Dallas-Founded Restaurant Drake’s Hollywood Opens Its Largest Location in Houston

With black-and-white TVs and lots of red leather, the Dallas restaurant is promising Hollywood glam and American dishes in Montrose

Dallas-founded restaurant Drake’s Hollywood will officially open its third and largest restaurant in Houston’s Montrose on Thursday, August 29 — and in stereotypical Dallas fashion, it’s bringing a dose of glamor.

The restaurant, which has outposts in Los Angeles and Dallas’s Highland Park neighborhood, aims to bring a touch of Hollywood’s “Golden era” to Houston with timeless, luxe decor. Located at 1100 Westheimer Road in the former location of now-shuttered Hay Merchant, the Vandelay Hospitality Group restaurant is draped in sultry red leather, with gold amber onyx surrounding the bar, and black-and-white TVs that make diners feel like they are stepping back in time, says owner Hunter Pond. The restaurant will further expand its offerings with a private dining room and a piano lounge to open later this year, and has plans to feature live entertainment, including DJs that will travel between the three restaurant locations to perform, Pond says.

The menu focuses on popular American dishes, like cracker-crust pizza, and dry-aged steaks, plus cult favorites like Drake’s spicy salmon crispy rice with gochujang and serrano pepper, the spicy rigatoni Pasta ZaZa, Hollywood-themed sushi rolls, and its 24-layer strawberry cake. The bar will also aim for elegance with cocktails, with Vandelay’s signature “World’s Coldest Martini.”

Pond, owner and CEO of Drake’s restaurant group Vandelay, says the restaurant’s opening feels “surreal given how long it’s been.” The owner decided to purchase the property around two years ago, following Drake’s “explosive” opening in Dallas, where many Houston friends said that the restaurant would do well in the Bayou City. Pond says he jumped at the chance. Though many hint at a Dallas-Houston rivalry, Pond says he hasn’t felt the tension. “I feel the love,” says Pond, noting that the Houston community has been welcoming. “I know how I want Dallas to behave and accept when Houston concepts come to my hometown, so it has been really heartwarming.”

Drake’s opened its doors early last week to VIPs and members of food media for at least two preview parties leading up to its opening. Diners reported a largely bustling ambiance with lots of booze and select bites.

Vandelay originally opened its first Houston restaurant, the East Hampton Sandwich Company, in 2017, but it closed soon after in 2019. Pond has since opened Hudson House in October 2023. The restaurant features American dishes, including a lauded cheeseburger, ice-cold martinis, and coastal items inspired by the East Coast.

Vandelay Hospitality has faced some controversy in recent years. In November, diners familiar with New York’s Lure FishBar noticed Vandelay had taken creative liberties and copied the restaurant’s design and some of its dishes at its Dallas restaurant Anchor Sushi Bar without previous communication. Weeks before that, a group of investors quickly withdrew a $2 million lawsuit after initially alleging that it had lost $1.8 million and experienced broken communication while working with the restaurant group to expand restaurant Lucky’s Hot Chicken through the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Both the investors and defendants, which included Vandelay Hospitality and Pond, allegedly came to an amicable resolution. Starting in 2021, the restaurant group received lawsuits from former employees alleging discrimination, including a former general manager of Drake’s Hollywood in Dallas, who alleged that the restaurant was rampant with “racism, sexism, homophobia, and outright disdain for its employees.”