Rising star chef delivers new  'virtual restaurant' concept to Houston

Dine-out only

This restaurant concept will have no dining-in option for guests and will act as an incubator for restaurant ideas. Photo by www.jillianekristine.com

Gabe Medina is back. The chef, who earned raves for his work at restaurants such as Kata Robata, Soma, and Aqui, will launch a new project this week in partnership with beverage expert Steven Salazar (The Kirby Group).

Under the banner of Click Robot Run, Medina will open five restaurants in a commercial kitchen in Rice Military (4901 Rose St.). Rather than traditional sit down establishments, they're "virtual restaurants" that will only serve diners via pick-up, to-go, or delivery apps such as Uber Eats and DoorDash. They are:

  • A&J Provisions (opens Wednesday, June 26): a comfort food restaurant that offers both an array of grilled meats as well as vegan and vegetarian dishes.
  • Bowling Club (opens August 2019): a Japanese rice bowl restaurant inspired by Medina's time working at Narisawa in Tokyo, widely considered one of the best restaurants in the world.
  • Sandwich Legend (opens November 2019): meatball subs, cold cuts, sandwiches inspired by Houston's immigrant cuisines, and more will be on the menu at this restaurant.
  • 7000 Islands (opens January 2020): Medina will explore Filipino cuisine its various forms at this restaurant, which is inspired by both his heritage and trips to the island nation.
  • Fifth concept: TBD. Salazar says that he and Medina will develop the fifth restaurant in collaboration with the chefs the hire to run the other four.

While one media account stated the concepts will open in sequence in a style similar to Chris Shepherd's One Fifth, that's not correct, according to Salazar. Instead, the five concepts will operate simultaneously — making it more like a food hall where each restaurant could someday be spun off into its own brick and mortar space.

"It's important to remember there's two aspects of this," Salazar says. "We like the idea of being able to utilize multiple concepts out of the same facility, that's one rent, one labor force.

"The second thing to remember is this is an incubator for us. It's about testing multiple menus for multiple concepts. It's about getting data from multiple sources: Favor, DoorDash, even our neighbors stopping by."

Operating as a "virtual restaurant" without a dining room means that one set of cooks can do the work, which reduces costs. It also means only paying rent for one location while they use the sales data to determine which concepts to promote.

While Medina is the chef who will develop the menus, train the cooks, etc, Salazar says his role is to serve as a sounding board and provide logistical support; he will also maintain his current role as the operating partner of The Kirby Group (Wooster's Garden, Heights Bier Garten, Holman Draft Hal, etc). The two friends have a history that goes back to the two years they spent working together at Kata Robata.

"Gabe is like one of my brothers, and I want to be part of his success," Salazar says. "I said, 'please, can I help you? Let me be involved if you'll let me.' I just have so much respect for him as a chef."

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

Gabe Medina is the culinary mind behind Click Robot Run. Photo by Eric Sandler

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Houston-based HPE wins $931M contract to upgrade military data centers

defense data centers

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), based in Spring, Texas, which provides AI, cloud, and networking products and services, has received a $931 million contract to modernize data centers run by the federal Defense Information Systems Agency.

HPE says it will supply distributed hybrid multicloud technology to the federal agency, which provides combat support for U.S. troops. The project will feature HPE’s Private Cloud Enterprise and GreenLake offerings. It will allow DISA to scale and accelerate communications, improve AI and data analytics, boost IT efficiencies, reduce costs and more, according to a news release from HPE.

The contract comes after the completion of HPE’s test of distributed hybrid multicloud technology at Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) data centers in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and Ogden, Utah. This technology is aimed at managing DISA’s IT infrastructure and resources across public and private clouds through one hybrid multicloud platform, according to Data Center Dynamics.

Fidelma Russo, executive vice president and general manager of hybrid cloud at HPE, said in a news release that the project will enable DISA to “deliver innovative, future-ready managed services to the agencies it supports that are operating across the globe.”

The platform being developed for DISA “is designed to mirror the look and feel of a public cloud, replicating many of the key features” offered by cloud computing businesses such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform, according to The Register.

In the 1990s, DISA consolidated 194 data centers into 16. According to The Register, these are the U.S. military’s most sensitive data centers.

More recently, in 2024, the Fort Meade, Maryland-based agency laid out a five-year strategy to “simplify the network globally with large-scale adoption of command IT environments,” according to Data Center Dynamics.

Astros and Rockets launch new streaming service for Houston sports fans

Sports Talk

Houston sports fans now have a way to watch their favorite teams without a cable or satellite subscription. Launched December 3, the Space City Home Network’s SCHN+ service allows consumers to watch the Houston Astros and Houston Rockets via iOS, Apple TV, Android, Amazon Fire TV, or web browser.

A subscription to SCHN+ allows sports fans to watch all Astros and Rockets games, as well as behind-the-scenes features and other on-demand content. It’s priced at $19.99 per month or $199.99 annually (plus tax). People who watch Space City Network Network via their existing cable or satellite service will be able to access SCHN+ at no additional charge.

As the Houston Chronicle notes, the Astros and Rockets were the only MLB and NBA teams not to offer a direct-to-consumer streaming option.

“We’re thrilled to offer another great option to ensure fans have access to watch games, and the SCHN+ streaming app makes it easier than ever to cheer on the Rockets,” Rockets alternate governor Patrick Fertitta said in a statement.

“Providing fans with a convenient way to watch their favorite teams, along with our network’s award-winning programming, was an essential addition. This season feels special, and we’re committed to exploring new ways to elevate our broadcasts for Rockets fans to enjoy.”

Astros owner Jim Crane echoed Feritta’s comments, adding, “Providing fans options on how they view our games is important as we continue to grow the game – we want to make it accessible to as large an audience as possible. We are looking forward to the 2026 season and more Astros fans watching our players compete for another championship.”

SCHN+ is available to customers in Texas; Louisiana; Arkansas; Oklahoma; and the following counties in New Mexico: Dona Ana, Eddy, Lea, Chaves, Roosevelt, Curry, Quay, Union, and Debaca. Fans outside these areas will need to subscribe to the NBA and MLB out-of-market services.

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Rice University researchers unveil new model that could sharpen MRI scans

MRI innovation

Researchers at Rice University, in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, have developed a new model that could lead to sharper imaging and safer diagnostics using magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI.

In a study recently published in The Journal of Chemical Physics, the team of researchers showed how they used the Fokker-Planck equation to better understand how water molecules respond to contrast agents in a process known as “relaxation.” Previous models only approximated how water molecules relaxed around contrasting agents. However, through this new model, known as the NMR eigenmodes framework, the research team has uncovered the “full physical equations” to explain the process.

“The concept is similar to how a musical chord consists of many notes,” Thiago Pinheiro, the study’s first author, a Rice doctoral graduate in chemical and biomolecular engineering and postdoctoral researcher in the chemical sciences division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, said in a news release. “Previous models only captured one or two notes, while ours picks up the full harmony.”

According to Rice, the findings could lead to the development and application of new contrast agents for clearer MRIs in medicine and materials science. Beyond MRIs, the NMR relaxation method could also be applied to other areas like battery design and subsurface fluid flow.

“In the present paper, we developed a comprehensive theory to interpret those previous molecular dynamics simulations and experimental findings,” Dilipkumar Asthagiri, a senior computational biomedical scientist in the National Center for Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, said in the release. ”The theory, however, is general and can be used to understand NMR relaxation in liquids broadly.”

The team has also made its code available as open source to encourage its adoption and further development by the broader scientific community.

“By better modeling the physics of nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation in liquids, we gain a tool that doesn’t just predict but also explains the phenomenon,” Walter Chapman, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Rice, added in the release. “That is crucial when lives and technologies depend on accurate scientific understanding.”

The study was backed by The Ken Kennedy Institute, Rice Creative Ventures Fund, Robert A. Welch Foundation and Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

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