Hatching: Avner Samuel leasing the former Horne and Dekker space for more casual Nosh

Chef and restaurateur Avner Samuel is in expansion mode.

In a moment of candor, he told me a couple of weeks ago that his grand plan is to open a total of five Nosh restaurants, “because that’s the  magic number ” for the P&L sheet.

He’s already opened a Nosh Euro Bistro in Dallas and Plano, another’s under construction in Austin, and Samuel let on that he’s going to open a new, more boozy, more casual, less expensive Nosh spin-off. While Samuel was mum on the location two weeks ago, word on the street  is that he’s inked the lease on the former Horne and Dekker space on Henderson Avenue, adjacent to Veritas in Uptown.  (A spokesman for Nosh declined to comment., but we know what that means.)