One small step

Space-themed East End coffee shop brews up 2 exciting new Houston locations

A popular East End coffee shop has big moves planned for 2020. Giant Leap Coffee will open two new locations next year: one in Uptown Park and another at The Plant, the redeveloped industrial site in the East End that's home to recently opened wine bar How To Survive on Land and Sea.

Since opening in the East End in early 2018, Giant Leap has built a devoted following for its space-themed interior and coffees made with beans sourced from local firm Amaya Roasting Company. Currently tucked into a tidy 650 square feet on Canal Street, Giant Leap's new location at The Plant will constitute 3,200 square feet, which will give it enough room to add a kitchen that will serve a full food menu.

The Uptown Park location will be considerably smaller and will be located in a newly constructed building between two of the developments promenades. As co-founder Lauren Ferrante notes in a video posted to Instagram about the coffee shop's plans, she and business partner Logan Beck aren't concerned about the presence of a nearby Starbucks. Instead, they're intrigued by opening in an area that lacks a locally-owned, third wave coffee shop.

"We view it as a bunch of potential customers waiting to taste something better," she says in the clip.

Both locations will be designed by Rootlab, a design firm that Beck also helped found. They'll feature the same retro-future design that's helped make the original location a hit. If all goes according to plan, Uptown Park will open in the spring and The Plant will follow in the summer.

On the food side, Giant Leap has partnered with Tlahuac to develop a menu of sweet and savory items that will be prepared at The Plant and sold at both locations. Currently a pop-up, Tlahuac features the culinary talents of chef Nicholas Vera and pastry chef Stephanie Velasquez, two Hugo Ortega veterans who have been generating serious buzz for their authentic flavors.

To fund this growth, Giant Leap is seeking to raise between $200,000 and $250,000 via the NextSeed crowdfunding platform. In adding to recouping their investment plus interest, contributors can earn rewards such as a comic book, an invitation to a tasting class, and a "black card" that will grant discounts on food, drinks, and merchandise.

Adding Giant Leap is part of real estate developer EDENS transformation of the the property, which also includes additions such as Flower Child, Merus Grill, and a still-unnamed restaurant from H-Town Restaurant Group (Hugo's, Caracol, etc). An Uptown Park representative provided CultureMap with the following statement about adding the coffee shop to its mix:

"EDENS continues to partner with locally owned retail partners that bring their distinctive personalities to our premier retail places. Giant Leap Coffee will be an exciting complement to the many new retailers and restaurants at our newly reimagined Uptown Park."

Giant Leap serves coffee from Amaya Roasting Company.

Photo courtesy of Giant Leap/Facebook

Giant Leap serves coffee from Amaya Roasting Company.

coffee openings

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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