The Forum Center at 10101 Bissonnett has seen better days — offering little more than a smoke shop, daycare facility and dollar store among its stretch of vacant storefronts. But thanks to a chance encounter in February, the southwest Houston shopping center finds itself with hope of a renaissance thanks to a new cafe called Datt's It.

"I never thought I'd see myself owning a restaurant," says actress and novelist Cherie Johnson, who television fans might recognize from her roles on Punky Brewster (as Punky's best friend), Family Matters (as Laura Winslow's best friend Maxine) and The Parkers. "Only a month ago, I was still based in LA. I arrived here on a layover and haven't been on a plane since."

Flying back to Los Angeles from the East Coast last month, Johnson stopped in Houston to visit her sister, who showed her the abandoned space at the Forum Center as a possible business opportunity that could benefit the entire community.

"The closest thing people have to food around here is the Speedy Mart and the dollar store," Johnson says. "With a restaurant, we have a chance to change that."

Johnson tapped into the business savvy of close Houston friends Kay Matthews from Extraordinary Cakes and Janice Wright, the founder of Houston 411 magazine, to launch Datt's It in a little more than three weeks.

With so few restaurant options in the area, the small cafe soon became the talk of the neighborhood. At this week's grand opening, Datt's It has a crowd before it even unlocked its doors.

"The food wasn't close to being ready, but people were so curious that we decided to let them in to see the place," Johnson says. "By lunchtime, we were so busy, the building owner told us he was convinced this was the most profitable day he's ever seen at the shopping center."

At Datt's It, however, profitability is not the first priority, according to Johnson.

"Our basic goal here is to clean up the neighborhood, to provide a safe place for people," she says. "Right now you have a day care on one end our shopping center and crack heads on the other. And here we are, right in the middle. We're determined to make this work, though."

"We're trying to create new opportunities for opportunity," Matthews says, noting that the restaurant already has hired five staffers from the surrounding community.

At the moment, the cafe is concentrating on a simple menu featuring classic breakfast options as well as lunch items like the "Famous Toney Dog" and an impressively delicious fried tilapia plate.

"It's never really been about the food, though I'm a total foodie and honestly can tell you everything's fantastic here," Johnson laughs. "For us, it's about being a presence in the neighborhood."