Welcome to DiningOut’s Plate Full of News, your weekly serving of Houston restaurant, bar and culinary news. From buzzy openings and chef moves to can’t-miss events, menu debuts and industry updates, here’s everything happening in Houston’s dining scene this week.
The 411
Tacos Doña Lena is moving its original Spring Branch restaurant to a larger space at 2030 Bingle Road, just one block from its current Hammerly Boulevard location. According to the restaurant’s Instagram page, the new restaurant is expected to open in the coming weeks and will introduce a full bar with margaritas, beer, and specialty cocktails, along with new menu items including queso, guacamole, flautas, desserts, and other Mexican antojitos. The current Hammerly location will remain open until the move, with a grand opening date to be announced.
AYLA, a new modern Mediterranean restaurant, opened September 26 inside the InterContinental Houston at 6750 Main St. Led by executive chef Ibrahim Alsharif, the restaurant draws inspiration from Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, France, Spain, and Italy, with a menu centered on live-fire cooking, seafood, and shareable dishes. The signature AYLA Mezze Table features a custom revolving centerpiece loaded with house-made hummus, muhammara, labneh, baba ghanoush, whipped feta, pickled vegetables, and wood-fired pita. Other dishes include char-grilled octopus, branzino with saffron risotto, olive-crusted beef tenderloin, and grilled lamb chops. AYLA is open daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with weekday happy hour from 2 to 5 p.m.
Southern Jerks HTX, the homegrown Caribbean-inspired concept that got its start inside a Houston gas station, is expanding with two full-service restaurants. The new Greens Road location recently opened at 111 Greens Road, offering a larger, family-friendly dining room for the brand’s Caribbean flavors and Southern comfort food. Owner Jabril Riddick will continue the expansion in October with another location at 12374 Martin Luther King Blvd. in South Park, with additional opening details to come.
Love Croissants will open its first standalone location on Thursday, October 1, at 801 W. 16th St. in the Heights. Created by chef Omar Pereney and now part of his Culinary Matters hospitality group, the pastry concept is expanding with new croissant sandwiches, including a breakfast version with scrambled eggs and onion jam and a turkey-avocado club made with smoked turkey from Bar-A-BBQ. The 1,500-square-foot café will also feature a drive-thru that stays open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, plus a large outdoor patio. A community grand opening with samples, entertainment, and giveaways is planned for Saturday, October 10.
Little Ruby’s, the Australian-inspired all-day café that originated in New York City, is headed to Houston with a 3,500-square-foot restaurant at Central Park Post Oak. Part of Wish You Were Here Group, Little Ruby’s serves breakfast through dinner with signatures including the Bronte burger, house-made pastas, ricotta hotcakes, coffee, and cocktails. The restaurant joins fellow Wish You Were Here concepts Élephante and Bar Bambino at the Galleria-area development, along with restaurants including The Henry, Sparrow Italia, Buck & Rider, and Handies Douzo. An opening date has not yet been announced.
Happenings
Georgia James will host a five-course French wine dinner on Wednesday, September 30, featuring a collaborative menu from chef Renato De Pirro and James Beard Award winner Douglas Rodriguez, chef of Exilio. The $150 dinner pairs French wines, including Champagne, Alsace Pinot Blanc, Burgundy Pinot Noir, and Sauternes, with dishes such as fried rock shrimp with passion fruit glaze, bay scallop ceviche with uni leche de tigre, duck confit sopes with foie gras, RC Ranch petite tenderloin with braised oxtail, and molten chocolate empanadas. Reservations are available through OpenTable.
On the Menu
Ouisie’s Table is putting wild game on the menu with a series of weekly off-menu dinner specials running September 28 through November 22. Chef Martin Bolanos kicks things off with herb-crusted buffalo tenderloin with brandy cream sauce, followed in the coming weeks by dishes featuring duck, venison, and North American elk. Highlights include duck confit with orange glaze, venison backstrap with port wine reduction, elk osso buco, and saltine-crusted venison chicken-fried steak. Each week’s special will be posted on the restaurant’s dining room blackboard, with optional wine pairings available.
Sushi by Hidden in Rice Village has debuted a new fall menu from chef Marcos Juarez, spotlighting seasonal seafood and produce across its lunch and dinner offerings. New dishes include bluefin tuna with Asian pear and sesame-ginger vinaigrette, Hokkaido scallop carpaccio with Red Delicious apple and wasabi-yuzu sauce, and a Fish of the Day Hand Roll with spicy wasabi-poblano sauce. Lunch additions include a Prince Edward Island oyster with spiced cherry granita and seasonal nigiri such as red barracuda and bluenose grouper.
Bread Zeppelin is supporting Breast Cancer Awareness Month with its limited-time Pink Lady, available at Houston-area locations through the end of November. The salad combines Pink Lady apples, candied pecans, goat cheese, red onion, grilled chicken, greens, and champagne vinaigrette, and can be ordered as a bowl or stuffed inside the restaurant’s signature toasted baguette. For every Pink Lady sold, $1 will benefit The Rose, a Houston nonprofit providing breast cancer screening and treatment services to women regardless of insurance status or ability to pay.
MOD Pizza is teaming up with ABC’s Abbott Elementary for The Honor Roll, a limited-time Philly cheesesteak-inspired pizza available nationwide through November 29. Inspired by the show’s Philadelphia setting, the pizza features an olive oil and garlic base topped with mozzarella, shaved beef, onions, green peppers, roasted red bell peppers, and cheddar. The collaboration arrives ahead of the October 7 season premiere of Abbott Elementary.
