Major Restaurant Drama

Restaurant shocker: Prominent Houston restaurateur parts ways with company he helped found

Lee Ellis has parted ways with Cherry Pie Hospitality.

A major change has happened behind-the-scenes of some of Houston’s most prominent restaurants. Cherry Pie Hospitality — the company behind State Fare, Star Fish, Lee’s Fried Chicken & Donuts, Petite Sweets, and Pi Pizza — has parted ways with partner Lee Ellis, CultureMap has learned.

The move counts as one of the biggest surprises in recent Houston restaurant history. Ellis helped found Cherry Pie, which combined elements of the work he did at F.E.E.D. TX with parts of celebrity chef Bradley Ogden’s failed attempt to open three restaurants in Houston. Ellis maintains his shares in the company but is no longer involved in its day-to-day operations, Cherry Pie CEO Chris Vestal tells CultureMap. Chef Jim Mills, who came to Cherry Pie from F.E.E.D. TX with Ellis, remains the company's COO, Vestal adds.

"There’s no acrimony. There’s no hard feelings. There’s no anything else," Vestal says. "Lee moved to Round Top, and we’re here running it . . . with the same standards as always."

During his time at Cherry Pie, Ellis specialized in front of the house service and restaurant design. He helped transform Pour Society into State Fare, the Texas comfort food restaurant that won last year’s CultureMap Tastemaker Awards Best New Restaurant. In addition, he forged the partnership with food truck chef Anthony Calleo to open Pi Pizza and developed a successful seafood concept in Star Fish, which is currently competing in the Tastemaker Awards Best New Restaurant tournament.

"We’re excited about all of the opportunity and our staff and everybody we have here," Vestal says. "We love Houston, obviously. We appreciate everything Lee has done for the whole company. No one’s going to forget that any time soon."

CultureMap has contacted Ellis for comment on the situation and will update this article when he responds.

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the more things change

Houston's essential Jewish diner looks better than ever after refresh

Photo by Sergio Trevino

The dining room has more light than ever.

It’s tricky to renovate a restaurant that’s as essential to its community as New York Deli. A staple of Houston’s Jewish community for almost 50 years, the tiny restaurant near Meyerland will serve as many as 400 people during a busy Sunday brunch.

Still, the time had come, as the tape on the deteriorating banquettes and peeling wallpaper illustrated. With the restaurant’s lease up for renewal, co-owner Michael Saghian saw an opportunity for some updates.

“I couldn’t be the new guy who ruined the place by moving it,” he tells CultureMap. “We worked out a deal with the landlord [to stay] and did a big refresh.”

The most noticeable change is the removal of the restaurant’s front door and vestibule. Instead, diners enter through the restaurant’s companion bagel shop. Separate entrances made sense when the bagel shop was certified kosher by local religious authorities, but now that designation only applies to the Bellaire location that opened in 2020. Not only is the new setup easier for people with mobility issues to navigate, it allows more light into the dining room, brightening the place considerably..

Saghian and co-owner Riana Sherman worked with interior designer Erin Hicks on the refresh. Tables, chairs, and banquettes are all new, but the color scheme remains the same. The process yielded 10 more seats, and the furniture is a little more durable, too.

“People have flipped chairs because they’re so lightweight,” Sherman says. “We got a sturdier chair.”

Behind the scenes, an expanded kitchen allows for the restaurant’s cooks to work faster and more efficiently. An additional egg cooker should cut down the amount of time people wait for their food to arrive.

“The kitchen had one of everything. Now we have two of everything. We can pump out a lot more food,” Saghian says.

Photographs on the walls honor longtime customers such as the “bagel girls,” a group of woman who’ve eaten breakfast at the restaurant since the ‘80s. A piece of old wallpaper has been framed and hung on the wall, too, as a nod to the space’s history.

New York Deli interior changes Photographs on the walls honor longtime customers.Photo by Sergio Trevino

Photo by Sergio Trevino

The dining room has more light than ever.

Saghian says he suffered from sleepless nights as he worried about people’s reactions to the changes, but so far his customers have been effusive.

“It still feels like an old school diner,” Saghian says. “It has pieces you remember. Even the new stuff is old school.”

While the physical environment is new, the staff remains the same. To ensure he kept the same team of cooks and servers, Saghian paid their wages for the two weeks the restaurant was closed for renovations.

Even more importantly, the prices are the same. That’s something that will make even the oldest regulars happy.

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