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Photo: Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 17 Caption Close Image 2 of 17 Gigi Huang at the party following a benefit screening of the film "Mao's Last Dancer" at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. (Photo: Bill Olive Photography) Gigi Huang at the party following a benefit screening of the film "Mao's Last Dancer" at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. (Photo: Bill Olive Photography) Photo: Bill Olive / Bill Olive Photography Image 3 of 17 At Gigi's Asian Bistro & Dumpling Bar in the Galleria, Friday, owner Gigi Huang and executive chef Junnajet Hurapan present offerings from their menu of assorted dumplings with associated sauces.(Photo: Steve Ueckert / Chronicle) less At Gigi's Asian Bistro & Dumpling Bar in the Galleria, Friday, owner Gigi Huang and executive chef Junnajet Hurapan present offerings from their menu of assorted dumplings with associated sauces.(Photo: Steve ... more Photo: Steve Ueckert / Houston Chronicle Image 4 of 17 Gigi Huang poses in her new Galleria restaurant Gigi's Asian Bistro and Dumpling Bar on Thursday, June 12, 2008, in Houston. It is redefining the Galleria dining scene. (Photo: Sharon Steinmann / Chronicle ) less Gigi Huang poses in her new Galleria restaurant Gigi's Asian Bistro and Dumpling Bar on Thursday, June 12, 2008, in Houston. It is redefining the Galleria dining scene. (Photo: Sharon Steinmann / Chronicle ... more Photo: Sharon Steinmann / Houston Chronicle Image 5 of 17 Image 6 of 17 Peking Duck "sliders" at Gigi's Asian Bistro in the Galleria, April 9, 2009. (Photo: Karen Warren / Chronicle ) Peking Duck "sliders" at Gigi's Asian Bistro in the Galleria, April 9, 2009. (Photo: Karen Warren / Chronicle ) Photo: Karen Warren / Chronicle Image 7 of 17 Edamame Truffle Dumplings at Gigi's Asian Bistro in the Galleria, April 9, 2009. (Photo: Karen Warren / Chronicle ) Edamame Truffle Dumplings at Gigi's Asian Bistro in the Galleria, April 9, 2009. (Photo: Karen Warren / Chronicle ) Photo: Karen Warren / Chronicle Image 8 of 17 The Shanghai Ribeye at Gigi's Asian Bistro in the Galleria, April 9, 2009. (Photo: Karen Warren / Chronicle ) The Shanghai Ribeye at Gigi's Asian Bistro in the Galleria, April 9, 2009. (Photo: Karen Warren / Chronicle ) Photo: Karen Warren / Chronicle Image 9 of 17 Chef Junnajet Hurapan served the lobster signature dish at Gigi's Asian Bistro in the Galleria on July 09, 2009. (Photo: Mayra Beltran / Chronicle ) Chef Junnajet Hurapan served the lobster signature dish at Gigi's Asian Bistro in the Galleria on July 09, 2009. (Photo: Mayra Beltran / Chronicle ) Photo: Mayra Beltran / Houston Chronicle Image 10 of 17 Image 11 of 17 Gigi Huang poses on the outdoor patio in her new Galleria restaurant Gigi's Asian Bistro and Dumpling Bar on Thursday, June 12, 2008, in Houston. (Photo: Sharon Steinmann / Chronicle ) Gigi Huang poses on the outdoor patio in her new Galleria restaurant Gigi's Asian Bistro and Dumpling Bar on Thursday, June 12, 2008, in Houston. (Photo: Sharon Steinmann / Chronicle ) Photo: Sharon Steinmann / Houston Chronicle Image 12 of 17 Chef Junnajet Hurapan served the lobster signature dish at Gigi's Asian Bistro in the Galleria on July 09, 2009. (Photo: Mayra Beltran / Chronicle ) Chef Junnajet Hurapan served the lobster signature dish at Gigi's Asian Bistro in the Galleria on July 09, 2009. (Photo: Mayra Beltran / Chronicle ) Photo: Mayra Beltran / Houston Chronicle Image 13 of 17 Dumplings at Gigi's Asian Bistro & Dumpling Bar in the Galleria. (Photo: Steve Ueckert / Chronicle) Dumplings at Gigi's Asian Bistro & Dumpling Bar in the Galleria. (Photo: Steve Ueckert / Chronicle) Photo: Steve Ueckert / Houston Chronicle Image 14 of 17 Chef Junnajet Hurapan signature dish a lobster at Gigi's Asian Bistro in the Galleria on July 09, 2009. (Photo: Mayra Beltran / Chronicle ) Chef Junnajet Hurapan signature dish a lobster at Gigi's Asian Bistro in the Galleria on July 09, 2009. (Photo: Mayra Beltran / Chronicle ) Photo: Mayra Beltran / Houston Chronicle Image 15 of 17 Image 16 of 17 Cherry Blossoms dangle over restaurant at Gigi's Asian Bistro in the Galleria on July 09, 2009. Mayra Beltran / Chronicle ) Cherry Blossoms dangle over restaurant at Gigi's Asian Bistro in the Galleria on July 09, 2009. Mayra Beltran / Chronicle ) Photo: Mayra Beltran / Houston Chronicle Image 17 of 17 Gigi's Asian Bistro closes in Galleria 1 / 17 Back to Gallery

Gigi’s Asian Bistro & Dumpling Bar, the Galleria restaurant opened by Gigi Huang, daughter of a Houston culinary pioneer, has served its last pot sticker and shrimp shu mai. The restaurant, where Houstonians ate well and celebrated hard for six years, closed Wednesday night.

The restaurant apparently had trouble paying rent to Galleria, a Simon Mall.

“After six years in the Galleria, due to economic challenges and unforeseen circumstances involving my business partner, it is with a heavy heart that Gigi’s Asian Bistro & Dumpling Bar is closing,” Huang stated in a short release Wednesday night. “We would like to thank all our friends and lifelong customers for their patronage at The Galleria.”

Huang’s business partner, Houston billionaire John Goodman, is awaiting retrial in Florida fighting a DUI manslaughter conviction. The 49-year-old polo mogul was found guilty in March 2012 of DUI-manslaughter and vehicular homicide, stemming from a hit-and-run crash in 2010. His original conviction was overturned because of juror misconduct.

Huang opened her modern Asian restaurant with Goodman in February 2008, serving dumplings and dim sum staples – a rarity outside Chinatown at the time. Hunan — the restaurant her father, venerable restaurateur James Huang, opened in 1976 — had just closed. James Huang is widely credited with introducing Houston to sophisticated Chinese cuisine.

Gigi Huang, who worked for her father since childhood, put her own stamp on Huang family’s culinary legacy with her chic restaurant in the Galleria that quickly became known as a place to have a great time. Junnajet Hurapan, a Bangkok-born chef, was Gigi’s executive chef from the beginning. Hurapan and Huang worked well together – innovating, adding lavish and lusty menu items, and inaugurating the restaurant’s popular Sunday dim sum brunch – for years until chef “Jett” left in 2012 to open Blu in Sugar Land.

Throughout, Gigi’s was the spot not just for good food, but for good fun. Huang was known for her parties following Simon Fashion Now shows at the Galleria. No one was shocked by her outdoor deejays or shirtless male models serving cocktails at her post-fashion show soirees.

She was considered the hostess with the mostest, throwing many memorable parties, fundraisers, chef’s dinners, and wine and spirits events at the restaurant which featured a main dining room decorated with cascades of 15,000 silk cherry blossoms. Huang even created extravagant events that weren’t at Gigi’s: She organized a spectacular afterparty following Fashion Houston fashion week in November 2012, taking over a space in Highland Village and turning it into a decadent blowout called Madness & Mayhem.

A party spot for sure, Gigi’s was also a place of familial traditions. It’s where many Houston families celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, and special occasions. Gigi’s was a favorite of former President George H.W. Bush, who traditionally dined on Christmas Day at the restaurant. When he was ailing in December 2012, Bush spent Christmas Day at Methodist Hospital with family that year, eating food ordered from Gigi’s.

Will Bush – or Gigi’s devoted customers, for that matter – ever taste her food again? In her brief statement Wednesday night Huang hinted that Houston foodies haven’t seen the last of her: “In the meantime, stay tuned on news of the ‘Return of the Phoenix,’” she stated.