Yale Road Grill is a no frills and thrills Heights staple.
The Classics is an occasional collection that spotlights and celebrates Houston’s oldest bars and eating places.
The sizzle of breakfast meats, the aroma of freshly brewed espresso, and the chatter of longtime regulars fill the house at Yale Road Grill on any given day. It’d now be a go-to spot for locals craving a homestyle hearty breakfast or a juicy hamburger, however again when it first opened for enterprise in 1923 below Abel and Mildred Dupuis, it was generally known as Yale Road Pharmacy.
The couple, each pharmacists, have been there to serve the neighborhood for many years with their dual-purpose enterprise—whether or not by way of prescriptions, sandwiches, or a soda. Finally, their son took over, however he bought the pharmacy operation in 1997, and a present store and publish workplace took its place subsequent to the restaurant.
When the enterprise virtually closed in 2001, Paul Gomberg, a Los Angeles native turned Houstonian, saved the day. He applied a couple of more healthy choices which can be nonetheless on the menu at the moment, like turkey burgers and salads. Gomberg additionally helped make the three,000-square-foot house that was as soon as the pharmacy rentable for an additional enterprise. Right now, as you stroll in, you’ll discover a half wall to your left separating Yale Road Grill and one other beloved Heights gem: Lovejoy’s Antiques and Collectibles.
The constructing has been owned by Gage Investments since 2017, following a pair different house owners after Gomberg. And Yale Road Grill remains to be thriving with that very same “can do” angle, partly due to supervisor Juan Salazar. The face of the restaurant at the moment, he has been working on the Heights institution since he was a teen. He used to drive his sister, who was on the waitstaff, to work on daily basis. As he waited for her shifts to finish, he would hang around, preserve to himself, and sip some espresso.
In the future, the supervisor on the time took discover of him and stated, “he’s not doing something, simply put him on the payroll,” and the remaining is historical past. Salazar started working behind Yale Road Grill’s short-lived buffet, then within the kitchen, ultimately working his means as much as the waitstaff, and now, supervisor.
Since his begin within the early 2000s, apart from some added cubicles and tables, he says not a lot has modified. The restaurant appears like a time capsule, and the identical sentiment goes for its menu. “[People] say we have now nice meals, a pleasant setting, and good espresso,” Salazar says.
From 2012 to 2013, the restaurant tried to include Mexican-inspired menu choices, however he says it wasn’t well-received. It turned clear there isn’t any want to vary what isn’t damaged. Now, the one remnants of this transient delicacies experiment embrace the huevos rancheros, migas, and breakfast tacos. Regulars have come through the years for Yale Road Grill’s number of omelets, pancake stacks, waffles, French toast, milkshakes, and naturally, its burgers.
Visiting the restaurant can also be like strolling right into a little bit of a museum. It stays true to the old-school diner that it’s been for years—no frills and thrills right here. On the partitions, you’ll discover outdated images of celebrities like Elvis Presley, members of the Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, and Frank Sinatra.
With greater than a century below its belt, how does a diner like Yale Road Grill stand the check of time? Salazar says the reply is straightforward: the restaurant’s loyal prospects who’ve been keen to help them by way of each loopy factor that has been thrown their means, from COVID-19 and hurricanes to inflation.
“We’re dedicated to the purchasers, and we’re right here due to them,” Salazar says.
Sunday mornings discover the restaurant full of the after-church crowd, households, some hungover patrons, or people simply wanting a chew from the century-old institution.
Mike Shelton, who has been going to the restaurant since he moved to the Heights within the Eighties, says considered one of his favourite issues concerning the place is how constant it’s, from the meals to the employees. He even sits on the similar desk every go to, which is coincidentally open virtually each time he goes.
“My son [and I] have been going there so lengthy—he’s solely 19—however when he goes in, they don’t even ask, they carry his shake together with his whipped cream and cherry,” Shelton says.
Margaret Vandever, a born-and-raised Heights resident, has been going to Yale Road Grill since she was a younger woman. She says every time she visits, it’s like going house. Like Shelton’s son, she loves the milkshakes, and if she’s there within the morning, you’ll possible see her having one for breakfast.
“There’s simply one thing very comforting about strolling into a spot and recognizing the faces, figuring out the names, seeing the identical individuals,” Vandever says. “It’s a neighborhood institution and never a stylish new place that’s right here at the moment, gone tomorrow.”
Funnily sufficient, Salazar shares that there are nonetheless fairly a couple of individuals who have lived within the neighborhood for many years who’re simply now discovering Yale Road Grill, which we discover fairly baffling given the massive pink “Yale” signal on the constructing—although the “Grill & Presents” and “Postal Station” markers are slightly below it.
“Now we have prospects that are available in and ask me ‘it is a restaurant?’” Salazar says. “I say sure and inform them we’ve been right here for 100 years. [They’ve] been dwelling right here for 20, 30 years, and inform me they didn’t know we have been a restaurant. They arrive and have breakfast, they usually at all times come again.”
