Openings
The short-lived Ocean's is now Concepción with chef Jonathan Jones at the helm. Currently open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday and Sunday brunch, the restaurant features Jones' take on Latin American and Mexican cuisine and specializes in ceviche. Developer Jorge Alvarez made a good move changing the so-so Ocean's into a new concept and hiring one of the city's favorite chefs. The historic home in Montrose with its wonderful tree-lined patio was once the home of the popular Bistro Vino, which closed in 2008 after a 24-year run. Concepción, 819 West Alabama St., Houston, TX 77006, 713-213-3611.
Seasons 52, which bills itself as a "fresh grill and wine bar restaurant," has announced plans to open a branch at Millennium High Street in spring 2013. It will include a custom-built wine cellar, piano bar, two private dining rooms and a chef's table. The menu will offer seasonally inspired items such as steak and cremini mushroom flatbread and cedar plank salmon. As at the other locations, no dish on the menu will exceed 475 calories. Seasons 52, 4410 Westheimer Rd., Houston, TX 77027, no phone.
Houston’s Lower Westheimer Curve --- home to such famous eateries as Indika and Dolce Vita Pizzeria & Enoteca --- now has a new entry. Chef German Mosquera and partners have opened Roots Bistro, a casual neighborhood restaurant featuring vegetarian and vegan farm-to-fork dishes and a retail wine program designed by Tony Elsinga, a nearly three-decade veteran of the wine business. The restaurant itself is Green Certified and the patio is also dog friendly. Roots Bistro is in the former home of So Vino and Café Moustache. Roots Bistro, 507 Westheimer Rd., Houston, TX 77006, 713-524-1000.
From a food truck to a brick-and-mortar --- the guys behind the popular Eatsie Boys gourmet truck are set to open their first restaurant this summer. The new Eatsie Boys 100-seat café will be in the former home of the Kraftsmen Baking café in the 1940-era building known as The Campanile, originally built as a brick church. Co-owner Ryan Soroka says the interior will be revamped to reflect the funky Montrose area vibe with a design inspired by a local graffiti artist. The food will be similar to that served at the food truck, featuring gourmet sandwiches, pastries, ice cream, breakfast fare and light dinners. Soroka, along with partners Alex Vassilakidis and chef Matt Marcus, are also busy building their 8th Wonder Brewery. “We’ve always planned on having a restaurant and a brewery,” Soroka says, “but Texas laws don’t allow brewpubs to sell the beer they make, so we’re having to have two separate locations.” The new café will share the building with a city library, Cezanne jazz club and the Black Labrador pub. Eatsie Boys, 4100 Montrose Blvd., Houston, TX 77006, no phone.
Austin’s über chef Tyson Cole opened his first foray into Houston’s restaurant scene on Feb. 2 with his second Uchi. The hotly anticipated modern Japanese restaurant already has reservations booked through the end of the month and wait times for tables are running over an hour on some evenings. The dinner-only eatery features sushi and entrees of lightly battered fish and vegetables overseen by chef de cuisine Kaz Edwards and some amazing pastries created by Phillip Speer of the Austin operation. The restaurant serves beer, wine and sake only and is in the completely renovated historic Felix Mexican Restaurant on the Westheimer Curve in the Montrose area of town. The arched windows and entrance of the building are still there, but inside it’s been turned into a sleek and comfortable building featuring reclaimed wood, a communal dining table and a private room with a 60” TV. Dinner nightly. Uchi, 904 Westheimer Rd., Houston, TX 77006, 713-522-4808.
News
Bytes
It’s Watermelon Time in Texas
High atop the Hyatt Regency Houston, the revolving Spindletop restaurant is celebrating summer with watermelon soup. Chef de cuisine Drew Yeckley has created a chilled Texas watermelon soup of fresh blended watermelon, honey, rosemary, mint, citrus juices and Champagne. The restaurant serves it with a side of cucumber, feta cheese and balsamic reduction so diners can add as much or as little of garnish as they wish. The soup is available now through August --- when the Rio Grande Valley watermelon season ends. The Spindletop, Hyatt Regency, 1200 Louisiana St., Houston, TX 77002, 713-654-1234.
New Sunday Supper Service at Sorrel Urban Bistro
The Sunday supper trend continues to march along in Houston as Sorrel Urban Bistro joins the list of restaurants adding an early meal on Sunday. In the case of the farm-to-table Sorrel, supper will be a chops and frites affair from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. The seasonally changing menu by chef Soren Pedersen might start with Brookshire pork chops, veal chops, a Rib-eye chop with chili and a seafood golden tile chop, all served with pommes frites and steamed vegetables. Starters and desserts round out the meal, and of course there are the usual wines and custom cocktails to enjoy. Sorrel Urban Bistro, 2202 W. Alabama St., Houston, TX 77098, 713-677-0391.
Texas to Get a Master Chef of France
The French Cowboy, chef Philippe Schmit, has been honored with a Maîtres Cuisiniers de France (Master Chef of France) designation in Perpignan, France. Schmit is one of only ten U.S. chefs to receive the honor this year. Currently there are only 45 Maîtres in this country. The Paris-based Association des Maîtres Cuisiniers de France awards the title annually to French chefs who “preserve and spread the French culinary arts, encourage training in cuisine, and assist professional development.” Schmit, who’s Philippe Restaurant + Lounge opened to much acclaim last year, says it’s a great honor to receive the “most coveted award in France.” Chef Schmit, formerly of New York City’s La Bernadin, Orsay and La Goulue, is known for his traditional French cooking and use of Texas ingredients, as well as for his trademark cowboy boots that earned him his nickname. Philippe Restaurant + Lounge, BLVD Place, 1800 Post Oak Blvd., Houston, TX 77056, 713-439-1000.
Chef Shuffle
Good news for fans of Triniti Restaurant + Bar and chef Ryan Hildebrand: He's opening another restaurant. Hildebrand has hired Houston's MC2 Architects to build a new restaurant at the site of the shuttered Ruggles Grill at 903 Westheimer Road. Called Brande, the place will have a rustic farmhouse feel and specialize in charcuterie, crafted breads, pastries, dry-aged meats and craft cocktails. Dax McAnear, formerly of Beaver's and benjy's and most recently at San Francisco's Hog & Rocks, will return to Houston as chef de cuisine of Brande, which is scheduled to open in the fall of 2013. Brande, 903 Westheimer Rd., Houston, TX 77006, no phone.
What do you do after a life threatening illness? If you are Philip Green, a computer entrepreneur who suffered liver cancer for six years while awaiting a transplant, you make dessert. Three months after his surgery, Green attended Houston’s Culinary Institute LeNôtre, where he studied cuisine and pastry. After graduation, he went to work at RDG + Bar Annie for celebrity chef Robert Del Grande. Now he’s the new pastry chef at the popular Rice Village area Prego, where he’s winning over sugar fiends with his grandmother’s pound cake and Italian mostarda, a fruit preserved in syrup that has a touch of mustard seed. The recipe dates back to the time of the ancient Romans, when it was made with fruit, honey and crushed mustard seeds. In Northern Italy, it is commonly served with boiled meats. At Prego, Green makes his mostarda with seasonal fruits such as apples, pears, grapes and pineapple, plus sugar and mustard oil. The fruit is served with a wood-grilled pork chop and fresh-made waffles during Sunday brunch, and the syrup is used to create sauces and syrups for a variety of desserts, including his new tarts. Prego, 2520 Amherst St., Houston, TX 77005, 713-529-2420.
In what looks like a sports trade, restaurant style, Houston got an Uchi restaurant from celebrity chef Tyson Cole but is losing one of its top chefs to Austin’s Uchi. Chef Jeramie Robison has announced he’s leaving Restaurant CINQ and Zimm’s Little Deck at the end of February to move to Austin and work at the Uchi there. Robison says he’s looking forward to working with Cole, a James Beard-award winner for 2011. But Houston foodies will certainly miss Robison, who was the culinary talent behind the reinvention of the restaurant in the historic La Colombe d’Or boutique hotel in the Montrose area. No word yet on who will replace Robison in the kitchen at Restaurant CINQ. Restaurant CINQ, La Colombe d'Or Hotel, 3410 Montrose Blvd., Houston, TX 77006, 713-524-7999.
Closings
After 47 years, Vargo's, a lakefront restaurant known for its peacock population strolling the lawns, has shuttered. Rumors had been floating ever since a for sale sign showed up on the 8.7-acre property, but on May 11, the once popular restaurant closed it doors, leaving several would-be brides frantically looking for a last minute venue. The Vargo's website still lists the property for sale and says the restaurant is temporarily closed. Yet a Houston Business Journal article says the property is in bankruptcy and a new sign posted on the property says the site has been sold and will be the future home of a mixed-use development. Founder Al Vargo sold the site in the 1990s, after it started to fade from its heyday in the '70s and '80s. Vargo's, 2401 Fondren Rd., Houston, TX 77063, no phone.
Bryan Caswell --- from "The Next Iron Chef" --- and restaurant partner Bill Floyd now have one less restaurant in their Houston empire. The Texas-Tuscan Stella Sola closed May 6. Caswell said the decision to close was made due to an uncertain future about the lease and the departure of chef de cuisine Adam Dorris. Stella Sola had a good run. Caswell and Floyd still have REEF, Little Bigs and El Real Tex-Mex Cafe to keep them busy.
In a surprising move, Landry’s Pesce fine seafood-dining eatery closed over the April 1st weekend. But this was no April Fool’s joke, as the phone, website and sign are now gone. Pesce was a hot spot for most of its ten years in the Upper Kirby area but faced recent competition from the newer Eddie V’s Prime Seafood at West Avenue. Located in The Centre at River Oaks, which also houses a shuttered Borders bookstore, the former Pesce spot may not stay empty for long. The national chain Brio Tuscan Grille has pulled renovation permits for the location. Pesce, 3029 Kirby Dr., Houston, TX 77098, no phone.
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