swamplot inbox
Moving Out Senza Brio
