Healthful Hot Spot!

8.22

Any Houstonian who’s driven around Montrose in recent months has probably wondered what is becoming of the McGowen Cleaners building at 1931 Fairview?


Next week, there’s finally an answer: Mom and newly minted restaurateur Kelly Barnhart opens Vibrant, blending, as she says, health with pleasure. She teamed up with consulting chef Alison Wu to develop a menu of breakfast (all-day!) and lunch dishes made with ingredients that are free of gluten, dairy, refined sugar and non-GMO products.

Expect sustainably harvested meats and pasture-raised eggs, as in the Breakfast socca — chickpea flour flatbread, arugula-hemp pesto, oven-roasted tomato and watermelon radish. Plenty of housemade pastries and yogurt are also available. Lunch brings inventive, layered salads and power bowls.

In addition to creating food that’s delicious and interesting, Barnhart — a former art curator who’s also responsible for the interior design of the light-filled, wood-wrapped space — simply wants folks to feel comfortable knowing that everything at Vibrant is truly good for you.

Here’s a bonus: The wine program adopts the same theory, with all-natural and biodynamic wines.

Food+Travel

Houstonian Kral, photographed at Lynn Wyatt Square across from HGO’s home at the Wortham

HOUSTON GRAND OPERA closes its critically acclaimed 2023-24 season of warhorses, Wagner and commissions with the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, The Sound of Music (April 26-May 12).

Keep Reading Show less
Art + Entertainment

Badolina Bakery in Rice Village (photo by Kirsten Gilliam)

WHAT MAKES A restaurant patio great? Beauty, comfort, uniqueness? Check. Stellar food? Check. The feeling that you got away from it all? Triple check. Whether you’re looking to whet your whistle, grab a bite in a treehouse, dine under the stars, or catch a sunset over the urban landscape, Houston is rich with patios, balconies and rooftops. Get some air and celebrate the glorious season at these newbies and stalwarts.

Keep Reading Show less