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Jewish bagel shop owners shutter their Bellaire NYC-inspired restaurant after just 2 years

New York Eatery will close next week.

Photo by Becca Wright

A Bellaire restaurant will close after less than two years in business. New York Eatery will close on Monday, May 14, owners Michael Saghian and Riana Sherman announced.

Notably, the Bagel Shop Bakery, the bakery and cafe from the same owners that’s adjacent to New York Eatery, will remain open. The original, Meyerland location of the Bagel Shop Bakery and its companion New York Deli & Coffee Shop — both staples of Houston’s Jewish community for more than 40 years — will also remain in operation. In addition, New York Eatery will honor all of its existing reservations for private events.

Opened in October 2021, New York Eatery attempted to build on the success of New York Deli & Coffee Shop with an expanded menu that included dinner entrees, more vegetarian options, and a full cocktail menu. It also offered substantially more room than the deli, with a capacity of over 200 people. Simply put, its owners decided to focus on more profitable ventures.

“We started construction on the Eatery pre-covid,” Saghian said in a statement. “So much has changed from then until now and although we had high hopes for the Eatery, we realize that our energies are better channeled through our work in the bakery, at Hillcroft, and especially in our thriving catering operation.”

Indeed, those other businesses are successful enough that New York Eatery’s remaining employees will be offered positions within them. To make up for the closure, the Bellaire location of the Bagel Shop Bakery may add some of the Eatery's dishes to its menu, assuming they can be modified to comply with the cafe operating under strict kosher guidelines.

“We’re in the restaurant business, but we’re more so in the people business, so this all feels like a natural progression — and a way to serve our community better,” Saghian added. “We are incredibly grateful for all of our customers, the memories made at New York Eatery, and the lessons we learned through this process. The future is bright and we’re excited to continue building on our successes and feed our community the same incredible food we’ve served for 48 years, made with love.”

New York Eatery’s closure comes at a time when restaurant openings are on the upswing in Bellaire. In addition to the established, nationally-recognized Blood Bros. BBQ, the area has welcomed new additions such as CultureMap Tastemaker Award Best New Restaurant nominee Aya Sushi and Mandito’s, a casual Tex-Mex restaurant from the owners of River Oaks favorite Armandos. A second location of Midtown burger favorite Lankford Grocery is expected to open soon.

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New York Times critic awards Houston restaurant 2 stars in glowing review

Courtesy of ChòpnBlọk

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Let’s just call 2025 the year of ChòpnBlọk. In a review published Tuesday, December 16, the New York Times has awarded the Houston restaurant two stars (“very good”).

Written by chief restaurant critic Tejal Rao, the review touts many of the same qualities that the Times already praised when it included ChòpnBlọk on its list of America’s 50 best restaurants.

Rao writes that she usually avoids restaurants that serve food in bowls, but she’s impressed by the way that chef-owner Ope Amosu has put a West African spin on the concept.

“For inspiration, Ope Amosu looked to the kind of chain restaurants that were built to scale, where flavors are often subdued to appeal to the broadest possible audience, focus-grouped to death. But the delight of ChòpnBlok is in its sure sense of self, its lively, multidimensional cooking and clear, delicious vision for modern food from the Black diaspora,” Rao writes.

She singles out specific dishes, including the Nigerian red stew with short rib, the Black Star bowl with shrimp, and the signature Motherland, made with chicken, greens, and plantains. “It’s utterly simple, but draws you in for more with the mouthwatering twang of not-too-much MSG — an international shortcut to building umami that tends to be used carefully, and layered with other forms,” she writes.

The review also touches on the way Amosu switched the restaurant from counter service to full service — described as “warm, informal, and quick with the jokes” — and his time working at Chipotle to learn the basics of the restaurant operations.

A two-star review is only the latest instance of ChòpnBlọk receiving national attention. In addition to the Times 50 best list, Esquire recently named it one of America’s best new restaurants. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand designation for 2025. Amosu earned a semifinalist nomination for Best Chef: Texas in the 2025 James Beard Awards.

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