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Koi Restaurant - 240 Westheimer Rd.


hindesky

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Kamalan Bakery, the Asiatown spot known for its layers cakes, fruit and vegetable-flavors buns, smoothies, and teas, will take over the Montrose spot that was formerly Avondale Food and Wine.

Details on the new location are scant, but signage is already up at 240 Westheimer Avenue. 

Avondale Food & Wine, the cafe and bottle shop that was originally called L’Olivier, closed in July after 10 years in the neighborhood. Owners Mary Clarkson and Olivier Ciesielski said at the time that they were hoping to reopen in a smaller location.

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On 10/5/2021 at 10:12 AM, clutchcity94 said:

That lease can’t be cheap. If a wine shop and French restaurant can’t afford it, I don’t know how an Asian bakery will.

With all the covid closures, have rents come down or flattened?

This will be quite a bit bigger than the original on Bellaire.  It happens to be one of my wife's favorite bakeries so we'll be stopping by to see how it turns out.  I wonder if they're going to expand to drinks and be more like the 85 Celsius bakery across the street from the original location.  Look for it to be open late.  Until just recently the original was open til 11pm.  They've got a sign in the door at the Bellaire location reducing their hours to 6 or 7pm.  Betting they're spending nights working on this new location.

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i am excited that something like this will take over this space that i might actually frequent! it would be super smart to stay open late as this is just what the area needs...and it will be great for the #'s crowd and vice versa :) 

Edited by gene
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  • The title was changed to Kamalan Bakery - 240 Westheimer
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

We stopped in here yesterday. The old bar area of L’Olivia is the main display of breads and general selling area. We picked up a braided cream bread with cream cheese inside. Most of the breads were single portions, both sweet and savory. The check out counter had display of bento boxes with both sushi and tempura etc- $17.00

 

The dining area had cooler case with huge cakes coved in fresh fruit. ….wow

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yes been going here for the past week or so...and it IS indeed AMAZING!!! My buddy who would go to their bellaire location took me here the first time and we got these incredible "short bread like" butter milk cookies with cranberries and they are perfect with coffee or alone...dang they are good...also picked up some egg tarts as well as some croissants...

but have been back 3 more times for those darn cranberry cookies! i am officially addicted 

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  • The title was changed to Kamalan Bakery - 240 Westheimer Rd.
  • 1 month later...

i saw it coming since day 1....the original location is always busy due to location etc...

this one was empty every single time i went (which was pretty often) to get their cranberry shortbread cookies and egg tarts etc! 

RIP...montrose didn't know what they were missing 😪

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2 hours ago, Triton said:

The dumpling place across the street didn't last long either and it had a pretty nice interior too!

I've heard it was pretty good, but now we're left with one fewer historic, sidewalk accessible house, a vacant building, and another treeless heat collecting useless asphalt parking lot. It's a scene tailor made for the masochistic pedestrian. 
I used to think that Lower Westheimer could be revived as the charming walkable destination it once was, but I'm beginning to think that it's never going to happen. For every step forward, we go three steps back.

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7 hours ago, gene said:

i saw it coming since day 1....the original location is always busy due to location etc...

this one was empty every single time i went (which was pretty often) to get their cranberry shortbread cookies and egg tarts etc! 

RIP...montrose didn't know what they were missing 😪

I agree. I made it in every 2-3 weeks and there was never really more than 1 other person at a time in there.

3 hours ago, Triton said:

The dumpling place across the street didn't last long either and it had a pretty nice interior too!

Wildly hit or miss food quality/service times. They could never get it together.

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1 hour ago, dbigtex56 said:

I've heard it was pretty good, but now we're left with one fewer historic, sidewalk accessible house, a vacant building, and another treeless heat collecting useless asphalt parking lot. It's a scene tailor made for the masochistic pedestrian. 
I used to think that Lower Westheimer could be revived as the charming walkable destination it once was, but I'm beginning to think that it's never going to happen. For every step forward, we go three steps back.

I think I hear the ghost of the original Lower Westheimer renovation  crying out ....

That plan was all about walkability...wide sidewalks, buildings built next to ROW with parking in back, plus canopy type shade trees, public tables and benches, street art ............. sigh

 

Edited by trymahjong
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I think the issue is that both Kamalan and the Dumpling place occupied an entire lot/ building. Their sales probably didn't justify rent, it would have made more economic sense for them to rent a smaller space in a larger building rather than occupying an entire building.

I feel like the area is doing really well, the urban building directly in front with Spenga and the pharmacy seem to be doing well. Not to mention, the building down the street with Polish dentistry, Midtown dentist that occupies an old house, El Tiempo, a bunch of law firms in old houses, Soto Sushi, the new shopping center close to Bagby/ Elgin is already fully leased. My main point is i don't think a bakery can support a single use building in this portion of westheimer (we all know rent is pretty pricey here). 

IMO IMO IMO, I think this portion of Westheimer needs to go a bit more vertical (even just 2 stories) for rent/ urbanization/ walkability to make sense. As pretty/ nostalgic the old houses are, its neither helping with rent in the area nor is it helping with urbanism/ walkability. 

Edited by Amlaham
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The problem is infrastructure. Yeah there is some walkability, but developing a truly walkable stretch with the proper amenities is what's missing. You have to draw people to want to stroll, and right now LW just isn't strollable, regardless how "walkable" most areas seem to be. Drawing that foot traffic from Midtown is critical in creating a vibrant area that helps support businesses along the corridor. I hope we see LW reconstructed before the World Cup games but I won't hold my breath. 

Edited by j_cuevas713
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On 7/28/2022 at 10:10 AM, Amlaham said:

I think the issue is that both Kamalan and the Dumpling place occupied an entire lot/ building. Their sales probably didn't justify rent, it would have made more economic sense for them to rent a smaller space in a larger building rather than occupying an entire building.



The Korean dumpling restaurant you're referring to is Pling. It was located at 223 Westheimer Rd. Pling did not rent the property. Their parent company JFE Franchising owned (and still owns) the property. JFE Franchising also purchased Dolce Vita's former property at 550 Westheimer Rd.

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