Photo courtesy of Facebook

Say "bienvenue" to Artisans.

​The opening of Uchi Houston last week was just the prelude to a rash of exciting, greatly anticipated openings across the city. Get ready, folks: It's a great time to be a diner in Houston.

Artisans, the new restaurant from Le Mistral brothers David and and Sylvain Denis with friend and fellow chef Jacques Fox, has opened at 3201 Louisiana. The Midtown restaurant is near other hotspots Sushi Raku and Piola, and features correspondingly scenester-y prices: $30 for a Marseillaise-style red snapper, $38 for seared lamb loin with Fingerling potatoes. Reservations are required until the grand opening, which takes place tomorrow.

Down the street at the Houston Pavilions, Scott Gertner's has finally opened after the old Scott Gertner's Skybar was unceremoniously kicked out of the Montrose clouds in 2010. As with the old Skybar, the new spot at the Pavilions has a rooftop deck. Alas, this one is only on the third floor, but it features a great view of downtown nevertheless.

Underbelly and The Hay Merchant are both set to open any day now. Eater Houston took a tour through both recently, noting that Chris Shepherd's restaurant -- Underbelly -- will be completely separate from Kevin Floyd's beer bar -- The Hay Merchant -- but that the two will share a massive butchering kitchen between the two attached spaces.

Also open this week is La Fisheria, the new modern coastal Mexican restaurant from celebrity chef Aquiles Chávez and his team from Mexico. It replaced the gone-but-not-forgotten Pagoda Vietnamese Bistro & Bar at 4705 Inker.

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Photos by Katharine Shilcutt

Chef Aquiles Chávez and co-owner Ena Niño. See more behind-the-scenes photos of La Fisheria and the taping in our slideshow.

​Most Americans wouldn't know chef Aquiles Chávez if they saw him on the street, even with his trademark handlebar mustache and Jack Sparrow-style dreadlocks tucked under a straw hat.

But ask anyone in Latin America about Chávez and they'll immediately grin and say, "El hombre con el bigote!" as they twist the ends of a mock mustache on their own faces. Throughout Latin America, Chávez -- who is the star of two reality shows, with a third in production -- is as famous as Anthony Bourdain.

And he hopes to accomplish the same level of fame here in the United States, starting in Houston with his brand-new restaurant: La Fisheria (4705 Inker), which opens to the public tomorrow, February 11.

It was at La Fisheria that I met Chávez yesterday afternoon, accompanied by his co-owners in the restaurant and a Colombian production crew from the Fox-affiliated station Utilisima. Utilisima is the South American version of channels like HGTV and the Food Network in the U.S., and Chávez's two shows are very similar to No Reservations and various live cooking shows. His third show, currently filming, is called Aquiles in Houston and follows the chef as he and his family have packed their bags and moved to Houston permanently to open La Fisheria.

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Photo Courtesy of Restaurant Cinq

Chef Jeramie Robison

​It was bound to happen. In fact, it was in the midst of happening in July of 2010, when a last-minute job offer to take up the Executive Chef post at Restaurant Cinq at La Colombe d'Or kept in him in Houston for the last 18 months.

Chef Jeramie Robison, one of Houston's Rising Star Chefs of 2011, is leaving his highly acclaimed post at the venerable Cinq and headed for Austin, where he will take up a post as Sous Chef at Uchi Austin.

Houston will certainly be sorry to lose the talented 28-year-old, who, during his 18-month tenure at Restaurant Cinq, breathed new life into the the old world European cuisine it was known for with a fresh new menu that included offerings like Braised Spanish Octopus with avocado aioli, garlic puree, celery heart and chorizo chips, or his award-winning short ribs, corn velouté, red wine cabbage, mushroom ragoût, and port syrup.

It's understandable that he should want to move on, however, and one can't help but wish him well.

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Photos by Katharine Shilcutt

Crispy chicken taco with mango coleslaw at Pollo Campero. See more in our slideshow.

​I grew up eating at the old-school Pollo Campero on Bellaire Boulevard, the fast-food chicken joint featuring a bright-yellow chick with a sombrero on its head and a plate of fried chicken in its hand. The logo is one of the most gleeful celebrations of cannibalism since the Victorian-era Cochon Prodigue ads featuring a pig slicing himself into sausages. As you may imagine, I have a lot of love in my heart for Pollo Campero and its signature product, which is some of the best fried chicken outside of my mom's cast-iron skillet.

And I'm not alone. The 40-year-old company, based in Guatemala and now one of the Americas' largest fast food chains with over 300 global locations, has its staunch fans, many of whom are Latin American and not necessarily keen to see their old Guatemalan favorite turning over a new leaf.

Although it's kept the same spices, marinades and seasonings for its classic fried and grilled chicken, Pollo Campero has introduced an entirely new look and menu for the rest of its new batch of restaurants. Two of those new Pollo Camperos have recently opened in Webster and Missouri City, with a Houston location at 4701 Washington Avenue opening tomorrow.

"Some of them say that the chicken doesn't even taste the same!" laughed Lisken Kastalanych, vice president of marketing for Pollo Campero. "But it's the same recipe."

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Photo by Olivia Flores Alvarez

This notice of closure was posted outside Guadalajara Bakery this morning.

​After 45 years in business along Washington Avenue, Guadalajara Bakery is closing its doors on February 29. Unlike previous closing scares for the longtime breakfast taco purveyor, this one is concrete: New owners purchased the building and gave the family 30 days notice to vacate. A bar is planned for the space.

Imagine that. Even though most people in Houston are predicting the swift end to Washington Avenue's piss-saturated party scene much in the same way that the Richmond Strip is now a thing of the past, but -- sure -- go ahead and build yet another bar in an area already saturated with ones that serve bad beer and regularly turn away people of color and aren't long for this earth. In the meantime, a family-owned business that's served its community and legions of loyal fans for nearly half a century will be kicked to the curb, as the family has no plans to reopen.

In other vastly disappointing news, a Dallas-based Tex-Mex chain that CultureMap's Sarah Rufca describes as "the preferred restaurant for suburban Dallas MILFs" is moving into the old space vacated by Ruby Tequila's in Midtown. Gloria's plans to open this spring. Great.

And speaking of insufferable bastions of douchedom, Dorsia -- previously known as the notorious "members-only" laughingstock of Houston that cost at least $2,000 a year to join -- is now open to the public. Let's hope the great unwashed masses don't ruin the "exclusive" vibe of the place. The only silver lining here: Riccardo Palazzo-Giorgio of the late, great Sabetta has been hired on as Dorsia's chef, according to food maven Jenny Wang. I'd enter the gates of hell to have Palazzo-Giorgio's food available on a regular basis, so I'm certainly willing to brave Dorsia for it.

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Kitchen Incubator and The Burger Guys: A bright idea. Pictured: The high-ceilinged dining space inside Cafe Luz.

​It was an idea "sparked by a few Tweets," says Lucrece Borrego, owner of Kitchen Incubator and its storefront bistro, Cafe Luz. Tomorrow at lunch, her commercial kitchen space located on Franklin at Travis will welcome new tenants The Burger Guys in what will be more of a satellite location than a secondary location for the burger joint.

"After noting a few Tweets about the 'ghost town' in their shopping center and the need to feed the inner loop, I sent [Burger Guys owner] Jake [Mazzu] a message asking if he'd like to get together and explore doing the occasional burger Friday out of our downtown kitchens," said Borrego of the brand-new partnership.

That idea for a "burger Friday" quickly transformed into a weekly pop-up burger joint of sorts, as The Burger Guys now plan to operate out of Kitchen Incubator every Wednesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. And although the two operations -- Cafe Luz and The Burger Guys -- evolved independently, the two couldn't be more evenly matched. Borrego agrees.

"We got to talking and figured out pretty quickly that it was a natural fit," she says. "The
Burger Guys, also known for their Dublin soda fountain and shakes, were a perfect culinary element to the Luz soda fountain and original milkshake bar."

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A mock Texas Monthly cover made by Jones's fans several years ago.

​UPDATE: Owner Jon Deal says that Xuco Xicana isn't going anywhere right away. "It's not closing, for sure right now," Deal said over the phone. "If it weren't for the staff I have on hand, I probably would close. For their sake, I've gotta give the location and them the opportunity to make the adjustments they think is necessary."

Deal continued: "We probably are going to bring some of the El Patio classics back. They certainly do not want to discard the menu. They want to make some changes and bring some familiar foods back to the Midtown."

As for the restaurant's famous ceviche, Deal said that's not going anywhere either: "[Sous chef] Brandon Wilhelm is passionate about ceviche."

***

Chef Jonathan Jones was let go from Xuco Xicana late last week, and cooked his last meal at the restaurant last night as a pre-planned pajama party on Xuco's upstairs patio became his farewell party.

Jones, who was the executive chef at Beaver's before moving to sister restaurant Xuco Xicana -- both owned by local restaurateur Jon Deal -- will not be returning to the line at Beaver's, either, although he will still be involved with the icehouse in some capacity.

Deal, who is also an owner/investor in El Patio and 13 Celsius, among other ventures, made the decision after Xuco Xicana's brand of modern interior Mexican cuisine with a Gulf Coast flair failed to catch on with the Midtown neighborhood.

For all its accolades, Xuco was never as busy as its former incarnation, the Midtown location of El Patio. Although the famous blue El Patio margaritas and queso remained on Jones's revamped menu when he took over the kitchen and reimagined the space as Xuco Xicana, it wasn't enough to retain its earlier audience.

In a parallel to what happened with Yelapa Playa Mexicana, which closed last year, it appears that Houston -- a city firmly in love with old-school Tex-Mex food -- isn't yet prepared to accept modern, often edgy interpretations of its central cuisine.

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That didn't last long...

​As 2012 gets up and running, restaurants have hit the ground running. This week's round-up includes two expansions, a few openings and a couple of noteworthy closings.

Expanding into downtown as promised, The Burger Guys finally announced its new location this week: Kitchen Incubator. The burger men will be occupying some of Kitchen Incubator's commercial space to turn out their signature burgers Wednesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Currently planning an expansion of his own is Minh Nguyen, owner of Cafe TH. Nguyen told us about his plans to expand the dining room and kitchen at his tiny cafe during last weekend's banh mi-eating competition, and confirmed those plans with Eater Houston, telling Amber Ambrose that he plans to add at least 350 square feet of space.

Meanwhile, in Montrose, "Ruggles" Bistro has opened amidst news that the now-shuttered Ruggles 11th Street Cafe will soon become a Ruggles Green -- which is wholly unaffiliated with Bruce Molzan or his "Ruggles" Bistro. The Houston Business Journal reports that the 11th Street Cafe, which closed in December after 35 years in business, will reopen later this month after extensive renovations.

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Photo courtesy of Facebook

The Bushes and the Molinas: Texas legends.

​As we slowly move out of the winter doldrums, restaurant news is getting much more exciting -- and coming at us much more quickly.

On Tuesday, two big announcements got the food community all atwitter: The Burger Guys announced they'd be opening a second location downtown on February 1. And Uchi Houston announced that their long-awaited opening would take place the very next day on February 2.

Molina's has also finally opened another location, one which the popular Tex-Mex chain has been hard at work on, at 3801 Bellaire Boulevard. And as seen above, former president and first lady George and Barbara Bush stopped by the new Molina's to pay their respects to the new Bellaire location of Houston's oldest Tex-Mex chain earlier this week.

Food-blogger-on-the-street Misha noticed this sign up at a former carwash on Westheimer and Yorktown, indicating that the Galleria-area spot will soon be the recipient of its very own gastropub. The West End, according to its website, will be open in March 2012.

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You've never had a beet salad like this.

​"Oh my God," oohed my friend over my cocktail last night at Triniti. "They have the right ice." I laughed good-naturedly at her self-admitted "cocktail nerdery" and regarded the solid cubes with a bit more interest than I had before. They were the type designed to melt as slowly as possible, in order not to dilute the strength or flavor of the drink.

"I have a feeling," I told her, "that everything is right here."

The dining room at Triniti is as perfectly appointed as the food. I had an inkling from photos I'd seen of the space, but didn't fully realize the incredible attention to detail until going for myself the first time last night. Water poured out of elegant Riedel pitchers into thin-rimmed Riedel glasses; swift and perfect mise en place before every course; softened butter dusted with fat kernels of salt alongside a thoughtful bread service; chairs that function as modern sculpture and warm wood tones that keep the large room (and its decibel level) grounded.

Part of the reason for this attention to detail is the fact that the newly-opened Triniti is sort of the Avengers of Houston restaurants, with players assembled from some of the city's best dining rooms and kitchens. Familiar waiters from Voice, a manager from Reef, a sommelier from Vic & Anthony's, chefs with pedigrees from restaurants such as The Barbed Rose, bistro moderne, Aries, Voice and Textile, all of them under executive chef Ryan Hildebrand's steady leadership.

It's a dream team of talent in both the kitchen and the front of the house, which has the potential to be an ego-driven mess. Instead, they function as a thoughtful, confident team -- something which is conveyed in even the smallest touches here.

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