IMPACTS ROUNDUP: 3 new Bay Area businesses, plus penguins at Moody Gardens

Chloe’s Cajun Kitchen opened Nov. 23 at 111 West Bay Area Blvd., Webster. The business is a specialty Cajun and Creole grocer and restaurant, offering both a daily lunch plate special and to-go kitchen items. Customers can purchase refrigerated and frozen Cajun meats, as well as seasonings, mixes and sauces, to cook with at home. Lunch plate menu items include a gumbo of the day and a boudin-stuffed grilled cheese. 832-932-3759. www.chloescajunmarket.com

“Our main focus is on differing Cajun and Creole specialties, with all recipes coming from our family across the region,” owner Jason Montegut said in an email to Community Impact Newspaper. “The store is mainly set up for grocery shopping and a lunch counter, with a few tables for sit down dining – nothing fancy!”

League City Eyecare & Eyewear opened Nov. 30 at 3725 E. League City Parkway, Suite 100, League City. The optometric office offers full vision and ocular health services including visual assessments, contact lens examinations, emergency eye health services and comprehensive ocular health evaluations, said owner Meagan LeGrand. The office also offers a range of fashion, safety and sunglass frame designs in the optical showroom as well as in-house eyeglass finishing services. 281-305-1609. www.leaguecityeyecare.com

In the News

Moody Gardens, 1 Hope Blvd., Galveston, welcomed two healthy Macaroni penguin chicks to its South Atlantic exhibit Nov. 14. The chicks were born to penguin parents Bleu and Feta and penguin parents Muenster and Gouda, respectively, and this is the second year of successful hatching, according to a media release.

Macaroni penguins, native to the Sub-Antarctic region, are considered a vulnerable species due to overfishing and climate change. The penguins coexist with five other penguin species inside the Moody Gardens Aquarium Pyramid, which is one of the largest and most diverse aquariums in the United States, per the release. The aquarium contains more than one million gallons of water and marine life from five distinct environments including sting rays, sharks, seals, sea lions and more than 200 species of fish. 409-744-4673. www.moodygardens.com