Hello, all. It's JP here from Chron. Wrote a story this morning that has since been updated. Basically, this near Galleria restaurant made a video claiming an "unnamed influencer" tried to solicit it for $10,000 for a good review. When that didn't happen, the owner said the influencer went there anyway and left a bad review.

She never named the restaurant, but comments in the video tagged Wayne Dang. He got really upset and posted his own video, denying the allegations and saying Maggie was lying. I spoke to Shawn Singh (Shawn the Food Sheep) about the situation, and he related he went through something similar involving a Spring restaurant.

Anyway, the owner finally posted a video around 9:17 a.m., two days after the video was published, saying it wasn't Wayne. Full story below, including the update:

UPDATE: Oct. 7, 9:35 a.m. CT

Maggie, the owner of Bobo Wraps & Rice Bowl, posted a video Wednesday morning, shortly after this story was published, to clarify that the unnamed influencer she had accused was not Thanh "Wayne" Dang. 

"I was just sharing my experiences opening a restaurant for the first time. I wasn’t referring to Wayne, and he’s one of my favorite food creators. Creating content isn’t easy, and I hope everyone supports him," Maggie wrote.

Maggie also said she will be using $10,000 to treat fans to free ice cream at her restaurant.

[End of update]

Thanh Dang, better known online as dangitswayne and one of Houston's most popular food bloggers, says he's on a mission to clear his name and reputation after a supposed restaurant operator's video allegedly put him in the crosshairs. 

The video in question came from "Maggie" of Bobo Wraps & Rice Bowl, a fast-casual restaurant near the Houston Galleria. Bobo opened in 2026 and has drawn significant viewership on Instagram and TikTok, thanks to videos posted by Maggie showcasing the restaurant's hibachi-style wraps and rice bowls, customizable boba drinks and sushi push pops. Maggie also posts videos detailing her business journey.

In the video posted Monday, Maggie alleged that a male food influencer, who she did not name, threatened to criticize her restaurant unless she paid him $10,000 for a promotion.

"When I started Bobo, my goal was simple: to give people good food at a good price. So I turned him down, but what I didn't expect was what happened next," Maggie said. "I was told if I didn't work with him, he would make a video attacking Bobo, hurt my business and make it impossible for me to keep going."

The post's commenters heavily speculated that she was referring to Dang, who had posted a video review of Bobo on Oct. 1 and gave the restaurant a score of 7.4 out of 10. In the review, Dang criticized Bobo's signature sushi push pops, saying the rice lacked flavor and the roll had a clumpy, mushy texture.

"I mean, it's a fun idea, but this is not worth $11," Dang said.

Dang had other criticisms in his review, including the apparent messiness of a sushi taco and sliminess of tapioca balls in a bubble tea drink, though he complemented the flavor of several items at Bobo.

The 'audacity'

Dozens of commenters tagged Dang, prompting him to respond on social media. He vehemently denied trying to get Maggie or Bobo to pay him $10,000 for a positive review.

"The audacity of bobobitesusa trying to spread lies about me is slander to the fullest," Dang wrote. "Any Defamation lawyers in Houston? Reach out to me."

Houston food blogger Shawn Singh, better known as shawnthefoodsheep and mentioned by Dang in his response video, told Chron he supports Dang and believes Maggie and Bobo are using the moment to attract attention at Dang's expense.

"There's no one else she could be talking about," Singh said. "There's an easy solution to this. If she could have said, 'No, it wasn't Wayne,' that would have solved this entire issue. And do you want to know why [she hasn't]? Engagement."

Singh said the situation felt personal because he experienced something similar involving a restaurant in Spring. The owner posted a video criticizing influencers after two content creators visited and gave negative feedback. Singh and Kent Taylor, better known as dinewithkent, were mentioned in the comments. The video gained traction, but Singh said the owner did not address the comments and clear his name until a month later.

Love of the game

The relationship between restaurants and social media creators isn't always so fraught. Jonathan Horowitz of Convive Hospitality Consulting told Chron that business owners can benefit from working with influencers, even sometimes paying for their services. It can be a low-cost, potentially more effective way to reach customers than broad-based marketing, he said.

This year, however, more restaurant owners have complained about requests for free meals and the high cost of promotional videos. Singh said the amounts creators charge can vary widely, from a complimentary meal or about $100 for a promotion to thousands of dollars for a dedicated video and additional usage rights, depending on the creator's audience.

But no one in Houston is charging $10,000 for a deal like that, Singh said—especially not someone like Dang, who he said is in it for the "love of the game."

"There's not much benefit to being a true reviewer like Wayne is online," Singh said. "Nobody wants to be negative online with a small business."

Both Dang and Maggie have yet to respond to Chron's request for comment.

Singh said Maggie could clear up the situation by simply saying whether she was referring to Dang in her video.

"Maybe it's a simple misunderstanding, but I know how people work and how they get views online," Singh said. "All Maggie has to do is clarify … it would take five minutes: 'Oh, I see this comment. Hey, it's not Wayne.' Just don't harm that guy's name for no reason."

Hi, all. I'm John Perera, the food editor of Chron in Houston, Texas. (We're the free sister publication of the Houston Chronicle.) My wife and I went to Camaraderie, a James Beard-nominated restaurant in the Heights neighborhood last weekend. I got low-key obsessed with the restaurant's $10 "Mini Classics". Apparently, they rotate these around but the ones I saw were a boulevardier, an old fashioned, a vesper and a sidecar. They come in these 3-ounce glasses, but they don't feel small and they're really good.

Looking around, nobody else in the city is doing anything like this. So I spoke to the owner about how well they're doing and (TLDR), they're doing pretty well. Full story below:

The sun was setting fast during a Saturday visit to Camaraderie in Houston's Heights neighborhood. Several minutes after sitting down at our table, my wife and I had finally decided on the restaurant's prix fixe menu. Drinking was never a thought. And then I saw the "Mini Classics."

Cocktails are expensive. Business owners can make the case of why they're priced the way they are, but they can't explain away the sticker shock. Camaraderie, however, has done something special: It's taken the traditional cocktail and shrunk it, both in volume and pricing. What eventually lands on the table is something that is simultaneously small, substantial, approachable and, more importantly, inviting.

Especially when each drink is just $10.

Tiny but mighty

The Mini Classics have been a part of Camaraderie's menu since the restaurant opened in March 2025 at 608 W. 11th St. Owner and executive chef Shawn Gawle told Chron the cocktail format was part of the original idea for the restaurant.

"If I get a full cocktail, I'll probably drink it. I'll want something else and then think I had too much," Gawle said. "It's part of being in the 'full plate club.' Some people will finish no matter what. But if you do a smaller portion, you regulate. In my mind, I do a mini cocktail and I move onto [more] mini cocktails."

The Mini Classics menu is rotational. When I visited, there were four drinks: a boulevardier, an old fashioned, a vesper and a sidecar. Each comes in about a 2.75 to 3-ounce glass. Gawle said they're all batch-made and frozen in one- to two-liter bottles and usually require one or two moves from the bartender to finish them for serving.

The individual cocktails are miniature facsimiles of their fuller sized and $16-priced siblings, but they don't feel small. Much like the individual prix fixe dishes, they demand you take your time with them. The boulevardier, a concoction of rye, vermouth and campari, was boozy with notes of sweet citrus. The vesper was bright and herbal. I found that I had one drink for every two dishes during the tasting.

A numbers game

The drinks are popular. One only had to look around the open dining room to see servers carrying tiny cocktails every so often to one table or another. Gawle said the Mini Classics compose 30 percent of total cocktails sold at the restaurant month to month, but most months they make up 50 percent sold. The vespers are typically the most popular.

Camaraderie's two-tiered approach butts against the larger problem facing operators nationwide. Fewer and fewer guests are wanting to spend upwards of $20 on a cocktail. In March, Restaurant Business Magazine reported on a Zappi survey that posted some disturbing numbers:

• 38 percent said they are drinking more at home to cut down on spending
• 40 percent said rising alcohol prices affected their decision to go out and how often
• 27 percent said they pre-game before going out.

With that, Camaraderie's approach isn't just unique compared to other restaurants and bars around the city, it's also smart, said Jonathan Horowitz of Convive Hospitality Consulting.

"It's along the lines of wine flights with a few half-pours for variety," Horowitz said. "I bet they sell a bunch of them."

Gawle said the minis fared much better than the larger-format cocktails they had pitched before opening Camaraderie. These were large vessels containing about four-to-six servings of a beverage for the table. The problem, as Gawle discovered, was that there were too many barriers to entry. The prices were around $80-120. And you had to get the whole table to buy into it, and not everyone may be on board with getting the same drink.

"From September 2025 to September 2026, we sold 13 sharable cocktails, so you can see why we ended up moving on," Gawle said.

The Mini Classics are also half off, along with regular cocktails and the tipple-free section, during happy hour.

(Thank you to the mods for allowing me to share this story with you all.)

Good morning, all. JP from Chron here. Over the weekend, Ronnie Killen asked the Facebook foodies group in Cypress about his Killen's Barbecue restaurant at 25618 Northwest Fwy. Specifically, should he replace it with Killen's TMX, his Tex-Mex concept that generated a lot of buzz and positive reviews before it shuttered three years ago. I spoke to him about his potential plans and why he asked the question in the first place. Full story below:

By all accounts, acclaimed Houston area barbecue restaurant owner Ronnie Killen has been pulling back from the northern reaches of Houston. But over the weekend, the pitmaster and restaurateur conducted an interesting survey among foodies in the northwest Harris County community of Cypress: Would they like a Killen's TMX instead?

Sunday, Killen polled the Cypress Area Foodies and Fooding Facebook group, asking whether they would prefer if the existing Killen's Barbecue at 25618 Northwest Freeway be changed to his TMX concept. The responses, over 200 of them, went both directions.

Some were ecstatic at the possibility of Killen's TMX returning. The Tex-Mex concept closed its Pearland site in 2023 to considerable grief (Killen told Chron the concept was sound, but the landlord was a "jerk"). Others were worried about the possibility of losing the barbecue restaurant.

Killen said his informal query was in response to a recent visit at his Cypress barbecue restaurant. He saw that the bar area was quiet. When he crunched the sales numbers, he saw that in the past few months, the barbecue restaurant did just around $1,000 in beer and wine sales.

"I was looking at the bar area … At TMX, people would go to the bar and order chips and margaritas. You go to all those Tex-Mex places and the bar area is packed," Killen said. "I did some research and there was no Pappasitos in that area. There's a Gringos two-and-a-half miles down the road."

Barbecue is too expensive

Along with the sales, another big driver of the possible change is the harsh economic realities of barbecue. It's too dang expensive for consumers and operators. It's also more economically appealing to spring for fajitas versus brisket. Killen said his yield from a Snake River Farms flank steak was around 90 percent. Compare that to the average 50-percent loss from trimming and smoking brisket.

But it's Killen's hope that he can combine the barbecue and TMX concept in the same space. He said his quesabirria tacos, which use pulled smoked brisket, were a big hit during a collaborative dinner he hosted in Milan, Italy.

If Killen does decide to pull the trigger, it will happen quickly. The chef who used to oversee TMX is still with him, and the equipment is ready to exit storage. He's hoping to get more feedback from people living there and is planning a drive around the area to see what's what.

"I just want to make it whether it's a barbecue place or a Mexican restaurant, what is going to be a lower food cost item? If you can't make money with BBQ and break even, what's the point?" Killen said.

Coincidentally, all of this is running with the reopening of Killen's Steakhouse in Pearland. Killen's is rolling out new uniforms for the staff in October and readying his steak dinner series. The first, a French steak experience, will happen in November. The second, a Japanese steakhouse experience, is happening in January. An Italian steakhouse experience is scheduled for the following month.

Hello. I'm JP, the food editor of Chron.com in Houston. I've been covering Razzoo's since it declared bankruptcy last October + M Crowd Restaurant's acquisition of the chain for $18 million. Monday, the chain rolled out a new menu (They have 1 in SW Houston, but I know the rest are sprinkled around the DFW area). I spoke with CEO Edgar Guevara about the leadup to all of this and what's planned for the chain. Full story below:

Could Razzoo's Cajun Cafe be destined for a turnaround? The beleaguered Dallas restaurant chain filed for bankruptcy almost a year ago. Now, it's under new owners who want the brand to get back to basics with scratch cooking and fresh ingredients.

Razzoo's announced Monday it was rolling out a new food menu across all of its restaurants. The initiative, according to a statement, was the product of months of behind-the-scenes work, including field trips to Louisiana, systems realigning and some honest-to-goodness cooking. 

"The culinary team is emphasizing scratch-made preparation, traditional Cajun and Creole techniques and the layered Louisiana flavors Razzoo’s was originally built around, while refreshing longtime favorites and introducing new food and drinks," the statement read.

It was back in October 2025 when Razzoo's filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. According to court documents, the chain was $12.7 million in debt and was hoping to find some way to keep its remaining 20 locations operating. Relief arrived when M Crowd Hospitality, the operators of Dallas-based restaurant chain Mi Cocina, bought out the company for $18 million.

M Crowd CEO Edgar Guevara told Chron he and the company had been interested in Razzoo's since the bankruptcy filing. It was a 35-year-old legacy brand and presented an easy opening for M Crowd to get attached very quickly.

"The old group that had it before us tried to position it against casual dining. I view them [Razzoo's] as neighborhood restaurants," Guevara said. "You're never going to compete against large companies, like Brinker (the company that owns Chili's Grill & Bar and Maggiano's Little Italy) and Applebee's. There's not enough marketing money and they have massive purchasing power. They have scale."

Razzoo's betting on 'quality' and 'connections'

Guevara insists that Razzoo's future success will hinge on providing quality food, quality service and quality connections in the neighborhood. It's the same ethos that drives the Mi Cocina Tex-Mex restaurant chain. Between October and December, Guevara and M Crowd leadership toured the remaining Razzoo's restaurants to find where they could do the most good.

"Over the last 3-4 months, we've been aligning the flavors and making it more authentic," Guevara said. "We went to 12 restaurants in Louisiana in one day to try and understand the culture. We are trying to reframe the restaurant's menu and make it more authentic."

Much of that authenticity is coming down to sourcing. Guevara has committed to bringing in fresh crawfish daily when they're in-season. They are also sourcing Louisiana's Leidenheimer bread for po'boys and andouille sausage for red beans and rice (Guevara said there was a moment when the restaurant had stopped putting sausage in it).

The restaurant is currently in "revision 1.1," Guevara said. Come October, Razzoo's will start tackling the beverage menu, which by the sound of it, is bloated. M Crowd has invested in fresh fruit, juices and beverage consultants to scale the program down but also make additions. That includes a new and improved hurricane and the Tiger Smash, an LSU purple cocktail meant to be downed during game days.

We did a series of focus groups with old guests. We didn't do this completely blind," Guevara said. "We leaned in on the old Razzoo's guests who loved the brand and felt they lost a little of their way with the brand. … The solution to our future is to look back into the past when this brand was successful."

Hi, all. JP here from Chron. Sharing this on behalf of our food reporter Chyna Blackmon. Last weekend, a food festival went bust and the organizers have been apologizing for it on social media. Vendors ran out of food, guests had to be turned away, and a live cookoff had to be canceled before it even got started. The full story is below:

The organizers behind the Houston Chicken Wing Festival are issuing both refunds and apologies after the event's inaugural run at drumettes and flats fell flat over the weekend.

Sunday's event at the Water Works at Buffalo Bayou Park was promoted as a "one day celebration of the best chicken wings in Houston." But vendors and attendees stated things didn't go as planned: The vendors ran out of food, guests were turned away, and a live cookoff competition had to be called off before it even started. As a result, organizer Bayou City Hangouts released an apology Monday.

"There are things we wish would have gone differently. There were circumstances leading into and during the event that were outside of our control, but we don't want to use those circumstances to dismiss how our guests felt," Bayou City Hangouts wrote.

'We hear you, and we're taking notes'

Bayou City Hangouts started promoting the Chicken Wing Festival in June. Core to the event would be a chicken wing cooking competition among Houston area vendors; Bayou City Hangouts President MaKayla Hoover and Vice President Amanda DeVaul told Chron they expected five vendors for the competition. 

General admission to the festival was free, though donations were encouraged. Those who splurged for a "Wings Tasting Pass," however, had access to giveaways, prizes, voting rights in the cook-off competition, contests and guaranteed wing tastings. VIP ticket holders had additional perks, including one-hour-early entry, double competition voting rights, guaranteed gifts and shaded seating. 

The Wing Pass and the VIP tickets started at $35 and $75, respectively. They increased to $45 and $90 as the event drew closer. A portion of the proceeds were to benefit Kids Meals Inc., a Houston nonprofit that delivers healthy meals to vulnerable preschool-aged children.

Each vendor competing in the competition—which touted five judging categories, cash prizes, and a live awards ceremony—paid at least $150 for a spot at the festival, plus processing fees and any add-ons they requested. In a participation deck provided to competition vendors, Bayou City Hangouts said each vendor "should aim to serve one wing per wristband holder throughout the event with a guarantee of at least 300 wings," and that "competitors will be notified if that number changes."

But Antonio Bailey of Blasian Creations in Dallas, a vendor at the festival, told Chron several elements of the wing competition changed upon arrival to the event, including some that were new to him.

"Me and my team drove from Dallas the day before to prepare … only to realize midway through the event that we were working for free and there would be no competition," Bailey said. He added that instead of a wristband system, attendees approached his booth with tickets, and that each ticket equaled one wing. This, according to Bailey, was a complete shift from original expectations. 

In response to claims they weren't communicating changes with the festival, Hoover and DeVaul said they were in constant communication with vendors before the event, including regularly sharing RSVP updates.

But Bailey said he was not informed about the change from wristband to ticket and, when vendors approached his table, he rejected their tickets. 

Miscommunication mishap?

Hoover and DeVaul confirmed VIPs and Wing Tasting pass holders were each given 10 tickets instead of wristbands, citing a printing error. They said guests had the option to use their tickets with whomever they wanted—say, five tickets for one vendor, three for a second and two for a third. 

"After 10 tickets, they must purchase wings from the wing vendors," Hoover and DeVaul said. "Due to the printing issue, we had to resort to physical tickets to avoid other guests from receiving free wings or unlimited wings."

But those tickets were spread out among just three vendors serving chicken wings (there were 39 total businesses participating in the festival). There was no competition.

"Absolute bust and scam," wrote an attendee responding to Bayou City Hangouts' apology on Instagram. "3 wing vendors total and they ran out of wings. One vendor didn’t even honor my wing pass. Waste of money and I need my refund."

"The worst event ever !! Wings are not at this festival!!!," wrote another attendee.

Hoover and DeVaul responded to some comments and apologized, saying some things just went out of control. While they promised some a refund, they also issued a warning.

"While we absolutely respect your right to share your experience, public slander or knowingly false statements will not be tolerated as we work in good faith to resolve this matter," Bayou City Hangouts wrote.

Planning for 'bigger and better'

Hoover and DeVaul  told Chron they had originally planned to have five chicken wing vendors participate but only three showed up, and two of them ran out of wings before the competition started.

Hoover and DeVaul also said they expected about 500 attendees at the festival, though the deck given to competitors claimed they were "competing for the title of Best Wing in Houston" to "thousands of fellow Houstonians." Entry scans that day showed just under 500 attendees. When Hoover and DeVaul learned that vendors were running low on wings, they said they tried to turn people away from the festival. Around the same time, they canceled the cook-off.

Bayou City Hangouts' Hoover and DeVaul said they were working to rectify the situation and refund Wing Tasting Pass holders who were unable to receive wings. They added they were considering holding a future cook-off to make up for the canceled competition and planned to bring the Houston Chicken Wing Festival back.

"You expected more from us. We understand that," continued the apology from Bayou City Hangouts on Monday. "This was our first year, and with a first-year event came lessons-- some of them difficult ones. We are taking the feedback seriously and looking closely at every part of the experience, including vendor participation, communication, ticket experiences, food availability and overall event execution."

Good morning, all. JP here from Chron. I wanted to dig into this edit of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. Specifically, why did Himalaya and Keemat Grocer get scrubbed and replaced by Guadalupana in the HBO Max release of the famous Houston October 2016 episode? There's no real answer aside from folks with their own theories online. Full story below:

As somebody who reports the news, it has never felt good to be the one to break bad news to someone directly. But in reporting this story, it happened. Twice, actually.

Anthony Bourdain visited Houston back in June 2016 to scope out the city's lush and diverse landscape for his hit CNN television show "Parts Unknown." The episode aired a few months later in October to glowing reviews and little in the way of controversy. That is, until it hit streaming.

Folks who had watched the original episode back in '16 noticed a few things were missing in the transition to digital—namely, Bourdain's visit to the Indo-Pak restaurant Himalaya and Indian grocery store Keemat Grocer. Neither CNN nor Bourdain ever released a statement about why it happened, but one ongoing theory was that it was because of Bourdain's dining companion: Sunil Thakkar. 

The reluctant guide

Thakkar, 60, is the owner of Houston-based Indian Bollywood radio station Masala Radio (98.7 FM) and the organizer of the Houston Holi and Diwali Festivals at Levy Park. He also joined Bourdain as a dining companion for portions of the 2016 "Parts Unknown" episode. This week, Thakkar told Chron he had no idea his segments were edited out of the current streaming version on HBO Max. He's been able to watch the full unedited version on YouTube and has the original cut on a DVD provided by Bourdain's production crew.

When Bourdain came to town in 2016, Thakkar said he had a wonderful time filming, but also experienced significant ups and downs. The biggest difficulty was related to his Hindu upbringing and faith: He doesn't eat meat, and he specifically did not want to go to a restaurant that sold it. Bourdain's team, according to him, was insistent about going to a restaurant that sold meat as well.

Himalaya at 6652 Southwest Fwy wasn't Thakkar's first choice. Had he gotten his way, Bourdain and Thakkar would have been chatting over bhaji pav at Honest, an Indian restaurant chain at 5901 Hillcroft Ave.

"Beef is sacred to me. I was trying to get them to pick a restaurant that didn't sell beef," Thakkar said. "We were going back and forth. I wasn't happy about it."

Thakkar relented after some of his sponsors and friends in the Indian-American community told him not to make a big deal out of Bourdain eating beef in front of him. Ultimately, he said he really liked the chef turned world-traveling television host. In the episode, he serves as the lens into the city's South Asian community, highlighting its rich colors and diversity. At Keemat Grocer, he donned an Indian police officer uniform and toured the aisles, bringing with him an ensemble of dancers and live music.

"[Bourdain is] a strict meat eater and we laughed about that. There was one time he went to Vietnam or somewhere, he talked about it off-camera, where they sold eggs and it was a delicacy, and I was like, 'Okay, cool'," Thakkar recalled. "It just didn't sit well with me, you know, but cool if you like it."

Why was Bourdain's Houston episode re-cut?

There are some documented examples of "Parts Unknown" episodes being pulled outright from streaming services. In 2018, Axios reported that CNN had pulled three episodes featuring Asia Argento from CNN Go. The Italian actress, who was also Bourdain's romantic partner leading up to his death, had been accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old actor when she was 37 in 2013. The network also quietly pulled another episode that was set in Buenos Aires.

The information vacuum regarding the Houston edit has led some to believe something similar played out here as well. In 2016, a Harris County grand jury indicted Thakkar on a second-degree felony charge of sexual assault of a child, age 14-17. He pleaded guilty in 2017, but the court made no finding of guilt and placed him on deferred adjudication for the next five years. Thakkar ultimately received a $1,500 fine and served 10 days in jail. The case was closed in 2022.

Neither CNN nor Zero Point Productions responded to questions regarding whether Thakkar's criminal case had prompted edits to the episode. When I asked Thakkar about it, he said he didn't know.

"Everybody has a free will," Thakkar said. "My perspective: I'm in for the moment, for the experience right now, and everybody has a right—as an actor, it's up to the producer to keep me or remove me, whatever the reason is. That is their right. I was just there as an actor. I'm glad I had the opportunity."

'The entire Houston section?'

Himalaya chef and owner Kaiser Lashkari told Chron he was aware of Thakkar and that the episode had been edited. But Lashkari seemed to have been under the impression that the episode only cut out Thakkar, not Himalaya. He also said the production crew gave him a DVD of the original episode and the behind-the-scenes footage of their filming.

I, unfortunately, had to be the one to tell Lashkari, a James Beard Foundation Award-nominated chef, that the episode that now lives in streaming on HBO Max had cut him and his restaurant out entirely.

"HBO Max … so the entire Houston section? That's fine with me," Lashkari said. "Sunil had the gift of the gab. Unfortunately, he blew it for all of us … because of this unfortunate thing, we all had to suffer."

Lashkari had fond memories of Bourdain's visit to his hole-in-the-wall restaurant at 6652 Southwest Fwy. Bourdain, in Lashkari's account, was frank about his visit to Himalaya. There weren't many restaurants that could be a perfect 10 to some people, and a perfect 0 to others. Thus, it piqued his curiosity.

When the Parts Unknown crew arrived, Lashkari recalled they were very accommodating, especially given the size of Himalaya's kitchen. The crew filmed at the restaurant for a total of seven hours. Bourdain was there for three and apparently, according to what the crew told Lashkari, was the longest he had ever stayed at a restaurant up until that point.

"He was so tall, he had to duck his head," Lashkari said. "All the women wanted to be photographed with him. He was very accommodating. Never said no."

While there, Bourdain had Himalaya's famous steak tikka and chicken hara masala. Lashkari sent him away with more food, but in smaller portions so he could try a little of everything. That included the korma, the daal fry, the tandoori chicken and saag paneer. According to Lashkari, the food made such an impression that Bourdain went back some time later, but incognito.

"I was two years short of being a medical doctor," Lashkari said. "After eating the food, he said he was so glad I'm not a doctor. That was one thing that stuck in my mind."

These memories are a big reason why Lashkari was able to take the news of his edited-out cameo on the chin. It also helps that Bourdain's aired visit put his restaurant on the map. He said his Sundays became incredibly busy after the episode was released in October 2016.

Coincidentally, when Lashkari and I were talking, he mentioned he had already been planning to watch "Tony," the biographical coming-of-age film set around Bourdain's time in Provincetown, Mass.

"Nothing can take away from the fact that he came to us. Out of 100 restaurants, he chose me," Lashkari said.

JP with Chron here. Saw Medium Rare announce its Houston closure on Instagram late last night. Last day is Sunday, Sept. 6. Full story below:

Medium Rare, the Washington, D.C.-based restaurant chain that dared to ask if you'd like another steak frites after your first one, is closing its Houston location come Sunday, Sept. 6. It was just two months shy of two years in operation at 3201 Louisiana St.

The news came out of the blue on Instagram around 3 p.m. Thursday. Medium Rare wrote little else about its closure other than it was happening.

"To our Houston community, thank you for welcoming us and supporting us over the past two years," the statement read. "If you’ve been meaning to make one more trip, this is your weekend! Come get your last Houston Medium Rare fix before we close Sunday night after dinner."

Restaurateurs Mark Bucher and Tom Gregg opened the first Medium Rare in Washington D.C. in March 2011. The concept was built around a single prix-fixe menu:

• Artisan rustic bread
• Mixed green salad
• Culotte steak and French fries with a secret sauce.

In Houston, the price was $32.95, and you could request a complimentary second helping of steak frites on the house. 

(The culotte is a cut of beef from the top sirloin, also known as the sirloin cap or the picanha. It features a generous layer of fat that renders down when cooking, contributing to the cut's moist and beefy flavor.)

Medium Rare had a generous brunch prix-fixe that included bottomless bloody Mary's, screwdrivers, and mimosas as well as bread service and a choice between steak frites or other breakfast items.

The Houston location was announced back in November 2023 for the Mix at Midtown, a full-block retail development. The Medium Rare group's eighth restaurant was set to take the corner spot once inhabited by the beloved French eatery Artisans. It opened a year later to considerable attention: Eating out, as you know, had become expensive, and that was especially true for places that served good steak. 

Houston Chronicle food critic Bao Ong noted Medium Rare was consistent and affordable in his June 2025 review. One remark Ong made that stood out was how quiet the dinner service was. I don't think the restaurant's weekday hours of operation (5 p.m. to 10 p.m.) were a good fit for that busy stretch of road near Spur 527. Also, for a corner establishment in a trendy development, the space and its small signage were easy to miss.

"It’s not goodbye. Just goodbye for now. You can still find us in DC, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Dallas," Medium Rare said.

Hello. JP, the food editor from Chron here. Full story below:

When it was announced last year, Bar Bludorn became one of two hotly anticipated restaurants in The Woodlands. The other was Austin Simmons' Charolais, a ranch-to-table steakhouse, that just opened over the summer. Today, we now know when the more-relaxed tavern spinoff will open along the Waterway.

The Bar Bludorn will open on Saturday, Sept. 26, at 25 Waterway Ave. Once launched, the restaurant will mark the Bludorn Hospitality Group's first "outside-Central Houston" location, which first opened in the Memorial area in 2024. In a statement, chef and partner Aaron Bludorn said it's a big step for their restaurant group.

"We are excited to introduce a menu and experience that reflects The Woodlands while still delivering the same Houston-inspired hospitality our guests know from Bar Bludorn in Memorial," Bludorn said.

I imagine this is all welcome news for Woodlands foodies who were undertaking the long trek to the flagship Bar Bludorn at 9061 Gaylord Dr. in Hedwig Village. The Waterway location is sticking to the script, mostly. According to the press release, the restaurant will offer the same signature dishes as the original. I have to assume that includes the country ham beignets, the Martellus and all the other bistro-meets-Texas fare.

Bar Bludorn's Woodlands location will have some new things too. There will be a private dining room, outdoor patio seating, and some extra menu items.

The Bludorn Hospitality Group has been steadily growing under the helm of Aaron, Victoria Pappas Bludorn and Cherif Mbodji. The trio opened their first restaurant, Bludorn, in Fourth Ward off Allen Parkway in 2020. Since then, the group now has four running concepts in the Houston area: Bludorn, Bar Bludorn, Perseid, and Navy Blue. With the exception of Navy Blue, the other three are recognized in the Texas Michelin Guide.

A sixth restaurant is being planned in San Antonio's Pearl District. The Bludorn Hospitality Group has yet to reveal any details about that one.

JP here. Full story below, but I am quite sad because I really like Pok Pok Po:

One of Houston's more inventive chefs in past years is closing two equally inventive concepts in the city's Midtown neighborhood. Pok Pok Po and Bol at 3201 Louisiana St. will shutter after service Aug. 29.

Both restaurants were the brainchild of chef Jassi Bindra—a contestant on season 23 of Bravo's Top Chef—and the Kahani Social Group, whose portfolio includes Amrina in The Woodlands and Kitchen Rumors in the Washington Avenue Corridor. Pok Pok Po, an Indian fast-casual fried chicken restaurant, opened in 2024. Bol, an Indian fast-casual bowl restaurant in the vein of Cava and Chipotle, opened a year later next door, inside The Mix development.

"We're incredibly grateful to everyone who embraced Pok Pok Po and Bol and gave us the opportunity to introduce a different, more casual expression of Indian cuisine to Houston," said Surpreet Singh, co-founder of Kahani Social Group, in a statement.

One of the best fried chickens in Houston

Pok Pok Po is an unfortunate loss. It still has some of the best executed fried chicken in Houston, and its flavors are exceptionally bold and unapologetically Indian. Even Himalaya's famous fried chicken doesn't punch as hard as Bindra's. Pok Pok Po's peri peri masala-seasoned balle balle fries also brought plenty of flavor. This all may have been a reason, at least according to Bindra, that the restaurant was a popular destination for South Asians across the Houston area.

In a statement, Singh said Kahani Social Group's time in Midtown gave them valuable lessons they hope to implement elsewhere. And it may not even be the end of these concepts.

"This isn't goodbye to Pok Pok Po or Bol. We have a vision for their future and are looking forward to finding the right opportunities to bring them back in ways that make them even more convenient and accessible," Singh said. "We hope everyone will come see us one more time in Midtown and stay tuned for what's next."

Hello! Sharing this on behalf of food reporter Chyna Blackmon. Full story below:

A pair of Houston-area residents have filed a lawsuit against the Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen restaurant chain, among others, claiming they found a condom-like object embedded in a piece of chicken, turning what was supposed to be an ordinary family meal into a "deeply disturbing and frightening event."

Justin Howard of Missouri City and Danielle McKinnon of Katy are seeking more than $1.5 million in damages from Restaurant Brands International, Inc. (the parent company), Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc. (the restaurant chain), AAMANA Businesses, Inc. (the franchise operator). 

According to the lawsuit, which was filed on Monday, Howard and McKinnon purchased chicken from the Popeyes located at 7416 South Sam Houston Pkwy W on July 25. The lawsuit says Howard bit into a piece of chicken and immediately discovered what appeared to be a "condom-like foreign object embedded within the chicken itself."

Howard and McKinnon said they immediately stopped eating and became physically nauseated. The pair said they returned to the Popeyes and informed staff. According to the lawsuit, the employees laughed and humiliated them.

"Instead of promptly investigating the contamination, preserving evidence, or recognizing the seriousness of the complaint, management repeatedly attempted to replace the contaminated chicken rather than issue a refund," the lawsuit read. "But only after persistence by the plaintiffs were they finally refunded."

Howard and McKinnon are seeking over $1.5 million in damages relating to past and future medical/healthcare expenses, past and future physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, lost wages, attorney's fees, court costs, and prejudgement and postjudgement interest.

Chron has reached out to Popeyes for comment on the lawsuit. Prior to the lawsuit, the alleged incident became public when Houston community activists Candice Matthews and Quanell X recorded themselves confronting the restaurant's manager.

Full story below:

Many in the Clear Lake area were heartbroken to learn that retro dance club The Hop was permanently closing after a 38-year run. But maybe some of that grief can turn to optimism when residents learn what's next for the storied Webster bar.

Piper Hospitality Group confirmed to Chron first that Preslee's Southern Good Eatery will open a location there after the Hop officially closes on Tuesday, Aug. 4, operations manager Ryan Manos told Chron. They hope to open the restaurant sometime this fall.

"We couldn’t imagine a better home for our next location," owner Justin Piper said in a statement. "The Hop means so much to generations of people in Webster and the surrounding communities. We’re honored to preserve the spirit of this special place while creating a fresh experience where families and friends can gather, eat and make new memories."

A history beyond Clear Lake

Last week, the Houston Chronicle reported that The Hop was planning to close following the retirement of its owner and longtime general manager Kevin Melton. The bar, which opened in 1988, featured an eclectic playlist spanning the 1970s to today. 

The Hop's popularity extended far beyond the Clear Lake area. In the Heights, Manos said one of Preslee's regulars, upon finding out about the sale, said her parents met at the bar 30 years ago. "They had their first date there," he said. "There's a lot of history behind The Hop."

The building that housed The Hop was built in 1916 and has lived many lives: Once as a gas station, another as a mercantile store and later as a post office. But more so than the age, the Webster building offers much-needed space.

The upcoming Preslee's will have double the inside dining room compared to the Heights location—120 seats compared to 60. The bar will also grow from 12 seats to 60. The only sacrifices will be the smaller outdoor space and the old dance floor. Manos said there will still be a playground and big screen TVs.

JP here with Chron. I was looking into the closures of Twistee Treat, plus its history. Full story below:

A Florida ice cream chain that once had big plans for the Houston area appears to have quietly melted away. Reports on social media indicate the last Twistee Treat stands in Northwest Houston have permanently closed. They also happened to be the last ones remaining in Texas.

The closure of the last two Twistee Treat stands at 9730 Jones Road and 7018 Fry Road in Cypress appear to have happened sometime in July. Yelp has reported both locations have closed and, as of July 29, no other Texas locations appear on any maps. Twistee Treat USA appears to have scrubbed all Texas locations from its website, as well. Twistee Treat USA has yet to respond to Chron's request for comment.

The news marks the end of what was supposed to be the Florida ice cream chain's latest push into the Texas market.

Twistee Treat in Texas

Twistee Treat had opened two stores in West Houston in 2016, one at 3538 Texas 6 South and another at 7500 W. Tidwell Road. A year later, the Florida company announced plans to open 40 to 50 stores in the area over the next five years, the Houston Business Journal reported. They only added three:

• 8880 Bellaire Blvd. (opened in May 2017)
• 9730 Jones Road (opened in August 2017)
• 7018 Fry Road (opened in May 2018)

The Twistee Treat stands are certainly novel. Each features a 25-foot fiberglass ice cream facade with a storefront and a drive-thru in the back. In addition to ice cream cones and cups, Twistee Treat's menu also has sundaes, shakes, slushies, floats and drinks.

Fadi Semaan, a partner with Twistee Treats in Houston, told HBJ the company specifically chose Texas because the weather was similar to Florida. Unfortunately for Semaan and the ice cream chain, the weather angle didn't play out. With the exception of the Jones Road and Fry Road locations, the remaining Twistee Treat stands shuttered around 2019.

It wasn't the first time Twistee Treat tried to expand to Texas. Shortly after launching in 1983, Houston Historic Retail reported the company attempted to expand to Texas by way of Brownsville, Corpus Christi and the Rio Grande Valley. The plan ultimately fizzled out.

Sharing this on behalf of Chron food reporter Chyna Blackmon. Full story below:

A Houston Heights restaurant says it's temporarily closed for maintenance, but a notice posted outside the restaurant cites a different reason: unpaid rent.

For nearly a week, the doors of Los Chilaquiles Mexican Grill at 702 E. 11th St. have been secured with a chain and padlock beneath a lockout notice from its landlord. The document states that "the locks to these premises have been changed by the landlord due to tenant's delinquency in payment of rent."

The notice also identifies the landlord, includes instructions for obtaining a new key, and states that it was provided pursuant to Chapter 93 of the Texas Property Code, which governs commercial landlord-tenant relationships.

The lockout notice is dated July 1, the same day Los Chilaquiles advertised a drink special on social media inviting guests to celebrate Mexico's win against Ecuador in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

It's unclear whether the restaurant opened that day but, two days later, on July 3, Los Chilaquiles announced it would close through the weekend for what it described as scheduled maintenance. 

Commenters on Los Chilaquiles' Instagram post announcing the temporary closure asked about the lockout notice posted on the doors. While the restaurant didn't respond to those comments or publicly address the lockout notice, it posted another update on July 6 saying it would remain closed for a few more days while it was "making a few improvements."

"We're wrapping up some maintenance work," Los Chilaquiles wrote. "We look forward to welcoming you back on Friday, July 10."

When Chron called Los Chilaquiles owner Tony Sanchez about the notice, he said that it was "not true." When we brought up the chains and padlock on the door, he declined to comment further.

In a phone call, Park Blair, the landlord identified on the lockout notice, also declined to comment or provide details on the lockout notice and restaurant's social media posts.

Los Chilaquiles' first location opened in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2004. The restaurant opened its first U.S. location in the Heights neighborhood in November 2025. 

The lockout notice is the latest public-facing challenge Los Chilaquiles has experienced since opening. In its first month, several of Sanchez's employees took to the street in front of the store in protest, alleging they had gone weeks without pay. At the time, Sanchez acknowledged to Chron that payroll had been delayed and said he had hired an accountant and additional staff to distribute the missing wages.

Posting on behalf of our food reporter, Chyna Blackmon, at Chron. Full story below:

Ask almost any native Houstonian about Yale Street Grill, and they won't just know the name—they'll probably have a favorite menu item, a family tradition or a memory tied to the restaurant. After my first visit, I understood why.

The casual diner, located at the corner of Yale and West 21st streets in the Heights, has been serving the neighborhood since 1923. It actually opened as Yale Street Pharmacy, Chron previously reported, operating out of the same brick building that also held a post office, gift shop and grill. The pharmacy closed for good in 2001, with a half-wall now separating Yale Street Grill from the antique shop on the other side.

More than a century later, Yale Street Grill's appeal hasn't faded as regulars still fill its booths for breakfast and lunch. In fact, walking in feels a little like stepping into a time capsule.

Today, the space appears largely unchanged. Customers settle onto counter stools or slide into leather booths lined with celebrity portraits, all under hits from Cyndi Lauper and Michael Jackson to Lady Gaga—a soundtrack spanning generations that feels fitting for a restaurant that has served generations of Houstonians.

But the real comfort at Yale Street Grill comes from knowing you can order whatever you're craving, whenever you're craving it. 

Unlike many restaurants that draw a line between breakfast and lunch, Yale Street Grill serves both all day with a menu that offers just about every classic diner staple imaginable.

There are omelettes, pancakes, breakfast tacos, sandwiches, sundaes and pies…just to name a few. On my visit, much of the dining room was digging into the daily special: spaghetti and meatballs, despite it being only 11:30 a.m. At Yale Street Grill, breakfast, lunch and comfort food cravings all seem to operate on their own schedule.

That's how I ended up ordering two of the restaurant's most popular breakfast and lunch dishes: the Mega Yale Burger and a waffle topped with strawberries. After all, why choose between sweet and savory—or breakfast and lunch—when you can have both?

It's probably one of the reasons Yale Street Grill has maintained a loyal for more than a century. The Heights may look a lot different than it did in 1923, but the diner has continued to serve the same Southern hospitality and home-cooked comfort food that have kept customers coming back for generations.

Leapfrogging off an earlier r/Houston post and activity in HAIF (Credit where credit is due). I spoke with Ronnie Killen in an exclusive interview with Chron about his decision to put up 101 Heights Blvd. for sale, and with it, his namesake restaurant. If everything goes through, the restaurant will wind down operations by July 17. In its place will be a gas station: Pit Stop Express. Full story below:

Acclaimed Houston restaurateur and pitmaster Ronnie Killen is putting his property at 101 Heights Blvd. up for sale, and with it, his namesake restaurant. In an exclusive interview with Chron, Killen said he's under contract to sell the land with due diligence ending June 17. If all goes through, the Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant will likely start winding down operations by July 17.

In its place will be a gas station.

News about developments at 101 Heights started making the rounds May 11 on the Houston Architecture Information Forum. A listing for the 4,764-square-foot property appeared on commercial real estate website LoopNet. In addition, a sales tax permit also showed up for a Pitstop Express, a gas station chain, at the same address.

Killen's in the Heights opened in 2020 at the site of the old Hickory Hollow. The restaurant was the first concept the acclaimed barbecue pitmaster ever opened inside the Loop and featured a menu of his greatest hits including burgers, brisket, ribs and chicken-fried steak. "If you look at the location with all the construction—in 10 to 20 years it's going to be a goldmine there," Killen said in 2019.

Of course, Killen said that before the COVID-19 pandemic. Six years later, he said it was just unfortunate timing. The restaurant was open for eight months before he was able to "make a dollar."

Killen's move to sell off 101 Heights falls in line with the same reasoning he's had to close his other restaurants, particularly his namesake steakhouse and barbecue concepts in the Woodlands: The deal was too good to pass up. The details were confidential, but the restaurateur said he stands to make a good amount of scratch, the kind that would take a restaurant months or even over a year to make.

There are other reasons too. For one, his recent health issues have prevented him from being more hands on at his restaurants away from his homebase in Pearland. He's four weeks out from his most recent back surgery and said he was taking a walk for the first time since.

Car break-ins and assorted crime in the area was also a factor, Killen said. Most recently, the restaurant had to deal with a person claiming that the business had abducted and killed her son Leroy. The woman posted a missing person sign on a tree across the restaurant, tagged the building with graffiti, and broke a window. The "son" in question was, in fact, a stuffed monkey.

All of this is running concurrently with the chef's quest to transform Killen's Steakhouse in Pearland into a Michelin-starred establishment. The restaurant will temporarily close on June 8. While physical renovations are being done at the restaurant, Killen has also been focused on retraining and developing policies aimed at taking the steakhouse to the next level. 

"I don't want to look back and say I never got to practice in my restaurant what I went to culinary school for," Killen said. 

He's already plotting trips to New York and Chicago with his staff to see the level of service at elite restaurants in those cities. In addition, a recent trip to Greece has inspired him to create a dry-aging program for tuna. He made a point to say the fish he's using for the program are not packed away in a freezer for five to seven days and then taken out, but instead are caught and used within 24 hours.

"I'm not a sushi guy, but this stuff tasted so good," Killen said.

Good morning. JP at Chron here. Reporter Chyna Blackmon got wind of a permit filing showing a third Mi Tienda location opening in Sharpstown at 7140 Southwest Fwy. Here's the TLDR version:

• Construction is set to begin on Feb. 22, 2027 and finish by March 8, 2028
• Estimated cost is around $24,095,000.
• The project calls for a 99,000 square-foot grocery store.

Learned today of a lawsuit filed yesterday by 8th Wonder against its landlords. TLDR version is that 8th Wonder says its landlord is trying to force them out in order to capitalize on the incoming FIFA World Cup.

Here's the story in full:

One of Houston's more popular breweries is fighting for its home in Harris County District Court. Heady Brewing Company, LLC, which does business as 8th Wonder Brewery, has filed a lawsuit against its landlord, accusing the latter of attempting to force them out of their longtime digs in East Downtown.

According to 8th Wonder, it all has to do with the incoming 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The beginning of the lease

8th Wonder filed its lawsuit May 11. In it, the brewing company detailed its 11-year history at the 47,500-square-feet property at 2200 Polk and 2210 Lamar streets, referred to as "Block 464." From 2015 to '16, 8th Wonder moved in and said it made improvements to the property, dutifully paying its $7,500 a month rent to the original owners, All-Star Parking, Inc., according to court documents.

Between 2016 and '21, 8th Wonder and All-Star Parking entered into two amendments. The first extended the initial terms through 2019 and "significantly increased the rent," according to court documents. The second amendment extended the leasing term through April 30, 2021, and, again, modified the rent. Both times, 8th Wonder noted, it paid the rent on time and, per the agreement, had a 30-day window to resolve any issues involving non-monetary obligations under the lease.

On April 7, 2021, All-Star Parking and 8th Wonder agreed to a six-year lease extension. According to 8th Wonder, there was a typo in the agreement that described Block 464 as 37,500 square feet when it should have read 47,500. The property was still labeled Block 464 as it was when All-Star Parking and 8th Wonder first came together in 2015.

In June 2022, Macy Family Properties, the defendant in the case, acquired the property, according to the lawsuit. 8th Wonder said the deed still described Block 464 as a 47,500-square-foot property.

The dispute escalates

Tensions between the two first arose on Jan. 14, 2026. According to the lawsuit, Macy sent 8th Wonder a formal notice, accusing the latter of defaulting on the lease. "This was the first time in over 10 years that 8th Wonder had ever received a notice letter accusing it of failure to comply with the lease," the brewing company alleged. 

In the notice, Macy alleged that a "transfer of control or operation may have occurred," resulting in a default. 8th Wonder purported that Macy did not elaborate on what that meant. The landlord also alleged 8th Wonder had not complied with the insurance requirements of the lease and owed $3,300 in late fees. The brewing company denied the charges, pointing to the lease agreement.

At the end of its notice, Macy reiterated its rights to terminate the lease and would do so on Feb. 16, 2026. 8th Wonder formally responded to the notice, answering each of Macy's allegations and promised to remedy any of the issues within the appropriate window as detailed in the lease agreement. The brewing company claimed they even paid the $3,300 under protest.

On March 4, 2026, Macy sent a notice of termination to 8th Wonder, stating its intent to terminate the lease on the same day, according to the lawsuit. In the notice, the landlord clarified its initial "transfer of control" allegation, saying the brewing company had made an "unauthorized sale/assignment to Bayou City Hemp Co." 8th Wonder denied that ever happened. 

On April 14, 2026, 8th Wonder accused Macy of changing its story again when the latter sent a letter to the former about terminating the brewing company's rights to possession of the leased premises without actually terminating the lease. In that same letter, Macy also accused 8th Wonder of occupying around 10,000 square feet of unleased property that was not included in the lease agreement. 8th Wonder said Macy did not identify what or where the 10,000-square-foot area of the property was, noting that a landlord can only terminate the right of possession or evict a tenant with respect to leased property.

The fight for the World Cup

In its lawsuit, 8th Wonder alleged it believes its relationship with Macy deteriorated because of the incoming 2026 FIFA World Cup, which is set to begin June 11 with Houston hosting its first match June 14. The brewing company, by virtue of its location, will likely capitalize on the games and festivities that are being held at the nearby FIFA Fan Zone. The "once in a generation event" is expected to draw as many as 500,000 people to the city and generate $1.5 billion in economic impact.

The brewing company alleged in its lawsuit the landlord is trying to seize the property to potentially profit from the event. "... Defendant's sudden and fabricated effort to terminate the lease and recapture the premises is not motivated by any genuine default, but rather by Defendant's greed and desire to capitalize on the extraordinary economic opportunity presented by the FIFA World Cup," 8th Wonder wrote. 8th Wonder is asking the court to declare the following:

• The lease is still in effect and not terminated
• 8th Wonder still has the right of possession of the property
• 8th Wonder hasn't materially breached its lease
• No default has occurred under the lease
• Macy has no right or ability to terminate the lease
• The entirety of Block 464 is 47,500 square feet
• 8th Wonder is entitled to use and possess the entirety of the property.

8th Wonder asked for the court to intervene and applied for a temporary restraining order against Macy to preserve the status quo, stopping the latter from evicting it or changing anything while the lawsuit works its way through the court. The judge agreed and signed the TRO, which took effect the same Monday the brewing company filed the lawsuit. The next court hearing is scheduled for May 21.

Chron reached out to both parties for comment. Macy declined and 8th Wonder did not respond by the time of publication.