Want to support local farmers, eat an amazing meal and help out neighbors in need all at once? Check out the Go Texan Restaurant Round-Up the week of September 28 – October 2, where participating restaurants will be serving special menus of fresh, local Texas ingredients, with some eateries even donating a portion of the proceeds to a local food bank. A complete list of participating restaurants can be found at the Go Texan Restaurant Round-Up Web site, but we recommend the pasta dishes at Frank's Chop House with chef Frank Butera's homegrown heirloom tomatoes, the special Go Texan menu at Hugo's including Costillas de Jabalí (Central Texas wild boar rack with mole coloradito and black bean tamales, acelgas and asparagus) and Camarones Envueltos (Gulf shrimp stuffed with jalapeño and Chihuahua-style cheese from Beaumont, wrapped in Texas smoked bacon and topped with a morita pepper salsa negra), and the special prix fixe Texas food and wine pairings at Mockingbird Bistro.
One of downtown Houston’s favorite casual bars will serve its last drink this weekend. Dean’s will close after service on Sunday, April 26.
First opened in 1999 as Dean’s Credit Clothing, the bar rebranded as Dean’s when current owner Bobby Stark took over in 2013. He tells CultureMap that Notsuoh owner Jim Pirtle, who also owns the bar’s building at 316 Main Street, offered to buy out the last two years of Dean’s lease so that he could open a new concept in the space.
“[The buyout] allows me, my partners, and my employees to do something else,” Stark writes in a text. “Some staff want to get out of the business. Some want to start their own bars and restaurants. Some just want to continue, and Jim’s new bar will be mostly the same vibe — maybe just a little bit more low-key.”
Dean’s opened at the same time as other game-changing bars and restaurants such as Goro & Gun, the Original OKRA Charity Saloon, and Captain’s Foxheart’s Bad News Bar & Spirit Lodge. Stark says he’s watched the area evolve from an area that people viewed skeptically into one of Houston’s most popular nightlife spots.
“Back then, downtown still had the perception that it was dangerous somehow. I don’t know why,” he says. “Now, it’s more mainstream. In a way, I think Houston is becoming more metropolitan as opposed to just a car city.”
Dean’s will celebrate its last night with “Party Like Its 2013.” Expect a soundtrack powered by songs from the era from artists such as The Weeknd, Rihana, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Taylor Swift, and more. The party runs from 8-11 pm.