Monday Hustle
Michelin-recognized Houston restaurant now open for dinner daily
Houstonians can finally satisfy their Nancy's Hustle cravings on Monday.
It’s never been easier to get an order of Nancy cakes or former Astros star Justin Verlander’s favorite Houston cheeseburger. Beginning this Monday, May 5, Nancy’s Hustle is now open for dinner seven days a week.
Co-owner Sean Jensen tells CultureMap that he and his business partner, chef Jason Vaughan, opted to add a seventh day of service for several reasons. Most importantly, their customers have been requesting it.
“We’re busy every night,” Jensen says. “We often get complaints that it’s hard to get in. This opens up another day for people to sneak in.”
Indeed, the restaurant, which opened in the fall of 2017, has never been riding higher. Food & Wine recently named it one of the 15 best restaurants in America, based on a nationwide poll of restaurant workers. It also earned a coveted Bib Gourmand designation in the Michelin Guide. Rather than a Michelin star, Jensen thinks Bib Gourmand, which Michelin describes as recognizing “restaurants that offer great quality food at good prices,” felt like the right award for Nancy’s, which has always prided itself on being a neighborhood restaurant with refined food and friendly, polished service.
“If we had gotten a [Michelin] star, I would have thought they were wrong,” Jensen says. “I would have probably been offended if we’d only gotten a recommendation. I think we’re more than that. I think we’re in the right place with a Bib Gourmand.”
The restaurant saw an immediate uptick in diners after the Michelin Guide’s list came out in November, particularly from visitors who wanted to patronize Bib Gourmand recipients, he adds. Being open on Monday allows the restaurant to serve diners who are either staying for a long weekend or flying in on Monday and looking for a good meal.
On a separate note, regulars will notice a new face behind the bar. In January, bartender Brandon Choate left Anvil for a new role as Nancy’s bar manager. He’ll also be working the floor some evenings.
“He’s great. We love the changes he’s making and the new fresh set of eyes,” Jensen says.
Jensen also notes that, since many other restaurants are closed on Monday, being open on that day makes it easier for their peers in the hospitality industry to patronize Nancy’s Hustle. Monday service has been a success at like-minded peers such as Theodore Rex, Nobie’s, and Coltivare, which have always drawn restaurant workers on Monday evenings. Nancy’s makes itself particularly friendly to hospitality workers by seating people until 11 pm nightly.
Finally, being open seven days also benefits the restaurant’s employees. Jensen explains that it became easier to be flexible with employees’ schedules at Tiny Champions — their EaDo restaurant devoted to pizza, pasta, and shareable plates — when that restaurant moved to daily service last summer. For better work-life balance, the restaurant wants to give all employees two consecutive days off, but that could sometimes get tricky when one of those days had to be Monday.
“Instead of having to focus everyone’s two consecutive days as Sunday and Monday or Monday and Tuesday, we can mold days off that work better for them or for us,” he says. Later, he adds, “it makes it easier for those employees who have family or significant others who work nine-to-fives. It’s easier to give them a Saturday or Sunday off when you’re on a seven-day schedule.”
