Himari, the chef-driven sushi bar from Duckstache Hospitality, is angling for a second Houston location in Uptown, with permit paperwork pointing to a plan to flip a closed bank branch into roughly 4,500 square feet of restaurant space. The filings outline a renovation budget of about $600,000, with work slated to kick off in mid-July and wrap by December. If everything stays on schedule, the project would drop another high-end counter into a local restaurant group that has been expanding at a brisk clip.
Permit Details And Timeline
According to the Houston Chronicle, a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation lists 6414 San Felipe St for conversion into a 4,511-square-foot Himari, with an adjoining vacant office area folded into the plans. The Chronicle reports the work is pegged at about $600,000 and shows construction beginning in mid-July with a December completion target. The paper also notes that Duckstache Hospitality has not yet issued a formal public announcement about the Uptown address.
From Bank Branch To Sushi Counter
Per Bank of America's 2024 financial-center listing, the branch at 6414 San Felipe St officially closed on July 9, 2024, a change that also shows up in an Office of the Comptroller of the Currency weekly bulletin. The OCC includes the San Felipe location in a broader wave of branch closures that opened up standalone footprints around Houston. What was once a compact bank lobby now looks set up for the kind of retail-to-restaurant conversion that has become standard fare in busy urban corridors.
Duckstache's Rapid Expansion
Duckstache Hospitality, led by chefs Patrick Pham and Daniel Lee, has been steadily building a small constellation of Japanese concepts that includes Kokoro, Aiko, Handies Douzo and Doko. The group lists Himari among its concepts on its own site and continues to operate the original Himari at The Stomping Grounds in Garden Oaks/Oak Forest, keeping its footprint tight but visible. Duckstache Hospitality's preference for compact, chef-focused counters has drawn consistent local attention, including previews of the Doko project and other expansions. Eater Houston has highlighted the group's emphasis on tight-format sushi and yakitori spots rather than sprawling dining rooms.
Why Uptown?
Uptown’s cluster of office towers, hotels and shopping centers makes it a natural target for operators looking to catch lunch traffic and hotel guests in one swing, and Duckstache has been edging into that territory lately. Local coverage has tracked the group placing concepts on high-visibility corners and in other busy commercial pockets, signaling a deliberate move toward where the daytime population already is. As the Houston Chronicle reported, Handies Douzo recently added an Uptown location, underlining the group’s growing appetite for storefronts in the area.
What’s Next
If the permit timeline holds, Uptown workers, hotel guests and nearby residents could have a new Himari to slip into before the end of the year, adding another locally grown sushi counter to the neighborhood. The group is already punching above its weight internationally: Kokoro’s Dubai outpost landed at No. 15 on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants' Middle East & North Africa list, a reminder that Duckstache’s tight little concepts can pull global attention. The World’s 50 Best Restaurants released the regional ranking after Kokoro’s Dubai debut.
For now, the state permit filing remains the clearest public sign that Himari is heading to Uptown, since Duckstache’s own site still lists only the original Himari at The Stomping Grounds among its concepts. Duckstache Hospitality
