4 things to know

4 things to know in Houston food right now: Openings, closings, and coming attractions

Fat Boots didn't last.

Photo by Daniel Ortiz

Editor's note: Houston’s restaurant scene moves pretty fast. In order to prevent CultureMap readers from missing anything, let’s stop to look around at all the latest news to know.

Openings and reopenings

The Rice Military area has a new option for flavorful Persian fare. Miri's Kitchen recently opened in the former Dunkin' Donuts/Hurts Donut space at 5801 Memorial Dr., the Houston Business Journalreports.

Prior to opening the new establishment, chef-owner Parvaneh Miri worked as a chef and general manager at Ghandi District Persian staple Garson. She brings that expertise to dishes such as lamb shank, tahdig, and an extensive selection of kebabs.

After being closed for more than a year, downtown cocktail bar One Armed Scissor has quietly returned to service. Located at 208 Travis St., the bar will open at 4 pm today and tomorrow and 8 pm on Christmas Day with a tidy menu of $10 cocktails.

Closings

A gimmicky Washington Avenue bar has shuttered after just six months. Fat Boots Trailer Park Bar is permanently closed, The Leaderreports. In addition, the bar's social media pages have been taken offline, and it is listed as "permanently closed" on both Yelp and Google.

Open since May, Fat Boots positioned itself as an experiential concept where the staff sang, danced, and encouraged the crowd to participate in sing-alongs and drinking games. The intentionally campy menu included drinks served in SpaghettiOs cans and food options like Cheese Whiz with crackers. No word on whether the closure affects the company's plans to open locations in New Orleans and Nashville.

Coming attractions

Candy Shack Daiquiris founder James McGhee will open Juliet Restaurant in early 2022, according to a press release. Located at 5857 Westheimer Rd., details on what kind of food Juliet will serve are light, but McGhee has tapped some high profile collaborators to bring the concept to life.

Design will be by Collaborative Projects, best known for creating Underbelly and UB Preserv. Cocktail experts Laurie Harvey and Kris Sowell, The Ladies of Libation, will craft the drink menu.

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Farewell, ElRo

Creative Montrose pizzeria will shutter after only a year-and-a-half

Photo by Julie Soefer

ElRo Pizza & Crudo

An acclaimed Houston pizzeria will soon serve its final pies. ElRo Pizza & Crudo will close after service on December 31.

In a post on Instagram, chef-owner Terrence Gallivan thanks his staff for their dedication and his customers for their support. “We hope to see you all over the next couple weeks. Come celebrate with us,” he writes.

Open since June 2023, ElRo intrigued diners who enjoyed Gallivan’s work at pioneering Houston restaurant The Pass & Provisions. At ElRo, the chef served a modified version of the Provisions pizza recipe alongside crudos and shareable small plates such as arancini and housemade sausage. It earned four nominations in this year’s CultureMap Tastemaker Awards, including Best New Restaurant and Chef of the Year.

Sadly, Gallivan tells CultureMap that business has seen “a steady decline in business for many months.” Recently, the restaurant had tried a number of initiatives to draw in diners, such as steak night on Tuesday and fried chicken on Saturday.

The early announcement gives diners two weeks to make one more visit (or two) to the restaurant before it closes. Customers may want to time their visit for happy hour, which takes places from 3-6 pm Tuesday-Friday. It includes half-off glasses of wine, $4 draft beers, $9 select cocktails, and food specials.

Gallivan adds that he doesn’t know yet what his next move will be. Hopefully, he’s got one more comeback in him. Houston is a more fun town to dine in when Gallivan is cooking in it.

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