Downtown Restaurant And Bar Market

[jhjones74]

On 9/18/2022 at 2:50 PM, downtownian said:

I had it at 2am on Friday and it was pretty good for a pizza ATM.

I’ve had it twice now past 3 AM when it’s the only option downtown. While I’m happy there at least is an option now that late, I have to say it might be the worst pizza I’ve ever had. Couldn’t finish more than a slice either time

[staresatmaps]

Its pretty bad pizza honestly, but I'll still eat it if I'm hungry. It's about the same level as those pizza van guys and the best part is you don't have to talk to anyone. Now if we could get one of those serve yourself beer spots downtown I will be in heaven. Also, has anybody tried Citadel BBQ at 805 Dallas? I have never seen that place until today.

[JBTX]

14 hours ago, staresatmaps said:

Its pretty bad pizza honestly, but I'll still eat it if I'm hungry. It's about the same level as those pizza van guys and the best part is you don't have to talk to anyone. Now if we could get one of those serve yourself beer spots downtown I will be in heaven. Also, has anybody tried Citadel BBQ at 805 Dallas? I have never seen that place until today.

I have not, but it seems to be a chain as there is one right smack in the Med Center too. But as the old rule goes, if you don't see smoke coming from your BBQ joint, stay away...

[editor]

I tried the pizza ATM for lunch, and it wasn't bad.  It wasn't excellent, but it's pizza from a vending machine, not a bistro in Ischia Porte.  I don't think anyone who knowingly buys pizza from a vending machine is in a place to complain about quality.  Not even on the internet.

 

There are seven pizzas to choose from. I went with pepperoni because it's a good basic benchmark.

 

There's a video that plays for the three minutes while you wait for your pizza to cook.  Based on the visuals, I think the company is based in Toronto.

 

 

The result is not perfect, but it's perfectly edible. 

 

There wasn't much pepperoni flavor.  Perhaps some of the others are a little more pronounced.  But the crust was quite good.  Overall, it reminds me of pizza from the California chain Pieology   I think the nearest one to here is Austin.

The downside is that all you get is a pizza.  If you don't already have a drink, or if its host convenience store is closed, you're SOL.  Also, there's nowhere to sit.

I took my pizza to the Harris County Employee Smoking Lounge (a.k.a. the alley by the sally[port]), and it managed to stay hot and crispy the whole way there.

Protip: There's a slot on the machine that has cello-wrapped plastic knives.  Take one.  The crust is pre-sliced before the pizza bakes, so the cheese runs across the seams, and you'll have to cut the cheese to get pie-shaped wedges out of it.

I suspect the vending machine isn't doing too bad.  I saw someone getting one as I was walking toward it.  When I was waiting for the bake, someone asked me about it.  And when I was coming back from eating, there was a young couple waiting for their Hawaiian pie to cook.   That's three customers in about 40 minutes.  Not bad for an out-of-the-way location with zero advertising.

 

 

 

[staresatmaps]

4 hours ago, editor said:

I tried the pizza ATM for lunch, and it wasn't bad.  It wasn't excellent, but it's pizza from a vending machine, not a bistro in Ischia Porte.

But why on earth would you order a pizza in Ischia?? Stick to the world class seafood and, of course, the famous rabbit.

[editor]

6 hours ago, staresatmaps said:

But why on earth would you order a pizza in Ischia?? Stick to the world class seafood and, of course, the famous rabbit.

Because I already had those and didn't want to eat the same thing for every meal. Why do you ask?

[TrainTrak]

How ironic to call this "artisan" pizza.   If you google "artisan" you'll get this:

(of food or drink) made in a traditional or non-mechanized way using high-quality ingredients

[downtownian]

The amount of attention to this pizza ATM on an architecture forum relative to the amount of attention to other projects is surprisingly high

[JClark54]

Apologies if this is the wrong thread, but Houston Downtown District/Downtown Redevelopment Authority President Kris Larson appeared on the Chron's Looped In podcast. Found his comments about studying the transition of restaurants/other businesses from the tunnels to the street interesting: 

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/kris-larson-downtown-central-houston-district-17597881.php

[mattyt36]

37 minutes ago, JClark54 said:

Apologies if this is the wrong thread, but Houston Downtown District/Downtown Redevelopment Authority President Kris Larson appeared on the Chron's Looped In podcast. Found his comments about studying the transition of restaurants/other businesses from the tunnels to the street interesting: 

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/kris-larson-downtown-central-houston-district-17597881.php

He mentioned OKC converting its tunnel system to art spaces--this is not something I had ever heard about--does OKC really have that big of a tunnel system?

Other big takeaway for me is that they are evaluating reviving the Downtown Living Initiative to counterbalance the high cost of land.

It's unfortunate that downtown is just at 60% recovery, but I'm sure the trend is similar nationwide, if not worse.

[BEES?!]

It doesn’t look to be on the scale of ours, but it’s decently sized. Our tunnels system is huge and really cool, imo. I know they’re not everyone’s favorite on here, but I feel like there’s lots of untapped potential there and I’m sure there’s a way to make them coexist with street-level uses. I like the tunnels for when the weather is awful or too hot. 

Walkable art tunnels would be so lit! I had a look at what they’ve done in OKC and I love the idea! They have theirs neatly color coded and they’ve got some nice murals. We have tons of tunnels and I bet we could get amazingly creative with ours

[Houston19514]

Certainly not on the scale of Houston's system, but very comparable, relative to the size of their downtown.  FWIW, they never had anywhere near the amount of retail and restaurants as Houston's, even adjusting for the relative size of the downtowns and the tunnel systems.

[j_cuevas713]

It's exciting to think about moving those stores to street level. How would they incentivize a business to leave the tunnel system? 

[editor]

1 hour ago, j_cuevas713 said:

It's exciting to think about moving those stores to street level. How would they incentivize a business to leave the tunnel system? 

In Chicago there used to be a Subway and a coffee shop that were on two levels: street, plus tunnel. 
 

Perhaps the city could find some way to convince landlords to cut a deal on rent if a store took both levels. 

[staresatmaps]

1 hour ago, editor said:

In Chicago there used to be a Subway and a coffee shop that were on two levels: street, plus tunnel. 
 

Perhaps the city could find some way to convince landlords to cut a deal on rent if a store took both levels. 

Seems like the landlords are happy with things empty. Why would they cut a deal?

[editor]

1 hour ago, staresatmaps said:

Seems like the landlords are happy with things empty. Why would they cut a deal?

Because full store fronts bring in more store fronts, and more full offices for which they can charge higher rents. 
 

It's why large, professional real estate developers often subsidize rents for certain types of retail and restaurant amenities in their buildings. 

Think of all the times you've seen a building brochure touting "white tablecloth restaurant" as an amenity, even before the building is built. 
 

Good retail = higher rents. That's basic. 

[j_cuevas713]

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/real-estate/article/farmers-market-work-day-17781957.php

[editor]

5 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said:

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/real-estate/article/farmers-market-work-day-17781957.php

That's good news.  Living in downtown Chicago, my wife and I always looked forward to the farmers markets.

I get food from several Houston-area farmers (Nando's Honey, Gina's Acres, and others), but because of the price of fuel, some of them have stopped delivering to individual buildings, and you have to meet them at a farmer's market to pick up your food.  This will give me a chance to start supporting more local farmers directly again.

[jermh]

With More Space: Main Street  set to expire "March 31, 2023 or until the end of all COVID protocols", I'm curious if the city will renew/continue it. Has anyone herd anything or have any information?

Even though it makes deliveries difficult to my building, I really hope they continue the program. It's great to have the extra sidewalk space and not have to worry about cars on those blocks of Main.

Edited March 12, 2023 by jermh

[JBTX]

I personally am in favor of closing main completely to car traffic and opening it to restaurant/walking/light rail traffic, so yes. I do hope the policy stays in place for now.

[tigereye]

I’d like for Main to be closed to vehicular traffic and converted to a pedestrian mall from Commerce St to Wheeler St linking Downtown to Midtown, from Buffalo Bayou to Ion District. The singular lanes are barely used and paralleled by transit streets already. 

[hindesky]

[staresatmaps]

Yea it would be nice and all, but pedestrianizing a street that doesn't have a huge barrier in the middle would be a much better choice. Yes if there is no choice, but its sad that its main street or nothing. Imagine if we pedestrianized the north 5 blocks of Travis street or pick your option. The effect would be immense.

[004n063]

5 hours ago, staresatmaps said:

Yea it would be nice and all, but pedestrianizing a street that doesn't have a huge barrier in the middle would be a much better choice. Yes if there is no choice, but its sad that its main street or nothing. Imagine if we pedestrianized the north 5 blocks of Travis street or pick your option. The effect would be immense.

Eh, downtown blocks are small. I get what you're saying, but it really isn't a huge barrier.

That said, we should definitely look for more places to apply the practice. I'd start with Eagle street, since it's already programmed, but there are numerous opportunities for other pedestrian streets, especially in EaDo.

[jermh]

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/houston/2023/03/22/446987/houston-city-council-approves-permanent-outdoor-dining-options-for-downtown-restaurants/

The More Space: Main Street program was started in November 2020 to help businesses navigate the pandemic by blocking off portions of Main Street between Commerce and Rusk Street – stretching seven blocks – to expand dining services onto unused road space. Officials said the program has been very successful with helping businesses increase revenue, safety, and retain customer and employee retention, even after the pandemic.

 

 

Edited March 24, 2023 by editor
Edited due to copyright. Remember to summarize and link. Don't copy and paste.

[TacoDog]

On Saturday I saw a Metro police car go on the tracks to get past the blocked off block on Main St. and a woman who was behind him followed onto the tracks. Officer was not happy he was being followed, but it does seem weird to have a protected lane on a street when the green/purple line shares the street with vehicular traffic. 

 

[Texasota]

Luckily Metro is planning to fix at least that problem - the green/purple tracks will become transit only as part of the Inner Katy BRT project.

[bookey23]

They should extend it the entire length of downtown. Main street is such a pain to drive on Downtown anyway, let's try to spur some development along Main closer to Toyota Center and into South Downtown

[wilcal]

1 hour ago, TacoDog said:

On Saturday I saw a Metro police car go on the tracks to get past the blocked off block on Main St. and a woman who was behind him followed onto the tracks. Officer was not happy he was being followed, but it does seem weird to have a protected lane on a street when the green/purple line shares the street with vehicular traffic. 

 

Saw this yesterday on Capitol I think while I was on my bike. So weird.

[j_cuevas713]

2 hours ago, TacoDog said:

On Saturday I saw a Metro police car go on the tracks to get past the blocked off block on Main St. and a woman who was behind him followed onto the tracks. Officer was not happy he was being followed, but it does seem weird to have a protected lane on a street when the green/purple line shares the street with vehicular traffic. 

 

I don't mind Metro doing that but that lady should have known better