Pour one out for The Owl Bar. The popular Upper Kirby patio bar will close on August 29, it announced on social media.
"It's been an incredible run," the post starts, "but it is with a heavy heart we announce that The Owl Bar will be officially folding up its wings at the end of this month. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve the city of Houston great drinks for almost 10 years. We want to thank the countless customers that have walked through our doors, our incredible staff, loyal regulars, and everyone who has made our time here special."
Owner Stephen Clarke tells CultureMap that he and his partners have sold the property to a local group that have plans to transform the space. "We've had a great run, but it made sense for us to sell at this point especially since I moved to Austin last summer," Clarke writes in an email. "We'll be open for the next two weeks with our final night being Thursday, August 29."
Originally, the Owl occupied a building on Kirby Drive, but it relocated in 2015 to make way for the Kirby Collection mixed-use development. The current location expanded the bar's footprint with a spacious patio and other amenities.
Tributes have flowed in during the weekend as regulars remember the dates they went on, the Ole Miss games they watched, and the special occasions they celebrated in the comfortable neighborhood spot. They'll be there to hear one last song on the jukebox and have one final drink before the bar goes away forever.
Goat chops, curries, and naan are coming to Katy. Aga’s Restaurant & Catering, the cherished Indo-Pak restaurant that’s a staple of Houston’s South Asian community, will open its first new location in 25 years on Wednesday, June 24.
Called Aga’s To Go, the new restaurant will be located at The Shoppes at Grand Crossing (102 W. Grand Parkway S., Suite 100). As it names implies, the restaurant is a to-go only facility that’s designed for both takeout and delivery via third party apps. While diners won’t be able to eat at the restaurant, they will be able to enjoy Aga’s cuisine at home in a more convenient than by traveling to the original location in Southwest Houston.
The new restaurant will serve about 100 of the original location’s most popular offerings — all in compliance with the standards of zabiha halal. Customers can look forward to ordering kababs, boti, biryani, curries, freshly baked breads, and, of course, the signature goat chops.
“This new location is a direct response to the growth of our business and the tremendous support we’ve received from customers throughout Katy and west Houston,” Zain Maredia, Aga’s head of growth and strategy, said in a statement. “Many of our guests make a considerable drive to enjoy Aga’s, and we’re excited to bring our food closer to them while creating new opportunities for our team and our company. Katy has been one of our strongest customer bases for years, making it a natural next step as we continue to grow.”
Aga’s has plans for additional to-go only locations, according to press materials. Long term, the restaurant has its eyes on full service locations in other Texas cities such as Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas, CEO Shaukat Maredia tells the Houston Chronicle.
The Maredia family purchased Aga’s in 2010. Since then, they’ve grown the restaurant’s location at 11842 Wilcrest Dr. into a more than 16,000-square-foot behemoth that serves hundreds of diners every day. Along the way, Aga’s has earned wide acclaim, including multiple nominations for Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year in the CultureMap Tastemaker Awards, a no. 1 rating in the Houston Chronicle’s list of the city’s top 100 restaurants, and a spot on the New York Times’ list of The 26 Best Dishes We Ate Across the U.S. in 2024.
Writing for CultureMap in 2023, Burger Bodega owner Abbas Dhanani hailed Aga’s as “the best Pakistani restaurant not just in Houston, but in the nation.” His top recommendations include the goat chops, chicken shinwari karahi, butter chicken handi, and white kabab karahi
All that attention has drawn considerable interest from other media, including this deep drive from YouTube superstar Mark Wiens that’s racked up more than 1.7 million views.
The restaurant funds college scholarships for high school seniors. This year, 25 students, including some from Katy, received a total of $100,000.
“We’re incredibly grateful for the support we’ve received over the years,” Maredia said. “Houston has embraced our food, our family, and our story. Food has a unique way of bringing people together, and we’re excited to continue sharing that experience with even more guests through our new Katy location.”
