Lost Restaurants of Houston by Paul Galvani

Author:Paul Galvani
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Published: 2018-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

KAPHAN’S

KAPHAN’S RESTAURANT AND CLUB 7900 S. MAIN STREET (1927–97)

RENDEZVOUS ROOM, SOMMELIER ROOM, RED ROOM, COTILLION BALL ROOM, CHARCOAL GARDEN

Kaphan’s Restaurant was founded by Eli Kaphan, a baseball player from Galveston who played for the Texas League until 1921, when an ankle fracture ended his career as an athlete. He never lost his love for the game, however, as he became an umpire and a collector of baseball memorabilia.

After several false starts in the restaurant business, he bought a cow pasture on Main near the Astrodome. In 1927, he opened an oyster shack there before building a restaurant on the property. It was a single-story, modern-looking building opposite what was to become the Astrodome and Astroworld. The entry to the restaurant was located at the same spot as one of the original cattle troughs. At the time, a trolley line used to run from this area to Richmond, Texas, and the area in front of the restaurant was the trolley’s turning point.

Kaphan’s was originally called “The Aristocrat of Seafoods.” It was known for its slogan: “If it swims, we have it.” Sometime later, the word “Steaks” was added to the moniker and “Seafoods” was changed to “Seafood.” In a print advertisement from the period, readers were recommended to “See the World Series gold bats. A one-of-a kind collection,” referring to the baseball bat collection and other memorabilia that Kaphan owned and displayed in the lobby. In its heyday in the 1970s, Kaphan’s was the epitome of an upscale Gulf Coast seafood restaurant.

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