WHY YOU CAN’T EAT AT MR. PEEPLES YET 
A lawsuit from Landry’s is trying to keep the self-described “sexy,” “chic,” and “unique” Mr. Peeples Seafood + Steaks from opening at 1911 Bagby St. in Midtown. Culturemap’s Whitney Radley reports that Tim Kohler, who managed Vic & Anthony’s near Minute Maid Park, is named in the suit alleging that he violated nondisclosure and noncompetition clauses for “solicit[ing] former Vic & Anthony’s sales manager Stacy Chambers to work for the up-and-coming seafood and steakhouse.” But Landmark Houston, which owns several other Houston bars and restaurants besides Mr. Peeples, doesn’t appear to think there’s much competition there — or so it tells the Houston Chronicle: “Mr. Peeples is a stylish, high energy, and vibrant alternative to the traditional steakhouse concept . . . We believe there is room and a need for both concepts in the growing Houston market.” [Culturemap; Houston Chronicle] Image: Mr. Peeples Seafood + Steaks, via Facebook
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Vic & Anthony’s is a god awful restaurant, they don’t hold a candle to any of the real steakhouses in this town (Pappa’s Bros., Taste of Texas, Perry’s).
Hopefully Peeples doesn’t suffer as a result of having former V&A management. The restaurant construction has been making good progress. All the lights were on inside this morning and it looks nearly complete.
But I can hardly wait to finally be able to eat an overpriced steak! How long have we been waiting for this, Houston!?! And they’ll have seafood?!?!
Landry’s is yesterdays news – better fare can be had at TGIFridays.
And puh-lease, Taste of Texas isn’t any kind of real steakhouse.
My instant reaction was that any new restaurant with a name like “Mr. Peeples” is doomed to a quick failure. If the people behind it are that amateurish about choosing a name, I imagine they are likewise about a lot of other things.
Sounds pretty dated and creepy. Like a place that would be the only place open to eat at night in Texarkana in 1982.
The building looks awesome. Go midtown!
(*cough* Go Holman! ;)
A. Agree with Guido, “Mr. Peeples” is a stupid name, sounds like some gimmicky theme joint.
B. A non-compete agreement can stay in effect after an employee is fired? Sounds like he needs a good lawyer.
@#1 and #3, I guess we’ve all got our own tastes and flavors we like, I was thinking “pappas bros steakhouse? ugh” then I got to #3 and was like “really? taste of texas is pretty good”.
The steaks are made from Peeples?!?!?!?
@Colleen – the whole point of a non-compete is to keep you from working for a competitor and using the skills your current employer taught you to compete with them.
They don’t last more than a year or two – but they are completely enforceable to prevent you from working for the competition. A good lawyer will not get the non-compete lifted if it was written correctly.
@marksmu, Texas is a right to work state so non competes are not always enforceable. Besides, I would hardly consider the skill of cooking bland, overpriced, mediocre food found at (insert any Landry’s owned restaurant here) a trade secret.
Non-competes are generally designed so an employee can’t take customers and vendors with him to a new job, eliminating an opportunity for a competitor to corrupt or bribe such employee or for the employee to steal the business model and become a competitor. However, in the food industry this seems ridiculous, there are no loyal customers or large accounts, and vendors are a dime a dozen.
@Guido…If the people behind it are that amateurish about choosing a name, I imagine they are likewise about a lot of other things.
Who knows. Maybe restaurant branding is trending away from the current silliness (and pretentiousness) of one-syllable named eateries.
Competition is good for the growth of Houston. Why not lift the glass dome and allow other businesses to offer variety and change.