102IAHexpress

Interesting. Why would some want to ignore facts? Did I post anything that was not true? Are any of the restaurants on my list indeed open on the weekends? This forum is turning into the UC Berkeley Student Union; free speech is welcome, but only if it conforms to your own beliefs. And if they disagree with you, they want you dead!

For the sake of anyone who may be under the impression that many downtown restaurants are open on the weekends, let me post a list of all the restaurants, cafe etc. that are closed on Saturday and Sunday. 1. AddicTea Café 1001 Fannin 2. Alonti Market Café 1001 Fannin 3. Alonti Market Café 1111 Louisiana 4. Alonti Market Café 777 Walker 5. Alonti Market Café 1221 McKinney 6. Alonti Market Café 600 Travis 7. Amille’s 1301 McKinney 8. Amille’s 1001 Louisiana 9. Amille’s 1001 Fannin 10. Amille’s 600 Jefferson 11. Amille’s 500 Dallas 12. Amille’s 333 Clay 13. Baoz Dumplings 1001 Fannin 14. Beck’s Prime 910 Travis 15. Bourays 609 Clay 16. Brooklyn Meatball Company 930 Main 17. Brooklyn Meatball Company 1200 McKinney 18. Brown Bag Deli 702 Main 19. Bullritos 910 Travis 20. Buzz Barista 811 Main 21. Café Express 650 Main 22. Café Basil 500 Dallas 23. Chick-Fil-A 1200 McKinney (All locations closed on Sunday, however this one is closed on Saturdays too) 24. Chick-Fil-A 500 Dallas (All locations closed on Sunday, however this one is closed on Saturdays too) 25. Chicken Etc. 777 Walker 26. China Ocean & Hibachi Grill 815 Walker 27. Chipotle 909 Texas 28. Corner Bakery Café 1000 Main 29. Dimassi’s Mediterranean Kitchen 919 Milam 30. Doozo Dumplings & Noodles 1200 McKinney 31. Droubi Brothers Mediterranean Grill 507 Dallas 32. Dunkin’ Donuts 1000 Main 33. Eats Mesquite Grill 804 Milam 34. Einstein Bros Bagels 1200 Louisiana 35. Freshii 1200 McKinney 36. Fuddruckers 1100 Louisiana 37. Gigi’s Cupcakes 600 Travis 38. Great American Cookie 1200 McKinney 39. J&M Café 500 Jefferson 40. Jason’s Deli 901 McKinney 41. Jason’s Deli 1200 Smith 42. Jimmy John’s 820 Main 43. Jimmy John’s 500 Dallas 44. Jin Bento 914 Main 45. Kolache Factory 811 Louisiana 46. La Dolce Vita Café 1000 Louisiana 47. La Dolce Vita Café 1201 Louisiana 48. La Palapa 1110 Preston 49. Leaf and Grain 1200 McKinney 50. Lenny’s Sub Shop 1001 Fannin 51. Luby’s 1301 Fannin 52. Luisa’s Pasta 1200 McKinney 53. M R Mexican Grill 1001 Fannin 54. Maggie Rita’s Mexican 600 Travis 55. Mango Tree Thai Bistro 914 Main 56. Mayuri Express 930 Main 57. McDonalds 777 Walker 58. Mediterranean Grill 1200 McKinney 59. Mediterranean Grill House 808 Travis 60. Michael’s Cookie Jar 711 Louisiana 61. Miller’s Café 1001 McKinney 62. Morningside Thai Café 917 Franklin 63. Murphy’s Deli 601 Jefferson 64. Murphy’s Deli 1021 Main 65. Murphy’s Deli 500 Dallas 66. Murphy’s Deli 910 Louisiana 67. Murphy’s Deli 1200 McKinney 68. Murphy’s Deli 440 Louisiana 69. Muscle Maker Grill 914 Main 70. Ninfa’s Express 1111 Louisiana 71. Nosh 919 Milam 72. Otto’s BBQ 500 Dallas 73. Otto’s BBQ 600 Travis 74. Otto’s BBQ 1200 McKinney 75. Panini 711 Louisiana 76. Pappas BBQ 1100 Smith 77. Pastabilities 815 Walker 78. Peli Deli 808 Travis 79. Poblanos Mexican Grill 1000 Main 80. Post Oak Grill 1111 Louisiana 81. Potbelly Sandwich 1000 Main 82. Potbelly Sandwich 1200 McKinney 83. Quizno’s 1200 McKinney 84. Rachel’s Café 421 San Jacinto 85. Rustika Café and Bar 801 Louisiana 86. S&T Restaurant 1001 Louisiana 87. Salata 711 Louisiana 88. Salata 1201 Fannin 89. Salata 500 Dallas 90. Salata 1200 McKinney 91. Salata 919 Milam 92. Schlotsky’s Deli 1200 McKinney 93. Schlotsky’s Deli 815 Walker 94. Shipley Do-Nuts 1001 McKinney 95. Simon’s Homestyle Kitchen 1200 McKinney 96. Skyline Deli 1111 Bagby 97. Skyline Deli 1301 Main 98. Skyline Deli 717 Texas 99. Smothie King 815 Walker 100. Smoothie King 1001 Fannin 101. Snap Kitchen 500 Dallas 102. Snap Kitchen 1200 McKinney 103. Sol Café Mejicano 1205 Travis 104. Sonic 711 Louisiana 105. Star Chef Dumpling House 930 Main 106. Starbucks 1100 Louisiana 107. Starbucks 1600 Lamar 108. Starbucks 1200 McKinney 109. Starbucks 600 Travis 110. Starbucks 711 Louisiana 111. Starbucks 910 Louisiana 112. Starbucks 914 Dallas 113. Stephanie Leighs 700 Louisiana 114. Stephanie Leighs 1100 Louisiana 115. Subroc 1021 Main 116. Subway 919 Milam 117. Subway 1201 Louisiana 118. Subway 1100 Louisiana 119. Subway 1200 McKinney 120. Top Taste Asian Subs & Grill 930 Main 121. Treebeards 315 Travis 122. Treebeards 1117 Texas 123. Treebeards 1100 Louisiana 124. Treebeards 1200 McKinney 125. Treebeards 711 Louisiana 126. Uptown Express Deli 1000 Louisiana 127. Wendy’s 1111 Louisiana 128. Whataburger 1000 Main 129. Which Wich 1001 Louisiana 130. Which Wich 711 Louisiana 131. Wok & Roll 1200 McKinney 132. Wok & Roll 1000 Main 133. Zero’s Sandwich Shop 507 Dallas 134. DGN Factory 1001 Fannin If I missed any please feel free to add.

Samurai Noodle Closed Ragin' Cajun Closed Oxheart Closed Am I missing any other restaurants that have closed in downtown this year? How is Roma Pizza doing on the light rail line? Still closed on Sundays? Odd, I guess people don't eat pizza on Sundays.

There’s no reason why research institutions/hospitals shouldn’t fund their own basic research. Indeed, If an institution wants the prestige and recognition of being highly ranked then they should be responsible for their own funding. Be that as it may, proposed slashes in NIH funding wouldn’t affect Houston's institutions much. The biggest growth right now in the Med Center is coming from Dr. Ferrari’s Houston Methodist Research Institute, and his labs receive almost 100% of their basic research funding from the Department of Defense and not NIH. If anything Trump’s proposed budget of increased military spending will create even more growth for the Med Center. If Hillary would have won and she would have slashed military spending even more than Obama has then that could have been a disaster for the Med Center and growth. Fortunately Trump won.

No. Not even close. It will be a solid hotel but it will not become the new top luxury hotel for Houston. I like most people, am also not a regular connoisseur of luxury hotels, however a lot of people still will be in the market for luxury hotels during certain life events; like their wedding day. On their wedding day most brides lose all rationality when it comes to budgets and they pretty much demand the best location, best services, best everything, and if they are looking for that in this hotel they will be disappointed. Again, it's a solid hotel, just not a game changing luxury hotel for Houston. Is there any plans (apologies if it was already mentioned but the design kept changing) for a spa and salon? For a full service luxury wedding now a days you need a spa on location.

Thank you. That is exactly my point. In general i call them fabrics in more specific terms you call them markets, we both agree there are essentially two restaurant markets in downtown. The market that caters to the entertainment venues and the market that caters to downtown neighborhood locals. Accordingly, restaurants in downtown have to choose which market or fabric they want to do business with. Chipolte, perhaps because of their lack of alcohol can't successfully do businesses with the entertainment market, and perhaps because of lack of local customers can't do business on the weekends. Same is true with Cafe Express, Jason's Deli, Lone Star Taco, La Palapa, etc.. All I'm saying is that there are not that many restaurants for downtown locals in the evenings and weekends. And like an airline that operates a route only 3x a week or 5x a week instead of daily, yes It can operate a profit on just a few flights a week, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, although locals may not need to fly into market everyday, they do need to eat everyday. Again, I'm not saying there arn't any restaurants open for locals in the evening and weekend because there are some, but not as many as everyone thinks. So lets just taper down the talk that the neighborhood restaurant scene is growing in downtown.

Not at all. I was being sarcastic in response to Kinkaid's silly post. In all sincerity you are correct, the tunnels are dead/closed on the weekends and the afternoons. However in the mornings and lunch time they are very popular. During those hours it's one of the few things that has mass appeal in downtown, and the only downtown corridor without the need of government help. If the city is going to get involved at all in a retail district ( i don't think it should in downtown) perhaps it should expand on what currently works. The tunnels. Perhaps build a public tunnel where one is not developed yet. Create an access point from the street and operate it for longer hours and give tax breaks to retail shops that wish operate there.

This from the guy who has over 5K posts on an internet forum! Come back to the forum when you have something useful, like evidence and logic.

Actually downtown is alive. All the restaurants in the tunnels are really open in the evenings and weekends and they are making a ton of money after hours, it's just nobody knows about it. The light rail is also bringing in tons of passengers to Cafe Express and Chipolte on the weekends but we can't actually see them that's why they appear closed. And the city didn't have to offer tax breaks to developers to build new construction in downtown. Based on all this lets go ahead and fund a tax subsidized retail district in downtown as well, the reports of traditional retail dying because of online shopping is clearly fake news.

ROFL. Typical fall back position, it's the fault of the business. Do you really want to pursue that failed argument? What is your argument for Cafe Express?, Jason's Deli? Lone Star Taco? Why do they not open on the weekends? According to you they must also be on the brink of failure. The point is that many on this forum attribute without evidence the success of one thing to something totally unrelated especially when it comes to downtown. New office tower in downtown; Great it's because of the light rail. huh? New bar across from the GRB and Minute Maid; Great it's because downtown is growing like wildfire with new residents! Huh? what about all the restaurants that are literally closed more than they are open in downtown?

You clearly have not noticed that Chipolte can't even sustain itself on a Saturday or Sunday. Get back to me when that's changed. It has everything you would need according to HAIF, ground level retail below a huge apartment building, on the light rail line, in the center of downtown Houston. Yet there are just not enough people to be profitable on the weekends.

Obviously they are not. You remove those entertainment venues and you also lose those visitors. Or better put, when those entertainment venues are not operating (game nights, performance nights) the immediate area is no longer filled with visitors. You may not like to hear that, but that's just a reality. Don't like it? Then change it. Convince your fellow citizens to patronize Irma's year round. Should be easy right? And It makes sense because to some citizens, downtown is an actual neighborhood where they live and/or work, pay taxes, etc. Thus, If you want to have a serious discussion as to how make the downtown neighborhood better then perhaps you should actually speak to people who have a stake in the neighborhood, and not just people drinking tequila shots and beer, throwing up then going home to Sugar Land. If however the goal is to make downtown like a Times Square entertainment venue and to push out the local residents that live there then by all means lets add more bars for Astros games.

They are part of a fabric, just not the downtown fabric. They are really part of the entertainment fabric that just happens to intersect parts of downtown. Accordingly, those restaurants cater to patrons of their respective entertainment venues first, and then to local downtowners second, if at all. For example's Irma's restaurant hours based on Astros home games. Artista hours based on performance nights, etc. I lived in downtown and there were very few street level restaurants that i could count on to be open most evenings and weekends. The rest i had to look at my Astros calendar, Hobby Center calendar, etc. Not saying there weren't any open, because there were/are some, but just not as many as you would like to believe.

The issue is the people who work downtown and who utilize the tunnels are part of the downtown neighborhood fabric (which is why it is relevant to this subforum). Although they do not live in downtown (most of them anyways) they do however rent office space, pay property taxes, have employees, etc. They have a stake in the downtown neighborhood. They and their workers also, mostly interact with downtown eateries via the tunnels. Tourists on the other hand have no stake in downtown other than to visit the venue they are patronizing that night. They are drinking near Minute Maid, drinking near bowling at Lucky Strike, catching a bite before a theatre district performance. To them downtown is not really their neighborhood, instead it is just a means to go drink or entertain themselves at night and then exit back to their respective neighborhoods. I could see how you think those street level restaurants that cater to the entertainment/tourist crowd add to the downtown neighborhood, but they really don't. What we need more of, and what downtown lacks is restaurants that cater to the locals of downtown. But as I mentioned earlier, food eating trends will make more of those type of eateries less economically feasible.

Also, I could see how you would think the tunnels are only for the work crowd, but as someone who has lived and worked in downtown I can also sympathize with my former neighbors who think the street level restaurants near the entertainment venues are only for the tourist crowd and not for downtown locals.

I think the new places opening up have to be examined more closely because they really cater to visitors/tourists (non-downtowners) who are visiting or as you say "gravitating" to downtown. I believe the current social trends will continue; the restaurants that will do well are the ones that can adapt to the food delivery trends and the ones that can also sell lots of beer/wine/alcohol (can't order alcohol via an app). Therefore bars around entertainment venues (which downtown has lots of; Minute Maid Park, Dynamo, Theatre District, Bowling, etc.) will continue to be popular in downtown as people gravitate to drinking before/after games and performances. Bigio's new sports bar near Minute Maid is an example. The restaurants that cater to the theatre district is another. And unfortunately very popular lunch time places for downtown regulars (like Chipolte) that do not also serve alcohol will have a hard time in downtown in the evenings and weekends. What we are seeing is that most street level restaurants (see my partial list above) will remain closed on the weekends because they are not near an entertainment venue or because they don't sell alcohol or don't sell enough alcohol and therefore will not be popular with downtown visitors. The restaurants that are open on the weekends are really bars that also sell food for the non locals that are just visiting downtown. There are very few true downtown neighborhood restaurants for locals of downtown (one of my favorites is Hearsay in market square).

Well, the tunnels account for dozens if not hundreds of restaurants not being open in the evening and weekends. But okay, you just want to count the street level restaurants? I can't remember them all but just places I have been to on weekdays not open on weekends: Closed on the weekends: Cafe Express La Palapa Corner Bakery Jason's Deli (both downtown street level locations) Eats Mesquite Grill Lone Start Taco Co Closed on Sundays Pperbacco Pad Thai Azuma I'm sure there are others I have missed.

I would say most places in downtown are M-F lunch only. In more bad news for traditional retail as a whole, a new analysis by Credit Suisse predicts that between 20% and 25% of malls in the US will close in the next 5 years. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-malls-closing-20170531-story.html More reason for the CoH to stay out of tax-payer funded retail districts in downtown. If these consumer buying habits continue, how much longer can Forever 21 last at GreenStreet?

Getting closer to on topic. How concerned should Downtown be not just about retail but about lunch time restaurants? National consumer habits are not just shaking up traditional retail but also traditional restaurants. https://www.wsj.com/articles/going-out-for-lunch-is-a-dying-tradition-1496155377 If this trend continues can we expect to see restaurant closures in Downtown?

Not sure what ANY of that has to do with my post. I NEVER said downtown Houstonian's were leaving downtown for the Heights in 1891 or 1896. If i did please point it out. However i did state that downtown Houston at one point in its history did have lots of people living there, but in time there was a downward spiral of population loss that started in the 1st quarter of the 20th century. Also, I can also state mass produced automobile facts. Fact: Between 1913 and 1927, Ford factories produced more than 15 million Model Ts. Also, like always people on this forum submit reply and read posts later. I never said Houston's early streetcars deserved no credit. If I did please point it out. I only stated that Samagon's post incorrectly gave ALL the credit to Houston's streetcars. If instead Samagon would like to edit his post to say "moving to the Heights and Montrose was made possible in part by extension of the same electric trolley... " then I would have no problem with that statement. But i doubt he will edit it. And I doubt you will provide evidence that automobiles played no role in downtown Houstonians moving to the Heights and Montrose. Also, you will concede I'm sure, that roads existed out in the Heights at the same time if not before street car lines were built to the Heights, correct?

You're giving way too much credit to Houston's original street cars. Do you have any evidence that early Houstonian's moving to the Heights and Montrose was possible only because the electric trolley? Or have you forgotten about the invention of mass produced automobiles?

Not sure if you are referencing me? But I never said Downtown Houston was great or not great back then. If I did please point it out. I do think it was definitely booming economically which is great but I wouldn't call living in a packed tenement "great" either. On the totally of that era I have not made a judgement. I only even mentioned it because Bobruss made a claim without evidence that Houston has never had a culture of downtown living. I simply corrected him on that. Houston did have a culture of downtown living. Whether it was great, I don't know. However, you omitted the point I made about downtown Houston's downward spiral of population loss and Downtown Houstonian's exit for the Heights and Montrose.

I am aware of the population stats: http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/Demographics/docs_pdfs/Cy/hist_pop_1900_2017.pdf And I agree that high rise living was not wide spread, however very dense low rise tenements were common place in Galveston and Houston. People probably wanted to just spread out and live more comfortably; downtown houstonians found that comfort north of buffalo bayou.

Your analysis and conclusions are wrong again. Don't conflate Mid and late 20th century flight from the inner loop to Houston's suburbs with downtown Houston's downward spiral of population loss that started in the early 20th century. People were leaving downtown for the Hieghts and Montrose long before they left to car centered suburbs in the 1960s.

It's almost as if you know nothing about downtown Houston. Have you ever seen photos of Downtown Houston from a 100 years ago? Search them on chron.com they are very informative. Houstonians were living, working, eating, shopping, walking in Downtown over a hundred years ago. How can you claim that type of living has never been successful in Houston? Houston has its beginnings in downtown living. However, with time the needs and wants of Houstonians changed and they moved out from downtown. The citizenry spoke with their feet and moved out. But If today, citizens want to move back in to downtown they are free to do so (i did), however I'm not sure the city should use taxpayer dollars to encourage that behavior at the expense of other priorities.