Pastore, 1180 Dunlavy, will open June 30 in Regent Square. The long-awaited Italian concept from Underbelly Hospitality will have Jeff Potts at the helm as executive chef along with Underbelly culinary director Scott Muns. The duo have crafted a menu that aims to give Houston diners a coastal Italian dining experience.
In keeping with the coastal theme, the seafood-centric menu will offer items like a rotating seafood tower, mussel scapece, scallop crudo and oysters topped with a prosecco granita. There are handmade pastas as well including kale cavatelli, squid ink linguine and swordfish amatriciana. The kitchen’s hearth will turn out a selection of flatbreads with options for gluten-free diners, too. A highlight of the bread service will be the freshly-baked focaccia made from general manager Peter Pearce’s five-year-old sourdough starter.
Entree choices include Branzino Puttanesca and Porchetta with gigante bean ragout and desserts such as apple fritters and olive oil cake. The Celery Root Panna Cotta with glazed figs and limoncello sabayon is a unique and creative finale to an Italian feast.
Potts, who has worked with seafood much of his career, said in a press release, “Houston has great Italian restaurants but we’re filling a void for seafood-forward, coastal cuisine. In keeping with the ethos of Underbelly Hospitality and Italian gardens, the flavors sown through the menu will be light and fresh, rooted in seasonality.”
Italian gardens are the inspiration for more than just the menu at Pastore. Houston-based architecture and design firm, Montgomery Roth, has blended the garden aesthetic with contemporary touches to create an interior of serenity and tranquility across the 2,611 square-foot-dining room. Exposed white ceilings and a mural image of cascading flowers greets guests entering the restaurant. Soft tones of blue, green and gray transport diners to a coastal getaway with floor-to-ceiling windows allowing sunlight to filter across the floral carpet and porcelain tile.
In the wooden-canopied bar, guests can sip on aperitifs like Italian spritzes or cool down with a frozen limoncello. Award-winning mixologist Sarah Troxell has created a bar program of refreshingly light cocktails with a focus on Italian spirits and ingredients.
As with any good Italian restaurant, much attention has been paid to the wine list. The wine display, tucked under the staircase, showcases an extensive collection, many of which are Italian bottles, plus a boutique offering of varietals from lesser-known producers and regions.
The staircase leads to a huge rooftop terrace which will open at a later date.
El Topo,6119 Edloe, is slated to rebrand as Teshica this fall. The new-Western eatery from chef Tony Luhrman originally began as a food truck in 2015. Its success at the Urban Harvest Farmers Market led to the opening of its all-day brick and mortar in January 2020, a mere couple of months before the COVID pandemic shutdown. Known for its tacos like the Houston, made with 44 Farms beef barbacoa, pickled onions, herbs and epazote aioli, the restaurant also serves a selection of breakfast tacos and dinner plates such as the Chile-Butter Aged Tenderloin.
Though a closing date for El Topo has not been set, its transformation into Teshica will be in the hands of Luhrman and experienced Houston restaurateur Benjy Levit, according to a press release. Levit is the owner behind Local Foods, Lees Den and the recently opened Eau Tour. However, a spokesperson for Levit said that there was no comment about the partnership at this time.
The name itself is a mash-up of the words Meshica and Taysha and the cuisine will be authentic Tex-Mex without the whitewashing of recipes and their origins. With Luhrman’s creative approach to the world of craft tacos, the new restaurant promises to elevate the farm to table concept with inventive seasonal dishes including salads, sandwiches and tortas. The nixtamal tortillas used at the new restaurant will be made in-house from heirloom maize.
Along with its progressive approach to the guest experience and work environment, the rebranding will continue the commitment to an all-natural wine list curated by Jeff Makjavich.
Shake Shack, 2515 Town Center Boulevard N., opened June 22 in Sugar Land. This will be the first drive-thru location of the burger restaurant in Texas. It offers a two-lane ordering system, a digital menu board and a separate window for pick-up. There is also digital pre-ordering for pickup or delivery via the Shack app. Dine-in is available as well. This will make location number six for the Greater Houston area, not including its concession stand in Minute Maid Park.
For its opening day, Shake Shack Sugar Land offered the first wave of customers a voucher to attend a Sugar Land Space Cowboys game this season along with giveaways of custom Sugar Land-themed tote bags with a design by local artist Michael C. Rodriguez. The Houston artist also curated the mural for the new restaurant as well as art for the Montrose and Galleria locations.
As part of its Something Good campaign, Shake Shack pledged to donate $1 for every sandwich sold on opening day to the Southern Smoke Foundation.
NOTO Houston, 3215 McKinney, will celebrate its grand opening this week with ticketed musical events and DJ appearances. It begins June 22 with Afrojack, a world renowned DJ on the electronic dance music scene. Loud Luxury will bring their EDM hits to NOTO June 23, followed by DJ Spade June 24.
NOTO stands for Not of the Ordinary and its comes from No Ordinary Hospitality Group based in Philadelphia where the original NOTO opened in 2017 as a massive club venue. The new NOTO Houston will be huge as well spanning 15,000 square feet in a re-purposed East Downtown warehouse. There are 30 banquette seating areas along with two bars and a general assembly space. The DJ booth and stage are cutting edge and the venue offers state-of-the-art production systems, a bespoke sound system and immersive LED panels.
As with NOTO Philly, the team is led by young hospitality professionals including general manager Morgan Carmona who was formerly a manager at Kirby Ice House. Cory Andrews, who was previously the back of the house manager for the Cle Group, will serve as assistant general manager.
The venue is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings and for special events. It will also host private gatherings. There is parking for approximately 60 vehicles.
North Italia, 818 Town & Country Boulevard, is currently under construction at CityCentre as reported to us by a Houston Press reader. We reached out for more details and a projected opening date and were told that the opening is slated for “later this year”.
This will be the third Houston-area location for the modern Italian restaurant from Fox Restaurants Concepts. It opened its location in The Woodlands in October 2022 and has another on Post Oak.
Urban Bird Hot Chicken, 11671 FM 2154, opened June 19 in College Station. It’s the 8th location for the Houston-based brand and the first outside of the Greater Houston area, but not for long. The company is opening a location in Round Rock, Texas soon, as well as two more Greater Houston area stores. One is planned for Baytown and another for Cypress at 290 and Skinner.
The first Urban Bird opened in Katy in September 2020 and it has quickly become a local favorite. That success has led to expansions across the city and outlying suburbs. The menu centers around jumbo chicken tenders that can be ordered at different spice levels from Country (no spice) to Fire in the Hole. From our personal experience, we suggest keeping it in the medium range such as Nashville Hot if you like spicy foods but are not a masochist.
Diners can order chicken tender baskets with crinkle fries or the Tender Sando which is a brioche bun filled with two jumbo tenders, kale slaw, pickles and its signature Urban Bird sauce. There are a variety of loaded fries thanks to its ghost kitchen concept, Chronic Fries.
Big Chicken, 9660 Westheimer, is hosting a grand opening event June 24 and the big man himself, Shaquille O’Neal, will be on hand to welcome diners and fans from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. O’Neal, who is a partner in the Big Chicken enterprise, will be joined by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner along with Emily Williams Knight, the president and CEO of the Texas Restaurant Association. There will be photo opportunities with the legendary NBA Hall-of-Famer plus outdoor games and family-friendly activities.
The fried chicken sandwich restaurant first opened in Las Vegas in 2018. The Westheimer Houston location opened this past April and is a franchise operation from Fazil Malik, Frank Malik and Noordin Jhaver.
There are a variety of fried chicken sandwiches along with popcorn chicken, tenders and fried chicken salads. A particularly interesting side dish is the Lucille’s Mac N Cheese which has a crust made of Cheez-Its.
8 Ounce Korean Steak House & Bar, 23220 Grand Circle Boulevard, opened late May in Katy. This is the second location for the high-end Korean barbecue restaurant which first opened in Las Vegas in 2017. Diners will find a variety of meats, proteins and seafood to choose from which are cooked by the staff on the grills at each table. The combos come with a selection of sides such as veggie skewers, kimchi stew and cheese fondue. Additional sides such as seafood pancake and japchae are available as well.
Patis & Toyo, 23220 Grand Circle Boulevard, is also coming to Katy Grand but there is no set opening date. According to its Facebook post May 10, the restaurant had expected to be opening that week but was delayed because “city ordinances dictate that we’ll need to hold off a bit”.
Katy residents are eagerly awaiting the opening of the Filipino restaurant which will serve authentic dishes such as lumpiang (pork egg roll), sour tamarind soup, kare-kare and adobo with a choice of pork, chicken or squid.
Leaf & Grain, 5525 Weslayan, has launched a new sandwich menu. Known for its salads and grain bowls, the debut of the sandwiches has been long in the making and the emphasis is on high-quality meats, from-scratch sauces and of course, exceptional bread. Using its homemade sourdough, normally a complimentary item served with salad orders, and ciabatta from Houston’s Slow Dough bakery, the menu will offer sandwiches such as the Avocado Turkey Club, Chicken Pesto, Southwest Turkey and Chicken Salad. The Farmers Market sandwich is roasted chicken breast, goat cheese, honey, apple, arugula and mayonnaise on Slow Dough ciabatta.
Deets Hoffman, founder of Leaf and Grains, said in a press release, “I was so obsessed with the idea of having a sandwich restaurant in high school that my friends put ‘Owner of a chain of sandwich shacks’ in the ‘In 20 Years’ section of our yearbook.” According to a press release photo, it actually said CEO.
Maybe the new sandwich menu is just the beginning.
Houston TX Hot Chicken, 10111 Louetta, is hosting a car meet June 24 beginning at 11 a.m. It will also be holding its “We Have a Problem Challenge” in which the first person to finish three HHC “Houston, We Have a Problem” chicken tenders while avoiding liquid for three minutes following tender consumption will receive $1,000.
In addition to Supercars and a DJ, Craft Creamery will be on hand to give out samples of its frozen treats.
Conroux at Hyatt Regency Conroe, 1001 Grand Central Parkway, opened May 25 along with the new hotel itself. The hotel restaurant, led by executive chef Christian Brady, is driven by local ingredients with a focus on East Texas flavors. There is also a new lobby bar, Avenue A.
The 250 room hotel is located in Johnson Development’s Grand Central Park on the former site of Camp Strake, the Boy Scouts of America Sam Houston Area Council’s wilderness camp for 70 years. It closed in 2014 and relocated to Coldspring, Texas in 2019.
Joe’s Italian Restaurant, 13203 Jones, is hoping to open July 17 after its city inspections July 11, according to a phone call made to the restaurant.
Golden Chick, 4000 N. Sam Houston Parkway, opened June 22. It’s the 8th location in Houston for the quick-service chicken restaurant which operates over 214 stores across Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and Louisiana. There is one planned soon for Nevada. The newest Houston location is owned and operated by franchisee Ayaz Ali who also operates the Golden Chick in Spring, Texas.
The Peach Truck is adding a surprise Houston tour this weekend due to an unexpectedly bountiful harvest. Peach lovers can pre-order online for pick up at one of the stops, though walk-ups are welcome.
Owned by Stephen and Jessica Rose, the company partners with peach growers in Georgia and South Carolina to deliver peaches across the country via nationwide shipping and local pick up in various cities.
The Houston tour will be June 24 and June 25. The Saturday stops begin at The Woodlands Mall from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. then onto Willowbrook Mall from 11 a.m. to noon. The Peach Truck will then be at Deerbrook Mall from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. and Baybrook Mall from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
On Sunday June 25, the truck will be at Bering’s Hardware (3900 Bissonnet) from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. followed by a stop at Katy Mills from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Its final Houston leg will be at Houston Premium Outlets from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
