Add one of Houston's best restaurants to the 2014 bakery boom.
Pondicheri chef/owner Anita Jaisinghani has revealed that the long simmering rumor that her restaurant in West Ave will add an upstairs bakery and to-go space this summer is true.
"We have finally signed the lease and are ready to announce our expansion for upstairs," Jaisinghani tells CultureMap in an email. "We will be taking over the entire space above us (about 3,200 square-feet), so, in effect, more than doubling our space."
Even as other, high-profile restaurants have struggled in West Ave., Pondicheri has become a go-to.
The restaurant opened in 2011 as a more casual counterpart to Jaisinghani's restaurant Indika. Even as other, high-profile restaurants have struggled in West Ave, Pondicheri has become a go-to for its Indian-inspired breakfasts, casual lunches and features such as Meatless Mondays and a Tuesday fried chicken special. Long known for its pastries (it received recognition from CultureMap as one of Houston's best places for cookies), the expansion will allow the restaurant to diversify its well-regarded offerings.
"Our bakery has worked out of a cramped small table with two ovens behind it for three years. It will finally have the space it deserves," Jaisinghani writes.
The additional space will also sell spices and expand Pondicheri's popular tiffin to-go program.
Other bakeries on the drawing board for this year include Common Bond, Fluff Bake Bar, Tout Sweet and a retail storefront for Slow Dough Bakery.
Start exercising now. It's going to be a high-carb year.
The current downstairs space only has two ovens.
