Two restaurant newbies celebrated summer openings, beginning with Bosscat Kitchen & Libation’s bars inside The James and The Ivy apartment buildings in River Oaks. Residents and guests can enjoy signature cocktails from Bosscat’s bar director Matt Sharp, plus an exclusive menu of light bites. More foodie fun awaited at Poitín, Sawyer Yards’ newest arrival. The restaurant’s grand-opening bash benefited the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, and was full of funky touches like undercover comedians from The Secret Group and a drag show by Blackberri and friends. There was no shortage of beverages or bites — the pork belly apps were nicely washed down with colorful cocktails and beer from neighboring Holler Brewery and Green Flash Brewing Co.
AS A FOURTH-generation Houstonian, Sarah Callaway Sulma has a unique and invaluable view of the city. Her deep seated connection to Houston led her down the path to becoming one the city's most well-respected, and renowned real estate agents. Sarah's natural passion for the real estate industry from a young age led her to where she is today. "I know that it sounds cheesy, but it is the truth! I wanted to be in real estate from a young age," Sarah shares. "The late-great restaurateur, Tony Vallone, put me together with real estate legend, Martha Turner, and Martha put me together with Cathy Cagle. The rest is history-13 years of success and counting!" Now with over 13 years in real estate and $55M+ in residential real estate sales, Sarah brings a rare combination of knowledge, skill, and advocacy to each one of her clients.
But her drive to build and maintain relationships consistently continues to help her advance in her real estate career. “Clients are the greatest investments. I am invested in helping them sell their home and find their dream home, and continue to invest in the relationship far after the transaction. A majority of my clients have already entrusted me through multiple repeat transactions over my 13+ years of experience thus far. I foster those relationships because I intend for them to last a lifetime.”
713.299.9888, sarah.callaway@greenwoodking.com@caglecallaway.gk
It’s Back — Houston Restaurant Weeks Toasts 20 Years! Here Are the Event’s Tastiest Deals
STARTING TODAY, AUG. 1, through Sept. 4, restaurants rally the community to do good while eating well during Houston Restaurant Weeks founded by the late Cleverley Stone, and carried forth by her daughter, Katie Stone. For a month-plus, restaurants offer prix fixe menus and donate a portion of the proceeds to the Houston Food Bank. Come hungry for multi-course brunch menus ($25), lunch ($25), or dinner ($39 or $55) available for dine-in and take-out. Read on to learn about some favorites and snatch reservations!
Bistro Menil
Lemon Tartlet
Make a day of it at The Menil Collection and Bistro Menil. From its three-course menu ($55), choose jumbo lump crab cake and then segue to grilled shrimp skewers or 12-hour beef short rib. Don’t miss the lemon tart for dessert.
Brasserie 19
Deviled Eggs
Dine divinely on three courses ($55), including deviled eggs with caviar and pickled onions, homemade gravlax tartine, trout almondine, grilled hangar steak and chocolate mousse cake.
Brennan's of Houston
Shrimp & Grits
A veteran participant and routinely one of the annual charity’s highest fundraisers, Brennan’s offers elegant Texas-Creole dishes served with flair. This year’s menus include strawberry salad, a Creole fried chicken sandwich, Texas shrimp and grits, and legendary turtle soup, plus classic desserts like Creole bread pudding and praline parfait. Lunch ($25), weekend brunch ($25) and dinner ($55). Full HRW menus here.Reservations here.
Carrabba's Original
Spaghetti & Meatballs
Lunch ($39) on classics like meatballs in pomodoro; Mama Mandola’s Sicilian chicken soup; house salad, and baked rigatoni with Italian sausage. Both the Voss and Kirby originals will honor the HRW menu offer.
Daily Gather
Butcher Burger
This CityCentre favorite is offering a four-course dinner menu ($55) featuring fan favorites such as steak frites, rotisserie chicken and chocolate chip skillet cookie, plus a two-course lunch menu ($25) featuring truffle cacio e pepe frites, butcher burger, and seasonal grain salad. Full HRW menu here.Reservations here.
Fleming's
At the River Oaks and Woodlands outposts of this steakhouse, grab a luxe three-course steak dinner ($55) that includes a crisp Caesar salad, petite filet mignon (or choose fish or chicken), plus dessert. The New York cheesecake is delightful with fresh strawberries, mint and red wine sauce.
Kin Dee Thai
The robust dinner menu ($39) features signature dishes such as chicken satays with peanut sauce and fresh cucumber relish; slow-cooked duck breast noodle soup; and the crowd favorite premium tiger cry — a Thai-style marinated N.Y. strip steak with Northeastern sauce and side of steamed vegetables. Choose desserts like mango sticky rice, Thai tea crème brulee and homemade coconut ice cream.
Lee's Den
This Rice Village hidden-gem by Benjy Levit offers delectable options like Vietnamese beef tartare, red miso cod, decadent lava cake and a cheese plate for the three-course lunch ($39). Come for the delicious deals, stay for the fun ambiance.
Mandito's
Craving Tex-Mex? Mandito’s is the casual, cantina-style version of Houston's famed locale, Armandos. Its two-course lunch ($25) or three-course dinner ($39) includes all the classics and new homemade authentic flavors as well. Highlights include the iconic Burrito Bowl; the El Palacios Plate with one picadillo tostada, one crispy picadillo taco and one chicken enchilada; and Tres Hombres Enchiladas with one cheese enchilada with chili gravy, one chicken enchilada with salsa verde and one picadillo enchilada draped in chili con queso.
Money Cat
Chutoro Toast
This chic Japanese locale makes its HRW debut for 2023, with a three-course dinner ($55) including the popular Chutoro toast, Summertime Taraba (king crab), 72-hour sous vide short rib, miso-cured Kari sea bass, Valrhona Cocoa Brownie, and the Insta-worthy Summer Bonsai, a dark chocolate tree forest shrouded in wisps of dry ice fog.
Pastore
Here’s your ticket to trying a hot new restaurant at a cool price. Underbelly Hospitality’s three-course dinner ($55) offers choices like the panzanella salad; Gulf shrimp with XO sauce; pan-seared snapper and polenta; and short-rib risotto. Try something unique for dessert — think olive oil cupcake with goat cheese frosting and honey-roasted-peach filling.
Phat Eatery
Chef Alex Au-Yeung dishes up signature high-flavor favorites and new goodies, too. Soak up his Malaysian specialties during a four-course lunch or dinner ($55) in Katy, including three styles of Roti Canai, Lobster Dumplings, Phat Curry Osso Buco, Sayuran Campur (vegetarian selection with assorted mushrooms, vegetables and tofu in a sweet basil or curry sauce), and three Southeast Asian flavors of ice cream. Full HRW menu here.Reservations here.
Postino Wine Cafe
The Uptown Park location is offering a bountiful dinner menu ($39) with fresh light bites such as Brussels sprouts salad or Hannah’s Field with kale and grains plus a choice of chicken or a petite filet skewer. Mains include four hearty panini choices or opt for the signature Bruschetta Board. Don’t forget the wine! For pairings, upgrade to the $49 menu.
Ten Sushi
Cucumber Wrapped Sashimi
Expect many options at this showy inner-loop hotspot. The dinner menu ($55) features Korean fried chicken, halibut carpaccio, Chef’s Cut New York strip steak and a spicy wasabi Toro roll, plus dessert.
The Annie Café & Bar
Crab Tostados
This affordable three-course lunch menu ($25) or dinner ($55) tempts with options like The Annie tortilla soup or ahi tuna ceviche, Scottish salmon, chicken paillard, or filet mignon and fries for entrees, and lemon cake with blueberry compote for dessert.
Toro Toro
Chef Richard Sandoval’s award-winning Pan-Latin steakhouse Toro Toro is offering a two-course lunch ($25) or a three-course dinner menu ($55). You can’t go wrong with the Angry Scorpion Roll or the Toro Toro burger. For dinner, consider the Amarillo ceviche, Lomo Saltado (beef tenderloin with crispy potato), and delicate crepe layer cake for dessert.
Traveler's Table
The dinner menu ($55) offers many exotic items to sample. Start with the so-summery watermelon avocado salad or Kaki fry oysters. For mains, choose from Jungle Curry, Adobe snapper, Nigerian Suya skewers and more.
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AFTER THE COVID-era hysteria, Houston’s housing market has leveled. The pace of sales has slowed over the past year, and prices are a bit down here and there. But there are pockets of explosive growth and, say experts, good indications that a healthy, balanced market is on the horizon. Read on for the latest stats, trends and lust-worthy listings.
River Oaks
Walter Bering with Martha Turner’s Sotheby’s sold this property at 3920 Inverness for more than $10 million this spring.
At first glance, home prices in River Oaks appear to remain rather flat: The average sales price of homes closed during the first five months of 2023 was just over $3 million, pretty much a carbon-copy of the stats from the first five months of 2022. But looking at the latest data might provide a clue as to where the neighborhood is heading next: The average price of homes sold in June 2023 was $3.2 million, up 15 percent from the June prior. Interestingly, the months inventory — how long it would take to sell all of the homes on the market if sales continued at the current pace, and no more were listed — has climbed to 4.8. The months inventory in all of Houston is just 3.1.
Montrose
Listed by Kellie Geitner with Martha Turner Sotheby’s, a funky townhome at 1101 Missouri St. is asking $575K.
Once upon a time, Montrose was considered rough around the edges, even gritty. But, the slew of tattoo parlors, funky thrift stores, gay bars and semi-edgy coffeeshops that remain in the well located district — roughly halfway between the Galleria and Downtown, and a stone’s throw from Rice — can’t hide the truth: Montrose is a stable, solid bet for buyers seeking a dependably appreciating neighborhood for the long haul.
After a season of less showy growth than other areas during the Covid years, the quirky queen of the inner-Loop — unabashedly eclectic with its mix of classic bungalows, townhomes and mod new builds — is back! The average sales price for the first five months of ’23, $853,000, is up nearly 13 percent over the same period last year. This occurs as other inner-Loopers like the Galleria area, Midtown and the Washington Corridor are flat.
And Montrose homes are, at the moment anyway, selling a week faster than last June, just 44 days on average.
Memorial
Morad Fiki’s listing at 11103 Memorial Dr. is under contract for around $4 mil.
As Memorial winds and weaves through West Houston, homes on idyllic cul-de-sacs and with big, rolling yards beckon buyers. During the pandemic, homes in Memorial were coveted for amenities like resort-style pools and plenty of room for guests. Prices rose rapidly, and inventory dwindled. And as the Covid-supercharged market cools off citywide, the Memorial Villages ’hood reflects many of the same patterns: The average sales price so far this year is down around 6 percent, and homes are taking about 7 percent longer to sell, compared to the first part of 2022. But real estate experts say that a return to a balanced market, especially in the pricier parts of town, coupled with falling mortgage rates, will actually provide ongoing momentum.
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Memorial Park
Memorial Park is a popular ’hood thanks to its walking and biking trails.
Memorial Park and its surrounding streets have changed dramatically over the last year or so, from the completion of the golf-course reno to the neighborhood-defining land bridges. Perhaps that might help explain the equally dramatic increase — 17 percent! — in average sales price of homes in this area in January through May compared to the same timeframe last year. They’re selling more quickly, too. The average number of days on the market was down 7 percent year-over-year.
The Heights
Bill Baldwin of Boulevard Realty is listing this Garden Oaks property at 847 Lamonte Ln. for $1.8 mil.
For years, the Heights has been one of the most popular hubs for young professionals, couples and families alike. Heights-adjacent neighborhoods like Timbergrove, Cottage Grove, Shepherd Park Plaza, Garden Oaks and Oak Forest have been steadily rising in popularity — and cost — over the past decade, too; in fact, Garden Oaks will soon become the latest area to hit the milestone of a $1 million average sales price. Over the first five months of 2023, homes here sold for an average of $996K, up by more than 23 percent year-over-year — the highest rate of growth in all of Houston. And while the number of transactions is down in Garden Oaks, as is the case in most H-Town neighborhoods so far this year, homes are selling just as quickly as they did in 2022.
The Woodlands
This home at 51 Grand Regency Circle in The Woodlands is one of the area’s most expensive listings.
In The Woodlands, homes are selling at one of the fastest rates in the region. On average, a home listed in January through May of this year sold in just over three weeks. (Homes in Upper Kirby or Spring Branch, by comparison, sat for about two months.)
But homes flying off the shelves isn’t new for the master-planned community. Last year, the same five-month timeframe produced an average days-on-market value of 15 — also a region-topping figure! All the while, home prices have remained steady, at around $700,000, over the past year.
The demand for higher-end, suburban homes with access to great amenities and public schools is unlikely to waver any time soon. The Woodlands landed at No. 3 on this year’s list of Best Cities to Live in America, per Niche.com.