Saturday, December 23, 2017 • Page 1B
SING moves to area By Betsy Denson For The Leader East Downtown’s loss is The Leader area’s gain. Cuc Lam, the operating partner at the Singaporean-inspired eatery SING opening this spring at Revive’s 34th and Ella development, said that both Garden Oaks/Oak Forest and East Downtown were on the short list for SING. However, news of a highway expansion downtown and questions about what would be taken by the city as eminent domain tipped the ball in our favor. It also caused Lam and business partner Jerry Lasco to fine tune their vision. “We were going to have people walking over from Dynamo games and Astros games, but now we are going to have more families,� said Lam. “I’m excited about the opportunity to introduce this food to the neighborhood.� Lam said that while some people might find the concept of Singapore cuisine intimidating, she’s eager to open and show customers something different. “Houston is a fascinating food city,� said Lam. “This is the city you can try this in. People crave the excitement [of new dishes]. We are going to take it one dish at a time.� The food prices will no doubt be popular with patrons. The most expensive menu item is $12 and appetizers will be $4 to $5. Beer, wine and a $6 sake cocktail will also be on the menu. Lam said that more than 90 percent of the menu items are gluten free. As someone who has hosted more than 100 pop-up meals in her home, Lam has had plenty of experience introducing new foods to diners. “You take Bak kut teh which is a strange word to people but then you explain that it’s pork bone noodle soup,� she said. “You try to connect all the ways the food came to be. You
Contributed photo Cuc Lam recently took a business trip to Singapore to do research for her new restaurant.
tell a story.� And as a former Houston Press restaurant critic who was the columnist for the openings and closings section, Lam has gotten a feel for why restaurants succeed, or fail. “There are so many ups and downs in the restaurant industry,� she said. “For those who didn’t make it, maybe they didn’t learn fast enough, or change fast enough.� Lam says that they are committing to what she calls NextGen dining, providing an app for quicker service and partnering with a delivery service to get hot food fast to increasing numbers of people “who really prefer having food on their couch.� Above all, Lam is determined to be flexible. “We’re not going to get stuck in any process and will be constantly looking for ways to improve,� she said.
A jack of all trades, Lam has been a middle school English teacher and an IT professional. She used to own a bar and grill in the Westchase area where she honed her cooking chops during theme nights such as Kung Fu Wednesday where she served the Asian dishes she’s been cooking for years with her mother and aunts since her childhood in Long Beach, Mississippi. “My heart is in the kitchen,� said Lam. It was her love of food which led her to do pop-ups in her home, and it was serendipity that at one of these popups Thomas Nguyen of Peli Peli was in attendance. “He said he knew of a guy who wanted to open an Asian concept restaurant,� said Lam. That guy was famed restauranteur Jerry Lasco of The
Merry Christmas! SuSan PeSl RealtoRÂŽ
Tasting Room and Max’s Wine Dive, and within two meetings Lam and Lasco cemented the deal. “He told me that I was the one he was looking for,� said Lam. The focus on Singapore cuisine was Lasco’s idea and after an August business trip to Singapore, Lam understood how she wanted to approach SING. “A lot of the dishes are not new to me,� said Lam, whose father is Chinese and whose mother is Vietnamese. “It’s all about the variation of spices, noodle or broth that’s used in presenting each dish.� She’s clear that SING won’t be a fusion restaurant but it will honor Singapore’s reputation as a melting pot for cuisines such as Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, and Indian. “Vietnamese Pho is going to be Vietnamese Pho,� said Lam. Monica Danna with Revive told The Leader that SING will be on the end cap of the center closest to the boot shop and that there will be tables and chairs for dine in.
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(OME &OR 4HE (OLIDAYS Contributed photo The graffiti artist who painted this mural also painted the mini mural of Willie Nelson on 34th Street.
Cadillac ranch gets memorialized By Kim Hogstrom For The Leader In July, The Leader brought news of the new Willie Nelson mini-mural painted on an ugly stoplight box on the corner of Ella Boulevard and 34th Street. Now, a new mural of the famous Texas icon, the Cadillac Ranch, is entertaining passersby at 33&1/3@Thirtyfourth Street, the official name of the center under development at the same address. The center is slated to open in early 2018. Both the murals were commissioned by local commercial real estate developer, Chris Hotze, who is developing the new retail center. Hotze says he is sensitive to the aesthetic of the community; he understands its love of art and treasured one-of-a-kind character. “When we first decided on a mini-mural at 33&1/3, the city’s project managers brought us the idea of Willie, and we loved it,� Hotze stated. “Still, I had no idea the feed-
back would be so positive. With the community receiving the first so well, we decided to add the Cadillac Ranch to celebrate our pride in Texas’ remarkable art and artists.� The Cadillac Ranch mural depicts the cars jutting out from the Texas soil at sunset. Unlike the Willie mini-mural, the new one is eight feet high and 80 feet long. Its colors are bright and cheerful. It’s almost impossible to view the striking work of art, depicting a quirky icon of Texas art, and not smile. There are about 180 murals in Houston. They are managed by a public-private effort that falls under the umbrella of the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, the department of public works, the Houston Arts Alliance and several management districts. About 40 percent of the works have been privately funded, such as Willie and Cadillac Ranch. Some are pretty, some abstract, a few murals honor a
local landmark, and a couple depict a person relevant to the work’s location. The graffiti artist who painted both Willie and Cadillac is a resident creative at UP Art Studios. Gelson Lemus, (street name: w3r3on3 – or “we are one�) depicted Nelson against a Texas flag (from an original photo shot live by Hotze’s own daughter) and illustrated the Cadillac Ranch at sunset. “The artist is awesome,� states Hotze. “Both the works are totally amazing.� Mural project managers and married couple Elia and Noah Quiles founded UP Art Studio in the Heights’ Winter Street Studios, and work hand-inglove with the city to execute the murals. The two have experience managing urban public art projects of all sizes - nationally and globally. “We are dedicated to civic pride though civic art,� Elia Quiles explained. “We particuSee Cadillac P. 2B
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