UPDATED, 1/8/2015, 4:28 p.m.: Interestingly, it sounds like the Ogden Hospitality Group has plans to redevelop the existing spaces that housed Bradley's Fine Diner and Funky Chicken. Here's the official statement from Christopher Vestal, their CEO: 

On behalf of the Ogden Hospitality Group, we want to thank the many people who worked so hard to make Bradley’s Fine Diner and Funky Chicken inviting venues for the surrounding community to enjoy. At this time we will continue to focus our efforts on Pour Society, one of our most successful openings to date, which has taken shape under a talented and locally-based culinary and operations team. We are currently working to redevelop both Heights locations into concepts suitable for such a vibrant neighborhood and will release more information when plans have been finalized.

The Houston Chronicle reports that two of the three Bradley Ogden restaurant concepts in Houston have closed: Bradley’s Fine Diner and Funky Chicken in the Heights. Pour Society, the company’s third concept, located in the Gateway Memorial center is still open. 

Bradley’s Fine Diner (which translated to an unfortunate abbreviation, B.F.D.) and Funky Chicken just never seemed to catch on with Houston diners. Early on, there were complaints that despite the interesting, gluten-free fried chicken, Funky Chicken seemed pricey. Bradley’s Fine Diner earned a fair-to-middling review from the Houston Press restaurant critic at the time, Kaitlin Steinberg, who remarked that some of her food tasted like lighter fluid. The Houston Chronicle restaurant critic, Alison Cook, described it as “wildly uneven,” especially in the all-important entrées. It earned a star rating of zero. 

There was some hope for the two places though, when respected Houstonian Greg Lowry was tapped to rethink the menu and take another stab at engaging diners. There is zero doubt that Lowry put his heart into the effort. I personally was very impressed with the dishes he presented during our Chef Chat with him shortly after taking the reins.


Unfortunately, I was a whole lot less impressed with the newest endeavor, Pour Society, and that’s reflected in my recent review. What I have heard since then was that there were some unexpected challenges in getting the menu settled and the place staffed. My hope is that with the other two locations closed, Lowry, sous chef Matt Lovelace, and their employers will have more time to develop Pour Society into something truly outstanding.

Alison Cook had some really positive things to say about Pour Society's pimento cheese-topped burger in her Burger Friday column and I think their ever-changing TV Dinner is a whole lot of kitschy fun. 

A call to the company’s public relations representative has not yet been returned. Should we receive a statement on the matter, we’ll update this article.