Historic Houston Restaurants

[ArchFan]

About Las Alamedas:  the one in La Centerra is owned by the same man who had the one on Katy @ Voss.   His son (I think) has a similar restaurant, called Las Ventanas, in the old district of Addicks on Katy and Hwy 6.

Edited August 17, 2017 by ArchFan

[Firebird65]

34 minutes ago, ArchFan said:

 His son (I think) has a similar restaurant, called Las Ventanas, in the old district of Addicks on Katy and Hwy 6.

 

I went to Las Ventanas a few years back. It had one - ONE - waiter for the entire restaurant. And you know what, that was the GREATEST waiter I'd ever seen in my life. Even with a full house in a fair sized restaurant, we never had to wait on drink refills, our food came out quickly and correctly, the waiter even chatted for a bit. I've never seen anything like it. Totally amazing. And I don't think he ever broke a sweat or appeared rushed or harried in any way. LOL! So I left a 25 percent tip (I'm sure other people here have left bigger tips, but I'm not rich, so for me, it meant something to leave a tip like that). 

[Earlydays]

Often ate lunch at Christie's on S. Main when I worked at 6900 Fannin, 1968 to 1973.

[bcnet]

On 8/17/2017 at 8:55 AM, Subdude said:

 

I think Christie's is still there, at Westheimer and Greenridge.  They also used to have a location on South Main.  

 

The Strawberry Patch was on Westheimer as I recall.  Good place.  

 

I believe Pappas Steakhouse on Westheimer occupies the former Strawberry Patch.

 

[JoJo]

Does anyone remember a place on lower Westheimer named The Happy Buddha. I discovered tempura there and it changed my culinary life!!

[Sharon]

Was it off Gessner near the Woodlake apartments? And, if your in that area now, is it flooding?  

[Sharon]

Let's take a moment to comment on Don's Seafood, one of the first Landry joints. Great food. Between Hillcroft and Post Oak, or thereabouts. In the early 80s, I was running late to work my dinner shift- couldn't get to work from the Gessner area, where l lived- Intersections were all flooded, cars just kind-of floated thru till tires got traction again. Of course no one had brakes going thru that much water. The underpasses were 4-5 feet deep. I didn't realize that till l looked at the stop the sign, and it was only about a foot above the water level. I gunned my little Firebird in reverse, (no brakes) and luckily didn't wind up underwater, or stalling out. They fired me for not covering my shift. 

Yall stay safe, Houston. 

[brucesw]

12 hours ago, JoJo said:

Does anyone remember a place on lower Westheimer named The Happy Buddha. I discovered tempura there and it changed my culinary life!!

Right at the corner of Westheimer and Whitney, 500?  And there was a Moroccan place there at one time,  now Dolce Vita (Pizza).  I worked a block from there but was never in the neighborhood at night by that time and never went to any of those.

 

ETA:  Or was Happy Buddha a Moroccan place?

Edited August 27, 2017 by brucesw

[brucesw]

Don's Seafood - on Post Oak, east side of the street, between Alabama and Hidalgo or Hidalgo and Richmond, not sure which.  That was a hot place.  Landry's was still comprised of the original four families from Opelousas.  Was that or Magnolia Bar their first place?  I went only once and got frustrated by the long wait and left.  Bad move on my part.

[Sharon]

Yes. It was still a family run business back then, and they were from LA.  You probably did not get good service because they were short staffed, due to firing servers for stupid reasons. Lol. They never had enough servers on the floor, front of the house was very poorly managed. The kitchen, however, was run like a well oiled machine. Only the the finest equipment and ingredients-the food was excellent, and a bit pricey. Then it's hurriedly dropped off at your table by a stressed out, sweaty waiter in green polyester. 

[dmil]

13 hours ago, JoJo said:

Does anyone remember a place on lower Westheimer named The Happy Buddha. I discovered tempura there and it changed my culinary life!!

The Happy Budda was owned and operated by the late Beverly Wren. She had operated several other Houston restaurants before. She was married to a wealthy Oilman and had traveled the World. The Happy Budda was a Teppanyaki style Japanese restaurant similar to Benihana. In the 70's I took clients there when I worked in the Shipping Industry. My employer was the US Gulf Agent for NYK Line of Japan. The menu was similar to Benihana with better and cheaper prices. It later had a fire and did not reopen. The food, ambience, and service were great. Beverly Wren passed away several years ago.

[mkultra25]

4 hours ago, dmil said:

The Happy Budda was owned and operated by the late Beverly Wren. She had operated several other Houston restaurants before. She was married to a wealthy Oilman and had traveled the World. The Happy Budda was a Teppanyaki style Japanese restaurant similar to Benihana. In the 70's I took clients there when I worked in the Shipping Industry. My employer was the US Gulf Agent for NYK Line of Japan. The menu was similar to Benihana with better and cheaper prices. It later had a fire and did not reopen. The food, ambience, and service were great. Beverly Wren passed away several years ago.

 

It had two fires, in 1985 and 1986. I don't think it ever reopened after the first one. Don't recall what caused the fires, but at least one of them was rumored to be arson. 

 

There was a recent auction on eBay for a photo of the second fire from the Chronicle's library: 

 

1986 Press Photo Fireman Put of Fire that Damaged the Happy Buddha at Restaurant

[DanH]

OMG! 45 pages and counting on this topic! Please forgive my repetitions; I need to not get fired from spending all my time reading everything that has gone before.

 

I lived in Houston 1967-92, so these are from that era, and I'm going to take the liberty of expanding the geographic area for some notable memories. Since I haven't lived there in so long, some of these may still exist.

 

San Jacinto Inn, near the Battleship Texas, for all-you-can-eat shrimp, crab and sherbet (everything else was forgettable), in a cavernous building with linen tablecloths and impossibly efficient waiters, who would write cryptic hieroglyphs on the tablecloths. I never figured out what they meant.

 

Athens Bar & Grill, especially when a Greek ship was in port and all the sailors came there. Belly dancing and breaking plates! Opa!

 

Shanghai Red's, perched above the Turning Basin. Mediocre food, but spectacular views through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

 

Cottonwood Inn, in LaGrange, just across 71 from the county airport. I used to rent a Cessna and fly there from Hobby for dinner, and *always* planned my drives to Austin to include a stop there for a great steak dinner. I remember the amateurish mural of the patriarch roping a sheep(?). Both the airport and the Inn are long gone.

 

Los Troncos on Westheimer. Paella in a tree! The ideal place for a "snow date" (to snow = to impress a girl).

 

Jamie's Hamburgers on South Main. Linen tablecloths and big copper chargers that they took away before serving your "gourmet" hamburger.

 

The Ninfa's somewhere around Kirby & Richmond, where I developed my lifelong addiction to Tex-Mex. Tacos al carbon, queso a la parilla, sopapillas, and even chile con queso dip. All completely unheard of here in Silicon Valley. All my friends liked Spanish Village, but I much preferred Ninfa's.

 

There was a Der Wienerschnitzel, also near Kirby and Richmond, and the woman who owned it would violate her franchise agreement to make spectacular hamburgers for us. If you wanted one, you had to be college age (we were all Rice students) and order a "Joe" (the name of her son). If some other customer saw it and wanted one without knowing the secret word, she would just tell them, "Sorry; can't do it. I just make these for my son and his friends."

 

I wish I could remember the name of the place in the Montrose that was run by a Greek family and served the best friend shrimp I've ever eaten, to this day.

 

Brenner's steakhouse out off I-10, with that lovely manicured back yard. I'm remembering a water wheel?

 

The Brownstone, with their wildly mixed patterns of china and utensils, no two the same. Mile High Pie! My most memorable meal there was when they were playing Barbra Streisand's "Classical Barbra" album, which I was hearing for the first time, and loved. So that must have been 1976.

 

James Original Coney Island, who made their own buns with slits that left the ends closed so the chili wouldn't run out.

 

Nick's Fish Market, in the basement of some bank downtown; the best seafood meal I've ever had, and the best lounge piano player, Ariel, who was Russian, I believe. I heard they had to close when Exxon management sent a memo around that they would no longer reimburse business meals at Nick's, since it was so expensive.

 

I spent the summer of 1969 learning, at the Steak & Ale on OST near the Astrodome, that I am, hands down, the world's *worst* waiter. Menus printed on meat cleavers! Ever since that disastrous summer, I have always tipped at least 20%, since I have a clue what it takes to give even minimally competent service.

 

Antone's poor boys, of course.

 

Youngblood's fried chicken! KFC put all those old great chicken restaurants out of business, and we're the poorer for it.

 

So many more! But I have a doctor's appointment I have to get to.

 

Thanks for the memories!

 

Dan

 

 

[BacardiDoc]

Dan H.

1 hour ago, DanH said:

OMG! 45 pages and counting on this topic! Please forgive my repetitions; I need to not get fired from spending all my time reading everything that has gone before.

 

I lived in Houston 1967-92, so these are from that era, and I'm going to take the liberty of expanding the geographic area for some notable memories. Since I haven't lived there in so long, some of these may still exist.

 

San Jacinto Inn, near the Battleship Texas, for all-you-can-eat shrimp, crab and sherbet (everything else was forgettable), in a cavernous building with linen tablecloths and impossibly efficient waiters, who would write cryptic hieroglyphs on the tablecloths. I never figured out what they meant.

 

Athens Bar & Grill, especially when a Greek ship was in port and all the sailors came there. Belly dancing and breaking plates! Opa!

 

Shanghai Red's, perched above the Turning Basin. Mediocre food, but spectacular views through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

 

Cottonwood Inn, in LaGrange, just across 71 from the county airport. I used to rent a Cessna and fly there from Hobby for dinner, and *always* planned my drives to Austin to include a stop there for a great steak dinner. I remember the amateurish mural of the patriarch roping a sheep(?). Both the airport and the Inn are long gone.

 

Los Troncos on Westheimer. Paella in a tree! The ideal place for a "snow date" (to snow = to impress a girl).

 

Jamie's Hamburgers on South Main. Linen tablecloths and big copper chargers that they took away before serving your "gourmet" hamburger.

 

The Ninfa's somewhere around Kirby & Richmond, where I developed my lifelong addiction to Tex-Mex. Tacos al carbon, queso a la parilla, sopapillas, and even chile con queso dip. All completely unheard of here in Silicon Valley. All my friends liked Spanish Village, but I much preferred Ninfa's.

 

There was a Der Wienerschnitzel, also near Kirby and Richmond, and the woman who owned it would violate her franchise agreement to make spectacular hamburgers for us. If you wanted one, you had to be college age (we were all Rice students) and order a "Joe" (the name of her son). If some other customer saw it and wanted one without knowing the secret word, she would just tell them, "Sorry; can't do it. I just make these for my son and his friends."

 

I wish I could remember the name of the place in the Montrose that was run by a Greek family and served the best friend shrimp I've ever eaten, to this day.

 

Brenner's steakhouse out off I-10, with that lovely manicured back yard. I'm remembering a water wheel?

 

The Brownstone, with their wildly mixed patterns of china and utensils, no two the same. Mile High Pie! My most memorable meal there was when they were playing Barbra Streisand's "Classical Barbra" album, which I was hearing for the first time, and loved. So that must have been 1976.

 

James Original Coney Island, who made their own buns with slits that left the ends closed so the chili wouldn't run out.

 

Nick's Fish Market, in the basement of some bank downtown; the best seafood meal I've ever had, and the best lounge piano player, Ariel, who was Russian, I believe. I heard they had to close when Exxon management sent a memo around that they would no longer reimburse business meals at Nick's, since it was so expensive.

 

I spent the summer of 1969 learning, at the Steak & Ale on OST near the Astrodome, that I am, hands down, the world's *worst* waiter. Menus printed on meat cleavers! Ever since that disastrous summer, I have always tipped at least 20%, since I have a clue what it takes to give even minimally competent service.

 

Antone's poor boys, of course.

 

Youngblood's fried chicken! KFC put all those old great chicken restaurants out of business, and we're the poorer for it.

 

So many more! But I have a doctor's appointment I have to get to.

 

Thanks for the memories!

 

Dan

 

1 hour ago, DanH said:

I wish I could remember the name of the place in the Montrose that was run by a Greek family and served the best friend shrimp I've ever eaten, to this day.

 

Dan, the place in Montrose run by the Greek family was on Yoakum and the name was...Zorba The Greek

 

 

[dmil]

Nikos Nikos is the Greek family-owned restaurant on Montrose just north of Westheimer. Brenner's Steak House is now owned by Tilman Fertitta and has 2 locations: the original on Katy Frwy and the 2nd on Buffalo Bayou where the Rainbow Lodge was. The Rainbow Lodge is now on Ella Blvd.where the French Place was in the log cabin structure.

 

[JoJo]

Zorba the Greek! What a great memory! The friend shrimp were to die for.

[JoJo]

Many moons ago---1979 or 1980, there was a small place on Lower Westheimer operated by two women. I think it was named Udder Delight. It has the best ice cream I ever tasted. Till this day, nothing compares. Any one remembers?

[DanH]

Yes!! Zorba's on Yoakum! That was definitely it! *Thank* you!!

 

More memories that came to me:

 

Red Pepper Chinese restaurant, in a strip center on Richmond @ Chimney Rock, if memory serves. They had wonderful, fresh food. My favorite was their cashew shrimp & chicken.

 

Cafe Annie, the first really high-end restaurant I ever went to. I went for lunch and got a simple BLT with fries, but the chef made his own ketchup! I had never heard of such a thing! And it was *wonderful*! I saw the chef standing in the kitchen door, looking at the diners and seeming to be worried about something. I had no idea what he could have been worried about; the food was spectacular. I liked it better than Tony's.

 

T.J. Cinnamon's, my first cinnamon roll shop, next door to the River Oaks Theater. I'm convinced that the number of cinnamon rolls I ate there pushed me over the edge into diabetes!

 

Was there an Asian restaurant, maybe Vietnamese or Chinese, in or near the Rice Village, maybe called The Green Door? I remember they served deep-fried whole fish, arranged in a curve standing up on the plate, head, fins, tail and everything, and that seemed wonderfully exotic to me.

 

I remember back in the day, Kemah was 3 or 4 great seafood restaurants surrounding an oyster shell parking lot. I went back there this past March and was stunned at all the development. It was hard to find The Flying Dutchman amidst all the clutter, but it was still there.

 

Roznofsky's hamburgers, with the disgusting mass of grease and dirt that collected on the fan over the grill, but, man, the burgers were to die for.

 

Speaking of hamburgers, some guy opened a hamburger restaurant in the garage of his house, somewhere off Chimney Rock south of 59. Those burgers were great, too! A repertory comedy troupe that performed in a theater on Kirby north of 59 picked up on that for their show, The Two-Bit Opera. The premise was to explain Houston to a Yankee. One guy said to the Yankee, "There's no zoning in Houston! I have a restaurant in may garage!" The incredulous Yankee said, "Wow! That's amazing! How is it doing?" The Houstonian said, "I have no idea! It isn't mine! I couldn't stop the guy! No zoning!"

 

The Pappas family had an Italian restaurant for a while, called Pappa Mia's, out west past 610 off of I-10 somewhere. I have no idea why it didn't survive; it was as well done as all the Pappas properties.

 

There was some restaurant not too far from Rice, on the north side of 59 somewhere (Richmond? Alabama? Westheimer? Memorial?) which duplicated Babette's Feast while that movie was in theaters. I couldn't afford to go, but I thought it was a wonderful idea.

 

Village Inn Pizza Parlor! I used to love to go there when Boyce & Kramer were performing. They were *great* and I have idea why they never had any more national success than they had. For their show around one Halloween they found a guy who must have been nearly 7 feet tall and was so skinny he had to run around in the shower to get wet. They called him The Stick! They put him in a full-body skeleton costume and had him dance around while they played Monster Mash. Hysterical! They called out pizza numbers between songs; you had to go pick up your pizza at the kitchen window when your number was called.

 

The Velvet Turtle! Wonderful place to take a date in my 30s. Brandy Alexanders for dessert!

 

Victoria Station behind the Galleria! Great prime rib in old refurbished railroad box cars.

 

A steakhouse called something like The Denver(?) Mining Company somewhere on the southwest side just outside The Loop. First time I saw alcoholic drinks in a Slurpee machine.

 

The wonderful lunch buffet at Bombay Palace on Westheimer(?) just inside The Loop.

 

I loved The Bounty seafood buffet, too. I got my money's worth on shrimp & crab alone.

 

There was a wonderful soup/salad/sandwich place next to Jamail's on Kirby that I loved to go to. Can't remember the name to save my soul. They had blackcurrant tea; I'd never had it before and loved it.

 

OMG. What memories. I can just feel the cobwebs in my brain as I try to remember more.

 

Dan

 

[Subdude]

11 hours ago, DanH said:

Victoria Station behind the Galleria! Great prime rib in old refurbished railroad box cars.

 

Dan

 

 

Wasn't there another railcar themed restaurant at South Main and OST.  I think they briefly had a kind of rumbling effect to simulate trains.

 

[DanH]

5 hours ago, Subdude said:

 

Wasn't there another railcar themed restaurant at South Main and OST.  I think they briefly had a kind of rumbling effect to simulate trains.

 

 

Yes! And I remember the rumbling! But I don't remember the name, dangit!

 

Dan

[DanH]

On 9/7/2017 at 9:19 AM, JoJo said:

Many moons ago---1979 or 1980, there was a small place on Lower Westheimer operated by two women. I think it was named Udder Delight. It has the best ice cream I ever tasted. Till this day, nothing compares. Any one remembers?

 

I *do* remember! I went in there with my college girlfriend, who happened to be, um, prodigiously endowed, and they gave her a free Udder Delight t-shirt and *begged* her to wear it in public. She never was brave enough to do so; she already got enough unwanted attention.

 

Dan

[Earlydays]

18 hours ago, DanH said:

 

Yes! And I remember the rumbling! But I don't remember the name, dangit!

 

Dan

It was called the Rail Head.

[dmil]

I believe the Railcar themed place on South Main by OST was originally the Railcar Restaurant. When it closed it became Droubi Imports that had Antone's type Poboys.

Wasn't the Salad/Soup Vegetarian place on Shepherd down from Jamail's Grocery the Hobbit Hole?

Edited September 10, 2017 by dmil
Correction.

[Earlydays]

The Rail Head was on Richmond

[SkyEye]

On 9/8/2017 at 11:57 AM, Subdude said:

 

Wasn't there another railcar themed restaurant at South Main and OST.  I think they briefly had a kind of rumbling effect to simulate trains.

 

It was originally a Victoria Station as well.

[Earlydays]

Victoria Station and the Rail Head were two different restaurants in the early 1970's, in fact the Rail Head was opened first.

[dmil]

3 hours ago, SkyEye said:

It was originally a Victoria Station as well.

Does anyone remember Susanne's or Suzanne's Cafeteria that was upstairs in the Alabama Center at Shepherd and West Alabama. It was operational from the 50's thru 60's, maybe even the 40's. It was in the same center as the Alabama Movie Theater.

[DanH]

On 9/9/2017 at 10:18 AM, dmil said:

Wasn't the Salad/Soup Vegetarian place on Shepherd down from Jamail's Grocery the Hobbit Hole?

 

No, I remember the Hobbit Hole as being further north, a cozy place mostly of wood (maybe a converted house?). The place I'm thinking about was directly south of Jamail's on Kirby toward Southwest Freeway (essentially right next door), was large and bright and airy, lots of glass, and it was definitely not vegetarian. You ordered and picked up your food at the counter and they gave you a quart-sized plastic tumbler for your drink. I think the drinks station was to the left of the order/pickup counter, and they had blackcurrant iced tea, which I had never had before and thought was delicious. Maybe the name of the place was something like Cafe Jardin? I'm wracking my brain and still can't come up with it for sure! They had really good soups, and my favorite sandwiches of theirs were their chicken salad and BLT's.

[dmil]

Jamail's was on Shepherd not Kirby and is now a Petco. There have been numerous dining places on the east side of Kirby just north of the Southwest Frwy.

[brucesw]

There were two Jamail's groceries - the larger, better known one was on the west side of Kirby between Alabama and Richmond, near House of Pies.  A smaller one, run by a different branch of the family I was told, was on the west side of Shepherd at Indiana and is now a Petco.  There was a lot of glass on the front of the Kirby store and parking in front and to the south side of the building.  There were few windows on the Shepherd store and parking was on the north side of the building, not on the street side.

 

The original location of the Hobbit Hole was on the east side of Shepherd, just north of Welch, as I recall, so north of the Shepherd Jamail's.  It was originally strictly vegetarian, perhaps macrobiotic?  Years later it moved over on Richmond, between Greenbriar and Kirby, into a former gay bar called the Galleon.  The name now is Hobbit Cafe but I think the original name was Hobbit Hole.  Meat has been added to the menu, possibly long before the move. 

 

I remember the Red Zinger Tea from the early years, but not the Black Currant, which doesn't mean they didn't have it.  HH was table service, not counter service.

 

One place south of the Shepherd Jamail's on the same side of the street was Luke's Burgers but there have been many eateries on both sides of the street along there over the years.  Wish I could remember what was in Luke's place before Luke.

 

A little bit of Hobbit history, from the website.

 

 

Edited September 12, 2017 by brucesw