Fiesta Mural on Bellaire

 Fiesta - Un Cachito De Lo Nuestro 

 Mexican-themed mural on South wall of Fiesta Store on Bellaire at Hillcroft 

View of mural from the Bellaire Blvd Esplanade 

Indigenous Mexican street art

 side wall of roots salon on Richmond Ave in Montrose 

El Tiempo Cantina on Lower Westheimer

Intersection of Lower Westheimer and Taft Street - El Tiempo Cantina 

biskit junkie 

Love Buzz on Lower Westheimer 

El Tiempo

Fajitas & Margaritas 

El Big Bad Swordfish Restaurant - Third incarnation of Tex-Mex on corner of Prairie and Travis

419 Travis Street

Very nice two-level building with balcony seating 

in the heart of historic Houston

The new El Big Bad Signage partially conceals its predecessor: Pepperjack
The suspended swordfish did duty when the restaurant space was Cabo's and Pepperjack

El Big Bag sign on door prior to grand opening
with reflection of Lyric Centre Skycraper and Calpine Center in the glass,
which are located West of the two-story historic restaurant property

Irma's Iconic Mexican Restaurant

Tila's Mexican Restaurant & Taco Truck

Tila's Mexican Restaurant with patio and bar & Taco Truck

Café Adobe fades into history at 32 - Long live Tex-Mex!

Adios Café Adobe

Another fiesta is over. Café Adobe at Westheimer and Shepherd is now closed. Like the Montrose Fiesta store a few blocks to the East, the property will see redevelopment as multi-story residential project following demolition. The way things go in Houston.

The architecture of the double-decker patio venue was rather unique; not to mention the coloring scheme and illumination at night. It even offered rain-or-shine patio brunching or dining in a courtyard with a water fountain in the middle and glass roof aloft; winding staircase to the cantina on the second floor. Worthy of land-mark status, and no doubt the object of many fond and cheery memories for at least two generations of innerloopers.

Moving truck at back entrance to Adobe Cafe

It’s not the only Mexican restaurant fading into Margarita-infused memories of good times had. Aztecas on the corner of Richmond and Greenbriar has folded too, following the earlier demise of Maggie Ritas, whose effort  to spice things up at Ninfa’s on Richmond at Kirby were all too lamentably to no avail. Iconic patio restaurant Bocados on West Alabama near The Menil just went out with a bang too; in a fitting gesture on Cinco de Mayo. Taco Milagro on the corner of Westheimer and Kirby is next. It’s days are numbered.

Aztecas Restaurant on corner of Richmond and Greenbriar closed

Maggie Rita's was short-lived in former Ninfa's location on Kirby Drive

Bocados on West Alabama (before closing)

Patio at Taco Milagro on Westheimer at Kirby

Not that the neighborhood is on the way downhill. Much rather, it looks like rising land values and rents are squeezing the moderately-priced Tex-Mexes out of the market. There are big construction projects under way all around.

So what’s still there on the Mex and Tex-Mex culinary front?  A Lupe Tortillas on the SW Freeway feeder between Greenbriar and Kirby; Little Pappasitos on Richmond next Indian Restaurant Khyber; Ruchis on the SW corner of Shepherd and West Alabama; La Tapatia and Selma Maria on Richmond. And then there is Chuy’s near where Taco Milagro is calling it quits; although its display of Elvis-paraphernalia and other such stuff put its Tex-Mex credential somewhat in doubt. And then there are a couple of burrito joints: Mission Burritos on West Alabama and FreeBirds on Greenbriar across from the Post Office. 

Seems like there is room in the market for a new Tex-Mex startup; to cater to those loath to navigate down Lower Westheimer to the El Real to crunch chips loaded with salsa in a former movie theater, not to mention driving all the way to EaDo to honor the memory of Mama Ninfa’s in her original establishment, which now features a large patio with outdoor bar, or the new El Tiempo Cantina next to it, which was opened earlier this year by a descendant of the iconic Mexican matron that got Houstonians of all ancestries – Hispanic or otherwise -- hooked on fajitas. 

Adios Aztecas Mexican Bar & Grill on Richmond Ave.

Aztecas Mexican Restaurant & Margarita Cantina closed - space posted for lease

 Still colorful, but empty: Former Margarita venue with patio
Aztecas  at 2207 Richmond Ave, Houston, TX 77098

Azteca's Bar and Grill - Mexican Restaurant Sign

Web site still up, but restaurant vacated and shut - Property posted for Lease

Richmond Ave between Shepherd and Kirby Dr,- Neighborhood Map

From Julio's to La Casa del Caballo on Lower Westheimer - Steakhouse a la Mexicana

La Casa del Caballo - Fine Mexican Steakhouse on Westheimer Rd
 in place previously occupied by Julio's

Bouray's Vietnamese Pho and Mexican Burrritos

Culinary intercontinental bridge building: Vietnamese-Mexican Eatery near the Hyatt

Mexican-Vietnamese Bouray's 609 Clay St, Houston, Texas

Hyatt Regency Hotel Complex

Chipotle Burrito Place at the Rice Hotel - Patio seating at corner of Main Street

Chipotle Mexican Burrito Eatery at the Rice Hotel - Patio seating on sidewalk

Chipotle eatery at The Rice Hotel seen across Metro Rail tracks with landscaping
(March 2014 pic)

Chipotle at the Rice Hotel - Night-time view

Chipotle Mexican Grill 909 Texas Ave Houston, TX 77002

Chipotle Mexican Fast Food Place in Corner Spot at Rice Hotel - Main Street at Texas Ave.

El Gran Malo in English: The Big Bad (UPDATED) Pepper Jack's gives up on Downtown Margarita Venue (previously Cabo's Mexican Restaurant and Cantina)

 El Big Bad Opening Soon (August 2013) Howling Already

  Closed again: Downtown Margaritas Restaurant y Cantina 
with balcony seating on the edge of the Theater District

Previously Cabo, then Pepper Jack's for less than a year. The successor restaurant got off to a shaky start and has just closed for good. 

But rumor has it that a "big bad" tequila-serving outfit from elsewhere in town (El Gran Malo) will soon open up shop  here, and take on the Downtown challenge. The historic building on Travis Street features a large second-floor balcony for dining and margarita sipping al fresco on the South and West sides. This being Houston, it won't be "fresco" in the Summer, of course. Frozen margaritas will have to do the cooling, assuming the new operator keeps up the tradition.

Mexican Restaurant Pepper Jack's (previously Cabo's) seen across Travis Street looking East

"Closed" notice on Pepper Jack's Door (May 22, 2013 photo)