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.

closings news-you-can-eat

Bourdain-inspired chef/writer

Houston chef looks back at barbecue pop-ups with artful new zine

Courtesy of Ryan Grimes

Ryan Grimes has been serving food in bars for more than 10 years.

If you frequent beloved dive bars like Two Headed Dog, Grand Prize Bar or Lil' Danny Speedo's Go Fly a Kite Lounge, there’s a good chance you’ve drunkenly bought food from Knives in Water.

One of several pop-up kitchens that sells and serves bar food on a regular basis, Knives consists of one guy – Baltimore native Ryan Grimes – who knows his way around smoked meats, whether it’s ribs, turkey legs, buffalo wings, or a whole turkey (for Thanksgiving only). When it comes to barbecue, he sees himself as a culinary outlier.

“The art of barbecue can kind of be gatekept by a lot of folks, which is ridiculous,” Grimes tells CultureMap. “I mean, it's three ingredients. It's a lot like punk rock: three chords and the truth, and you’re gonna get it right.

On Saturday, May 24, Grimes will celebrate his 42nd birthday at Midtown bar Two Headed Dog, where he’ll be serving up more than just food. He’ll also debut Papercut, a zine filled with essays, remembrances and, yes, recipes. “A lot of it was taken from previous Instagram posts I had done that I expounded upon,” he says.

With layout and artwork provided by bartender/artist Khrystah Luisa Gorham (who also designed Knives in Water’s logo and T-shirt merch), Grimes included many endearing entries to this brisk read. A 2015 post has him recalling the time he and his father went to the Million Man March when he was 12. A more recent piece has him cooking for his parents and maternal grandparents on Martin Luther King Day. He pays tribute to idol Anthony Bourdain (“I count him as a teacher of sorts, helping me find my own voice through food, culture and adventure.”) as well as an old friend whom he named a wing sauce after.

The issue also runs down the various dishes Grimes tinkered with during the pandemic. “I took a look back at dishes that I had done in the past that I don't do anymore or, for one reason or another, I can't do,” he says. “Maybe they're too complicated or just wouldn't sell well at a dive bar, that kind of thing.”

Papercut is basically a printed primer of the business Grimes has been operating since 2019. “Actually, [The Suffers frontwoman] Kam Franklin was the person that first put the idea in my head to do this, you know, professionally,” he remembers. “I did a dinner party for her. I mean, I can't remember what year it was — 2010, 2012, 2014… She was the first person to say, 'hey, you really got something here. You know, you're talented, your food's good. People seem to dig it.' So I guess you could kind of date it back to that.”

Grimes got the idea for Papercut when he did a pop-up at last year’s Zine Fest Houston, held at the Orange Show. That’s where co-organizer Anastasia “Stacy” Kirages encouraged Grimes to put his thoughts and opinions down on paper. “It took her a while to convince me to do it,” he says. “Stacy's the most personable, likable person on the planet and I admire the hell out of her. So, it was kind of tough.”

After he stopped procrastinating, Grimes found that creating a zine came quite easily to him. “Once I came up with the name, the silly name, it just kind of flew together in the space of maybe two months. I started writing it in February and I was holding a copy of it by late March, maybe early April. But yeah, it didn't take long at all.”

Grimes has a limited number of copies, which he’ll be selling at his pop-ups. Copies will also be available at CLASS Bookstore and Gulf Coast Cosmos Comicbook Co. He isn’t ruling out dropping another volume if demand calls for it. If he does, Grimes assures readers that he’ll have fun with it and not become another culinary clout-chaser. “

Yeah, it's really serious – the business of being a foodie, posting on Instagram and likes and all this stuff,” he says. “The competition is real and this is just a way to say it doesn't have to be that way. You know, you can do all of this yourselves. You and your friends can start a pop-up.

“Starting a restaurant is something that will likely never happen for me,” he continues, “but that doesn't mean that I don't believe in my food and don't believe in my friends that do it as well. Umbrella Fellas, Annie’s Sammies, Tacos Bomberos. These are all pop-ups that are deserving of brick-and-mortar restaurants. They're deserving of all the accolades that we just don't get overshadowed because we're small-time, hanging out in dive bars, serving the people. But that's fine. No one I know is doing this for the laurels. It's just this punk rock DIY ethic that anyone can do this. Yeah, that's the beauty of it.”

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