The Pappas Bar-B-Q located at 3814 Little York burned to the ground early in the morning on Sunday, September 7. The restaurant was closed during the time of the fire and no firefighters were injured while responding to the two-alarm blaze. The cause of the fire has not been determined, but Christina Pappas, Director of Marketing for Pappas Restaurants, Inc., provided this statement to the Houston Press:
"We want to thank The Houston Fire Department for their bravery at our location on Little York. We are very thankful that all of our employees and all firefighters are safe. We are working to relocate our staff to other locations. The Little York location will be closed until further notice."
Pappas continues by saying, "Our current priority is relocating all of the Little York employees to other Pappas locations until we are able to reopen."
BCN Taste & Tradition will officially open Saturday, September 20, according to Eater Houston. We mentioned last week that the 4210 Roseland restaurant will offer a blend of traditional and modern Spanish cuisine. All of this will be accomplished by the use of authentic Spanish ingredients.
In coming soon news, Clark Cooper Concepts announced this week that it will open a seafood restaurant in the summer of 2015. The name of the establishment has yet to be revealed, but it will be located in Upper Kirby at the former spot of Pesce, 3029 Kirby, according to the Houston Chronicle. This will be the sixth restaurant from Clark Cooper Concepts.
Grazia Italian Kitchen opened in Pearland at 9415 Broadway in Suite 103 on Thursday, September 4. As noted on the restaurant's Facebook page, "We have two basic goals that we strive to provide to all of our guests: The best, fresh Italian food [and] impeccable customer service." Menu items include a selection of wood-fired pizzas topped with everything from fresh Buffalo mozzarella, Italian sausage, Peppadew peppers, caramelized onions and basil, to Gorgonzola cheese, chicken, caramelized onions and EVOO. Chef specialties include lasagna, chicken marsala, veal milanese and tortelloni stuffed with short rib, portobello mushrooms, prosciutto and red onions.
After what seemed like forever, Tout Suite has finally opened in East Downtown at 2001 Commerce. The sister bakery and cafe to Sweet in CityCentre offers tons of baked treats -- think macarons, chocolate chip cookies, madeleines, and breakfast pastries. Kick off the morning with a croissant and cappuccino made with Greenway Coffee, fill up on a Farm Fresh Pick lunch entree featuring your choice of protein, starch and vegetables, or snack on eclairs and macaron ice cream sandwiches in the afternoon or late evening. Tout Suite opens at 7 a.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. on weekends, and stays open until midnight ever day of the week.
The Cupcake Cowgirls will open its Galveston location at 2108 Church Street in Suite 101B on Thursday, September 18. Recently The Cupcake Cowgirls opened a location in Cypress; now Galveston residents can sink their teeth into one of their cupcakes, such as the chocolate chip cookie dough vanilla cupcake filled with a gooey half-baked cookie dough center topped with a chocolate chip cookie, or the vanilla salted caramel cupcake featured on Food Network's Cupcake Wars.
Nordstrom finally opened in The Woodlands and brought Bazille with it. Bazille is a cafe inside the department store serving items such as, Nicoise salad with salmon, Mediterranean hummus with rosemary flatbread, crab macaroni and cheese, croque madame and roast chicken with pommes frites. Bazille also has a full bar.
Red Ribbon Bake Shop is coming soon to Houston at 8001 S. Main Street. This will be the 32nd location for Red Ribbon Bake Shop in the country. The bakery is known for its mango cake featuring Philippine mangoes in a three-layer white chiffon cake. Other signature items include the Ube Overload Cake, a Filipino dessert made from purple yam (ube) and topped with white cream frosting. The Butter Mamon is a pastry that includes chiffon and butter -- yum.
Did we miss any openings or closings? Let us know in the comments section and we will be sure to include them in next week's report.