HOUGuide
Houston's New Restaurant & Bar Openings
All the new restaurant and bar openings in Houston you should know about.
Keeping track of every brand new restaurant and bar in Houston is enough to make you a little dizzy. Which is why we put together this guide to all the new restaurants and bars that seem like they have the most potential. Although keep in mind, for the ones we haven’t tried, we make no promises. Go forth and be a pioneer.
Got any tips? Hit us up at houston@theinfatuation.com.
December 2022
Lymbar is a Mediterranean-Latin restaurant inside The Ion at the border of Midtown and Third Ward. It's from David Cordúa, of the Cordúa family behind the classic Houston restaurants Churrascos, Americas, and Amazon Grill. The swanky restaurant serves dishes like tacos Arabes, lamb chops with tabbouleh, and foie gras donut holes.
The boys behind the popular sushi spots Kokoro and Aiko move into Montrose with another location of Handies Douzo. There is sushi bar seating similar to the Heights’ location, as well a menu of nigiri, sashimi, and hand rolls.
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Amazingly, Houston has yet to reach maximum capacity for sushi restaurants, and the number continues to grow with the addition of Money Cat in Upper Kirby. The chef behind the sleek and popular Japanese restaurant Tobiuo in Katy moves into the city with a pared down menu and (hopefully) a lot of money cat luck.
We’re not sure how the mashup of Japanese-French cuisine will work, but Ciel, the newest clubstaurant in River Oaks, will hopefully illuminate us. Ciel’s got sushi, steak, lounge dancers, DJs, bottle service, massive St. Tropez-esque murals, heavily-garnished cocktails, VIP areas, giant sparklers, and a strict semi-formal attire requirement. Reservations are recommended.
La Diabla Retro Bar
From the folks behind the street-style taco spots La Calle Tacos comes La Diabla Retro Bar, a Mexico City-inspired nightclub Downtown. La Diabla plays throwback Latin hits, serves Mexican candy-flavored shots, and has a variety of flautas—because nothing goes better with dancing and sugary drinks than fried food.
Home Slice Pizza from Austin has established a, uh, second home in Midtown Houston after nearly two years of setbacks. The New York-style pizzeria serves up their signature eggplant pie or white pie with spinach, along with salads, subs, and calzones. You can also order beer and wine to-go.
Dripped Birria
The popular birria purveyor Dripped Birria has expanded to Rice Military with their third food truck. Open until 4am everyday, they’re serving classic quesabirria tacos and big bowls of thick ramen noodles in Dripped’s spicy consome.
Cafe Louie, the all-day East End café, pulled a makeover switcheroo and reopened as Louie’s Italian American. Inspired by the chef’s popular red sauce Sunday tasting menu, Louie’s serves classic Italian food like chicken parmesan and handmade pastas with your choice of sauce.
The Gypsy Poet
The people behind the wood-fired pizza spot The Gypsy Poet have opened a second location in The Heights on Studewood Street. Expect the same 13” pies topped with ingredients like Sicilian sausage, gorgonzola, and hot honey. While the original Midtown location often has live entertainment, we don’t know yet if The Heights will also serve the same poetic purpose.
photo credit: Sushi By Hidden
Sushi By Hidden
The chefs at Hidden Omakase know you’re in a rush, so they’ve opened Sushi By Hidden, a 10-seat omakase restaurant in Rice Village. Part restaurant, part NFT art gallery (you read that correctly), Sushi by Hidden offers a 12-course, 30-minute omakase for $60 every night of the week.
Milk Mustache
Previously only available wholesale, Milk Mustache has opened a storefront bakery in Tanglewood serving their chunky, six-ounce cookies with classic flavors like chocolate chip and snickerdoodle. They also have a dough bar, which is, you guessed it, scoops of edible cookie dough with unlimited toppings. Live your dream.
November 2022
One Shot Pocha
This new Korean karaoke restaurant and soju bar in Spring Branch not only has an extensive food menu, but also a long list of flavored soju and cocktails.
If you need a bite while bar hopping in Midtown, stop by the new halal-friendly food truck Clutch City Tacos where you can order a double-stacked cheeseburger or carne asada tacos from. It’s open Friday to Sunday nights.
Fifth Vessel is a chic and minimal corner coffee shop at the north end of Downtown Houston. Grab breakfast sausage rolls or a ricotta toast alongside specialty drinks like a peach and matcha latte or spicy ganache cortado.
photo credit: Liz Silva
Spanish Flowers Mexican Bar & Grill
The classic Tex-Mex restaurant Spanish Flowers wants to make sure you always have somewhere to eat late at night, so there’s now a third location in Rice Military. Split a flight of pomegranate or blood orange margaritas and a plate of sizzling parrilladas until 2am on weekend nights.
photo credit: Three Brothers Bakery
Three Brothers Bakery Tanglewood
Three Brothers Bakery has expanded to a fourth location in Tanglewood, so you can try their massive bakery menu which includes assorted hamantaschen and their custom pumpecapple piecake. You’ll also have a better chance of getting their challah bread that regularly sells out.
Crispy Rolls Station
Inside of the Galleria Food Truck Park is Crispy Rolls Station, a halal food truck serving deep-fried shawarma rolled into a crispy tortilla. Head to this spot any day of the week for beef and chicken shawarma rolls, grape leaves, and fried chicken wings.
photo credit: Liza Silva
Zanti Cucina Italiana River Oaks
The folks behind Zanti Cucina Italiana in the Woodlands have opened a new location in River Oaks. At this swanky and enormous Italian restaurant, you can sit under a massive crystal chandelier and take your pick from dishes like lobster pizza, black truffle taglioni, and halibut alla sarda.
The people behind the taqueria Doña Leti have opened a second location near the edge of The Heights and Memorial Park where you can get your birria fix. The massive menu has stuffed burritos, loaded fries, and every birria concoction imaginable, including a huge birria pizzadilla. Pair that with a few electric-neon frozen cocktails or chamoy-rimmed agua frescas.
From the team behind Bludorn comes Navy Blue, a seafood-centered restaurant in Rice Village. The menu takes inspiration from the Texas Gulf Coast, so you’ll find gumbo, lobster ravioli, swordfish au poivre, and oysters either raw, fried, or baked.
The Mediterranean spot Craft Pita has opened a new location in the West University neighborhood. Craft Pita also has an extensive gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan menu options.
photo credit: Liz Silva
Riverhouse Houston
The new golf course East River 9 alongside the Buffalo Bayou is where you’ll find the restaurant Riverhouse Houston. After hitting the green, you can head to this spot for burgers, street tacos, sandwiches, loaded yard fries, an assortment of cocktails and beer, and a view of the downtown skyline.
Montrose’s coveted all-organic cafe reopens this month after an extended hiatus. Don’t worry, the only thing they revamped was the menu, but you’ll still be able to feel effortlessly chic while sipping your golden mylk latte.
From the chef behind the Korean fried chicken spot Dak and Bop comes Karne, a Korean-style steakhouse in the Heights. Here, they grill everything to order, right in front of you, and the menu focuses on specialty cuts of American and Japanese wagyu. There’s an extensive cocktail menu.
photo credit: Caroline Fontenot
Goode Co. Kitchen and Cantina
The Goode Company restaurant group opened their first inner Loop location of the Tex-Mex concept Kitchen & Cantina in The Heights. The menu features mesquite-grilled meats, made-to-order guacamole, and other Tex-Mex staples.
photo credit: Maderas
Maderas Kitchen & Cantina
Maderas Kitchen & Cantina is a modern Mexican restaurant at the edge of Montrose and Midtown. They’re open for brunch, lunch, and dinner, and they serve up dishes like huaraches and birria barbacoa ramen.
From the restaurant group behind spots like Kamp and Prospect Park is Bungalow, a luxe dining option downtown with wall-to-wall marble, plush booths, and a steakhouse-style menu. There’s also a rooftop patio.
Dreamed up by local food influencer Abbas Dhanani, Burger Bodega feels part art installation, part restaurant. Now open in Rice Military, they serve smashburgers, chopped cheese sandwiches, fries, and shakes. The inside resembles an intensely self-branded reproduction of a New York City bodega, complete with fake laundry detergent bottles and cereal boxes.
October 2022
Toyori is a ramen and grill restaurant in Don Huang Plaza in Chinatown. In addition to tonkotsu or jamon serrano ramen, they also have grilled meat or tofu sizzling plates drizzled in a choice of three different sauces with a side of spaghetti, corn, and a fried egg.
Cucharita serves as the smaller companion to the Mexico City-style restaurant Cuchara, which is across the street on Fairview and Taft in Montrose. The all-day breakfast and lunch menu includes weekly rotating chilaquiles plates and sweet, boozy coffees.
Goldie’s is a pop-up that quietly opened inside of the wine bar How to Survive On Land & Sea in the East End. The limited menu includes lobster rolls, trout-roe encrusted waffle fries, and beef tartare.
photo credit: Emilia's Havana
Emilia’s Havana
This pseudo-speakeasy in Memorial somehow squeezed in a live band, a rum fountain, a full bar, and 50 seats in a former Cafe Annie storage closet. Who knows what they were storing in there, but it must’ve been huge. The bar requires a minimum food and beverage spend per seating, levies a $50 per person entertainment fee, and has a strict dress code. Got all that?
We are not sure why this Lindale Park bar is called Gagootz, but it claims to be Mexican-Italian-inspired. Maybe they really like the Italian squash sometimes referred to as gagootz. Or they felt a kinship with the Staten Island slang term and felt like letting everyone know they’re a little wild. Either way, this cocktail and patio spot offers up tostadas, wings, and other bar food, with plans to expand the menu.
photo credit: EaDough Pastries & Provisions
EaDough Pastries & Provisions
EaDough Pastries & Provisions is a bakery located in (surprise) the EaDo neighborhood. In addition to puns, this walkup spot has coffee, tea, assorted baked goods like croissants and cinnamon rolls, and frozen “take and bake'' treats that you can make later. The menu will be expanding to lunch in the near future.
photo credit: Killer Noodle
Killer Noodle
The ramen chain Killer Noodle got its start in Los Angeles, and now they’re bringing their spicy noodles to Houston, with their newest location in The Heights. You can come here for tan tan men ramen served with or without soup, as well as small bites like gyoza and takoyaki.
The folks behind Gatsby’s Prime Steakhouse in Montrose have now opened Gatsby’s Prime Seafood in the River Oaks neighborhood. This new swanky spot does chilled seafood towers, lobster tail, and Alaskan king crab, but you can also get a few items you’d find on the steakhouse menu, like tomahawk ribeyes.
Little Patagonia, in the Galleria neighborhood, is a cafe devoted solely to empanadas. You can come here all day long for breakfast empanadas, savory empanadas with pork, chicken, and lamb, as well as sweet ones with banana and nutella. It’s from the people behind the Argentinian restaurant Patagonia Cafe & Grill.
From the restaurant group behind Coltivare comes EZ’s Liquor Lounge, which is located right next door. This spot in the Heights is designed with a gritty dive bar aesthetic and has an assortment of cocktails, ice-cold beers, a pool table, old timey beer signs, and taxidermied fish on the walls.
For years, Mala Sichuan Bistro has provided Houstonians with spicy Szechuan food at multiple locations around the city. And now they’re bringing their mouth-numbing cuisine to a new upscale, modern space in the MKT marketplace in the Heights.
Supreme Gumbo took the internet by storm earlier this year with their decadent gumbo-filled tacos and quesadillas. They’ve since moved their operation from the inside of a gas station in the Third Ward to a new brick and mortar in the Heights. In addition to their gumbo-based creations, they’re also making boudin balls and ribs during the week, and fried catfish on the weekends.
September 2022
The original location of the coffee shop Wild has been serving CBD-infused coffees and teas in the Heights since February. Now, there’s a new location in Montrose that shares the same Miami-influencer-greenhouse aesthetic, with the addition of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There’s a tostada of the day and large shareable dishes like a tomahawk ribeye, all of which can be infused with CBD.
