Loved it but loved Kahn’s in the Village more. I saw they ended their run fairly recently. His old man, Alfred, did pretty well, too.
I was thinking of all the places I used to eat downtown…Glatzmaier’s, Treebeard’s, Roman Delight, Cliff’s, Charlie’s Over Two Dozen Sold, Arthur’s Barbecue, the hot dogs at Woolworth’s. Howard Creekmore, head of the Houston Endowment, ate at Arthur’s pretty much everyday.
I liked Roman Delight for NY style pizza or for cheesesteaks with jalapeños. Also Buzzy’s out the Katy Fwy. Speaking of going out freeways, I loved Doneraki’s on I45 outside the loop. Mexican trompo delights.
All of our friends were in love with the Buffalo Grill. I much preferred Fountainview Cafe, Biba’s One’s a Meal, and Simo’s Grill. Also Cliff’s did solid breakfasts, especially their taters.
Loved, loved, loved Alfred’s, in the Village or on Stella Link, much closer to me. Kahn’s was a very welcome reprise, but they didn’t offer the chicken soup or the Hamburger Steak Sandwich on an Egg Roll 
Was really sorry to see Kahn’s closed - that’s Helen Greek, now, I think.
I’d heard of Glatzmaier’s but never went; Never ever been to Treebeard’s either; I think I’ve been to both Charlie’s and Cliff’s. Never heard of Arthur’s !!! And never to Doneraki after all these years.
Never ate downtown much but The Bowery, Travis at Texas as I recall, was great. We’d take off, sometimes two carloads, from the Fannin bank on Holcombe and go down there, be gone 2 and a half hours for lunch! More of just a sandwich shop than a deli, I think. First place I ever encountered Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray tonic and fell in love with it. Got some in the fridge now. I think the owner later had the Birraporetti’s places.
Steve’s BBQ (I think that was the name) in the 60s when I was here, several locations around down town, the original appeared in one of the episodes of Route 66 when it was shot here. I loved the ‘outside beef’ sandwiches there.
Weldon’s cafeteria, just north of the Museum District on Main. Butera’s deli on Montrose, demolished for the Glassell School of Art, now itself demolished. Maybe best deli in Houston ever, before the Buteras joined up with the Mandolas, I guess. Later on Shepherd @ Alabama.
Went to Buffalo Grill once. I’d heard so much about it and wasn’t impressed. Only went to Fountainview once, I think - had the chili???, I was trying to find some good restaurant chili at the time.
Brooks System Sandwich Shops/One’s a Meal - oh, bring 'em back, please!!! Stayed at a boarding house in the early 60s when I dropped out of school for a while and there was one a couple block’s away. Great chapter on them in Galvani’s Lost Restaurants of Houston; he located a descendant of the founder in 1920 and she had lots of memorabilia. Harithas Bibas bought the rights to the name and the last location on Memorial right across from Bibas Greek Pizza. He was going to change it all over to Greek but his brother, I think, talked him in to keeping the menu and adding Greek dishes slowly. So it lived on for years.
I think I’ve heard of Simo’s but have no idea where it was,
Hey, this is killing me.
I don’t think so but there was another place at the same time in the same stretch called The Strawberry Patch that I think may have been a Pappas place.
When I first moved to Houston I lived on a one block street called Miramar, within an easy walk of Butera’s on Montrose. I loved them, and the spot on Bissonet was our regular grocery store.
Simo’s was in the strip center by Randall’s on Wesleyan.
A place just popped into my mind. Remember Salvatore’s, over near St. Thomas?
I think SP was one of Pappas’ first places, after Dot Coffee Shops, but I don’t know for sure. I was only there once.
How could I have missed Simo’s??? Lawdy-lawdy-lawdy.
Salvatore’s - ya got me on that one, too. What street? Italian, I presume?
Hamburger’s by Gourmet, the original (I think) on Kirby and the one on Yoakum amidst the U. of St. Thomas. The one in the underground of Greenway Plaza didn’t do 'em any favors - they took to pre-cooking the patties because of the noon time rush everyday. Somebody tried to bring the chain back a couple of years ago down in the Clear Lake area but it didn’t last.
HBG and the Hamburger Steak sandwich at Alfred’s were my go to burgers for years, maybe with occasional visits to Prince’s. Then Whataburger came to town. My most common order at One’s a Meal in the early days was the Hamburger Steak, with veggie sides. Never had their Chicken Fried Steak or Chili. The chili originated in 1920, as a accompaniment to breakfast, and was keep alive by Bibas and by Theo’s who bought out Bibas. I went to Theo’s Greek Restaurant in their last ;month of operation. The web-site bragged about still serving the chili but I didn’t see it on the menu and they were so slammed I didn’t ask about it. The owner was assuring everyone he was going to open a new place in a couple of months, but …
Is that the Captain Benny’s that was a shrimp boat [?] beached in a parking lot “paved” with oyster shells?
ETA: I had just got a new digital camera – that’s the case and instruction manual in the first pic 
The rightful successor and heir to the first one, which had the shell parking lot, right at the corner of Main and Holcombe. Then it moved about a half mile south, as I remember, took the real shrimp boat with them and maybe the shell, about half a mile south on Main, same side of the street. Didn’t last long there, now about a mile further south, opposite side of the street, where OST and Main merge – don’t think you can access it from OST. faux shrimp boat now, sits very low to the ground.
I get over to that one occasionally. A few years ago it was said Capt. Benny’s wife was the manager of that one. There’s one closer to me on Murphy Rd but that one’s the best one, I think.
ETA: Expansion by the Texas Medical Center and associated facilities is gobbling up everything in that area. Meanwhile the Trustees of Rice are gobbling just about everything else close by and extending their range toward town. They own the old art-deco Sears on Main at Elgin and it’s becoming an AI hub.
Well I did not know that Circus restaurant was seven by the purpose family. I sure recall it was called circus circus though. I know that in the early 80s it was a real hotspot. I can’t read this whole article because of the pay wall but there is a partial list viewable online.
Salvatore’s was an Italian restaurant in a very large old house. I believe it, too, might have been on Yoakum, just north of Richmond. They had a terrace in front that was screened in with plastic and had space heaters in the winter. In what must have been the old front hall there was a piano, usually played in a quiet and unobtrusive way. The veal Francesca and the pasta con olio were divine. The death of the place began when the piano bar got loud and intrusive.
Can’t place it on Yoakum. There was a rather short lived Russian place on Yoakum @ Richmond, mid-late 70s, big red brick house. Can’t remember the name. Stoli frozen in ice, Chicken Kiev, et.
What was for a long time called Michaeangelo’s on lower Westheimer might have been called Salvatore’s back then.
From Google which says it is permanently closed. I remember the front was originally enclosed in plastic.
There are photos of the interior on Google and Yelp that may ring a bell. I can’t get Yelp photos to enlarge from thumb-nail size and I’m being blocked from the restaurant website by a virus or malware detection - wondering if there was a history section on the website. I lived in Montrose from 70-74; had to move because of allergies from all the old oak trees! Worked on Lovett from 83-95, but never went to that place. I had the first Marcella Hazan cookbook and I was trying to make all those dishes at home 
I know there’s a photo on HAIF of the old plastic enclosed front, either in one of the defunct restos threads or just somewhere in the Historic Houston forum. I’ll try to find it.
I thought I had read Pappas had a restaurant supply type store, big one on the east side, which gave them some sort of leg up in the resto business??? Which Dot coffee shop in 65, I wonder. Maybe a hastily assembled article.
Hey Bruce, (or should i say “Capt. Stew”?), would you like to take a stroll down memory lane?
Any other HOs on this old newsgroup thread? MareCat perhaps?
Oh, gee. thanks for that. Wonder what happened to all those folks. Jack Tyler and Albert Nurick show up on Jay Francis’ Houston Chowhounds FB from time to time; have even seen Kerr on there I think. Some other names I’ve forgotten all about.
The trouble with reminiscing about the past at my age is - there’s too damn much of it to reminisce about. Ugh. I’ll get back to that but … warning, if you haven’t realized it yet - too much nostalgia is one of the burdens of old age.
Sometimes, reading the Historic Houston forum on HAIF, I come across an old post of mine and am just flabbergasted about what I posted — how did I know that? I’ve posted about things over there that I have no memory of now!
I’m a little lost in memories. I do remember “Circus Circus”, but not sure if it was on Westheimer or Richmond. But the Pappas family did own a restaurant called “Circus” (6015 Westheimer) which converted to the first Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen in '86. So I’m not sure if these are the same place or not. Anyone remember exactly where “Circus Circus” was?
