ROCKHOUSE Southern Kitchen, 6025 Richmond, is opening March 20. The Southern inspired restaurant and live music venue is setting up shop in the former home of Billy Blues, the popular blues venue that closed in 2001. The building's most recent occupant was Diablo Loco Sports Bar but the space has now been transformed into a destination for hot Southern cuisine and hot live music.

The concept comes from the owners of The Warwick, led by industry veterans Rob Wright, Mazen Baltagi, Steven Rogers and Kurt Agomuo. These hospitality professionals have a reputation for reviving historic locations, retaining some of the traditional elements while infusing the venues with a modern vibe.
With that in mind, they've recruited Nicki Dooms of NHI Design to lead the transformation. Guests will find warm tones, plush velvet seating, polished copper tiles and tabletops mixed with the original aged concrete flooring. There is a large bar area and an outdoor stage area plus an expansive patio.

ROCKHOUSE will host live music regularly plus a rotating lineup of saxophone artists and even brass bands.
As for the Southern Kitchen part, it will offer a menu of mouth-watering creations such as Soul Roll (oxtail egg rolls) and Creole Pizza plus classic fare like Fried Catfish and Southern Fried Chicken, both served with Smoked Collard Greens and Macaroni-n-Cheese. Bar nosh like Lobster Sliders and Jerk Chicken Nachos are perfect for a casual night out or guests can indulge in more elevated entrees such as Firecracker Salmon and Cajun Ribeye.

With a full bar and drinks meant for long sipping, ROCKHOUSE will have Arnold Palmer-inspired cocktails like the Ike & Tina and drinks  with musical names such as Smooth Criminal, Lady Sings the Blues and Hollywood Swinging.
Kraftsmen Baking & Cafe, 611 W. 22nd, announced that it will end its full service menu at the Heights Cafe location March 12. Its retail bakery will remain open Tuesday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. through May 2023. The wholesale operations will continue unaffected as well. That means Heights residents can still drop by for fresh bread, pastries and coffee though the cafe itself will close. Owner Scott Tycer cited the upcoming end of its present lease in the Heights for the closing of the cafe portion.
Kraftsmen Baking was originally founded by Tycer and Mike Zakowski in 2001. Zakowski left the business in 2003 for other bread-ly pursuits. Tycer eventually moved operations from Montrose to the Heights in an old building formerly known as the Oriental Textile Mill in 2008. He opened the cafe in 2010.

It has since operated as a retail and wholesale bakery plus popular cafe. Its wholesale operation supplies over 200 clients around Houston with artisan bread, hamburger buns and rolls.

The Houston Press was told that the new location will be announced "soon-ish".

Bollo Woodfired Pizza, 1223 W. 34th, is now open after being anticipated for a number of years. Located at Stomping Grounds in Garden Oaks, the pizzeria is a takeaway outpost of its original location on W. Alabama. Unlike its full-service restaurant, the new spot will offer pizza only for take-out and third party deliveries. With the beautiful weather, customers can grab a pie and sit at one of the outdoor tables in the common area.

It was voted one of the Top 10 Pizza Restaurants in the U.S.A. by Gayot in 2022.

Houston Farmers Market, 2520 Airline, announced that construction is underway for the upcoming Henderson & Kane General Store. It will be the second location for the concept from John and Veronica Avila, known for its barbecue, smoked meats and other local products. It's expected to open later this year.

MLB Capital Partners, owner of Houston Farmers Market, also said in a press release that it is in final lease negotiations with an experienced food and beverage operator for a pickleball, bar and dining concept. Six pickleball courts are currently under construction and slated for completion in early May.

The new concepts will join the recently opened second location of Crawfish& Noodles, R-C Ranch butcher shop, Wild Oats and Underbelly Burger at Houston Farmers Market along with the vendors and local producers at the open air market.

Pappas Restaurants has lost their bid for the 10-year contract at Hobby Airport.  Areas USA, the Miami-based subsidiary of Areas, an international food and beverage company in Spain, has won the vote.

Pappas Restaurants currently operates the airport concessions under the umbrella of 4 Families and has operated at Hobby for the past 20 years inside the airport's terminals. It won the first of two 10-year contracts with the city of Houston in 2002, according to chron.com

On March 8, after heated debates, daily news stories and an online petition by Pappas Restaurants to save its restaurants at Hobby Airport, Houston City Council members voted 11 to 6 in favor of Areas, awarding them a 10-year contract worth a reported 470 million dollars.

The lost bid means the eventual closure of its restaurants at Hobby Airport in the next two years, which includes Pappas Bar-B-Q, Pappasito's Cantina, Pappas Burgers and Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen.

Areas will begin to transition some of its clients into the airport later this year and into 2024. Some of its tentative line up includes Killen's BBQ, The Spot, Pei Wei, Yard House and Spindletap Brewery, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Crumbl Cookies, 2550 Pearland Parkway, is celebrating its grand opening March 10, beginning at 8 a.m. It's never to early to eat cookies. For the first five business days, customers can order the cookies in-person. Delivery, curbside pick-up, catering and nationwide shipping will begin March 15. The menu for the grand opening week will include 6 of the rotating flavors including its award-winning Milk Chocolate Chip. Each week the flavor drops start Sunday at 6 p.m. Mountain Standard Time. Some of the more unique flavors include Caramel Popcorn, Buttermilk Pancake, Key Lime Pie and Cornbread.

Chad Larson is the owner for the new Pearland store and says, "I have lived in the Houston area my entire life. After my first taste of these delicious cookies, I knew I wanted to be a part of the Crumbl family and share these experiences with my local community."

The new Crumbl Cookies will offer more than 70 career opportunities to locals in the Pearland community.

Azul Agave, 20669 W. Lake Houston Parkway, opened the last week of February in the Kingwood/Atascocita area. It took over the space which previously housed Fiesta Azteca. The menu is a mix of Tex-Mex and Mexican dishes including burritos, enchiladas, taco salads and specialty dishes such as Shrimp or Chicken Diablo. There are also lunch specials and margaritas.

Bangkok Social, 14309 E. Sam Houston Parkway, opened in the Humble area in late February. Its Thai menu offers appetizers such as sate chicken, Thai Brussels sprouts and fried chicken wings. There are soups such as tom yum and tom kha plus a variety of curry dishes and noodles like pad woon sen and pad see ewe. There's also papaya salad, stir fry items, fried rice dishes and Thai tea.
Heights & Co., 1343 Yale,  is launching a dinner series March 15 featuring some of Houston's best chefs and restaurants. The ticketed event will take place every other Wednesday. The lineup begins with Chef Vanessa Lee of Hugo's for the March 15th dinner, hosted by Danielle Dubois of @HangryHoustonian.
The list of upcoming dinners includes Chef Ilias Gugole (Concura), Chef Tony Castillo (Mastranto's), Chef Thomas Bille (Belly of the Beast) and Chef Victor Cruz (Tiny Boxwoods).

Reservations may be made via Resy.

Pho K, 23227 Mercantile Parkway, opened in early February. The menu of Vietnamese favorites includes a variety of pho and other noodles dishes like bun bo hue. There are rolls like cha lua and banh cuon as well.

Fish and Chips Houston, 609 Bradford, softly opened February 7 in Kemah. The family-owned pub is operated by folks from the UK so it's a legit chippy. It also shows a number of sports on the telly including soccer so it's a good place for a cold lager and warm, freshly-made fries, uh, chips.

The menu includes has a list of fried dishes such as haddock or cod, shrimp and even battered, fried house-made sausage. There's also Chicken Gougons (fried chicken fingers), fried Haggis and even its Pizza Crunch is a fried slice of pizza.

There are non-fried items as well such as its Scotch Pie, Steak Pie and Haggis, Neeps and Tatties. The mushy peas are made from scratch and its Sticky Toffee Pudding is already getting rave reviews. For a guilty treat, they have Curry and Chips.

Karbach Brewing Co., 2032 Karbach, has launched a special brew in honor of Women's History Month and the recent (March 8) International Women's Day. It's called Ninkasi's Elixir. Named for the Mesopotamian Goddess of Brewing, the new beer was crafted by Karbach's Women in Beer chapter. It has 4.5 percent ABV (alcohol by volume) and is colored purple naturally by the use of Butterfly Pea flower.

It is only available at the brewery as part of its F.U.N. Series of Innovations. The acronym stands for Fucking Good Nectar.

We asked about its availability and were told that it will be on tap until all the kegs are floated which is a range of two to six weeks, depending on its popularity.

Koya, 2600 Travis, has a listing on Google but no website. We were tipped off by a reader that a business was planned for the former REEF space. However, the link to Koya's website has been disconnected so we're not sure what the plans are for now. Its Instagram account describes it as a Mediterranean Coastal Japanese restaurant and speakeasy.