Why One Restaurant Left 1603 Durham Drive and Another Just Opened There

The small building at 1603 Durham Drive was the first home of Mico's Hot Chicken. When Mico's moved to 2400 N. Shepherd Drive, roadwork was part of the reason. In August, the restaurant's owner told Chron that the roadwork on Durham "became too unwieldy to tolerate."

Sandoitchi set Saturday, October 31, as its opening day in that same space, and the Chronicle counted it among the Heights' October openings. It's a Dallas Japanese sando pop-up, and this is its first brick-and-mortar restaurant in Texas. It serves its signature sandwiches, matcha teas and sweets. The same week, a few blocks north, chef Graham Laborde announced a Thursday opening for Little Bird at 1815 North Durham Drive. Both openings follow the progress of the Shepherd-Durham reconstruction. Most of Durham's heavy work is close to finished, and the long stretch of construction has moved over to Shepherd.

Durham's west side is nearly rebuilt

The Shepherd-Durham project covers about five miles of road. Community Impact lists what it adds: bike lanes, 6-foot sidewalks, left-turn lanes, new streetlights, stormwater drainage and landscaping. The Memorial Heights Redevelopment Authority is paying for it. According to Houston Public Media, Phase 1 runs from Loop 610 down to West 15th Street. Phase 2 runs from West 15th to I-10 and includes work at 11th, 12th, 14th and 15th Streets.

The redevelopment authority's latest construction update said underground utility work on Durham's west side, between 11th Street and the MKT Trail, was almost complete. Crews were moving on to curb, gutter and sidewalk work on the west side between Glen Oak Street and 11th Street. The authority expected that work to finish during fall 2026. After that, traffic on Durham would move off the current east-side lanes and onto the new west-side lanes.

That lane shift is the next big change on Durham. If you drive to either new restaurant this month, you may find traffic on the side of the street you're used to, or you may find it already moved to new pavement. The city's Shepherd-Durham project page on Engage Houston posts traffic shifts as they're scheduled. For questions, call 311 or email [email protected].

What Little Bird is putting into an old service station

Little Bird is in a former 1970s service station at 1815 North Durham. The building was most recently home to two other restaurants, first Flying Fish and then The Kid. The Houston Chronicle describes the menu as Gulf Coast seafood, Creole dishes and New Orleans-inspired cocktails. Matt Staph is the chef de cuisine.

For Laborde, this is a return to the Heights. He became known for Gulf Coast cooking at Bernadine's, which closed in 2017, and later at Winnie's. The Chronicle calls Winnie's a more bar-centric restaurant that has made its Top 100 list, and says Little Bird has a different focus. Laborde is a Louisiana native who cooked at Commander's Palace, Stella and Boucherie in New Orleans before he moved to Houston.

The Chronicle's roundup of October openings listed Little Bird and Sandoitchi together. It also listed Love Croissants' standalone drive-through at 801 W. 16th St., just off the corridor. That's three October openings within a short walk of the stretch of Durham where crews are closest to finishing.

Shepherd is where the roadwork stays into 2027

Shepherd Drive is moving more slowly than Durham. Between the White Oak Bayou overpass and 11th Street, two lanes stay open on the east side while crews work on the west side. The redevelopment authority expects that setup to stay in place through summer 2027.

On October 6, the city added a traffic shift at 11th Street. Under the Engage Houston notice, the two-right-lane restriction that already ran from the bayou bridge to just south of 11th would extend through the 11th Street intersection to the north side of 12th. The goal is to give crews room for underground utilities, new pavement, sidewalks and streetscape work. The notice tells drivers to expect delays and to watch for officers and construction crews, especially near 11th.

Farther south, the Shepherd Feeder between 7th Street and 7½ Street has reopened to one northbound lane. Similar work between 6th and 7th Streets is expected to start in spring 2027.

Here's how the corridor looks heading into late November, based on the latest MHRA and city schedules:

This is where Mico's moved after Durham. The owner told Chron that the move to 2400 N. Shepherd was meant to take advantage of the red-light traffic there. Then roadwork got in the way again. "Sometimes they would block the way you could get in on the street or they would knock the pipes out," she said.

The MKT Trail between the two underpasses

If you walk or bike to the new Durham spots on the MKT Trail, you'll be on the stretch with the most underground work. The redevelopment authority kept the trail open on a temporary path between the Durham and Shepherd underpasses while crews put a sanitary sewer line and manholes under the original trail. That work was scheduled through October 2026. After it, crews will build a new concrete path and restore the grass around it.

Put the trail together with the street work and you get the order the rebuild is following. Utilities and drainage go in first. Then come curbs and sidewalks, then the lane shift, then the finished pavement and path. Durham's west side is at the curbs-and-sidewalks step. Shepherd between the bayou and 12th is still in the earlier steps, and its lane setup is planned to stay through next summer. Sandoitchi opened at 1603 Durham as Durham gets close to its lane shift. The redevelopment authority runs a mailer with corridor updates, and the Engage Houston project page is where the city posts each traffic change before it happens.

I've watched this corridor change one block at a time, and I keep up with the construction schedule and with what opens and closes along it. If you're curious how the Shepherd-Durham rebuild might affect the street you live on, or a home you're thinking of listing near it, Andrea Smith is glad to walk through it with you. Schedule a consultation and we'll go over what's finished, what's next, and what that means for your block.