Houston’s Most Anticipated Restaurant and Bar Openings, Fall 2023

Houston’s restaurant scene has proved eventful in 2023 with more than 50 openings from multiple bars and restaurants since January alone. Now, fall is here, and in this new season, Space City is slated to welcome a new onslaught of anticipated restaurants and bars, ranging from establishments slinging Thai cuisine, Korean fried chicken, Persian eats, and more. Though delays sometimes come up — meaning projected opening dates could change — here’s what the Houston dining scene has planned for this fall.

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September

Balboa Surf Club

Location: 1753 Post Oak Boulevard, 77056
Key players: Western Addition Restaurant Group
Projected opening: September 2023

Seafood will dominate the menu at this new Post Oak Boulevard restaurant. Anchoring the ends of this ritzy Post Oak Plaza complex along with its sister restaurant Il Bracco, Balboa Surf Club is slated to serve whole fish, prime meats butchered in-house daily, entree salads, hearty handhelds made with homemade bread, and a curated sushi program. The interior will also be a highlight, with its wine list displayed in a glass-fronted wine room.

Norigami

Location: 2715 Bissonnet Street
Key players: Chef Jimmy Kieu
Projected opening: September 2023

Evolving from a monthly pop-up at Hidden Omakase, the reservations-only Norigami has now found a permanent home in Rice Village. The brick-and-mortar, which will offer a speakeasy entrance, is slated to offer its artfully made sushi and crowd pleasers like the ménage à foie gras, a luxe combo of uni, toro, wagyu, caviar, and foie gras.

Norigami

Annabelle Brasserie

Location: 811 Buffalo Park Drive, Suite 100, 77019
Key players: Berg Hospitality
Projected opening date: September 2023

From the restaurant group that owns B&B Butchers, the Annie Cafe & Bar, and Turner’s Anabelle Brasserie comes an approachable, all-day brasserie that will serve as a lively destination for guests to enjoy breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with an outdoor space looking out to Buffalo Bayou Park.

October

Phat Eatery - The Woodlands

Location: Grogan’s Mill, 2290 Buckthorne Place, The Woodlands, TX 77380
Key players: James Beard Award-nominated chef Alex Au-Yeung
Projected opening date: October 2023

Katy’s Malaysian restaurant Phat Eatery is making its way to the Woodlands. The larger restaurant promises to be bigger, with three private dining rooms and a robust menu, offering new items like Chinese barbecue pork, Beijing duck, and dim sum, plus a lunch menu featuring bian dang — a bento box-style lunch box featuring a main dish, like barbecue or stir fry, with rice and side dishes. Phat fans can rejoice — street food-inspired dishes like Phat’s flaky roti canai, satay skewers, Kerabu prawns, Malaysian curry chicken, and beef rendang will carry over to the new restaurant.

Rumi’s Kitchen

Location: 1801 Post Oak Boulevard, Suite 120, 77056
Key players: Chef-owner Ali Mesghali and co-owner Stephen Kaplan
Projected opening date: October 12, 2023

Chef Ali Mesghali brings the fifth location of this upscale Persian restaurant to Houston’s Post Oak Boulevard. Launched in Atlanta, Rumi’s Kitchen offers a variety of Persian and Mediterranean dishes, including steaming jeweled rices and kabobs, plus Persian-themed cocktails and a wine list featuring a selection from all around the world.

Rumi Kitchen

Clark’s Oyster Bar

Location: 3807 Montrose Boulevard, 77006
Projected opening date: October 2023

The Austin-based seafood restaurant, owned by MML Hospitality, will open its third location and first Houston outpost in Montrose this summer. Located in a former auto shop on the corner of Montrose Boulevard and West Alabama, the restaurant will offer an all-day menu featuring a wide selection of seafood with a New England influence, including sustainable caviars, oysters sourced from the East and West Coasts, lobster rolls, steaming bowls of chowder and cioppino, and a catch of the day. The restaurant will also focus on shellfish and seafood offerings from the Gulf Coast, plus favorites like its pan-roasted black Angus hamburger topped with gruyere and gribiche sauce (served alongside its snacky shoestring fries), plus fresh-baked sourdough bread. The restaurant will have a dining room outfitted with leather booths, an open raw bar with counter seating, a private dining room and bar area, and an outdoor patio.

MaKiin

Location: 2651 Kipling Street, 77098
Key players: Lukkaew Srasrisuwan, Chef O and Chef Bell
Projected opening date: October 2023

Kin Dee co-owner Lukkaew Srasrisuwan will open a modern Thai restaurant on the ground level of the luxury high-rise Hanover River Oaks. Though no specific menu items have been revealed, Thailand’s culinary duo chefs O and Bell are slated to cook up a variety of dishes that will pay homage to the various cuisines of Thailand and its royal family.

Sean Rainer

Underbelly Burger

Location: 1222 Witte Road, 77055
Key players: Underbelly Hospitality
Projected opening date: October 2023

Underbelly Hospitality Group’s burger joint will open a second location in Spring Branch, bringing the same juicy 44 Farms Angus Burger, the R-C Ranch Wagyu Burger, and a veggie burger, with other highlights like its chicken sandwich, milkshakes, and its Sidewinder fries, which are seasoned with a tangy Ranch powder.

Wild Oats

Location: 1222 Witte Road, 77055
Key players: Underbelly Hospitality
Projected opening date: October 2023

Underbelly Hospitality’s Texas-inspired restaurant Wild Oats relocates from its Houston Farmers Market digs and will open next door to Underbelly Burger in Spring Branch. The menu will largely stay the same, with family favorites like wagyu chicken-fried steak, and the haven-style shrimp corn dogs, plus cocktails for adults, like its classic Ranch Waters, Paloma, and the signature Tommy’s Margarita.

Duc Hoang

November

Street to Kitchen

Location: The Plant, 3401 Harrisburg Boulevard
Key players: Chef Benchawan Jabthong Painter and Graham Painter
Projected opening date: November

Street to Kitchen’s James Beard Award-winning chef Benchawan Jabthong Painter and co-owner Graham Painter are trading in their East End gas station digs for a more spacious location in The Plant in Second Ward. The new restaurant will reportedly be triple the size of the original location and seat up to 100 guests; it will offer an expanded drinks menu, plus new dishes like Thai omelets available throughout the week. The restaurant will also feature a walk-up window for those looking to grab their meals to go, and eventually an outdoor patio for dining and drinking al fresco.

Postscript HTX

Location: Shops at Arrive River Oaks – 2800 Kirby Drive, A32, 77098
Key players: GAP Concepts’s Veeral Rathod, and Obi Ibeto
Projected opening date: November 2023

Pop into this pink oasis and press a doorbell for some bubbly. Postscript HTX, the sister restaurant to Dallas’ splashy XOXO Dining Room, will open in Houston’s Upper Kirby District, offering on-theme pink cocktails, plenty of champagne, all-day brunches, and Instagrammable dishes. Aside from the pink motif, the restaurant will have sparkling light fixtures, illuminated art installations, a 75-seat cocktail bar and lounge, and plush pink seating for nearly 400 people.

Public Content

December

Toca Madera

Location: 1755 Allen Parkway, Suite 101, 77019
Key players: Hospitality group Noble 33 co-founders Tosh Berman and Mikey Tanha
Projected opening date: late December

Following more recent openings in Toronto; London; Las Vegas, and Los Angeles, this modern Mexican steakhouse will open on the ground level of Houston’s Pavilion, offering a lounge, speakeasy, private dining room, and multiple outdoor patios for dining. The restaurant will be joined by Meduza Mediterrania, its swanky sister establishment that serves eastern Mediterranean cuisine, in early 2024.

Dak & Bop

Location: 1801 Binz Street, Suite 120, 77004
Key players: Owner Jason Cho
Projected opening date: late December

This Korean fried chicken spot will reportedly return to its roots in the Museum District this year. Culturemap reports that owner Jason Cho has signed a lease at Dak & Bop’s original location, which he closed at the height of the pandemic in 2020 and most recently housed City Cellars HTX. While Dak & Bop’s location in the Lazybrook/Timbergrove features a menu with both Korean fried chicken and Korean dishes, Dak & Bop’s Museum District revival will focus largely on its shatteringly crispy fried chicken, with some select other items like bulgogi mac and cheese and kimchi fries.

Arnea Williams

Date unannounced

Comalito

Location: 2520 Airline Drive, Suite C-315, 77009
Key players: Underbelly Hospitality
Projected opening date: late December

helmed by internationally lauded chef Luis Robledo Richards, this Underbelly Hospitality taqueria will showcase the flavors of Mexico City, with dishes like tacos al pastor, tacos de parrilla, or grilled tacos, and quesadillas de flor de calabaza (zucchini flower) with all tortillas made in-house with corn sourced from Central Mexico. The new Houston Farmers Market restaurant will replace Wild Oats, which will relocate to Spring Branch, and will eventually expand its offerings to include brunch and breakfast, with tacos and Mexican pastries.

Cyclone Anayas

Location: 3736 Westheimer Road, 77027

The popular Tex-Mex restaurant will open its seventh location at 3736 Westheimer Road near Weslayan Street in River Oaks this fall. The spacious outpost, which was formerly home to Frank’s Americana Revival, will seat up to 210 people, with a private dining room, and will serve enchiladas, margaritas, sizzling fajitas, and many of the same menu favorites it has been serving for nearly 60 years.

Cocody Restaurant and Bar

Location: 1971 West Gray Street, Suite E-09, 77019
Key players: Chefs David Denis and Lionel Debon, Sylvain Denis, Edwin and Edith Bosso
Projected opening date: September

Le Mistral chefs David Denis and Lionel Debon team up with Sylvain Denis and Edwin and Edith Bosso to offer a new addition to the West Gray corridor. The restaurant will focus on applying newer techniques to French cuisine and clocks in at 7,000 square feet of indoor space and a 2,000-square-foot outdoor courtyard dining area. The interior will feature hundreds of crystal lights floating over the main dining room and glowing columns and archways, plus an illuminated lounge area with a free-standing metal bar and a semi-private chef’s tasting room that both give glimpses of the kitchen.

Katami

Location: 2301 West Dallas Street, 77019
Key Players: Chef Manabu “Hori” Horiuchi and partner Yun Cheng
Projected Opening Date: Fall 2023

Named after the Japanese word that translates to “gift” or “keepsake,” Kata Robata’s sister restaurant will be a display of what four-time James Beard Award-nominated chef Manabu “Hori” Horiuchi believes is the true future of Japanese cuisine. The restaurant will merge Japanese and local ingredients with fish flown in from Japan daily (a rep notes that 80 to 95 percent of the fish will be caught off the coast of Japan around 20 hours before it’s served). Truffle, foie gras, and A5 wagyu will be featured items, alongside caviar service and an omakase experience. Tableside wagyu sukiyaki, inspired by the Japanese hotpot, plus a hot stone abalone and uni dashi, toro tartare served with kimchi sauce and Japanese milk bread, strawberry Japanese shaved ice, and a foie gras PB&J are all on deck.

Caroline Fontenot

Auden

Location: 811 Buffalo Park Drive, 77019
Key players: Husband-and-wife team Kirthan and Kripa Shenoy

Duo Kirthan and Kripa Shenoy will tag team to open a new vegetable-focused restaurant in Autry Park this summer, with Kirthan, who has worked at Michelin-starred restaurants in New York, serving as executive chef and Kripa as executive chef. Not much information has been released about the menu, but a release notes that the 150-seat, ground-level restaurant will feature floor-to-ceiling windows and a lush patio area. The restaurant was first announced in December 2021.

Public Content/Autry Park

MaKiin

2651 Kipling Street, Houston, TX 77098

Norigami

2715 Bissonnet Street, , TX 77005 (832) 649-2966 Visit Website

Katami

2301 West Dallas Street, Houston, TX 77019 Visit Website

Cocody Restaurant and Bar

1971 West Gray Street, Suite E-09, Houston, TX 77019 Visit Website

Annabelle Brasserie

811 Buffalo Park Drive, Suite 100, Houston, TX 77019 Visit Website