Longtime Montrose Cafe Baba Yega Will Reopen in Fall 2021 | Eater Houston

"Longtime Montrose cafe Baba Yega will reopen this fall, almost three years after a fire destroyed the historic bungalow that houses the restaurant; permits filed with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and a representative for the owners indicate the restaurant is aiming for a Fall 2021 return, though no specific date has been set. The restaurant has been closed since the evening of December 7, 2018, when a fire broke out near the front entrance around 9 p.m., causing extensive roof damage while the restaurant was still serving customers; no one was hurt and a cause has not been named. Rebuilding progress has been slow but steady — blue tarps once covered the roof and fire-damaged debris was piled in the parking lot, then more recently the exterior has appeared to near completion with tarps replaced by a construction fence — and an earlier target to reopen in 2019 was pushed back, likely because of coronavirus-related and construction delays. Opened in 1975, the bungalow was known for boozy brunches and a shady back courtyard with century-old oaks, fountains and fish ponds. The restaurant was sold in 2016 by longtime owner Sidney Hakim to Fred Sharifi and Ashkan and Sue Nowamooz (who also own Rice Village brunch spot Hungry’s). In 2018 a manager filed a lawsuit alleging she was shut out of important meetings and fired after reporting discriminatory practices — including use of ethnic slurs, sexual-orientation–based slurs, racially discriminatory comments about customers, and age discrimination — and the new managers denied those allegations; after a trial concluded in October 2019 the court found the firing retaliatory and awarded the former manager more than $30,000 in back pay and compensation." - Brittanie Shey