Hugo's next restaurant

Hugo Ortega and Tracy Vaught reveal exciting new concept for Uptown Park

James Beard Foundation dinner Tracy Vaught Hugo Ortega

Tracy Vaught and Hugo Ortega are planning a new restaurant.

Photo by Quy Tran

Hugo Ortega and Tracy Vaught are expanding their restaurant empire. Vaught confirmed that the couple's company, H-Town Restaurant Group, will open a new concept at Uptown Park in the recently shuttered Cafe Express space.

Vaught's statement, posted below, confirms rumors first circulated by the real estate super sleuths on the Houston Architecture Info Forum. It will be the couple's fifth Houston restaurant, joining Backstreet Cafe, Hugo's, Caracol, and Xochi. H-Town also operates Italian restaurant Prego in Rice Village, Third Coast in the Medical Center, and Origen in Oaxaca City.

Hugo and I are always thinking about new concepts and checking out spaces, and Uptown Park was a possibility for something new, but we didn’t finalize until recently. Like with all our other concepts, we prefer to keep the idea close to our chests, as we like to have the ability to plan, develop, and make changes at-will without being hindered by any previous announcements.

So, yes, we did sign with Eden to go into Uptown Park. Our plans are still fluid, and the opening is at least a year away. We have no further details at this time.

Regardless of whether or not the specific restaurant is the "more casual/budget-friendly" restaurant in the rumor or something more elevated that's in line with their other establishments, any new project from the James Beard Award-winning chef and his wife, a James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurateur, is worth getting excited about.

Adding a new restaurant from H-Town is only the latest change as Uptown Park seeks to update its mix of offerings. Over the last couple of years, the development has added healthy eating restaurant Flower Child and two long time tenants, McCormick & Schmick's (recently rebranded as M&S Seafood, Steaks & Oysters) and Uptown Sushi, have undergone extensive renovations.

More changes are coming. California-based sandwich shop Mendocino Farms will open its second Houston-area location on October 3. In addition, Merus Grill, a new concept from J. Alexander's, will open this fall, and a second location of The Rustic will open in early 2020.

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family-friendly outdoor bar

Massive, German-inspired beer garden coming to new Energy Corridor project

Photo by Eric Sandler

The new beer garden will be similar to Katy Beer Garden.

One of Houston’s most successful bar operators is bringing his talents to the Energy Corridor. Steven Salazar is opening Ashford Beer Garden at the Ashford Yard mixed-use development.

Slated to open in early 2026, Ashford Beer Garden will build on the success Salazar has had with Katy Beer Garden, the project he opened last summer at The Dryer, a mixed-use development on the property of Katy’s historic Cardiff Rice Dryer. Like KBG, Ashford Beer Garden will be large — roughly 21,000 square feet — divided into a 10,000-square-foot indoor beer hall with a companion cocktail bar and a 11,000-square-foot outdoor beer garden that’s shaded by trees.

“We’re sticking with that Bavarian charm,” Salazar says about his vision for Ashford Beer Garden. “Bring your family. It’s really relaxed. The kids are playing. You have multiple generations hanging out. It’s worked well in Katy. We’re excited to bring it to a new area.”

Of course, the new project will make some improvements on the original. Most importantly, Ashford will have a full kitchen (KBG mostly relies on food trucks and a nearby food court). Salazar says he’s looking for a chef to lead the kitchen.

In response to customer demand for private event space, Ashford Beer Garden will also have a larger second floor patio than KBG does. The beer garden will have a larger screen to make it easier for people to watch sports.

Located on the site of a former Schlumberger campus near the intersection of Dairy Ashford Rd. and Briar Forest Dr., Ashford Yard is a 12.7-acre development that will include apartments, restaurants, and retail tenants. Salazar says he found his values aligned with the projects developers, Houston real estate firms Market Square Companies and Tenon Property Company.

“We have a similar vision of quality for the community and creating a space and having great neighbors. Not being a strip center but a true development that’s above and beyond what the area has to offer,” Salazar says. Later, he adds, “It seems great for us to be surrounded by companies such as Shell and Baker Hughes and all these great neighborhoods."

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