This an expansive time for local restaurants with many opening additional locations, moving or enlarging their existing space. Among the most notable: Jonathan Levine’s Memorial-area Jonathan The Rub is moving to a brand-new space at Bunker Hill and Gaylord. It should be open next summer on the ground floor of a mixed-use building. Local Foods, the gourmet sandwich shop next door to Benjy’s in The Village, has taken over the Taco Milagro space at Kirby and Westheimer. This will be its second iteration.
Bernie’s Burger Bus (2012 winner of a Houston Culinary Award for Favorite Food Truck) is going brick and mortar. Working with architect Jim Herd, the Bernie’s team is building on the Bellaire triangle, and it’s going to be cute: There will be a full-scale bus inside the building, and burgers will be passed out the bus window just like at the roving burger bus. It will be called Bernie’s Bus Stop and should be open by the end of the year.
El Gran Malo is opening a second location downtown called El Big Bad at 419 Travis in the old Cabo space and is slated to open in early October. Like the original, El Big Bad will be an infused tequila bar with gastro-cantina fare. (A press release promises 50 handcrafted tequila infusions including peanut butter, rye, horchata, vanilla habanero and roasted red beet, fresh-juice margaritas and cocktails and a generous selection of Mexican and Texas beer.) The interior design is by cookbook writer (and My Table contributor) Erin Hicks and the menu is being written by chef Randy Rucker.
Maine-ly Sandwiches, the Greenspoint-area sandwich shop locally famous for its lobster rolls, is about to open a second location at 3310 S. Shepherd in the old Sugarbaby’s Cupcake Boutique location. The Oklahoma-based chain Yucatan Taco Stand, which already has a Woodlands location, is opening a Heights location on Studemont where Stella Stolla was. Marco and Gloria Wiles are moving their Vinoteca Poscol. It’s currently on Westheimer across the street from Hugo’s, but is set to move a few blocks east to the building next door to Katz’s at 608 Westheimer. The menu will remain the same, but there will be a larger bar and dining room.
Euro-Mid, one of a serious chef’s best sources for hard-to-find and imported ingredients, is moving. Brothers Elie and Albert Massoud are consolidating all of their dry, refrigerated and frozen-food warehouses into a single location at the
old Walgreens distribution center (8110 Kempwood) on nearly 20 acres of land. The move should be complete in late 2013 or early 2014.
Coppa Osteria, a little brother to Coppa on Washington Avenue, will open in early September in The Village at 5210 Morningside (above). One of its unique features will be the New York-style street-side pizza window where passersby can buy a slice. Chef Brandi Key is in charge.