Restaurant Groups Consolidate

Houston restaurant groups consolidate locations as coronavirus closures continue

I'll Have What She's Having IHWSH fall pop-up Dunlavy crowd

The Dunlavy is temporarily closed.

Photo by Kirsten Gilliam

As the mandated statewide closure of all bars as well as restaurant dining rooms continues, some of Houston’s most prominent restaurant groups are consolidating operations around one location.

The reasons for these decisions are varied. They could include the simple reality that a restaurant’s food can’t be easily converted into a to-go format or that diners don’t see its experience as translating into a to-go situation. Fundamentally, closing some locations or consolidating others provides restaurateurs with the ability to cut costs at a time when revenues have declined sharply.

“If we can nurture a singular efficient business pod within our community and various industries can do the same, then I think we can eventually nurture future growth outside of our collective pods,” Clark Cooper Concepts co-owner Grant Cooper said in a statement about his company's decision to consolidate all of its operations at Coppa Osteria. “It will take a lot of hard work to carry this challenge out but I think the character, fortitude and backbone of like minded people will result in a victory for us all.”

Agricole Hospitality
The Heights-based restaurant group has temporarily closed two of its EaDo concepts, the restaurant Indianola and the cocktail bar Miss Carousel, as well as Night Heron, its Italian-inspired restaurant in Montrose.

Vinny’s, its EaDo pizzeria, remains open for both delivery and to-go. In The Heights, Coltivare, Eight Row Flint, and Revival Market all remain open for both delivery and to-go. See each restaurant’s website for phone numbers and hours of operation.

Benjy Levit Restaurants
The veteran restaurateur has temporarily closed benjy's, The Classic, and the downtown location of Local Foods. However, Local Foods locations in Upper Kirby, Tanglewood, The Heights, and Rice Village remain open for both delivery and to-go.

Berg Hospitality
The company has temporarily closed The Annie Cafe and Turner’s, its recently opened, ultra-luxurious supper club. B.B. Lemon is also temporarily closed.

B&B Butchers and its companion butcher shop remain open for to-go and delivery via DoorDash and Favor from 11 am - 8 pm. B.B. Italia and its companion pizzeria are also open for delivery and to-go from 4-8 pm.

Bernie’s Burger Bus
Only the restaurant’s original location in Bellaire remains open; stores in Katy, Missouri City, and the Heights are temporarily closed. Consolidation has allowed chef-owner Justin Turner to offer daily specials, family-style meals, and Bernie’s Bodega, which stocks a limited number of grocery items. Order online or call 713-349-9400 for the latest offerings.

Bobby Heugel and Justin Yu
The business partners have some establishments in common and some they operate separately, but it's easier to consider them together for the purposes of this article.

Anvil, Better Luck Tomorrow, The Pastry War, and Tongue-cut Sparrow are currently closed. Squable and Penny Quarter are both open and serving an identical menu that’s available for pick-up from 5-10 pm daily. Public Services is open from 3-8 pm with a limited food menu that’s available to-go. Theodore Rex is running a special menu inspired by Yu’s Moneycat pop-up series that’s also available to-go; order by emailing info@trexhouston.com.

Clark Cooper Concepts
As noted above, the restaurant group has consolidated all of its operations into Coppa Osteria, which means The Dunlavy, Brasserie 19, and Punk’s are temporarily closed. Consolidation allows the one location to serve dishes from all of the company’s concepts, including Satisfy, their upcoming healthy-eating concept. Plans include Taco Tuesday and specials from Ibiza on Thursday.

The company is also selling wines from Brasserie 19’s cellar at a discount via preset packages. See the full menu online for the latest offerings.

Ford Fry Restaurants
The Atlanta-based restaurant has temporarily closed all of its Houston restaurants — State of Grace, Superica, and La Lucha — as of March 26, owner Ford Fry announced.

Goode Company
The local restaurant group that explores all of the influences on modern Texan cooking has about half of its normal locations open. Armadillo Palace, both of its restaurants in The Woodlands, both locations of Goode Co. Seafood, and its barbecue restaurant on Hwy. 290 are temporarily closed.

On the positive side, Goode Co. Barbeque locations on both Kirby Drive and I-10 remain open, as is Goode Co. Taqueria, and the Memorial-area location of Goode Co. Kitchen and Cantina. Head to the Goode Co website to order for pickup or delivery.

H Town Restaurant Group
Hugo Ortega and Tracy Vaught have temporarily closed both Xochi and Caracol. Backstreet Cafe and Hugo's are both offering curbside to-go. See websites for details.

Killen’s Restaurants
Ronnie Killen has consolidated his operations to his hometown of Pearland. Killen’s STQ, Killen’s TMX, and Killen’s Steakhouse in The Woodlands are temporarily closed.

Killen’s Barbecue, Killen’s Steakhouse, and Killen’s Burgers are open for both delivery and to-go via DoorDash. See individual websites for details.

Liberty Kitchen
All three locations of the Southern-inspired restaurant are “closed until further notice,” per a representative.

Politan Row
All of the vendors at Rice Village's food hall have announced they are temporarily closed.

Sambrooks Management Company
The company has consolidated operations by temporarily closing both Candente and 1751 Sea and Bar. The Pit Room remains open with its full barbecue menu, as well as Tex-Mex family packs and desserts by 1751 pastry chef Allison Thiessen. The company has created a special pick-up lane at The Patio.

Underbelly Hospitality
Chris Shepherd has consolidated all of his operations into Hay Merchant and Georgia James. The offerings include dishes from all four of his restaurants, raw steaks from Georgia James' dry-aging cabinet, and meals that can be heated at home.

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Esquire's Best New Restaurants

Esquire names Houston's West African eatery to best new restaurants list

Photo by StuffBenEats

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It’s a ChòpnBlọk world, and we’re all living in it. The Houston restaurant is the only Texas representative to make Esquire’s list of The Best New Restaurants in America, 2025.

Published Monday, December 1, the list includes 33 restaurants from across the country. New York City leads the list with seven representatives, followed by greater Los Angeles, which earns six spots, including Restaurant of the Year for RVR, an izakaya in Venice, California.

The quality of the restaurants they’ve discovered has put the magazine in a celebratory mood.

“This year at Esquire we’ve seen dozens of new restaurants like this, places where spectacular food is coupled with a damn good time — where ambition and abandon meet,” Joshua David Stein writes. “These are the places you hate to leave, but when you do, you leave full. Full of some of the most deeply personal food you can remember eating, full of joy and ideas and hope. You stumble out, way past your bedtime, practically dancing in the street.”

Turning to ChòpnBlọk, Stein notes that founder Ope Amosu has already partnered with Houston hip-hop legend Bun B and the Rockets — and hints that more locations may be on the way. Still, it’s West African restaurant’s creative fare hat sets it apart.

“Recent years are littered with the carcasses of failed fast-casual concepts. But Ope Amosu’s ChòpnBlok seems destined for success, borne on the tide of seven tremendous rice bowls,” he writes. “The rices range from the Ghanaian fried rice known as waakye — pronounced ‘watchee’ — to diaspora-bridging jollof jambalaya. Along with the rices come ikoyi shrimp or yaji vegetables finished with yassa curry or red stew and plantains.”

Reached for comment, Amosu sent the following text to celebrate his restaurant’s success.

When we say “Africa to the world,” these are amongst the reflections we envision.

Being named one of Esquire’s Best New Restaurants is bigger than us. It’s a win for our community, our culture, the diaspora. We’re grateful to see our West African cuisine and narrative taking up space and shifting the conversation around what American dining at its best can be. And to do this while reppin’ ‘the H’… Man!!! Hol’ up!!!

We move with the flavors, stories, and traditions that shaped us. It’s what we know and how we will continue to show up.

I’m humbled in the best way and still locked in… ten toes down! Our community and the city of Houston just caught another win and it feels right! What an honor!

In 2024, Esquire named Afro-Mexican restaurant Late August as its only Houston best new restaurant. In 2023, it named Montrose restaurant Nonno’s Family Pizza Tavern as its Pizza Joint of the Year.

First opened as a stand at the Post Market food hall downtown, Amosu opened ChòpnBlok’s first standalone location in Montrose on October 1, 2024 (Nigerian Independence Day). It features a West African-inspired design by Zainob Amao of AMAO Creative in collaboration with Gin Braverman of Gin Design Group.

Being included in Esquire is only the latest national recognition for ChòpnBlok. In September, the New York Times named it one of America’s 50 best restaurants. Last month, the Michelin Guide named it one of five new Houston restaurants to receive a Bib Gourmand designation.

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