ReikiNa’s Pop-Up Series Reignites Its Tasting Experience in Fourth Ward Coffee Shop

Following a brief closure, Montrose restaurant ReikiNa will reopen — this time, hosting a series of pop-ups with a rotating pre-fixe menu crafted by its chef, former Uchi prep cook, Thomas Stacy.

Operating out of Native Coffee at 1712 West Dallas Street in Fourth Ward, ReikiNa will serve dishes inspired by a range of cuisines from around the world, with a new lineup debuting every two months, according to a release. The pop-ups will host up to eight guests at three seatings — at 6 p.m., 7:15 p.m., and 8:30 p.m. — on Thursday through Saturday.

Dylan Scardino

Priced at $100 per person, the first five-course menu iteration will include:

• Yellowtail sashimi with apricot jam, tamari, olive oil, and crispy potato
• Sesame Caesar salad with pickled kohlrabi, cherry tomato, and burnt sourdough
• Smoked cod agnolotti with bonito flake cream sauce
• Smoked RC Ranch Wagyu with kalbi mustard greens and miso potato
• Nectarine icebox pie with a homemade marshmallow and vanilla egg custard

Dylan Scardino

Though alcohol will not be served, Guests will have the option to BYOB. Reservations, made on resy.com, are encouraged.

With a name derived from an invented combination of Japanese words that come to mean “derived snacks,” ReikiNa’s restaurant first opened in July 2021 in Houston’s CityCentre.

According to Houston Food Finder, the restaurant wasn’t without its problems. Guests dined at a community table, making the experience less intimate. A planned walk-in-lounge at the front of the restaurant never came to fruition, and the restaurant could be difficult to find given that there was no signage directing guests to its second-floor location, Food Finder wrote.

During the pandemic, Stacy turned ReikiNa into a private tasting menu pop-up series, which has inspired its most recent rendition. The chef said in a statement that ReikiNa’s evolution was a learning experience that’s helped inform how he wants to move forward with his brainchild. “I want to do it a bit differently this time — more rustic, with fewer courses, larger portions, and the option for guests to sit at their own table,” Stacy says.

Though there’s no set date, Stacy plans to eventually open a brick-and-mortar again, according to a release.