Sun Drop with Iconic Downtown Skyline Items

Sun Drop: Commercial mural near Minute Maid Park

SunDrop mural with Wells Fargo and BG Group Tower in the distance 

Minute Maid District Commercial Murals with Downtown Skyline 

Big Red Mural & Skyline

BIG RED MURAL AND SUN DROP MURAL 

500 Hamilton St.

Commercial murals on Hamilton Street / Minute Maid Park District

Elevated Freeway US 59 / Interstate 69 at Minute Maid Park 

The sign says Fat Bao - As in ..

What comes to mind?  

I betcha people will read Boa -- rather than Bao (whatever that may mean in a foreign language) and will connote snake, perhaps even constrictor. Snake on a platter? Snake on a stick? Jungle food? What an odd way to brand a restaurant. 

Not that neighboring eateries aren't branded idiosyncratically or mis-named outright.... but with Elevation Burger, you get at least the burger part right, even if you are puzzled by the elevation component, and with Twin Peaks, you got the double ( double-entendre ) scenic views that will surely not disappoint and elevate your spirits even before your vision gets foggy or otherwise impaired. And at a bar, it's all about the spirits, isn't it? Aside from peeking at the vistas, of course.  

But perhaps the key to success in the naming game is being quirky, and to pique the interests of the inquisitive, the novelty-seekers, and the adventurous. Being too obvious may not correl the crowds -- like promoting Latin maidens and Margaritas under the Maggie Rita moniker. That short-lived Mama Ninfas nieta, located about half way between Fat Boa (excuse me, Fat Bao) and Elevation Burger, now boasts an empty parking lot with nothing remotely hot in sight - No elevation, not to mention elation.  Not very scenic. 

Go peek, and all you will find is a shuttered restaurant with a lock-out notice on the door.  

The Maggie Rita's Desert

Elevation Burger offers scenic vistas too, albeit stylized

Sign galore: Cafe Japon, Twin Peaks, and now Nosh

The Original Taco Cabana struggles to keep pace with changing times

Tex-Mex Dinosaur quandry: Pinko no more, well just un poquito

With all the eater-drinker-and-gauker-oriented entrepreneurial bustle  around it (grass-fed burgers to elevate the gourmet standards on the other side of the drive-thru; a new noshing bistro tucked into the servant's quarter's of the corner bank; a live non-sushi raw food lab with spectator gallery on the bend; not to mention the  mood-lifting vistas of the scenic twins across the Algerian Way), the heirs of the Original Taco Cabana must have thunk we gotta do something  original too: Out goes the dirty off-rosy pink look....well not entirely. Can't really ditch what made the original Taco Cabana -- well -- original. At least Mama Ninfas is not around to offer her opinion on what an authentic Tex-Mex joint is supposed to look like, -- or an updated pan-Latin fusion version thereof. And look what happened to her haunt up at the corner at Richmond: Maggie Rita on the eviction docket. 

At least the lamp post provides visual appeal

Caco Cabana water fountain on patio after the "face lift"

The Original Taco Cabana after the make-over

Taco Cabana in its Upper Kirby neighborhood - picture of patio Tex-Mex before repaint job

French Gourmet Bakery in new colors (before and after photos)

Photo of French Gourmet Bakery after Make-over (new coloring scheme)
 2250 Westheimer Rd  Houston, Texas 77098 États-Unis

Green and pinkish-peach: original look of French Gourmet Bakery on Westheimer prior to facelift

Off the wall? Not yet in this photo - Internum Store with Mini Car on Store Wall

This is what got the Internum Design Store on Kirby Drive in trouble with the building inspectors:

Internum store with red mini on the wall over sidewalk

Red mini  with white roof matching store signage over the sidewalk: The city inspector wasn't amused and orange-tagged the store.