Billionaire Donuts

Billionaires open a new drive-thru donut shop in River Oaks: Who needs Shipley's or Dunkin?

Move over Shipley's and Dunkin, there's a new donut in town and this one comes with blue chip credentials starting with the name — River Oaks Donuts.

So what's a 77019 family to do when the nearest donut and kolache shops are miles from home? If you are billionaires Mindy and Jeff Hildebrand, you open your own shop in the 'hood, the 'hood being River Oaks.

"I felt like I wanted to provide the neighborhood with donuts," Mindy explained on Thursday, the first day of business. "It's as simple as that. There was a need so we are providing a service."

"I felt like I wanted to provide the neighborhood with donuts."

A need, indeed. Store director Scott Niemeyer estimated that the shop, located on Westheimer on the edge of River Oaks, would sell 90 dozen donuts on its first day and that includes both counter service and the handy drive-thru window. (In addition to donut testing, Niemeyer manages the concessions operation at the Great Southwest Equestrian Center, which the Hildebrands also own.)

The Hildebrand family, including their 15- and 17-year-old sons (reason enough for the donut interest according to Mindy), spent three months sampling Niemeyer's evolving donut recipe with multiple blind tastings. Jeff had declared that they weren't going to enter the business unless "we have the best donuts in town." Shipley's and Dunkin were the standard to be surpassed. All of River Oaks Donuts' creations are handmade.

Explaining the business move via email earlier in the day, Mindy wrote, "We needed the right location on Westheimer, due to visibility, close proximity to many churches, schools, neighborhoods and businesses that needed donuts!

"We were able to take advantage of the down market and buy the strip center with income-generating tenants, so the whole package is a long term investment. We put on a new roof, reconfigured the drive-through and improved the landscape."

And then there's that River Oaks touch. Silk stocking architects Curtis & Windham designed the shop. Advertising Hall of Famer Chuck Carlberg assisted with the whimsical logo. The coffee beans are from Java Pura Coffee Roasters. And in River Oaks tradition, customers can set up personal charge accounts — as Mindy explained in the style of the old Jamail's.

The tempting offerings include glazed, iced and cake donuts, kolaches, apple fritters, cinnamon rolls and long johns. There is even a "River Oaks" donut, iced in minty green and topped with pastel-colored sprinkles. (They sold out by lunch time on the first day.) That's just the start of the colorful possibilities. Icings come in pink, red, white, just about any color and designs of your choice to match school colors. They've already created special orders for Kinkaid, neighboring St. John's and the University of Texas.

Despite the River Oaks influences, the offerings are competitively priced with a dozen glazed donuts costing $7.99, iced donuts $8.99 and filled donut holes (really) $2.49 a dozen.

Mindy Hildebrand is president of River Oaks Donuts.

Photo by Shelby Hodge

Mindy Hildebrand is president of River Oaks Donuts.

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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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