After 40 years of Houston’s, Addison restaurant Brentwood opens in its place

Fans of Hudson House will feel at home here.

It’ll be impossible to track all the “remember when” stories that will be told over lunch or dinner at Brentwood, the new American restaurant from the Dallasites who started Hudson House. Everyone here will remember when: They’ll remember when this restaurant was Houston’s for nearly 40 years.

And they’ll feel the restaurant’s spirit in the walls. They’ll see it on its menu.

“This restaurant location is an icon of Dallas dining,” says the restaurant group’s CEO and founder Hunter Pond, in a statement. Brentwood still has the dark-wood walls and split-level dining in the bar and in the sun room, but the whole room is airier, with more banquettes — the ideal setting for power lunches and date-night dinners.

It opens July 7, 2022 in an area of Addison that has been reimagined with newcomers like Mendocino Farms, La La Land coffee, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams and a coming-soon Asian Mint.

I couldn’t help but order the French dip, a Houston’s staple. Brentwood’s version has supple shreds of roast beef on buttery bread with generous cups of au jus and horseradish cream. The classic menu includes crispy chicken Caesar salad, three burgers (including the company’s first veggie burger), a rib-eye, and crazy-salty fries that feel at home at an address that defined upscale-casual chain food in Texas.

Brentwood is the newest brand from parent company Vandelay Hospitality. None of its concepts stray too far from home. There’s Hudson House, Vandelay’s most well-known and prolific brand; East Hampton Sandwich Co., Pond’s original restaurant; Drake’s Hollywood, the Park Cities adjacent steakhouse; Lucky’s Chicken, the growing hot chicken spot; and D.L. Mack’s, another American restaurant.

Vandelay is still in a legal dispute with former employees who say the company discriminated against workers and customers.

Brentwood also serves a few sushi dishes like a spicy cucumber-salmon roll and a lightly-seared tuna salad. Sibling restaurant Anchor Bar, which is slated to open at the Preston Road and Royal Lane intersection in 2023, will lean more into seafood and sushi menu items. But Brentwood gives a sneak peek.

As with all restaurants from Vandelay, lunch or dinner should start with a cold martini. Brentwood builds upon Hudson House’s traditional blue cheese-stuffed olives by serving goat cheese-stuffed olives in the restaurant’s Classic Martini.

Give it a few weeks, then go have dinner and look around: Plenty of customers will be drinking one.

Brentwood is at 5318 Belt Line Road, Dallas. It opens July 7, 2022. Open seven days a week for lunch and dinner.