Massive Houston Water Main Break Forces Restaurants to Close Temporarily

On Thursday afternoon, a 96-foot-long water main broke in East Houston, dumping millions of gallons of water into the city and forcing some restaurants to close their doors.

Chris Shepherd’s steakhouse Georgia James is currently without water, and won’t be able to open tonight unless service is restored. “We’re hoping that the situation will be resolved before we open for dinner service, but if it doesn’t, we will be unable to open without water,” the restaurant posted to Instagram. “We’re monitoring the situation and will post here and contact guests with reservations directly if we’re not able to open tonight.”

Since then, a new post announced that the restaurant will, in fact, be closed for dinner service:

Also in Montrose, chef Hugo Ortega’s namesake restaurant is without water. Rosie Cannonball closed its doors for lunch service after the main break, and will remain closed for tonight, as will sister spot Montrose Cheese & Wine. Agricole Hospitality’s EaDo restaurants — Indianola, Vinny’s, and Miss Carousel — are also closed. According to Click2Houston, the Whole Foods outpost in Upper Kirby is also closed due to the incident.

Meanwhile, not too far away at Riel, chef Ryan LaChaine is planning to keep the doors open. “I’m staying open as long as I fucking can,” he said in a statement.

In a press conference on Thursday afternoon, Houston mayor Sylvester Turner said that he expects the water outage to continue for “6 to 8” more hours, and that some 2.3 million residents may be required to boil their water once service is restored. How the “boil water” order will impact restaurants affected by the break remains to be seen.

Eater is currently reaching out to restaurants in the Montrose area and beyond, and will update this post as additional information becomes available. Before heading out to dine tonight, scope out a running list of closures below.

Restaurants closed on Thursday:

• Hay Merchant (Montrose)
• Georgia James (Montrose)
• Eugene’s Gulf Coast Cuisine (Montrose)
• Emmaline (Montrose)
• Traveler’s Table (Montrose)
• Good Dog (Montrose location only; Heights location will remain open)
• Tacodeli (Washington Avenue)
• Indianola, Miss Carousel and Vinny’s (EaDo)
• Lucille’s (Museum District)
• Sticky’s Chicken (Sawyer Yards)
• The Union Kitchen (Only the Ella Boulevard location is impacted; all other TUK outposts remain open)
• Saint Arnold Brewing Company
• Frenchy’s Chicken (Scott Street)
• Cacao & Cardamom (Montrose)
• Relish Restaurant & Bar (River Oaks)
• Montrose Cheese & Wine (Montrose)
• Weights + Measures (Midtown)
• Rosie Cannonball (Montrose)
• Ramen Tatsu-Ya (Montrose)
• Hugo’s (Montrose)