10 things to know

10 things to know in Houston food right now: Openings, closings, and a new brewpub in Montrose

Editor’s note: Houston’s restaurant scene moves pretty fast. In order to prevent CultureMap readers from missing anything, let’s stop to look around at all the latest news to know.

Openings, closings, and coming attractions

Tres Tacos celebrated its grand opening on December 17. Located in Montrose at 212 Westheimer Rd, the restaurant, a sister concept to downtown’s La Fisheria, blends Middle Eastern and Mexican flavors to create dishes such as hummus with chipotle and pico de gallo, lamb kebab tacos, and baklava. More traditional Mexican fillings include birria, Baja-style fried fish, and carne asada; they’re available in both tacos and machetes, a griddled, extra-large format. A full list of cocktails, beer, and cider are also available.

Blue Lagoon Bar & Grill recently opened in Balmoral, a 750-acre community in Humble that features a two-acre crystal-clear lagoon; it is touted as the first restaurant with a view of the amenity. The menu focuses on a wide selection of familiar fare that ranges from smothered pork chops to chicken fried steak and blackened redfish with tomatillo salsa. Cocktails, wine, and beer are also be available.

Mala Sichuan has opened its fourth Houston-area location in Sugar Land. Located in the Jusgo Supermarket shopping center at 3412 Highway 6, the restaurant serves the same award-winning Sichuan fare that has made Mala a Houston institution. Like its three siblings in Chinatown, Montrose, and Katy, the new Mala will be open on Christmas Day.

Houston’s newest Tiff’s Treats has opened in Cy-Fair in the Cypress Crossing shopping center (13126 FM 1960). Known for delivering warm cookies in a range of classic flavors, the bakery will celebrate its grand opening on January 9 with a fundraiser for Lily’s Toy Box, a local non-profit that provides toys and books to children. Tickets for the grand opening cost $10 and come with a dozen cookies, a $5 gift card, and the chance to win a $100 gift card.

Click Virtual Food Hall has added yet another concept to its ever-expanding roster. Fair Game serves smoked, one-and-a-half pound turkey legs that can be topped with ingredients such as mac and cheese, tikka masala sauce, and Central Texas-style barbecue sauce. Like all of its Click’s other concepts, it’s available for take out or delivery within seven miles of its location near Washington Avenue and Durham Drive.

Texadelphia closed its location in Vintage Park on December 7, the restaurant announced on Facebook. Fans can satisfy their cravings from The Texican, Founder’s Favorite, and other signature items at the Texadelphia locations in Katy, Galveston, and Memorial.

The Toasted Yolk will open its 15th Houston-area location in League City on Monday, December 28 (2535 Gulf Freeway South). To celebrate the grand opening, the breakfast and lunch cafe will offer free churro donuts and $3 mimosas. Known for its classic American menu, The Toasted Yolk serves dishes such as Benedicts, salads, sandwiches, and pancakes.

The Nash will open in downtown Houston in mid-January. Located in The Star apartment building, the restaurant will feature a floor to ceiling bar, an open kitchen, and a dog-friendly patio. Owners Dora and Alvin Murgai turned to consultant Omar Pereney to create a menu of classic American fare that ranges from pizzas and salads to pastas and steaks. Although Pereney will not be a daily presence in the kitchen, he has trained the cooks who will execute the menu.

The former Good Dog space in Montrose won’t stay empty for long. Southern Yankee Craft House, a brewpub concept from the owners of Houston’s Southern Yankee Brewing Company, will open in the location this spring, Houstonia reports. The restaurant will expand on the wood-fired pizzas and wings served from the brewery’s food truck with sandwiches and salads, plus cocktails and plenty of Southern Yankee brews.

Other news and notes

Riel has named Peter Nguyen as its new executive sous chef. The chef comes to Houston from Boston where he worked for James Beard Award winners Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette at Little Donkey, a tapas restaurant in Cambridge. Expect more Italian and East Coast-inspired dishes on the menu as Nguyen settles in to his new role.

Find machete tacos at Tres Tacos.

Courtesy of Tres Tacos

Find machete tacos at Tres Tacos.

closings openings news-you-can-eat

visiting popup bagels

A highly opinionated take on Houston's venture-backed new bagel shop

Courtesy of PopUp Bagels

Houstonians are lining up to try PopUp Bagels.

It’s hard to remember the last restaurant opening with as much fanfare as PopUp Bagels. Houstonians lined up in the heat for the bakery’s grand opening on Saturday, June 13.

Shawn the Food Sheep included a glimpse of the line in his review below.

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A post shared by Shawn Singh (@shawnthefoodsheep)

Eager to see what the fuss is all about, I stopped by around 10 am on Thursday, June 18. Thankfully, only about a dozen people stood in line ahead of me, and I had a bag of six bagels in less than 20 minutes.

The frequency with which it boils and bakes it bagels sets PopUp Bagels apart from Houston’s traditional, mostly family-owned bagel shops. Instead of making large batches early in the morning that may get refreshed once or twice per day, PopUp Bagels is constantly boiling and baking smaller batches of a couple dozen bagels at a time throughout its operating hours. That's why customers will hear the cry of “hot bagels” echoing through the small, counter-service space every time more emerge from the oven.

PopUp is different from traditional bagel shops in a couple of other important ways. First, the menu only list five varieties — plain, poppy, salt, sesame, and everything, which is topped with poppy seeds, salt, and sesame seeds. And, it only serves whole bagels — no slicing or toasting. The store’s motto of “grip, rip, and dip” explains how it expects customers to consume their bagels. Packaged lox are available, but diners have to assemble the sandwich themselves — either off-site or at one of the couple of cafe tables outside.

PopUp Bagels also doesn’t sell individual bagels. Instead, diners must order a minimum of three bagels and a schmear — various cream cheese and butters are available — for $15. Six bagels and a schmear costs $24. A dozen bagels and two schmears is $46. As a point of comparison, the Bagel Shop Bakery in Bellaire charges $25 for 13 bagels and two, 8-ounce schmears.

So, how is it?

Fresh, hot bagels are inherently superior to hours-old bagels. That’s a real advantage for PopUp Bagels. On my visit, the fresh-from-the-oven plain bagels were so hot that they needed a couple of minutes before we could "grip and rip" them.

As for the bagels themselves, they certainly look the part. The outside is deeply caramelized with an even distribution of toppings that adhere well to the exterior.

But the biggest shortcoming is texture. Bagels, obviously, are supposed to be chewy, but all six of the bagels that an ex-pat New Yorker friend and I ordered walked the line between chewy and underbaked. That may be deliberate, as softer bagels are easier to “grip and rip.”

It's also possible that the bakery’s new employees are still dialing in procedures, and that a different day would yield bagels with a crispier texture. Colloquially, friends who have also visited the shop — both in Houston and other cities — disagreed with my assessment of the texture.

The plain is just that, with a very mild flavor. Both the scallion cream cheese and salted butter had a pleasantly creamy texture and boosted the dining experience.

Overall, PopUp is competitive with Houston’s best bagels. That’s promising, since Stripes — the equity growth firm that bought PopUp Bagels in 2023 — has announced plans to open more than 300 locations nationwide.

But you won’t see me driving half an hour or standing in a long line to get another taste. Houston’s locally-owned bagel shops are more convenient, less expensive, and just as good.

Courtesy of PopUp Bagels

Houstonians are lining up to try PopUp Bagels.

openings news-you-can-eat breakfast popup bagels