COMMENT OF THE DAY: THERE’S A LITTLE BIT OF TUSCANY IN EVERY OLIVE GARDEN “What culinary region of Italy brought us bottomless salad and bread sticks?” [bassmaster, commenting on Sabetta Café Makes Sure To Feed the Blogs First]
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Tag: Restaurants
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE INVENTION OF FEEDER FOOD “On another note, I would like to find out precisely who was responsible for making the philosophical decision to attach feeder roads to freeways in Texas in the first place, way back in the 50’s. Feeder Roads turned out to be an aesthetic disaster, helped kill off many local business districts, and led to the proliferation of countless mediocre restaurant chains.” [Mies, commenting on Comment of the Day: That’s Why They Call Them Feeder Roads]
How cute! Just a few days after a restaurant publicist emails news about the new Sabetta Café & Wine Bar set to open in the former location of Café Zol at 2411 South Shepherd just south of Fairview, a Swamplot “reader” sends in a photo (which just happens to be named in the same very specific style as the ones sent by the publicist) of the new sign out front and asks us if we know anything about it.
Only what you tell us! Let’s see: that it’ll be the new digs of former Simposio’s executive chef Riccardo Palazzo-Giorgio and his wife, Donna; that they’ll be serving “classic, signature dishes from the twenty-two different culinary regions of Italy,” and that you expect it to open in May.
WHERE TO PICK UP A FREE BITE TO EAT IN MONTROSE 
Looking for a little pony’s foot for your salad? You won’t find any in Montrose grocery stores, but you should have no problem picking some up in any number of nearby vacant lots: “. . . in just a three-block radius, [petroleum chemist and urban foraging teacher Mark Vorderbruggen] identifies 34 different edibles. Things like mallows, which have rough leaves with toothed edges, and wild radishes which have long, symmetrical leaves, four yellow or white petals and tastes like horseradish. But urban foraging isn’t only about finding tasty things to munch on. ‘There’s a lot of things you can use for skin irritation. In fact I see some right over here. . . . This is plantain and it’s real good. You just crush it up and make a mash. It’s good against insect bites, mosquito bites, bee stings.” [Houston Public Radio News] Photo: KUHF
A spokesperson for Buffalo Grille parking-lot tenant H-E-B confirms that the popular West U brunch-and-lunch spot will be moving from its current location on Bissonnet at Buffalo Speedway after its lease expires next year, “to a new location yet to be determined.” But one possible new location for the Buffalo Grille — a portion of the former JMH Market on Rice Blvd. — was just snapped up by the owners of Thompson + Hansen Nursery and Tiny Boxwood’s. The Buffalo Grille’s John McAleer tells the West University Examiner
“Right now…pickings are very slim. Any vacant space in the West U area, or the closest you can get to it, we’re looking at it. We have a year left, and we’re looking at that perfect location to find.”
How awkward: McAleer’s parents, Mac and Betty McAleer, “are part of the management team that owns the land on which the Buffalo Grille and H-E-B are situated,” the Examiner‘s Charlotte Aguilar and Steve Mark explain. And Molina’s Restaurant — displaced from the shopping center a few years ago when H-E-B redeveloped it — is still looking for its own replacement West U location.
The owner of the Dunkin’ Donuts in Pasadena and on FM 1960 near I-45 is renovating the Bellaire location that a previous owner shut down last October, writes Steve Mark:
“I heard they were closing that store and I called the corporate office right away,†[Harshad] Patel told The Examiner. “We don’t have that many Dunkin’ Donuts close to the city, so I asked if I could re-open that one. . . .”
Patel expects the first donuts will be ready later this month — after the gutted building at 5406 Bellaire Blvd. between Bissonnet and Chimney Rock gets outfitted with a new roof, AC system, and kitchen equipment.
- Donut shop returning for more dunkin’ [Bellaire Examiner]
- Previously on Swamplot: Openings and Closings: Down the Donut Hole
Photo: Bellaire Examiner
“Robots need not apply” reads the recent ad for staff positions at the new BRC Gastropub at the corner of North Shepherd and Blossom. Hey, didn’t that building use to be a funeral monument and gravestone sales center? Reader photos show it ready to come to life — almost directly across the street from that former pool hall refashioned into Branch Water Tavern.
The West University Examiner‘s Steve Mark reports that the owners of the Thompson + Hanson Nursery and the adjacent Tiny Boxwood’s cafe on West Alabama are expected to buy the former JMH Market building at the corner of Rice Blvd. and Edloe. The company’s new West U retail location might include a café and nursery:
Gregg Thompson of Thompson + Hanson, says upon completion of financial arrangements, he hopes to open doors at the JMH location within six months. Thompson is mulling over varied plans for the available 7,000 available square feet of the property. Texas Citizens Bank occupies a portion and has use of parking. . . .
Thompson is inclined to open a variation of his Tiny Boxwood’s theme. The current structure on Edloe would remain the same, he said.
- Thompson + Hanson, Tiny’s may be coming to JMH site [West University Examiner]
Photo of former JMH Market, 3636 Rice Blvd.: West University Examiner
How cheaply did the Ponderosa Land Development Co. pick up the 1.3 acres of land under Otto’s Bar B Que on Memorial Dr.?
“I won’t be able to ride off into the sunset with what I’m getting,†Otto’s co-owner June Sofka tells Jennifer Dawson of the Houston Business Journal. And that’s our only clue. Well, that and the fact that the shopping-center developers still had enough money left over to buy the property next door.
A new 2-story building on the 1.8-acre site between Asbury and Reinicke, on the southern border of Rice Military, is being designed by Kirksey.
The portion with Memorial frontage that will also be torn down to make way for the new project is owned by two sisters, one of whom is Wanda Greb. Their property contains Bibas Greek Pizza, M-T Nails, Memorial Barber Shop, Rich Cleaners and the hamburger restaurant segment of Otto’s, which is leased by the Sofkas.
Ponderosa intends to scrape the entire site and develop a 22,000-square-foot center with retail, restaurant and possibly some boutique office space. The project is expected to cost $6 million to $8 million, not including the land cost.
But wait, maybe not all of those businesses are disappearing from that location!
Yes, that’s the former Southwest Muffler and Brake building at the corner of Heights Blvd. and Washington Ave., under new design management. At last, reports a reader, there’s a sign out front indicating the impending opening of Phil’s Texas Barbecue. And in such a tiny little 7,000-sq.-ft. building!
Our reader comments:
While I welcome the addition to the Washington corridor, this place violates Rule No. 1 of successful eatery: a restaurant that spends too much money on looks spends not enough on food. Consider me a hopeful skeptic.
And you haven’t even seen the landscaping yet! Construction has been ongoing since last September. When will those ribs be ready?
An earlier view of that front patio:
Soon to be a rather graphic novel: Yehudi Mercado’s story of crime, lust, and pepperoni in Houston’s hot-Rocketing summer of ’94.
Ever order from Turbo Pizza on Buffalo Speedway? Gotta recommend the Meat Madness Big Freak.
Sure, Houston has about 1,000 licensed mobile food vendors. (Yes, most of them are taco trucks.) Why aren’t there more? Ruthie Johnson explains a few of the regulations — and other roadblocks:
Most of the standards are a welcome way to ensure food safety, but some are annoying — or downright ironic. Street vendors, for example, must be at least 100 feet from any seating area, yet must have notarized proof of a usable restroom within 500 feet. The tiniest of carts must have a massive vent hood. And vendors are never allowed to be on a sidewalk. Jason Jones of Haute Texan Tacos says that actually “the biggest problem is that there aren’t really any decent pedestrian areas for street vendors in Houston.” Jones, who recently put his truck up for sale, goes on to explain that a fire code which prevents propane-powered businesses from selling anywhere downtown or in the Medical Center takes away a street vendor’s two largest pedestrian areas.
Other obstacles? Powerful restaurateurs don’t want the competition from street vendors, consumers don’t appreciate them, and city officials make it difficult to get questions answered and inspections scheduled. Sean Carroll of Melange Creperie says that “Anyone looking to start a mobile food service business in Houston should expect to be on the sidelines for six months at the very least.
- The Street Vendor Blues [Eating Our Words]
- Mobile Food Units [Food Inspection & Safety]
Photo of taco trailer, for sale: Haute Texan Tacos
THE COMING MIGRATION OF THE BUFFALO GRILLE? Is the Buffalo Grille, left as the lone strip-center survivor at the corner of Bissonnet and Buffalo Speedway after the recent invasion of the new H-E-B Buffalo Market, looking to shuffle off to a new location? An H-E-B representative did tell the West U city council the restaurant would stay where it’s been for the last 26 years — but that was last May. More recently, restaurant co-owner John McAleer says H-E-B managers have “expressed concerns” about there not being enough parking for the grocery store. So he’s looking into a possible new location for the West U breakfast joint — namely, a portion of the former JMH Market less than a mile to the southwest, at the corner of Edloe and Rice Blvd. “McAleer said the restaurant has not received official word from the grocery store about what will happen in April 2011 when its lease expires. There’s still the chance that The Buffalo Grille will stay put, but the family is exploring all its options . . . ‘They’re worried some of our customers are taking their spots, and their customers are going over to Kroger, which is obviously their biggest competitor,’ he said.” [Instant News West U; previously on Swamplot]
A hungry reader writes in wanting to know about the new concrete-block building going up at 2802 S. Shepherd, just across Harold St. from the Houston Wine Merchant. Half of the lot is the site of the former Chicken N Egg Roll. Because the neighboring house on Harold was carted away, the new lot is twice as deep.
I have confirmed that it is a commercial establishment, but can’t find any additional info. Do you know? It looks too small to be a restaurant, but one can hope . . .
Here’s one clue our reader will be happy to hear: The original demolition report from last April listed the owner or occupant of the property as Toyama Japanese Restaurant.
- Previously on Swamplot: Daily Demolition Report: Chicken and Egg Roll
Photo: Swamplot inbox
COMMENT OF THE DAY: READING THE WASHINGTON AVE CRYSTAL BALL “Eventually people will get sick of having no place to park and the hot spot will move on. Prediction is for Brixx to go out of business within six months, Eight will turn into a restaurant within a year and Taps will probably stay as it is. Not sure about Roosevelt – could become a restaurant as it does have a parking lot of its own.” [MC, commenting on What It’s Like to Live on Center St.]