Yiayia’s Greek Kitchen
Here is what Charles Kuffner of Off the Kuff has to say about the Texas primary election results from a couple of days ago:
We don’t have full turnout numbers yet, but as of Wednesday some 363,826 votes were cast in the Democratic primary for Senate in Harris County, while there were 197,389 votes cast on the Republican side. About 140K votes were cast on Tuesday for Dems, and about 70K for Republicans – so much for the thesis that they prefer to turn up on Election Day, at least in Harris County. This easily makes 2026 the second highest turnout for a Dem primary, trailing only 2008 and its 411K votes.
Statewide, it depends on your source, the Texas Tribune tracker or the SOS Election Night page. Dems tallied 2,311,826 votes in the Senate so far in the former, and 2,311,564 in the latter, in both cases with still a few more votes to count, mostly provisionals at this point. On the Republican side the numbers are 2,163,582 and 2,165,744. I’m not sure why the gap is larger there.
Remember Greg Abbott’s threat to spend a ton of money to turn Harris County “dark red” this year? Well, he might want to shore up his support in the Republican Party first, as the candidates he endorsed had at best a mixed bag of results. In addition to Kelly Hancock getting squashed in the Comptroller’s race, Briscoe Cain trailed Alex Mealer in CD09, and John Lujan, for whom CD35 was drawn, underperformed against the Trump-backed Carlos de la Cruz, whose main qualification appears to be that he’s the brother of Rep. Monica de la Cruz. And my favorite result of the night, Abbott-backed Marty Lancton lost his hold on second place in the primary for Harris County Judge and fell behind Warren Howell to finish out of the runoff. Great job, Greg! Keep bringing that energy to these races!
Rep. Hubert Vo not only faces a runoff against challenger (and Chron-endorsed) Darlene Breaux in HD149, he fell behind her in total votes, albeit by a tiny margin, 3,743-3,734. That doesn’t bode well for him in May.
Abbie Kamin’s victory over Audrie Lawton Evans for Harris County Attorney was by just over one percentage point, 50.55% to 49.45%, which translates to just over three thousand votes out of over 310K cast in that race. Two strong candidates, only one could win. Congrats to Abbie Kamin, condolences and best wishes to Audrie Lawton Evans.
Darrell Jordan finished just ahead of Alex Maldonado for District Clerk by an even smaller margin, 18.93% to 18.81%, a mere 365 votes out of almost 316K cast. Latino candidates overall did better on Tuesday than in early voting – County Judge third-place candidate Matt Salazar went from 14% in early voting to 16% overall. I still don’t understand that, but there it is.
Here is the entire Off the Kuff: Initial thoughts on the 2026 primaries | Off the Kuff.
I guess any day now Trump will endorse either Cornyn or Paxton. Democrats should not fret about this. We all know that Paxton is part of the MAGA base and a ton of the MAGA base don’t like Cornyn. If Trump endorses Cornyn, a lot in the MAGA base are going to be upset and it may be difficult to get them to the polls in November. In a close race, voter turnout matters. If Trump endorses Paxton, Cornyn supporters will let themselves be punkarsed by Trump – like they always do – and come out to vote anyways in November. However, the cheating, crooked Paxton will still be our preferred opponent. Either way, Democrats will be okay heading into November.
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Our family had dinner last night at Yiayia’s Greek Kitchen. See this article that was in the Chron last summer:
Don’t call it a revival, reopening or rebirth of the Pappas Restaurants’ favorite Yia Yia Mary’s.
When Yiayia’s Pappas Greek Kitchen, 2410 Richmond, opens Friday, customers won’t find gyros or Aegean blue evoking the Mediterranean Sea plastered on the dining room walls or menus. Those are culinary and design fixtures at many Greek restaurants, including at Yia Yia Mary’s in the Galleria area, which had a nearly two-decade run.
“Everything is new,” said Christina Pappas, the restaurant group’s chief marketing officer. “We wanted to take what we’ve learned so you’re not going to come in and get the exact same experience.”
What will carry over to Yiayia’s, a more traditional spelling of grandmother in Greek, is the homage to the family’s matriarch Mary Pappas, also known as Yiayia Mary. Her inspiration lives on through the Pappas’ industry-defining hospitality. Small and large plates, spins on dishes served in Greece and the Mediterranean, are easily shareable.
When the Pappas group decided to close Yia Yia Mary’s a few months after the pandemic hit in spring 2020, there were already plans to bring it back. While the timing was uncertain, it didn’t take long to figure out that it should take over a former Pappadeaux with its prime real estate inside the Loop, Pappas said.
Here is the entire read: Yiayia’s by Pappas family brings Greek flavors to Upper Kirby Houston.
We were there to celebrate my niece Rachel’s birthday. I think I have mentioned before that Rachel is a Leap Year baby, having been born on February 29. We had a great time. Dante, Rachel’s kid, picked out the restaurant. None of us had been there before. We had great service and delicious grub including calamari, sea bass, chicken, Greek lasagna, redfish, shrimp, Greek salad, hummus, and just about every dessert on the menu. An added plus for me was that they carried Saint Arnold Art Car.
Yiayia’s is part of the Pappas restaurant group. That is me and Rachel in the featured photo checking out the desserts, under the portrait of family matriarch Yiayia Mary. I highly recommend this restaurant.
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From Tags:
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Astros All-Star shortstop Jeremy Peña is set to meet with a hand specialist on Thursday afternoon after he was removed from Wednesday’s exhibition game between the Dominican Republic and the Detroit Tigers in Santo Domingo, D.R., after three innings with an injury to his right ring finger.
Peña, starting at shortstop for the Dominican team that will play in the World Baseball Classic, fielded a hard-hit ground ball by Wenceel Pérez behind second base in the third inning and threw to first base for the out. Peña was seen on video uncomfortably looking down at his right hand a couple of times after the play. He stayed in the game and struck out in the bottom of the third before being removed.
Stay tuned. Sigh.