Bobby Heugel has added another neighborhood bar to his roster of preservation projects. He and partner Peter Jahnke recently acquired the Blue Lagoon Club, a bar in Spring Branch that’s been in business for more than 40 years.
Long a favorite of people who live in the area, Blue Lagoon has a number of features that appealed to Heugel and Jahnke. It’s got a stable of group of staff and regulars. It’s got a prime location that’s next to restaurants such as Underbelly Burger and the recently-opened second location of fast casual Vietnamese restaurant Saigon Hustle. The free-standing building also has a spacious backyard patio and plenty of parking.
“One of my first homes-away-from-home was a pool hall called Legend’s Billiards. This place has a similar feel that I just love,” Jahnke tells CultureMap. “There aren’t many places like this in Houston anymore. I feel very comfortable here.”
The move builds on the legacy Heugel and Jahnke established in 2023 when they acquired Montrose institution Catbirds as an addition to Thorough Fare, the hospitality group Heugel operates with James Beard Award-winning chef Justin Yu that includes Anvil, Refuge, Squable, Theodore Rex, and Better Luck Tomorrow. The lessons they’ve learned over the last year at Catbirds will guide them in how they operate Blue Lagoon. As a starting point, they’re not going to renovate the space (beyond possibly refreshing the paint) or change the prices on its existing selection of beer and liquor.
“We’re going to use a lighter touch than what we used at Catbirds. We had more of a relationship with that bar and the people who worked there,” Heugel tells CultureMap. “We’re not trying to change much, so that the regulars will feel comfortable and we can earn their trust.”
Currently, the bar is closed while the new owners acquire a liquor license. Blue Lagoon will reopen as soon as that happens, which Heugel expects will occur before the end of January.
After that, Heugel and Jahnke will work alongside the bar’s existing staff, which includes Kyle Pierson, who worked for Heugel as the general manager at Hay Merchant. Once everyone gets to know each other, they’ll start looking at the sort of incremental improvements that have been so well received at Catbirds.
“We don’t want to take anything away from someone who has a preference for what they like to drink or how the room feels. We need to make sure all that stuff stays exactly as it was,” Heugel says
Long term, regulars will start to see additions such as expanding the spirit and beer selections, adding a frozen drink machine, and beginning programming like trivia night or steak night.
“Bars like this sometimes have the, ‘we used to do that back in the day.’ It’s hard to keep everything going. We can be some new life that brings back things the staff was passionate about,” Heugel says.
Prior to partnering with Heugel to reopen Catbirds, Jahnke had worked as both a bartender and cook at restaurants and bars such as Nobie’s, Underbelly, Refuge, Thedore Rex, and Tongue-cut Sparrow. While he’s appreciated being part of those groundbreaking concepts, he says he enjoys operating an established bar with a dedicated group of regulars
“Everything I had done, for the most part, in my entire career was new concepts and new ideas. I’ve learned over the last year at Catbirds about what a difference it is carrying a torch,” Jahnke says. “I don’t feel like Catbirds is my bar. I feel like it belongs to the regulars and it belongs to Montrose. I am lucky enough to hold that torch for awhile, and I want to do the same thing here. It feels protectionist for the regulars who have known the place for so long.”
Heugel also credits Blue Lagoon’s landlord, Houston real estate developer Bryan Danna, for working with him to keep the bar in business. Plenty of other developers would have simply closed the bar and replaced it with a new concept (with higher prices), but Danna’s company Revive Development takes a different approach.
“We talked to some groups out of Austin. We had serious people looking at it,” Danna tells CultureMap. “It felt better to preserve it and turn it over to Bobby. That’s what we’re all about is preserving the history. That’s what drives us. We take what’s there and accommodate modern demand.”
Part of the success at Catbirds has stemmed from restaurant workers going there after their shifts. Both Heugel and Jahnke hope to see something similar happen at Blue Lagoon, with line cooks from Bar Bludorn sharing drinks with servers from Credence, the pit crew from Feges BBQ, or the sushi chefs from Hando. If all goes according to plan, those younger patrons will combine with the bar’s existing regulars to keep Blue Lagoon open for another 40 years.
“It’s got to feel like the same bar that people have a relationship with. We can’t change it very much beyond that,” Heugel says.
Photo by Eric Sandler
Peter Jahnke, Sazerac, and Bobby Heugel.
