mkultra25

I'd put the Gingerman up there with Kanomwan when it comes to the worst Covid-related business closures. Street Food Thai Market is very good. Asia Market Thai Lao Food, not very far away on North Main, is also worth visiting. And I've heard good things about Sao Lao Thai Cafe, which is off the beaten path on North Shepherd, but haven't been there yet. Kanomwan definitely left some very big shoes to fill.

That was never an issue with Kanomwan, which, admittedly, was already well-established by the time they relocated to Tlaquepaque. But I'm still not sure how big of an issue visibility from Telephone is, especially for a restaurant/bar. I'd bet positive word of mouth (via social media, reviews, etc.) is far more of a significant factor.

In addition to Taqueria Aguascalientes, there's also a Gorditas Aguascalientes on Irvington and a Gorditas Aguascalientes on Bissonnet. As far as I know, none of the three are related except by having similar names. The only one I've been to is the one on Irvington, and it not only has the best gorditas I've ever eaten, but pretty much everything else on the menu is really, really good as well. The takeaway here seems to be that, judging from the recipes, people from Aguascalientes really know how to cook.

I remember they had several geese hanging around there for a while. Geese can be aggressively territorial, and these didn't seem to have much (if any) fear of humans. One of them tried to take a bite out of my pants when I got a little closer to him than I probably should have.

Artist's conception of the moment that plan was proposed at a meeting of the Rice Board of Trustees:

From an admittedly cursory search, it appears that Ducho's Steakhouse No. 1 was registered as a corporation in March 1968. Edgar's brother Calvin and his wife Joann are listed as President and Secretary/Treasurer, respectively, but I'm not sure if this was the case when the company was established. Edgar and Wilma stepped back from daily operations of the business at some point, as Calvin and Joann were the only Ducho family members still working there when it closed. Joann passed away in 2009 and Calvin in 2015, but as of 2018 both Edgar and Wilma were still alive and living in Gonzales. We ate there very shortly before they closed, and when I asked the cashier about the impending closure, all she mentioned was the Duchos had decided to retire. I remember not being too surprised, as their business had clearly fallen way off since the glory days of the 1970s - it wasn't unusual for there to be only 1-2 other tables occupied when we dined there toward the end. I did not know about the loan and subsequent default, but that certainly adds a significant wrinkle to the story.

Living Faith Church occupied the building for less than 20 years. Before the church moved in, it was occupied by the late, lamented Ducho's (pronounced "doo-hoe", with a silent "c") Steak House, which I believe opened sometime in the 1960s and closed in 2002. There's a picture of what it looked like in the Ducho's days here: https://www.facebook.com/EarlWBlair/posts/dine-at-duchos-many-a-northsider-satisfied-his-or-her-streak-craving-at-duchos-s/2885534888174048/ The church sign in your photo above was a northside landmark when Ducho's was in business - since the restaurant didn't directly front Shepherd, it wasn't very visible to people driving by, hence the tall sign, which was brightly lit up with neon and left no doubt where Ducho's was. Glad to see the building will once more be reverting to its roots as a restaurant. Another Hughie's location will be a nice addition to the neighborhood.

As someone who used to typeset college-level math in my day job, seeing an upper-case sigma used in lieu of an "E" by lazy logo designers grinds my gears almost as much as seeing Comic Sans used for, well, anything.

What, no Pumpkin Spice Boulevard? They should name Las Vegas streets after the mobsters that built the casinos and hotels - Siegel Parkway, Lansky Avenue...

I suspect the only reason it's still operating is that there hasn't been much interest in leasing the building from anyone else. Per Loopnet it's still available: https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/4200-North-Fwy-Houston-TX/25732684/

HCAD's online records for both 2 Remington and 2 1/2 Remington only go back to 1999, but it appears that as of 1999 both properties were owned by grandsons of prominent local philanthropists LeRoy and Lucile Melcher. As an aside, I wasn't aware of the connection between the two families previously, but the Melcher grandsons were also nephews of Pierre M. "Pete" Schlumberger, per the latter's obituary: Pierre Marcel Schlumberger 1942 - 2020

Interesting. I have the third edition (2003), and it is not listed there. The way that it's worded in your edition ("check other Houston strips") makes me wonder if its existence wasn't completely verified before the author included it, and was subsequently removed from later editions.

6500 Main was the site of the Tidelands motel, which was converted to Rice graduate student housing and rechristened "The Graduate House" in 1984. Can't remember when the Graduate House closed, but construction of the Bioscience Research Collaborative building that currently occupies the site began in 2006. This is the first I've heard of the Graduate House hosting a seasonal hostel, but I guess it was an obvious way for what was already a former motel to generate some extra revenue in between semesters when demand for student housing would have been lower.

If JV had been there earlier, he could've given Mr. Met some pointers on how to give fans the finger without getting fired.

It's been a while since I first read about these two companies combining to create a grocery colossus, but I distinctly got the impression that although it was being billed as a merger, it appeared to be more of an acquisition by Kroger. I guess whatever happens will depend on which company's culture emerges as the dominant one in the new entity, and which one gets absorbed and diluted.

In Italian it sounds more like a weighty comment from an elder statesman. Given what they charge to add a prancing horse shield to a fender, I'm sure they'd find all sorts of ways to monetize such a motto.

Both in the linked tweet in the Chron piece as well as on Reddit, there's some discussion as to whether Mack actually wrote the letter himself or if someone else that preferred to remain anonymous did so, and simply cc:d Mack, who then opted to go public with it. Given how many times Mack is referred to in the third person, it's kind of odd if he actually wrote it, but stranger things have happened. Regardless of who wrote it, it's a pretty unhinged rant to take out an expensive full-page ad for.

Hunter Thompson once claimed that there was no such thing as objective journalism, and that the only thing remotely approaching it was the security camera at a 7-Eleven. One of the main differences between the "golden age" of journalism and what passes for it now is that its practitioners used to dress up advocacy as objectivity, now they rarely even pretend. Factoring in known biases when reading is simply part of critical thinking. Unfortunately, that's a skill that's all too often in short supply, judging from how often people are willing to immediately grant credibility to whatever gets posted on social media.

You mean the Mach-E? I find the fact that someone decided it would be a good idea to make a Mustang SUV far more heinous than the fact that it's an EV. The real harbinger of the automotive apocalypse is the Ferrari Purosangue, which you will note they take great pains to refer to as a "four-door four-seater", as opposed to an SUV. They can call it what they like, but the pics say otherwise.

Was this in a runoff election? In Texas you can vote in either party's primary, but in the event of a primary runoff you can only vote for candidates in the party whose primary you previously voted in.

@gene I wasn't able to catch it either, but you'd think that it will eventually get a wider release (streaming and/or additional theatrical screenings) now that's it's completed. I've wanted to see it since the teaser trailer was originally released when the film was still in development.

I vaguely recall this Shoe Box, as I started seeing an ENT physician in the Hermann Professional Building in the late 1960s. But the address listed here is definitely odd - the Professional Building was constructed in 1949, and is at 6400 Fannin. Wonder if it was just a glaring mistake in the newspaper piece.

One of the better articles I've seen on the race, from the Texas Observer: Crime, Statistics, and the Harris County Judge’s Race For whatever reason, Hidalgo has been unable to effectively respond to many of the criticisms leveled against her. I suspect it's a combination of being decisively outspent, coupled with her inexperience in running as an incumbent in a high-profile race - when she was elected, no one was really paying much attention as the thought of Emmett being sent packing was practically unthinkable. A more seasoned pol may have been able to better defuse Mealer's assertions.

I'm fairly certain Kaplan's Ben-Hur never served food. The closest they ever came was selling whole-bean coffee by the pound in the store's later years before they closed and Martin Kaplan sold the property.