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What happened there? Anyone hear anything?

Anyone else here remember Las Brasas Mexican Restaurant on Kuykendahl Rd, kind of far south of 1960? It was open during the early-mid 1980s. It was pretty much a Friday night ritual for my parents to take us there through much of my elementary school years. Much of the land adjacent to it and across the street from it was the Bammel Oil and Gas Field, so it was undeveloped - trees and pasture, which contributed to the feeling that you weren't just going to another restaurant in a strip mall (indeed, it wasn't in a strip mall, but in a free-standing building sort of by itself), but to a place out in the country. The restaurant building itself, was really well decorated, in spanish colonial style, red tile roof, stucco walls, lots of archways, some wrought-iron works, saltillo tile floors. When you walked into the building, you entered a little foyer area with the host stand. To your left was a separate room that was a little carpeted lounge. Directly to your right was a hall leading to the bathrooms, if I remember correctly. You walked straight through the foyer into the main eating area, which had a large bar in the wall which was now to your back and left a little. The main eating area was large and open, made to look a little like a patio (though you were inside) and even had a small fountain. Walking through that room, you entered a large back room, with raised floors, slightly differently decorated, with hunting trophy mounts (taxidermied animal heads) though not too many to make it gross. It gave it the feeling of being a hacienda in interior Mexico. As kids we loved going there (we were already in a good mood because it was Friday, and we knew if my parents didn't linger over their margaritas too long we'd get home in time to watch Knight Rider) because the food was good, the staff was friendly and knew my family by name as regulars, and all the little nooks and crannies of the restaurant were great places for three little boys to explore and pretend we were private detectives somewhere exotic. Also, my parents always let us order Roy Rogers to drink. My memory of the food isn't very expansive, because as a kid I used to get onl a few things. First I was ordering plain ol beef enchiladas, then I remember a couple of times ordering shrimp enchiladas because I loved shrimp and it sounded like a good idea, but was disappointed. Most of the time I would order beef tacos al carbon. I remember this was the first restaurant where anyone in my family had ordered beef fajitas, and they served them with grilled or sauteed sliced mushrooms, the only place I have seen that. Before discovering Las Brasas we ate at Casa Elena on 1960 just east of Kuykendahl, and not as often as we did Las Brasas. I don't remember my parents ordering fajitas or margaritas, so it seems like the Friday night fajitas and margaritas tradition that continues to this day started at Las Brasas. Our favorite waiter there was Angel, a young, short, friendly hispanic guy, who left for a while but came back. The owner also knew us well and would come visit our table whenever we were there. He opened a second Las Brasas downtown, I think at The Shops at Houston Center. Something happened, his brother disappeared mysteriously in Mexco, and he went down to look for him, leaving the management of the restaurants to his head waiter. Because of his search for his brother, he couldn't devote the attention to the restaurant it needed, and it closed sometime in the late 80s. I have had a lot of "favorite" mexican restaurants since then, mostly in Houston, but a few in Dallas when I was in college, but none of them can compete with my memories of Las Brasas. Just wondering if anyone else had the fond memories of this place.

To all you unincorporated northwesterners, I received this in an e-mail:

From the May 7th Houston Business Journal Sounds like that place that Microsoft's Paul Allen built in Seattle.

Tarantino Properties purchased the old K-Mart Store at 310 FM 1960 West. The store was in the same shopping strip as Kroger, Babies R Us, Office Max, and Comp USA. The Company is remodeling the old anchor store. It will be split into 11 suites that total 97,080 square feet in all. The new Shops at Cypress Shopping Center

Good news for Texadelphia fans in the NW side of town...a new Texadelphia is opening up at 12914 FM 1960 West, Ste. B (Located at 1960 West and Wortham - one block North of 290). I remember when it was just one location down on the Drag across from UT...back in the day...(along with Double Dave's)...now they're both all over the place.

I was taking the usual drive home on 290 from 8 to hwy 6 and noticed the HOV overpass was spray painted by some youngsters. It looks pretty bad. SIGH.

Posted from an article in this weeks' 1960 Sun http://www.hcnonline.com/site/news.cfm?new...id=532256&rfi=6

Just saw the sign for "Movie Tavern" to open at the site of the recently vacated Home Depot at 249 & FM 1960. Looks pretty cool, similar concept to Alamo Drafthouse. http://www.movietavern.com/

There a few new development projects on 1960 in the news recently. There's a Home Depot going up. I believe there is a Target going up as well. There's a new medical hospital almost completed. And they're opening a P.F. Chang's restaurant near Willowbrook. Does this mean 1960 is headed upwards? Isn't 1960 supposed to be nothing but pawn shops and tattoo parlors these days? What say the experts?

i live out off fm 1960 (near i45 N) and had a taste for bbq. the closest luther's is literally just a few blocks away, so imagine my surprise when i couldn't find it. the reason? it had changed to a pappas. i asked the server when the change occured and she mentioned that the pappas (chain? family?) bought out luther's about 10 months ago and were in the process now of changing over signage and recipes. i must say, their BBQ (not to mention sauce, fries, and coleslaw ...yummy) is way better than luther's ever was.

I plan on purchasing a house soon in a neighborhood near the intersection of Ella and Rankin. Just need some information about the area. You know: The surroudings, crime/violence, gangs, shopping, etc. Help would be greatly appreciated...

I remember Physical Whimsical at 249 and 1960. They had a cool air-blown western town that you could walk into and jump and crawl around in. Pretty cool and worth a mention, even if it was housed in a stripmall LOL. (see my Games People Play post )

Will be moving back to Houston in two weeks after 22 years in LAS VEGAS .Vegas has become the ____ magnet of the united states smog , a dried up lake and you cant wash yor car in your own driveway,300 dollar power bills for 1600 sgft house and 150dollar water bills for a30x30 patch of grass.Loooking up north memorial northwest and so forth have found a home thats interesting in albury manor ,dont care about the comute ,dont want to live in the woodlands, so whats the scoop?????????////

When I first moved to Houston, I spent every free moment driving around, exploring everything I could. Of all Houston's quirks, my discovering that State Highway 6 / FM1960 wasn't a loop freeway, similar to I-610 & the Sam Houston Tollway (Beltway 8) was the most surprising, yet ultimately disappointing. When looking on a map, it made perfect sense that it would be the next logical major throughfare to be a freeway, but when I first arrived to it, I only found congestion, congestion, congestion, and oh yeah: congestion. My question is, should it be upgraded to a freeway? Is it really too late to start such a project? I think it could easily be done and that there is more than enough room. It could even become a tollway if needed to help create more revenue for the county/city. There are wide ditches on either side of the road starting around US90 in the south, and I believe to at least US290 they remain. I don't remember the layout that well from US290 to SH249 but I think they could make it happen. I would estimate that 90% of right of way needed is ditch or empty parking lot. They could build feeders where the ditches/parking lots are, and then overpasses at the intersections. Finally, add exits & entrances and tollbooths if needed. From SH249 to I-45 might be a little trickier as there are no ditches to the best of my memory, and some parcels are at streets edge. This area is the most heavily traveled of FM1960, and maybe in the name of progress, would might require the purchasing and demolishing of certain parcels, to make it happen. Once past I45 though, I know it opens back up, and a north entrance to the airport could be built. When US59 is finally reached, it could terminate as there seems no need beyond here through Humble, Kingwood & Atoscosita (I could be wrong, it might be needed there - anyone?). With all the construction, I don't see why the county couldn't find a way to install similar light rail along the FM1960 corridor between I45 & SH249, as this is an already heavily locally traveled area. All said and done, I think it would help the city of Houston and Harris County. This of course with the upgrading of SH249 south of BW8 to I45 into a freeway along with upgrading US290. With these new roadways, I don't think traffic from the northwest would be an issue anymore. I don't think the Grand Parkway is going to help much in anyway, as it really won't serve a need for another 25-30 years. This improvement would take about 5-10 years to complete, but the result would be immediate, and long overdue. I feel the same way about projects like this as I do the lightrail: "The sooner we start, the sooner we finish."