8 things to know

8 things to know in Houston food right now: Reopenings, closings, and Nancy's hustles back

Editor’s note: The pace of openings, reopenings, and closings has picked up in the past couple of weeks. Here’s a quick summary of all the latest news to know.

Openings, reopenings, and a coming attraction

Nancy’s Hustle reopens for dine-in service this Wednesday (September 23). That’s good news for fans of the restaurant that won two of the top prizes in this year’s CultureMap Tastemaker awards — chef of the year for Jason Vaughan and pastry chef of the year for Julia Doran. Co-owner Sean Jensen tells CultureMap that the restaurant will be operating at 50-percent capacity but will soon add patio seating by claiming part of its parking lot. Let the Nancy cakes and lamb dumplings flow!

Jensen also provided an update on Tiny Champions, the pizza-focused restaurant he’s opening with Vaughan and Doran. The restaurant’s key hires have been made (details TBA), and the menu is mostly ready to go. If all goes according to plan, the restaurant should open at the end of October.

Late night favorite Ninja Ramen resumes dine-in service on Friday, September 25. As a brief announcement posted to Instagram states: “No shirt, shoes, or mask, no service (no pants required, though).” Plan accordingly.

Houston’s third Sweetgreen has opened downtown. Originally announced in March, downtown residents and office workers will find signature salads like Kale Caesar and Guacamole Greens, as well as bowls and the restaurant’s recently introduced entrees (called plates), at the corner of Main and Walker (820 Main St.). The restaurant is open for to-go service Monday-Friday from 10:30 am-8 pm.

Houston Sauce Pit has expanded with a second trailer. In addition to its original outpost in the Third Ward (5000 Almeda Rd.), the vegan barbecue purveyor has a new home at the Power Center Food Park (12401 S. Post Oak Rd. at South Main). Look for truck signatures like smoked vegan wings, smokey sauce pit burritos, and BBQ jackfruit sandwiches with Alabama white sauce plus new creations from co-owner Jarett Milton. Check Instagram for hours of operation.

Closings

Bellaire Broiler Burger has shuttered, Community Impactreports. A neighborhood institution, the burger joint closed suddenly in June when a manager died, according to a post on the restaurant’s Facebook. Now, both the business and restaurant are for sale.

Agu Ramen Bistro will close its remaining Houston location on Washington Ave. near I-10 on September 27, the restaurant announced. The Hawaiian-based restaurant entered the Houston market with considerable fanfare, opening locations in Westchase, the Energy Corridor, and Katy, but they all closed relatively quickly. An Instagram post touts the possibility of finding a new location, but it’s certainly aloha for now.

SusieCakes will not be reopening its Houston locations, a representative tells CultureMap. The California-based sweets shop opened in Rice Village in 2017; an outpost in the Medical Center followed earlier this year. Outposts in Dallas and Fort Worth remain open.

Welcome back, Nancy's Hustle.

Courtesy photo

Welcome back, Nancy's Hustle.

closings openings news-you-can-eat

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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