Embattled Chef Don Bowie Plots a New Doughnut Shop For Washington Avenue

Chef Don Bowie, who runs the kitchen at wildly popular Midtown brunch spot Taste, has yet another eatery in the works.

As Eater reported earlier this month, Bowie recently received Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission permits for a spot on Washington Avenue to be called Rare Restaurant & Lounge. Now it appears he has a third restaurant under his sleeve — a doughnut shop on Washington Avenue.

A job listing on Poached for a pastry chef lists Culinary Matters, Bowie’s company, as the hiring party, with restaurants Taste, Rare, and a new name — Dripped Donuts — under its umbrella. The business already has a nascent Facebook page, but details on the types of doughnuts that the shop will serve are scant.

According to business filings, Dripped will be located at 5909 Washington Avenue, just a few blocks west of Rare’s location at 4105 Washington Avenue. Bowie hasn’t announced an opening timeline for Dripped Donuts, and declined to provide comment.

Even as the chef is working to open two new restaurants, he’s endured some controversy in recent months. In June, his business partner at Taste, Dallas restaurateur Kevin Kelley, filed a lawsuit against Bowie in Harris County accusing the chef of outright theft and the misappropriation of more than $800,000 in cash and company property from the restaurant. That litigation is still pending, and Bowie filed a general denial of all of Kelley’s claims with the court.

Earlier this month, a bartender at Taste went viral on Twitter after claiming she was fired for tweeting about the restaurant’s lax safety protocols around COVID-19. That same bartender later tweeted that a coworker from Taste had died after contracting COVID-19.

• Embroiled in a Messy Lawsuit, Chef Don Bowie Has a New Restaurant in the Works [EHOU]
• Houston Bartender Says She Was Fired After Tweeting About Undisclosed COVID-19 Staff Case at Her Restaurant [EHOU]