head east

Memorial favorite restaurant heads to booming East End with comfort classics and spacious patio

Jonathan's the Rub Memorial Green Sam Jonathan Jessica Levine

Sam Levine, Jonathan Levine, and Jessica Levine ensure Jonathan's remains a family business.

Photo by Julie Soefer

Jonathan Levine is coming to the East End. The chef and restaurateur announced that he will open a new location of Jonathan’s the Rub on Navigation Boulevard.

Located in the former Acadian Coast/Gatsby’s Grill space, the new Jonathan’s will occupy 5,500-square-feet with a 1,500-square-foot patio. The new location puts it in close proximity to both Minute Maid Park and Shell Energy Stadium as well as lots of real estate development.

“The area is exploding right now,” Levine said on Great Day Houston. “There’s condos, townhouses, apartments. Midway, one of landlords, is doing the East River project.”

First established as a catering company in 2000, Jonathan’s the Rub has grown to two full service restaurants at the Memorial Green development and in the Campbell Place office building on the Katy Fwy. It has developed a devoted following in the Memorial area for Levine’s signature “new Houston” cuisine that includes everything from lobster tacos and blackened shrimp and grits to Italian American classics and steakhouse fare.

The new location will lean even harder into Levine’s New York roots by offering pizza.

“We can’t wait to incorporate our heritage even more into the menu at this new location and offer authentic New York-style pizza like the kind I grew up with,” Levine said. “We’re having a lot of fun working on that part of the menu now to get it just right.”

Jonathan’s is also a family affair. His son Sam oversees Campbell Place while daughter Jessica is at Memorial Green. Levine’s grandson Jay, who recently graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, has also joined the business.

“We now look forward to getting immersed in another vibrant community in our city – and the opportunity to bring our East Coast meets Gulf Coast food and drinks, warm atmosphere and comfortable dining experience to a new neighborhood – and closer to the major sports and entertainment complexes downtown,” Levine added.

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on the road

Growing Houston coffee shop hits the road with battery-powered electric van

Courtesy of Coffee Fellows

Look for Coffee Fellows mobile café at festivals and farmers markets.

A growing chain of coffee shops is taking its service on the road. Coffee Fellows recently added a mobile café to its offerings.

Built from an all-electric GM BrightDrop van, the mobile café allows Coffee Fellows to brings its signature lattes, coffees, and snacks to festivals, farmers markets, and other happenings across the Houston area. After a couple of trial runs, the van will make its official debut this Saturday, April 11 at the Art Car Parade. The company claims the van is Houston's first all-electric mobile coffee shop.

Coffee Fellows North America CEO Daniel Ogbonna tells CultureMap that an elective vehicle was a natural choice for the company, which places a high enough value on sustainability that it serves all dine-in guests in reusable china mugs rather than add to landfills with disposal packaging.

“An electric van was a natural thing to do,” Ogbonna says. “It helps play a role in preserving the environment.”

As Ogbonna explains, the van has one battery that powers the vehicle and a second battery for its latte machines, coffee grinders, lights, menu board, and other equipment. A solar cell helps the battery recharge during service. All told, the van can operate for up to nine hours. Best of all, since it’s an EV, it doesn’t use a noisy generator or require propane the same way a conventional, gas-powered food truck does.

Of course, all-electric power comes with some trade-offs. The van serves almost everything a brick-and-mortar Coffee Fellows cafe does — including two exclusive lattes, Ube Coconut and Biscoff Caramel — but some compromises had to be made. Since the van doesn’t have an oven or a blender, both bagel sandwiches and frozen drinks aren’t available. Certain preparations have been tweaked to allow the baristas to serve them more quickly.

“One of the biggest things with the van is paying attention to speed,” Ogbonna says. “We have a shorter menu that allows us to deliver the beverages and food items to our customers in a short period of time. That requires a little bit of thinking to figure out — what is it that customers typically want and how can we deliver it to them in the mobile van with greater speed?”

Ultimately, Ogbonna would like Coffee Fellows to operate multiple vans that could introduce the brand to new customers before brick-and-mortar locations open in their neighborhood. Although it was founded in Germany in 1999 and has four Houston-area locations, the company is still building awareness, especially compared to its national competition.

“We think we have great drinks that can go toe-to-toe with the big name coffee companies,” he says.

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