HOUGuide
Houston's New Restaurant Openings
photo credit: Duc Hoang
If you tried to keep track of every new restaurant and bar in Houston, your head might spin. So just read this list instead. These are the openings that seem like they have the most potential. Although, keep in mind, we make no promises about the places we haven't visited yet. Go forth and be a pioneer—or just keep up with our Hit List to see which new restaurants we checked out and loved.
May 2024
In addition to its setup at Minute Maid Park, Maven—by Astros’ pitcher Lance McCullers Jr.—is now open at the base of the Thompson Hotel. Coffee shop by day and cocktail bar by night, Maven can make you an espresso and an espresso martini.
Sol 7 sits on the seventh floor of the new Thompson Hotel, which is pretty high up compared to other Houston rooftop spots. The American cafe serves an all-day menu with lobster rolls and steak frites, as well as weekend brunch with Magnol pastries.
The popular Montrose barbecue spot The Pit Room opened its second outpost in Memorial. The new restaurant pays homage to the original’s massive patio with garage bay doors, giving the place an indoor-outdoor feel but with even more TVs. For now, the menu for both locations is the same, with classic three-meat barbecue plates and massive beef ribs.
Jethro’s Cocktail Lounge is the latest bar to pop up in Montrose. Jethro’s is keeping it simple, with 10 cocktails on the menu, including a watermelon margarita and the team’s interpretation of an Old Fashioned. On the food side, there will be a vegetarian-friendly option and fries, but it’s otherwise all about a smashburger (which gets a special house sauce and a brioche bun).
April 2024
While the name might sound like it belongs to an eclectic music store, the Euro-Tex restaurant Blue Tuba is now open in The Heights. Crossing the chefs’ European heritage and good ‘ole fashioned Texas-style food, the menu shows off dishes like pan-fried schnitzel, tacos topped with escargot, and Hungarian goulash.
The popular California pizza mini-chain owned by an actor and the folks behind Sprinkles cupcakes is now open in River Oaks. In addition to Neapolitan pizza, Pizzana serves pasta, salad, and dessert, and even offers gluten-free pizza.
Adding to Houston’s Tex-Mex scene, La Vida opened its doors in the Oak Forest neighborhood. All of the usual suspects are on the menu (tacos, enchiladas, and plates of fajitas), but there are also a few dressed-up dishes, including crawfish quesadillas and something called “Queso Loco”.
The second location of Vibrant is now open in Memorial Park. We can only hope that this health food restaurant maintains the same notoriety—like being a giant freezer (it’s very cold in there)—as its Montrose sister. But the menu items like sweet potato noodle stir fry, breakfast tacos, and masa pancakes are all guaranteed and as expected, the full Vibrant menu will be gluten, dairy, and white sugar-free.
Dipping Tiger in Chinatown has 15 types of phở, and almost every bowl features a helping of filet mignon. Alongside brisket hot pot, they also have dishes like fried spring rolls to keep you company while you wait for your broth to reach an edible temperature.
While many restaurants in the Medical Center are quick lunch-time options for healthcare workers, Molihua fills a gap for upscale dinners. Now open on the second-floor of The Blossom Hotel, this Japanese restaurant will serve small bites, aburi sushi, and dishes like mochi-covered chicken wings over rice.
The Local Foods team has been incredibly busy this week, opening not one but two new concepts. And the newest location opened in the Galleria neighborhood. If the thought of leaving your emotional support location has you down, don’t worry, this one still has all of the Local Foods staples, including the pozole and crispy chicken sandwich.
Maximo started out as a food truck doing taco pop-ups around Houston. Now, the Mexican restaurant from the team behind Local Foods has a brick-and-mortar in West University. Grab a crispy fish taco on nixtamalized tortillas, a barbacoa grilled cheese, or have a margarita on their spacious patio.
Bori has been serving Korean BBQ in Spring Branch for years and now has a new location open in Montrose. While the newest iteration of this KBBQ spot might not have the art gallery like the OG location, it still features highlights like the kimchi pancakes, bulgogi fried rice, and enough cuts of meat to feed a small platoon.
KP’s Kitchen opened a second location in Bellaire serving 12-hour baby back ribs and crispy wings during lunch and dinner. During brunch, they have french toast, quiches that rotate weekly, and croissant sandwiches stuffed with scrambled eggs.
Atlanta-based Mexican restaurant Little Rey has made its way to Houston. The River Oaks counter-service restaurant will have carnitas tacos and agua frescas of the day, and for the weekend warriors, Little Rey has an assortment of breakfast tacos made with housemade flour tortillas.
March 2024
Ema is open for breakfast and lunch in The Heights. This Mexican bakery and cafe serves conchas made with brioche, papaya salad, and tacos with confit carrots. You can expect caffe de olla with cinnamon, tejate, and more made with beans from South and Central America.
Bar Bludorn in Memorial is from the team behind Navy Blue and (surprise) Bludorn. The menu focuses on adding their spin to classic dishes, like beignets topped with country ham and their standard oysters served three ways.
From the team behind Lucille’s, the long-awaited Late August is now open for lunch. This Midtown restaurant offers a compact menu of shareable small bites including gumbo with chorizo, smoked chicken wings covered in mole, and five bean chili. Late August will be open in the Ion building for dinner beginning April 8th.
The mezcal bar Quiote has re-opened after a two-year hiatus. Located inside of The Toasted Coconut in Montrose, the bar seats 14 people and serves agave-based cocktails. Come to the candlelit bar for some classic margaritas, have a drink made with goat cheese and Mexican rum, and a plate of duck confit tacos.
A new Detroit-style pizza joint has joined the party. Via 313, a Memorial neighborhood spot, has a menu full of rectangular pies with thick crusts. The pizzas range from a simple cheese to a pie with five different types of meat piled on top. And for dessert, there are baked cinnamon sticks and ice cream floats made with Vernor’s ginger ale.
photo credit: Richard Casteel
The Austin-based bar Nickel City has made its Houston debut in EaDo. The dive-y bar’s menu consists of frozen Irish coffees, beers, and cocktails that can be enjoyed inside or on the connected patio.
Adding to the near-endless concepts by Berg Hospitality, the Timbergrove steakhouse Prime 131 has a little bit of everything. At Prime 131, the meat is cooked by live fire, which can be seen from every table in the restaurant. But steaks are just the start of the menu here. They have a seafood tower with a dozen roasted oysters and an entire lobster, sushi platter with sparklers, and a KBBQ “steak omakase” starting at $135 per person. The limit does not exist.
The latest club-adjacent restaurant to hit Uptown cooks almost everything, including Caesar salad, over a live-fire grill. Duchess—a Mediterranean-Asian-South American cuisine amalgam restaurant that sort of looks like a tavern got an HGTV-style renovation—serves skewers, sliders, and lobster tails covered in caviar.
It’s been a banner year for Italian food in Houston with so many new spots opening. And the latest casual spot Magdalena’s Trattoria & Pizzeria in Upper Kirby keeps the trend going. Opened by someone formerly at Da Marco, Magdalena’s menu lists fresh pastas, a veal osso buco, and over a dozen pizzas.
