March Can't Wait

The restaurant race for the Houston Final Four tips off now

In New York City, during college football season bars from the Upper West Side to the East Village mark themselves as the property of fans from around the country — Florida, Ohio State, Texas, USC — by proudly hanging a college flag outside their door.

The message? Yes, the game is on here, but cheer for the wrong team at your own risk.

The Houston Local Organizing Committee for the 2011 NCAA Final Four is apparently taking this idea and running with it. The Organizing Committee's Restaurant Committee are designating four areas of Houston as "hospitality zones" — downtown/Midtown, the area around Reliant Park, the Galleria/Uptown District and the Washington corridor — and qualifying a limited number of eateries in each zone as participating restaurants.

But the best part of the plan (dubbed the Houston Restaurant-Retail Program) is that each zone will have four designated "fan gathering" restaurants, one for each of the participating teams. No, there will be no breaking bread between UNC and Duke fans, Syracuse fans can eat in peace away from Kansas alums and fans supporting Memphis, Kentucky, or whoever makes it to the big dance's final weekend can stay pumped by hanging out with their cheering brethren.

There will also be a larger number of restaurants in each of the four zones designated official "participating" restaurants. All these designated restaurants will be shown in the NCAA 2011 Men’s Final Four Fan Guide and on the official Final Four website. The idea behind the participating restaurants is that they'll include a wide variety of cuisines and restaurant styles across different price points.

Restaurants can apply for participating or fan gathering status at ghra.com through Nov. 15.

CultureMappers, which of Houston's more than 8,000 restaurants would make the best Final Four gathering spots? Is their a place that would be perfect for Duke fans? (The Blue Devils are No. 1 after all). Should the West Regional winner get a fan-gathering spot with a more laid-back style?

unspecified

sudden midtown shutter

Innovative Houston steak restaurant flames out after only 2 years

Medium Rare/Facebook

Medium Rare serves a steak dinner for $28.95.

A Washington, D.C.-based restaurant that only serves one entree is closings its Houston outpost. Medium Rare will close after service this Sunday, September 6.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Medium Rare Houston (@mediumrarehouston)

“After two incredible years, we’re sorry to share that this Sunday night will be our last service in Houston,” the post reads in part. “To our Houston community, thank you for welcoming us and supporting us over the past two years.”

Founded in Washington, D.C. in 2011 by chef and restaurateur Mark Bucher, Medium Rare serves a very simple, prix-fixe menu. Every diner receives bread, a green salad, and steak frites — a coulotte (top sirloin) topped with a Bordelaise-style sauce and paired with hand cut fries — for about $30. Vegetarians may replace the steak with a grilled portobello topped with a roasted red pepper sauce. Even better, the price includes a second serving of steak and fries.

Diners could enhance their meal with oversized desserts like apple pie, a hot fudge sundae, or chocolate cake. The restaurant also served weekend brunch, which drew a following for its bottomless mimosas.

The restaurant opened in The Mix at Midtown development (3201 Louisiana St.) in November 2024. Its closure follows that of its neighbors, fast casual concepts Bol and Pok Pok Po, both of which closed last month.

Like both of those concepts, Medium Rare might not be gone for good. “It’s not goodbye. Just goodbye for now,” the post states. The restaurant's Dallas location remains open.

news-you-can-eat closings