Chuck Cook Photography

Goodbye, little piggy.

Click to view the full, final menu from Feast.

Feast's friends and fans packed the little house at 219 Westheimer for a final taste of hearty delights such as fish and scallop pie and coq au vin. The sold-out final night was a fitting end for a place that convinced Houstonians that offal was not awful. Indeed, under the skilled hands of chefs James Silk and Richard Knight, it was often delightful.

When Feast opened five years ago, the Houston dining landscape was very different from today. Few casual diners knew what "bycatch" was and the idea of being able to order meals made with humanely-sourced meats was practically a pipe dream. The idea of using as much as possible from a whole animal seemed like a good notion, but how did that work in practice?

As Feast taught us, it worked deliciously. British food could be interesting and eye opening. We learned that pig's ear cake was similar to a savory bread pudding imbued with cracklins and brought alive with the tang of mustard.

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Let's just get to the sad news, first. Feast is closing today. The wonderful and beloved restaurant, however, is having a yard sale to get rid of, well, everything. Head on over on Saturday, June 15 at 11 a.m. until 6 p.m.-ish and Monday, June 17 from 10 a.m. until dusk to snag something from the restaurant -- including the pig signs.

The Chick-Fil-A on Webster is also closing today. Swamplot reports that franchise operator, Charles Gibson, left a note on the restaurant's window stating that "TxDOT has purchased the property with plans to expand I-45."

In other closings news, Roots Bistro shut its doors this week. According to CultureMap, a "source hints that a 'disengaged investor' pulled the rug out from under the enterprise ... and has plans to go a different direction." Eater Houston Editor Eric Sandler notes that Root's is the "fourth high-profile" restaurant to close on Westheimer over the last few months.

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Photos by Mai Pham

Look at this beauty: Perry's Famous Pork Chop, lunch portion

Every Friday, Perry's Steakhouse & Grille has an unbelievable deal on its famous pork chop. The "Famous Pork Chop Friday Lunch" comes with a lunch cut of their pork chop, whipped potatoes, and their homemade apple sauce for only $11.95.

As we reported previously, last Friday Perry's offered an even better deal at its nine locations across town. The first 100 people in line at each site paid only 79 cents for their pork chop lunch. So, of course, we were there.

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Houston will receive four more Dunkin' Donuts locations in the coming weeks.

This week has been full of openings and few closings. So let's just get the bad news over with.

Houston Avenue Bar, aka Re:Hab Houston, informed the public that its lease is up and will be closing the first week of July. The Houston Chronicle reported that management already has a new location though, which will be opening in August, so they won't be gone for too long.

In other closing news, Dulce Bakery & Cafe quietly shut its doors this week, as reported by B4-U-Eat.

Now, here is some good news. In honor of National Donut Day, Dunkin' Donuts plans to open four locations in the Houston area, including one on S. Shepherd in the coming weeks, as noted by the Houston Chronicle. The next three locations should be open during the summer in Humble, Pasadena and Terminal E of the Bush Intercontinental Airport; now you can get your coffee and donut fix before you fly.

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Photo courtesy of MasterChef

Christine Ha will open a restaurant in Houston with the help of Joe Bastianich.

The month of May has seen many restaurants and bars come and go, including a few surprises and an earlier good-bye from a well-loved restaurant, but this week fortunately brought more openings than closings.

As Mai Pham reported, Seasons 52 opened last week on Thursday offering a menu filled with items under 475 calories. You can eat a tasty meal without having to loosen the belt on your pants.

The north Houston and Katy areas received a new place to grab some tacos and authentic Mexican food with the opening of two Taquerias Arandas. Although two sushi restaurants closed their doors last week, B4-U-Eat reports that another one quietly opened in Sugar Land. Aki Steak and Sushi offers typical udon noodle dishes, hibachi grilled entrees and a bountiful amount of sashimi and sushi rolls, including a pink soy paper wrapped crab-and-avocado roll named the Katy Perry Roll.

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Sorry, Sugarbaby's fans: You'll have to find a new cupcakery.

When one oven door closes, another opens (or something like that): Sugarbaby's Cupcake Boutique ceased operations this past Saturday, May 18. The bakery inside the bright pink-and-green building on Shepherd thanked its fans on Twitter for all their years of support: "Sold out for our last day. It was great to see so many friendly faces. Thanks so much for 6 yrs of awesomeness."

But while Sugarbaby's is no more, Porch Swing Desserts has finally opened its own brick-and-mortar location after years of selling its baked goods online and in its mobile food truck. The new downtown bakery at 801 Lousiana (at Rusk) opened yesterday, May 16, and is currently hiring another pastry chef to come on board.

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Photos by Mai Pham

Seasons 52 organic salad with grilled beets, pistachio, dried cherry, cumin lime dressing.

Seasons 52, the new restaurant located in the new Millennium complex on Westheimer adjacent to Bo Concept, is opening to the public today.

"The name Seasons 52 represents the 52 weeks of the year," said Reuben Rolf, the managing partner. "Every week, our menu offers a side panel of new dishes that use the freshest possible ingredients for that week." The most amazing thing about the menu, however, is the fact that the chefs have created delicious dishes with one overarching parameter: All the dishes are 475 calories or less.

It's hard to believe, especially when you see some of the things coming from the kitchen. During my tour of the restaurant, I spied a big plate of what looked like three good-sized short ribs covered in what appeared to be a calorie-laden demi-glace sauce, and quickly expressed my skepticism. "Those would be our lamb chops," my tour guide Jeremy explained. "And the way they are prepared makes them no more than 475 calories."

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Photos by Katharine Shilcutt

Pistolero's serves basic chicken and beef tacos, but also oxtail, lengua, barbacoa and more.

Shawn Bermudez has slowly and steadily amassed a small real estate empire along Lower Westheimer to rival that of longtime restaurateur Marco Wiles and recent upstart Bobby Heugel. Wiles owns three spots, Heugel four. But Bermudez -- he now owns five.

In addition to Pistolero's, a tacos and tequila joint that replaced Nabi when it opened its doors a couple of weeks ago, Bermudez also owns Boondocks, Royal Oak Bar & Grill, a line-up of resale and vintage clothing shops that includes Pavement and Taxi Taxi, and the upcoming Stone's Throw. He's also a partner in food trucks Koagie Hots and The Golden Grill.

Not bad for a California kid who -- just a year ago -- was busy getting arrested by the Houston Police Department over a [patently ridiculous] noise complaint filed against his principal property, Boondocks. Although it only opened in 2007, Boondocks has already become the so-called "third corner of the Lower Westheimer triangle" along with Poison Girl and Catbirds.

While some longtime Montrose denizens have derided Royal Oak as the "Chili's of Montrose" and fret over the crowds that Bermudez is bringing to the quickly gentrifying neighborhood, there's no denying the positive impact that Bermudez has made in other areas since first moving here in 2004.

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Photo by Adam Yang

James Coney Island is one of the oldest restaurants in Houston, founded in 1923 by Greek immigrant brothers James and Tom Papadakis (this explains the Greek-influenced chili that remains on the menu to this day). But although the chain is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year, the food is anything but old-fashioned.

In just the last few years, James Coney has started using local baker Slow Dough for its buns and introduced new twists on its classic coneys, such as the Lone Star Dog (topped with barbecue sauce and battered slices of onion rings) and the Baja dog, which sports avocado, chipotle mayonnaise and red onions.

Starting June 1, the chain will be featuring an even more intriguing take on Houston's favorite tubed meat in a bun: custom-designed hot dogs from some of the city's best chefs.

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Max's makes the move to Montrose.

Fried eggs and truffle oil as toppings may be old hat to foodies these days. We're easily distracted creatures who paw like needle-clawed kittens at every new bauble that comes along.

But back in the rollicking days of the mid-2000s, the novelty had not yet worn thin and restaurants like Max's Wine Dive were blowing the average diner's mind by serving Champagne with fried chicken.

It's with nostalgia for a simpler time that I read my friend Judy Le's review of the original Max's Wine Dive when it opened in Houston in late 2006. Le's write-up at the now-defunct Houstonist (where she and I first met) is filled with the kind of sincere wonder that was fostered by swaggering restaurants like Max's Wine Dive, where chef Jonathan Jones -- he of the steak knife driven pointedly into a po-boy the size of a Chrysler at successive restaurant ventures such as Beaver's -- was showcasing the type of intentionally over-the-top food that quickly became his signature.

"Our plate of deluxe fries were piled high on a huge platter, smothered in venison chili, black truffle oil, gruyere cheese and two fried eggs," wrote Le. "After a split second to admire the decadence, the plate was cleaned spotless by our greedy little fingers."

Le finishes: "How is it possible that we have never had fried eggs on top of chili fries?!"

How indeed, one wonders now with over six years' worth of distance from the original Max's menu, was that possible? You can get a Faygo topped with a fried egg these days. Where has our innocence gone?

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