It Looks Like A New Bar Will Take Over the Space Vacated by Beaver’s West

Welcome to AM Intel in the time of coronavirus, a round-up of the city’s newest bits of restaurant-related intel. Follow Eater on Facebook and Twitter for up-to-date details on how COVID-19 is impacting the city’s dining scene.

Prospect Park owners will soon take over Beaver’s West spot

The owners of Prospect Park Sports Bar have a new project in the works near the Galleria. A TABC application filed last week lists Jonathan Reitzell and Mojeed Martins as managers of an upcoming bar and restaurant called Kamp Houston, at 6025 Westheimer Road. That’s the former address of Beaver’s West, the massive second location of the innovative ice house and comfort food restaurant first founded by chef Monica Pope in 2007. Beaver’s West closed in December 2019, and the original location, off Washington Avenue, closed in August 2018.

Reitzell and Martins are making a habit of snatching up closed sophomore locations. In December, they also took over the West Grey location of beloved Rice Village sports bar Ginger Man, turning it into a low-key dog friendly restaurant called Lost & Found. No word yet on an opening timeline for Kamp.

Ouzo Bay owners face backlash after dress code incident in Baltimore

Atlas Restaurant Group, owners of Ouzo Bay and Loch Bar in Houston’s River Oaks District, are facing ire on social media after a Black woman and her young son were denied service at one of the group’s restaurants in Baltimore, Maryland.

Marcia Grant and her son, who is 9, were trying to dine at an Ouzo Bay location in Baltimore when a manager approached them and told her that her son’s clothes did not meet the restaurant’s dress code. Grant recorded the interaction on her cell phone. The manager, who is white, says that her child’s athletic shorts, Air Jordan t-shirt and sneakers violate the restaurant’s dress code. Grant then points to a white child at a table outside who appears roughly the same age as her son, and who is wearing a similar outfit — athletic sneakers, shorts and a t-shirt.

In response to the backlash, Atlas has stated that they’ve updated their dress code so that children under 12 are exempt. However, this isn’t the first time Atlas has been called out for what some perceive as a racist or inconsistent dress code. Last fall, Eater D.C. reported on another social media backlash regarding an Atlas restaurant in Baltimore that banned baggy clothing, jerseys and backwards or sideways hats.

Pappas closes five restaurants in Houston

Homegrown restaurant group Pappas is permanently closing five locations in Houston due to the coronavirus pandemic, CultureMap reports. They include Yia Yia Mary’s Mediterranean Kitchen, Pappas Seafood House at I-45 North at Aldine Bender, Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen on Richmond and Kirby Pappas Shrimp Shack at I-45 and Woodridgeand Little Pappas Seafood House on Shepherd and West Alabama. The announcement is just the latest in a string of closures throughout Houston attributed to the coronavirus and ensuing economic slowdown.