Introducing Finn Hall

Food hall with ties to historic Houstonian will expand downtown dining

Finn Hall will preserve the art deco style of the JP Morgan Chase & Co. building downtown.

Courtesy photo

Houston has been slow to embrace the nationwide food hall trend, but it’s starting to build momentum. Conservatory’s revamp gives it new appeal, and next year will see the arrival of an even larger food hall at Jones on Main in the JPMorgan Chase & Co. building that will further elevate the concept.

Finn Hall, which takes its name from the building’s architect Alfred C. Finn, will occupy 20,000 square feet of space at the corner of Rusk and Main when it opens in mid-February. More than a name, the food hall will preserve the building’s art deco look that Finn created including its original limestone columns and walls.

“We spent time understanding how the building came to be,” Finn Hall operator David Goronkin tells CultureMap. “We recognize that Alfred Finn was one of (Houston’s top) architects. Because of the great work he did, what a great way to celebrate the craftsmanship and thought leadership he brought to the the city than to name the hall after him.”

Of course, Finn Hall won’t just survive on its classic looks — the overall concept looks to be pretty compelling, too. Diners will find 10 food stands, a central bar that serves craft beer, wine, and cocktails, and over 500 seats. An upstairs mezzanine will feature a bar serving classic cocktails and the option of having servers who will deliver food from the stalls. In addition, each stand will have a few counter seats that will allow customers to watch the chefs prepare their meals.

Goronkin isn’t quite ready to name specific vendors yet (although the Chronicle reported last week that Mala Sichuan is a possibility), but he would confirm that people will recognize the them. According to Goronkin, they range from food truck operators looking for a brick-and-mortar space to established restaurateurs, looking to take advantage of downtown’s rising status as a food destination with either a new project or an extension of their existing concepts.

“The folks we’re talking to are well known in the Houston area and well accomplished in their own right and will be well received as they enter the food hall,” Goronkin says.

To appeal to as many people as possible, the hall will be open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday, and offerings from the food stalls will span a wide range of cuisines. Goronkin says the hall is speaking with vendors who are prepared to serve everything from poke to pizza to seafood.

“One of the great things about coming to a food hall, whether you’re by yourself or with a group of 10, is that everybody can come in and tailor their experience to their preferences,” Goronkin says. “Once people migrate through the hall, you may have someone who has a poke bowl, somebody else that’s got a steak and a salad, or Mexican food. It really provides folks an opportunity to tailor their experience to their desires, and they can come back the next day and have a completely different experience.”

It all sounds promising. Assuming the right vendors occupy the space (Goronkin says he’ll start naming names within the next 30 days or so) Finn Hall will be a welcome addition to downtown’s dining mix. And, yes, downtown office workers, it’s accessible by tunnel.

downtown openings

Chris Cusack explains

Houston bar owner speaks out about surprise arrest for health code violations

Photo by Sergio Trevino

Chris Cusack owns two locations of Betelgeuse Betelgeuse.

Certainly one of the most unusual interactions between a restaurant and City of Houston officials took place on Wednesday, May 6 when Betelgeuse Betelgeuse owner Chris Cusack was arrested for health code violations at his location on Washington Avenue.

News of the arrest spread quickly across social media over the weekend. Now, Cusack is ready to tell his side of the story.

Cusack, whose time operating restaurants in Houston goes back more than 15 years to Down House and its affiliated restaurants such as Hunky Dory and D&T Drive Inn, tells CultureMap the problem began on Monday, May 4 when a health department inspector came to Betelgeuse Betelgeuse and asked to see the restaurant’s grease trap.

The only problem is that location has never had a grease trap. Prior to becoming Betelgeuse Betelgeuse, it was Liberty Station, a pioneering bar in Houston’s craft beer and craft cocktail scenes. In the early days, Betelgeuse served food from a food truck. More recently, it prepares its food next door at The Bell and Crane. Cusack acknowledges he didn’t share this information with the inspector.

“Usually I’m a charmer with the health department, but I was a little defensive. She kept asking me. I said, ‘ma’am, we don’t make food here,’” he explains. “The tone wasn’t my finest moment, but there was no name calling or anything like that. She said, ‘where does the food come from?’ I said, ‘it doesn’t matter where it comes from. It’s produced in a commercial kitchen.’”

Cusack says he knew there would be a follow up, but he was shocked when the inspector returned two days later with more colleagues from the health department, TABC inspectors, and Houston Police Department officers.

“I got somewhere between 21 and 25 citations,” Cusack says about the return visit. He got dinged for everything from graffiti in the bathroom to a missing Harris County tax stamp on the photo booth he leases from a vendor (it has both State of Texas and City of Houston stamps, Cusack says).

One inspector told Cusack he needed a food dealer’s permit. He showed the inspector that a food dealer’s permit had been issued for the restaurant's address under the former food truck’s LLC but not to the LLC that operates Betelgeuse Betelgeuse. Cusack says he had renewed the food truck’s permit in March, but that wasn’t good enough for the inspector. In Cusack’s telling, he was arrested for not having the permit, since it was also flagged as missing in an inspection from October 2025. He's the only person he knows who has ever been arrested for a misdemeanor violation of the health code.

Cusack says he spent 21 hours in the Harris County Jail. When he got out, he says he was contacted by a more senior official within the Health Department. Once Cusack confirmed he owned both LLCs, he was told he could reopen. Both locations of Betelgeuse Betelgeuse have been operating normally since Friday, May 8.

Cusack maintains he never knew about the October 2025 inspection, which is why he renewed the food dealer’s permit for the food truck’s LLC rather than applying for one under Betelgeuse Betelgeuse’s LLC. “There’s no paper trail that shows I was given this information,” he says. “I did not get the email [from the Health Department].”

As for why things got so out of hand, Cusack theorizes he was a victim of Houston Mayor John Whitemire’s crack down on “reckless behavior” on Washington Avenue and stepped up enforcement on bars generally that led to the temporary closure of near northside cocktail bar Rabbit’s Got the Gun.

Cusack says he’s a “huge supporter” of efforts to reduce crimes like street racing, drug dealing, and sex trafficking along Washington and in its surrounding neighborhoods. Still, he feels targeting by the city for being impolite to a health inspector.

He plans to fight both the arrest and the citations in court. “I want the charges dropped, and I want it expunged completely from my record. That’s the first thing, and I’m going to try very hard to do it,” he says.

“That’s going to end up costing thousands of dollars just to deal with the sheer volume,” he adds.

CultureMap contacted Mayor Whitmire’s office. A representative said the mayor was not aware of the situation and has no comment on an open investigation.

crime interview