Gratifi Closing

Dog-friendly Montrose cafe that underwent a reality TV makeover will shutter next week

Gratifi Kitchen and Bar will close July 13.

Photo by: Eric Sandler

In Houston's turbulent restaurant scene, not even a reality TV makeover ensures success. Gratifi Kitchen + Bar, the Montrose cafe known for its dog-friendly patio and globally-inspired menu, announced Tuesday that it will close July 13.

Once known as Ziggy's Healthy Grill before it moved to Montrose in 2012, Food Network host Robert Irvine made changes to Gratifi in 2014 for an episode of Restaurant Impossible. While the new interior and new menu items did give the restaurant a shot in the arm, the episode also revealed a kitchen that desperately needed a deep cleaning and problems with owner Kevin Strickland's management style. Irvine didn't change the restaurant's quirky name, which should be pronounced "gratify" but which many people read as "graffiti."

At the time, Strickland told the Food Network that the changes had been beneficial for the restaurant, and that his customers enjoyed the restaurant's new look. Clearly, it wasn't quite enough.

CultureMap has emailed Strickland for more information about his decision or what the future holds for the space, which sits at the busy corner of Fairview and Taft that's home to Boheme, Cuchara, Cooking Girl, and Max's Wine Dive. We will update the story when he responds.

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a spoonful of sugar

New Mexican eatery sweetens Houston with 150 spirits and bold flavors

Courtesy of Mexican Sugar

Mexican Sugar is coming to Regent Square in December.

A Dallas-based Mexican restaurant is coming to Houston. Mexican Sugar will open its first Houston location in Montrose this December.

Located next to Georgia James in the Regent Square mixed-use development, Mexican Sugar will occupy a two-story, 13,000-square-foot building. All that room offers seating for 375 as well as two private dining rooms with full audio-visual capabilities. Both the upstairs and downstairs patios will have a view of nearby Buffalo Bayou Park.

Its part of FB Society, the Dallas-based hospitality group behind Whiskey Cake, Sixty Vines, and Haywire, the Texas-inspired comfort food restaurant that opened its first Houston-area location earlier this year. Mexican Sugar has three locations in the Dallas area: Plano, Las Colinas, and Uptown Dallas.

In a release, Mexican Sugar touts its use of seasonal ingredients. It also makes its tortillas by hand. Menu highlights include skirt steak, lobster fundido, and a bone-in pork chop. At brunch, look for options such as cajeta French toast, Benedictos Rancheros, and vanilla-cinnamon pancakes.

Agave fans will find plenty of choices courtesy of more the 150 tequilas and mezcals. They’re available in individual pours as well as in flights that allow customers to compare the flavors of the different spirits.

“Our goal is to create a dining experience that blends bold Mexican flavors with our signature style of hospitality that stays two steps ahead,” Justin Beam, Mexican Sugar’s director of operations, said in a statement. “We’re excited to offer Houstonians an immersive Mexican experience in a fresh, light, and approachable way.”

Courtesy of Mexican Sugar

Mexican Sugar is coming to Regent Square in December.

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