Canyon Creek Cafe

Gary Mosley bought the property in 2006. At that time it was called the Westcott Bar & Grill and had been there since the ’50s. He decided to change the concept to Canyon Creek Cafe (6603 Westcott, 713-864-5885), he says, “after we got e-mails from people that live close by wanting us to open a ‘Creek’ in their neighborhood.” This is the fourth Creek that Gary owns; the Onion, Dry and Cedar Creek restaurants are already successful enterprises.

“We’re putting our own Creek feel into the place. It was a little run-down, so we’re giving it a facelift,” says Mosley. “I think this is the best one I’ve done. It’s definitely the biggest.” The atmosphere at Canyon Creek is definitely Austin Hill Country-funky, and if Mosley’s other Creeks are any indication, the crowds are on the way.

Are there any more Creeks in the offing? “Not right now,” he says. “I want to go back to Onion and Dry and give them a facelift and then finish Cedar, which we opened but didn’t finish because we immediately started working on this one.”

Dish tried the fire-roasted salsa, which was served warm and was very spicy, even by Houston standards. It went great with an ice-cold beer. The fried catfish po-boy had so much fish, it overflowed the baguette. Finally, a Mama Bleu burger was charred on the outside and medium-rare on the inside, just the way it was ordered, and came with slices of applewood-smoked bacon and lots of blue cheese, which melted all over the thick patty.

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