Two beloved Houston restaurants to close their doors this month

Saturday, May 16, 2020

This is how they do crawfish at the Ragin' Cajun!

'Tis the season for boiling and peeling! The crawfish craze is huge in Houston and Ragin' Cajun is definitely a fan favorite. The family-owned business first opened in 1974 as a po' boy shop and became known as the first restaurant in town to serve fresh boiled Louisiana crawfish. Customers are known to come from 100 miles away to get a big plate of spicy mudbugs. During the busy season, Ragin' Cajun sells 10,000 to 15,000 pounds of crawfish a week! To check out the menu and locations, visit [url HREF="https://ragin-cajun.com/" TARGET="_blank" REL=""]https://ragin-cajun.com/[/url].

HOUSTON, Texas -- Two longtime Houston restaurants announced they will close by the end of the month. Diners will soon bid farewell to Montrose Italian restaurant Dolce Vita and the Westchase location of Ragin' Cajun.

Dolce Vita will shutter on May 24, according to multiple media reports. As CultureMap was first to report last June, Dolce Vita chef-owner Marco Wiles listed the property at 500 Westheimer Rd. for sale. After almost a year on the market, he recently sold the property to an investment group. Terms were not disclosed.

When it opened in 2005, Dolce Vita helped bring traditional, Neapolitan-style pizza to Houston. Its vegetable-driven small plates, fried items, and pastas helped make the restaurant a hit even with those who didn't want a pie.

While the building will likely be torn down, Wiles retains the rights to the Dolce Vita concept. He told CultureMap that it could reopen in a new location if his son, Marco Jr., expressed interest in doing so. Wiles' two other Montrose restaurants - acclaimed fine dining restaurant Da Marco and casual, wine-driven Vinoteca Poscol - remain open, and Poscol will add a few of Dolce Vita's dishes to its menu.

For the rest of this story, visit our partners at Houston Culturemap.

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