
Restaurateur Benjy Levit’s new Rice Village bistro is a French-inspired journey fueled by cocktails, oysters and heaps of caviar. 4340 Westheimer Eau Tourįresh raw oysters at Eau Tour, a new modern bistro from restaurateur Benjy Levit at 5117 Kelvin in Rice Village. The project comes from restaurateur Brian Doke owner of Heights & Co. Chef Ilias Gugole has created a menu that includes charcuterie, beef and tuna tartare, seafood crudos, pasta dishes and larger plates including ribeye steak, roasted salmon and duck breast. The former Concura Italian Bites space on Westheimer is now home to a new modern Italian restaurant. Shepherd ĭante's River Oaks, a modern Italian restaurant, is now open at 4340 Westheimer. The owner plans additional Houston locations. Built on signatures of nacho-like kimchi fries and loaded quesadillas, the menu now includes customizable bowls (rice, noodles, fries or greens topped with Korean barbecue, spicy pork, soy-glazed chicken, or tofu) and Korean ssam wraps (taco- and burrito-like bundles of barbecue-stuffed tortillas). The Austin-based Korean-Mexican concept that Houstonians first knew as a food truck now has its first brick-and-mortar location in the Heights. Rice bowl and signature kimchi fries at Chi’Lantro BBQ, an Austin-based Korean barbecue restaurant that opened its first Houston location in the Heights. 4444 Westheimer, Suite A175, Houston, TX 77027 The posh restaurant with its generous patio now gives the River Oaks crowd a swell new place to see and be seen. Larger plates include bone-in veal Milanese, mushroom risotto, branzino baked in salt, spaghetti with clams, and pasta with tomatoes, basil and fresh burrata. The menu from former Ristorante Cavour chef Renato De Pirro offers classics such as carpaccio with lemon truffle dressing, charred octopus with tomato and olive salsa, fried calamari and shrimp with Calabrian chili aioli, and prosciutto and arugula pizza. Set in the former Tom Ford boutique, Bari is a new player in River Oaks District. Spaghetti with clams at Bari Ristorante, a buzzy new Italian restaurant at River Oaks District. Executive chef Louis Maldonado, whose resume includes Michelin-star restaurants such as French Laundry, has created an indulgent menu with starters such as oysters, caviar, steak tartare and clams casino steaks galore (including bone-in ribeye and Australian wagyu) and showy entrees such as whole grilled turbot, duck with foie gras, and vadouvan-spiced Maine lobster. Karen Warren/Staff photographerĪndiron is a live-fire steakhouse from Sambrooks Management Company (The Pit Room, Candente).

Turbot croquette topped with caviar and gold leaf from chef Louis Maldonado is on the menu at the new Andiron steakhouse. Main dishes include chicken with turmeric labneh, grilled octopus and a showy rack of lamb with purple cauliflower. There’s hummus, tuna tartare, feta dumplings, shrimp falafel, and mushroom “shawarma” tucked into mini pitas.

Consulting chef Mark Cox, working with executive chef Christian Hernandez, has created a menu of Mediterranean fare inspired by the Levant region of the Middle East. This glamorous new River Oaks restaurant (Arabic for “my heart”) comes from siblings Nano and Jimy Fakhoury of Mary’z Mediterranean and their partner Aladdin Nimri. Here are some of the hottest new openings so far in 2023.
