Talk about your total makeovers.
"Out of Africa has closed for business effective June 30, 2009. We plan to re-open as the Bullpen Pizza Restaurant and Sports Bar in August or September. Come see us for football season!" -- OutofAfricadining.com
A half order of Bullpen's nachos, $5.99: Syd Kearney ; 29-95
Out of Africa, the South African-themed Sugar Land restaurant that won kudos for its exotic (for Houston) menu, re-opened Friday as a pizza-pushing sports bar.
Gone are the leopard print chairs and elephant statuary. Gone too, the comforting bobotie, the peri-peri sauces and the spicy samosas.
In it's place is a floor painted to resemble a football field, the ubiquitous flat-screened TVs (but not nearly enough for a hard-core sports bar) and a menu studded with bar favorites like chicken wings, hot dogs and nachos.
The staff was still trying to figure out how to change the television channels when I stopped by Sunday.
While I want to see all mom-and-pop restaurants succeed, it's going to be kinda sad if Bullpen is a rip-roaring success. Once again bland trumps interesting in the 'burbs.
(And a little tip to the owners, from a sports fan and a sports bar aficionado: Tell your staff not to assume that a woman sitting at the bar is not engaged in the sporting event being televised. I understand having to change the main screen to the hometown game, but a "Sorry, I need to change this. Can I put the game you're watching on another TV for you?" is appropriate. Particularly if that woman is the only customer at the bar.)
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Son of a bitch... I was looking for a South African restaurant in town and now I read this. Ugh.
if the pizza looks anything like the nachos I won't be going ... Lame
... actually I would never go anyway, LOL
Those nachos look truly awful.
Ugh. UGH UGH UGH. Everything about this story is upsetting, particularly the gender assumptions and those limp-ass nachos.
There's also an entire story to be written about remodeled/reopened/reinvisioned restaurants. They make drastic changes everywhere except the restrooms. So there's this weird transition from table to toilet. Almost like you stepped into another dimension. Here you go from the silliness of sports bar to lounge-y, upscale safari. Like I said, weird.
I had their spicy ass samosas and they were good especially with their frozen margaritas. Pizza joint? I won't be driving way out there for pizza.
Bernie Madoff must like the fries at Houston's, too.
And now I shall never have the spicy ass samosas.
Sadness.
They were ass spicy I tell ya!
What are people doing hanging out in Sugarland in the first place?
I used to work at Out of Africa, and I honestly miss the place. I looked forward to working there just for my brake time so that I could order something new every time. And I LOVED the samosas! But what was even better was the peri peri. there was a day when no matter how many pepers the cooks added in, it still wasnt spice. The highschool students that worked there too started tasting it every time a few more pepers where added... I think we just became imune to it. Lol
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