Houston Vietnamese restaurant loses location it'd been at since 1982 due to I-45 relocation.
Posted by
Qale (aka Qale)
Nov 20 '24, 14:20
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When Kim Son opened in 1982, "EaDo" was referred to as Houston’s Chinatown. The family’s Vietnamese restaurant originally opened on St. Emanuel before moving to a small space on Pease Street, La said.
The flagship restaurant on Jefferson opened in February 1993. The pagoda-like building was a sprawling 20,000 square feet with seating for 350 in the downstairs dining room and banquet rooms upstairs for up to 650 customers. The entry included a water feature with a 16-foot limestone fish pond teeming with goldfish.
Kim Son hosted countless weddings and banquets for decades.
The confirmation of Kim Son's latest closing follows a steady stream of announcements from restaurants affected by the I-45 project, a $10 billion-plus project that could span two decades of construction.
In September, Agricole Hospitality blamed the upcoming work for closing two restaurants and a bar concept on St. Emanuel. Neil’s Bahr, 2006 Walker, expects to relocate and possibly reopen this winter at 3409 McKinney. Popular downtown cafe Tout Suite projected it will move to an East End-mixed use project next summer.
Kim Son originated in Vietnam, where the family operated in Vinh Long, Vietnam, which is about 80 miles south of Saigon.
By 1980, the La family, headed by matriarch Kim La, her husband and seven children made it to Houston after fleeing Vietnam.
Kim La, who briefly worked at Mai’s Restaurant, is said to have memorized over 250 recipes passed down from her mother-in-law. As her children learned English, they also worked at convenience stores and collected aluminum cans to make extra cash.
Over the years, the family would establish Kim Son as the successful Vietnamese restaurant in town. The buffet at the Bellaire location draws crowds of regulars as much as those who stop by because they've seen a video on TikTok.
While Houston’s newest Asian-owned restaurants open in Asiatown and Katy’s Asiantown today, the downtown flagship is special to the La family, Tao La said.
But business did slow down at the Jefferson location during the pandemic and never fully recovered.
The La family, however, continues to grow its catering and a manufacturing side, where they make sriracha and supply restaurants across the country with pho broth.
When the Jefferson location turns of its lights for the final time, Tao La expects his family will gather at the restaurant beforehand.
“I don’t know how we will feel that day,” he said. “Our family will probably cry. It’s where we grew up.”
Depending on the construction work, Tao La said they may open a smaller Kim Son on land they own in the same area where their flagship restaurant has been open for over three decades.
“We have to move on to the next chapter, but we still want a presence,” Tao La said. “We can’t let that legacy go.”
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