http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/main/6647102.html

a terrific place

Good story on Caswell. Can't wait to try the new place they are going to open where Bedford is!

Have heard a lot of his story from a friend at work. Very interesting. And his dad is a trip!

From what I hear on 1560, he seems like a pretty cool dude.

Him and Bill are both very friendly and down to earth.

Chances are one of them will come by and talk to the table while you're dining.

too bad their in-street valet has caused me to get stuck at the McGowen and Travis light on various occasions.

yeah, the valet situation was a cluster-f even before the McGowen construction.

They've had to move it over to Travis so I'm not sure if that's helped things at all.

Any chance he'll be on Top Chef soon?

he tried out recently and was not chosen

Same people from reef also have the sliders place on montrose and westheimer....mushroom sliders are excellent!!!!

Does anyone know the dress for this place? Thinking of trying it out!

On the Top Chef thing, I think that was more him turning the opportunity down not being rejected by the show. He was on 1560 one morning talking to Lance and John and apparently there were two issues, one they wouldn't let him wear his Orange throwback Stros hat and two they require you sign away a percentage of your restraunts receipts for a period of a few years after appearing on their show.

[This message has been edited by Scantron882 (edited 10/17/2009 1:06p).]

jeans or no jeans?

hey kelly.

you'll be fine with jeans. The dress is all over the map at that place. You'll see people in suits and then in jeans and a polo.

I usually go with jeans and a button down.

Quote:

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Return of the Cas

Award-winning Houston chef reemerges with new Memorial restaurant

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Quote:

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Bryan Caswell is back. Six years after closing Reef, the pioneering Gulf Coast seafood restaurant in Midtown that earned him a Food & Wine Best New Chef award and a James Beard Award finalist nomination, the chef has opened Latuli in Houston's upscale Memorial neighborhood.

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https://houston.culturemap.com/news/restaurants-bars/bryan-caswell-latuli-restaurant-opening/

6 years is a long time on the sidelines. What did he do for money for 6 years? I can see having enough for a year, maybe 2, but 6 is a long time.

Been seeing that come together over there by Goode co, didn't realize is was caswell

Happy to see he is ready to hop back on the horse. I don't know all the details but it was wild how all of his restaurants closed within 18 months of each other.

Yeah I know nothing of the restaurant industry but for someone with so many accolades and buzz he sure does have a bunch of restaurants that folded in pretty short order.

didnt he go through a nasty divorce along with some substance abuse issues?

Now he can get some mich stars

Ag_07 said:

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Yeah I know nothing of the restaurant industry but for someone with so many accolades and buzz he sure does have a bunch of restaurants that folded in pretty short order.

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Being a good chef doesn't make you a good businessman. Most probably really aren't.

But it is kinda odd at the frequency and how most seem to be in the 18-ish month period, isn't it?

Glad to see him back on the horse. Loved his old restaurants before everything went south. Good dude too as far as I know.

Reef will always be goated. What a time to be alive that was. Miss that place.

Quote:

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But it is kinda odd at the frequency and how most seem to be in the 18-ish month period, isn't it?

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Capital funding runs out. If they're not profiting by that time, they're hosed.

Bar Bludorn just down the street. The area is picking up.

Yeah that's what I figured but I just thought it was odd.

I figured staying power has to mean something but I suppose just because a place shuts down doesn't mean he's not an award winning chef.

Head Ninja In Charge said:

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Reef will always be goated. What a time to be alive that was. Miss that place.

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At one point in time, we had Underbelly, Reef, Oxheart, Feast, and Uchi had just opened. Was that peak culinary Houston?

Don't know the specifics and really not my place to say, but supposedly a number of "off the field" issues and got sideways with some of his business partners. I think he and the guy he started El Real with ended up in litigation against each other.

Glad to see he's back in the kitchen. Reef was a great spot.

Ducks4brkfast said:

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Head Ninja In Charge said:

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Reef will always be goated. What a time to be alive that was. Miss that place.

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At one point in time, we had Underbelly, Reef, Oxheart, Feast, and Uchi had just opened. Was that peak culinary Houston?

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Absolute peak. Dolce Vita (RIP) was our go-to pizza spot too which was along that Montrose/Westheimer stretch.

Ducks4brkfast said:

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Head Ninja In Charge said:

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Reef will always be goated. What a time to be alive that was. Miss that place.

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At one point in time, we had Underbelly, Reef, Oxheart, Feast, and Uchi had just opened. Was that peak culinary Houston?

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Completely forgot about Feast. I liked it but it wasn't for everyone. I have a t-shirt from there at the house somewhere.

Milwaukees Best Light said:

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6 years is a long time on the sidelines. What did he do for money for 6 years? I can see having enough for a year, maybe 2, but 6 is a long time.

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This may be a dumb question, but he didn't own any of the real estate did he? If so, I could maybe see it. And I know that he was close with some big CRE brokers in town.

Outside of that, you've gotta assume drug trafficking or something along those lines. Jk

I took this pic when we were eating at Feast. Grouper cheeks was the special that night.

schmellba99 said:

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Ag_07 said:

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Yeah I know nothing of the restaurant industry but for someone with so many accolades and buzz he sure does have a bunch of restaurants that folded in pretty short order.

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Being a good chef doesn't make you a good businessman. Most probably really aren't.

But it is kinda odd at the frequency and how most seem to be in the 18-ish month period, isn't it?

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This has happened several times, maybe too cash-leveraged, who knows. The Treadsack places (Downhouse, D&T & Drive Inn, those 2 places on 18th/Shepherd) all shut down close together and all Bernies Burgers Buses shuttered quickly during covid.

Feast was one of my all time favorite restaurants. incredible menu and creativity.

went with a group once and we got an entire braised cow head, if I recall it was late in the evening but nobody had ordered it on special that night so we got it on the house. that was my first time trying cow eyeballs