Openings
The city has a new Spanish eatery from longtime restaurant manager Alberto Alfonzo. Tintos Spanish Restaurant & Wine Bar opened in June featuring tapas and a large wine selection. "Tintos will be open seven days a week, 11 a.m. until 10 p.m., and will serve great Spanish food, both traditional and modern, where it will be all about flavor," Alfonzo said. Tintos also has a retail license to sell wine by the bottle or case. It takes over the River Oaks space that was formerly Backdoor Sushi. Lunch & Dinner daily. Tintos Spanish Restaurant & Wine Bar, 2015-J West Gray St., Houston, TX 77019, 713-522-1330.
Piero Selvaggio of the famed Valentino in Santa Monica and Las Vegas, is headed to Houston. Selvaggio and executive chef and partner Luciano Pellegrini will open PS Valentino Vin Bar in the trendy boutique Hotel Derek this fall, taking over the Bistro Moderne space. PS Valentino Vin Bar will house two dining experiences, an intimate fine dining restaurant serving Selvaggio's inventive Italian cuisine and the more casual Vin Bar with a selection of innovative dishes in a "primi" or small plate format. PS Valentino Vin Bar, Hotel Derek, 2525 West Loop S., Houston, TX 77027, no phone available yet.
After his successful exec chef stint at the The Mansion Restaurant at Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, toque John Tesar returns to Texas to open his first eponymous restaurant. Tesar's passion for sustainable foods will be the focus for his first branded restaurant, Tesar's Modern Steak & Sustainable Seafood. The earth-friendly menu will feature produce, meats and seafood that are 100% organically grown and fed, with a zero-tolerance policy for resource or food waste. Tesar's Modern Steak & Sustainable Seafood is coming to the Woodlands area of Houston in August.
Chef Marco Wiles has made it a trifecta in Montrose by adding the vinoteca salumeria Poscol to his existing Da Marco and popular Dolce Vita Pizzeria & Enoteca. The new space is a wine bar with charcuterie (some of which is cured in-house), paninis, cheeses, salads and pastas. Much more casual than the fine-dining Da Marco---and even Dolce Vita---Poscol fills a niche in the neighborhood for those looking for an extensive wine list and small plates that go well beyond the cheese and cracker set. Poscol, 1609 Westheimer Rd., Houston, TX 77006, 713-529-2797.
The Azuma Group's HUE, in Upper Kirby, is now Kata Robata, a chef-driven grill and tapas eatery. And the chef is none other than Manubu "Hori" Horiuchi, formerly of Kubo's. Chef Hori promises a contemporary take on traditional Japanese cuisine, with such menu items as snapper sashimi with truffle oil, uni and king crab spoons and a Kobe beef roll. Kata Robata, 3600 Kirby Dr., Houston, TX 77098, 713-526-8858.
News
Bytes
Raul Molina, Jr. Honored by TRA
Raul Molina, Jr., the second of three generations to own and operate Molina's Cantina, was inducted into the Texas Restaurant Association's Hall of Honor in June. The Hall of Honor is the highest recognition members of the TRA can achieve. Molina, Jr. took over Molina's Cantina, Houston's oldest Tex-Mex restaurants, family owned and operated since 1941, from his father in 1977, although he started working in the family business at the age of 12. Still going strong, the restaurants are now run by his three sons, Ricardo, Raul and Roberto. Molina's Cantina, 4720 Washington Ave., Houston, TX 77007, 713-862-0013.
Bistro Calais Offers Saturday Brunch
Bistro Calais is now serving a modified Saturday brunch after the success of its Sunday brunch, which draws a packed house to the little cottage on the edge of River Oaks. Co-owner Jane Knapp says the Saturday brunch won't include the carvery and omelet stations they do on Sunday, but "we do have a spinach, bacon and goat cheese omelet on the menu, as well as eggs Benedict with fruit and hash browns," she says. Co-owner and chef Phillip Mitchell also has added homemade waffles with fried chicken wings to the menu. There are also bagels and lox and, of course, $3 mimosas. Bistro Calais, 2811 Bammel Lane, Houston, TX 77098, 713-529-1314.
Denver-based Smashburger Expands to Houston
Houstonians love their burgers---even if they do come from a Denver-based burger joint. Earlier this year, Smashburger opened a storefront at 7811 Main St. near the Texas Medical Center (713-491-4526), and now comes word that the smashed-burger concept has been so well received in Houston that the company will open three more locations by the end of the summer. The burger joints will pop up in West University, the Galleria area and the Energy Corridor. Smashburger, 7811 Main St., Houston, TX 77030, 713-491-4526.
Dessert Gallery Bakery & Cafe Moves Flagship Store
Dessert Gallery Bakery & Cafe is moving its flagship store from its current backstreet location to a front-and-center space at 3600 Kirby Drive. The suite number, appropriately, is D, for dessert. The new location opened May 26 in a space designed by Kathy Heard of OPEN Restaurant Design. It peddles sweet eats, features ample off-street parking and plenty of indoor and outdoor seating. Owner Sara Brook is also adding new menu items, including filled cupcakes and Tres Leches cake. Dessert Gallery, 3600 Kirby Dr., Suite D, Houston, TX 77098, 713.522.9999.
Own Your Own Carrabba's Kitchen
Now everyone can cook at Carrabba's. The just-opened Crawford Experience Center, a multi-million dollar, 10,000-square-foot design-built showroom, features six kitchens. Of special note for foodies is one designed by Johnny Carrabba of Carrabba's Italian Grill and host of the PBS show Cucina Amore. The $100,000-Italian villa kitchen has a coffee bar, butler's pantry and wine cellar. The showroom is open by appointment only, so call ahead if you want to remodel your kitchen into a Carrabba's special. Crawford Experience Center, 3033 W. Alabama St., Houston, TX 77098, 713-463-8600.
Chef Shuffle
Chef Steve Super has left The Reserve Room at Uptown Park, but not the company that owns it as well as The Tasting Rooms and Max's Wine Dive. Super, a former musician, got his wish when the company transferred him to Austin---The Live Music Capitol of the world---to become the executive chef at the brand new Max's there. TTR is now doing a nationwide search for two executive chefs, after Michael Dei Maggi left the local Max's of open his own eatery. The Reserve Room at Uptown Park, 1101 Uptown Park Blvd., Ste. 18, Houston, TX 77056, 713-993-9800.
Chef Matthew Gray has been named executive head chef at Chez Roux, the first American eatery from European star chef Albert Roux. Gray comes from Inverlochy Castle in Scotland, where he worked under Roux since 2005. "I am excited for this very new and promising chapter of my life," Gray said. "There is a certain mystique about Texas that has always fascinated me, and I am particularly excited about the Houston area's burgeoning culinary scene, in addition to what I understand are a wealth of nearby resources for locally grown produce plus game and seafood." Chez Roux, La Torretta Del Lago Resort & Spa, 600 La Torretta Blvd., Montgomery, TX 77356, 936-448-4400.
Closings
Sauté is now shuttered, after just six months. The new world Creole restaurant, opened by Connie Lacobie who also owns Té House of Tea, closed June 5. In what's becoming a modern-day trend here, Sauté announced the closing via Twitter, the microblogging social network that is now a mainstay of hot young chefs and foodies in Houston. http://sautebistro.com/. Sauté, 2303 Richmond Ave., Houston, TX 77098, no phone.
|
