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    a parting of ways

    Prominent Houston restaurant company announces surprise ownership split

    Eric Sandler
    Feb 8, 2022 | 10:03 am
    Charles Clark Grant Cooper Clark Cooper Concepts
    Charles Clark and Grant Cooper are no longer business partners.
    Photo by LeZu Photography

    The partners behind some of Houston's most successful restaurants have gone their separate ways. Clark Cooper Concepts, the hospitality group behind restaurants such as Brasserie 19 and Gratify Neighborhood Bistro, has come to an end.

    Clark Cooper partners chef Charles Clark and restaurateur Grant Cooper have divided the company's restaurants. Clark will operate Brasserie 19, the River Oaks staple known for its expansive wine list, attentive service, and classic bistro fare. Cooper will operate Gratify Neighborhood Bistro, Coppa Osteria, and a new restaurant called Flora under the banner of Good Vibe Hospitality. Both men emphasized the split was amicable.

    "There is no bad blood between me and Grant," Clark said in a statement. "We have worked well together for over 20 years and have built many successful restaurants. I value the partnership and success Grant and I have both seen over the years. This separation gives us both the opportunity to do what we want.”

    "It’s a friendly agreement to do our things separately," Cooper tells CultureMap. "We’ve done a lot of successful projects over the years that we were very proud of. We want to do some different things . . . We've earned that right."

    For 20 years, Clark Cooper Concepts ranked among Houston's most dynamic hospitality groups. Beginning with the opening of Ibiza in 2001, Clark and Cooper developed a wide range of successful concepts such as Brasserie 19, Coppa Ristorante, and Catalan, the restaurant where Chris Shepherd worked prior to opening Underbelly. They also earned acclaim for establishments such as SaltAir Seafood Kitchen and Punk's Simple Southern Food. Clark Cooper restaurants offered consistently well-executed food, polished service, and retail-style wine pricing that made it affordable to try something new.

    Clark's plans for Brasserie 19 include a new menu he's developed with executive chef Michael Hoffman that will debut in the coming weeks. Diners can also expect an expanded wine list and some interior updates.

    “I am thrilled to be at Brasserie 19 every day, greeting customers who have been dining with us since we opened, meeting new faces and seeing Chef Michael’s creativity in the kitchen as he evolves and expands the menu,” Clark said in a statement.

    As for Cooper, he's joined in Good Vibe by former Clark Cooper director of operations Marc Cantu and Coppa general manager Josep Prats. "We have a really good team," Cooper says. "Marc and Josep have worked with me for 10-plus years. They’ll be an integral part of this new business."

    That new business starts with Flora, a Mexican restaurant that will occupy the former Dunlavy space on Allen Parkway. Details are light, but diners can expect a menu "that explores the flavors and energy of the small towns of Mexico with a Texas touch," according to a release. Cocktails will focus on an extensive selection of tequila and mezcal.

    Good Vibe will have other new projects in the works, too. Cooper acknowledges he could resurrect Daddy's Burgers, a pop-up from 2020 that focused on backyard-style burgers and chicken sandwiches. Eater Houston reported that Cooper is also behind Graffiti Raw, a new restaurant coming to the Montrose Collective mixed-use development, but Cooper has yet to confirm his involvement.

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    fit to print

    New York Times critic awards Houston restaurant 2 stars in glowing review

    Eric Sandler
    Dec 16, 2025 | 5:15 pm
    Chopnblok food spread
    Courtesy of ChòpnBlọk
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    Let’s just call 2025 the year of ChòpnBlọk. In a review published Tuesday, December 16, the New York Times has awarded the Houston restaurant two stars (“very good”).

    Written by chief restaurant critic Tejal Rao, the review touts many of the same qualities that the Times already praised when it included ChòpnBlọk on its list of America’s 50 best restaurants.

    Rao writes that she usually avoids restaurants that serve food in bowls, but she’s impressed by the way that chef-owner Ope Amosu has put a West African spin on the concept.

    “For inspiration, Ope Amosu looked to the kind of chain restaurants that were built to scale, where flavors are often subdued to appeal to the broadest possible audience, focus-grouped to death. But the delight of ChòpnBlok is in its sure sense of self, its lively, multidimensional cooking and clear, delicious vision for modern food from the Black diaspora,” Rao writes.

    She singles out specific dishes, including the Nigerian red stew with short rib, the Black Star bowl with shrimp, and the signature Motherland, made with chicken, greens, and plantains. “It’s utterly simple, but draws you in for more with the mouthwatering twang of not-too-much MSG — an international shortcut to building umami that tends to be used carefully, and layered with other forms,” she writes.

    The review also touches on the way Amosu switched the restaurant from counter service to full service — described as “warm, informal, and quick with the jokes” — and his time working at Chipotle to learn the basics of the restaurant operations.

    A two-star review is only the latest instance of ChòpnBlọk receiving national attention. In addition to the Times 50 best list, Esquire recently named it one of America’s best new restaurants. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand designation for 2025. Amosu earned a semifinalist nomination for Best Chef: Texas in the 2025 James Beard Awards.

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