According to the filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, the “Joey Houston” project calls for a whopping $9 million construction of a “new one-story full-service restaurant and commercial kitchen.” The 7,700-square-foot buildout is expected to start in early September and finish by the end of April 2027. 

TRM Architects, whose past work includes the Cheesecake Factory and the Grand Lux Cafe, have been tapped as the design firm.

Jeff Fuller founded JOEY, with the first restaurant opening in 1992 in Calgary, Alberta. The first version of the restaurant was actually a pasta house called Joey Tomato’s. It later changed its name to JOEY in 2005. Today, the restaurant sits somewhere between a casual sit-down and a fine-dining establishment. The food-and-beverage menu is globally inspired, and doesn’t sound too far off from what Grand Lux Cafe does.

JOEY was expanding into the U.S. in the 2010s with locations primarily along the East Coast. In 2021, the restaurant chain opened its first Texas location in Houston at 5045 Westheimer Rd. in the Galleria area. (Houston foodies will remember the space used to be occupied by the critically acclaimed but short-lived Yauatcha.) A second restaurant opened in Dallas at 8687 N Central Expy in 2024.

Other JOEY locations include Miami, Fla.; San Diego, Calif.; Seattle, Wash.; and several in the Los Angeles area, plus more across Canada.

It’s likely the new JOEY restaurant will likely be called JOEY CITYCENTRE or some such, but if they’re brave, they’ll call it JOEY WESTSIDE.