Oysters at CAPS (photo by Gondola Picon)
Sushi by Hidden
Sushi by Hidden chef Jimmy Kieu (photo by Jenn Duncan)
From the creators of speakeasy sushi restaurant Hidden Omakase, Sushi by Hidden just swung open its doors in Rice Village. Expect limited seating (only 10 guests at a time!) and a menu of 12 sushi pieces chosen and delivered per course by the chef ($60). Leading the chef-driven experience is Jimmy Kieu along with a rotating roster of sushi professionals. Prepare for a bring-your-own-liquor policy in opening days, with a $20 corkage fee for bottles 720ml or larger. The restaurant will begin with dinner service and add lunch in the future.
CAPS Supper Club and Bar
Grilled octopus at CAPS (photo by Gondola Picon)
CAPS Piano Bar is being completely transformed into a supper club — with live music, a private room and a new chef! Chef Omar Pereney, former owner of Peska in Houston, is now at the helm. He plans on an ever-evolving menu with a focus on seafood. The proposed opening menu highlights crudos, tartare and oysters, while shareable plates include grilled octopus, a short rib grilled cheese, and chorizo and mango croquettes. Whole branzino, herb-roasted chicken, cacio e pepe, and a CAPS signature burger, as well as steaks and chops, round out the main plates. CAPS, owned by Venkata Diddi, is scheduled for a January opening.
MaKiin
Lukkaew Srasrisuwan
Co-owner of Kin Dee, Lukkaew Srasrisuwan, is bringing a new concept to Houston’s booming Upper Kirby neighborhood. MaKiin will debut this spring on the ground level of luxury high-rise Hanover River Oaks, and its sold-out pop-up is this week, offering a sneak preview of the menu. Pronounced “Ma-kin,” which translate “come to eat,” the upscale restaurant will feature a broad range of Thai delicacies. “With Kin Dee, we showed Houstonians Thai food can be fun and vibrant,” says Srasrisuwan. She adds, “MaKiin will deliver a more elevated experience to celebrate the artistry of my homeland’s authentic flavors, ingredients and techniques.”
Vibrant
Sprouted pecan amaranth granola
Montrose’s Vibrant is back after being on hiatus for the past year. Guests can anticipate a new food menu of similarly nourishing and beautiful dishes, as well as a small-batch retail line designed to take home. The beloved restaurant has been busy planning a redesigned kitchen, a new from-scratch menu, and intimate, design-driven interiors. “We want people to leave feeling inspired, stimulated, and satisfied by their meal and environment,” says founder Kelly Barnhart.
Executive chef Patti Delgado worked with a nutritionist to maximize the nutritional value of every dish with a focus on anti-inflammatory benefits. Menu items include sorghum waffles with coconut yogurt probiotic cream and elderberry syrup; braised beef tacos on a housemade sweet potato cassava tortilla; and activated pecan amaranth granola with blue spirulina milk. Vibrant has added a new tortilla press and expanded its coffee program beyond organic espresso. Its retail grab-and-go section offers a new line of vegan and gluten-free breads, coconut yogurt, cookie and pizza dough, pastries, bone broth, poblano mole, and more. Handy!Vinny's
Nutcracker pizzas at Vinny's
The Houston Ballet and Agricole Hospitality’s Vinny’s pizzeria have teamed up on a charitable pizza collab to celebrate The Nutcracker season. Vinny’s is baking up two dreamy limited-time themed pizzas designed by four Houston Ballet dancers through Dec. 31 — think Lucid Dreamz with sweet onion sauce, spinach and smoked pork loin, and Seven Gold Crowns, a cheesy vegetarian delight with a walnut pesto drizzle. Guests can vote on their favorite, which will be announced in the New Year. A portion of proceeds goes to the Lauren Anderson Young Dancer Scholarship Fund.
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The Beach Club at Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina, next door to the USS Yorktown
It’s serious about its coastal Southerness, from the Colonial-era baby blue paint and chunky millwork that pervades the gracious and sprawling space — the whole thing feels a bit like an excellent country club at which you sip sweet tea with purpose and feel important — to the seersucker robes in the guestrooms. There’s maritime-inspired art by local artists in every vividly colorful room, and balconies overlooking the large pool. And, beyond that, the marina and a network of piers and boardwalks, and grassy, bird-beloved marshland that meets Charleston Harbor like a scene from a nature painting.
The grilled salmon at the hotel’s Fish House comes with ratatouille and watercress puree, and the suggested pairing for the Lowcountry classic Shrimp and Grits, which here adds in andouille and sweet peppers, is an Argentine Malbec. Golden sunlight bounces off the harbor and floods in at the magic hour. Above the restaurant is the open-air Bridge Bar with expansive views.
The hotel also offers sailing lessons, taught by faculty from the champion College of Charleston sailing team. Unique holiday-time happenings include Oysters on the Point, at which buckets of steamed oysters go for $13 on some Saturdays and come with a side of live music. The resort also sets up a large ice-skating rink, open till February.
Of course, there’s tons to do off property in the hip and historic Charleston area, including the USS Yorktown, a huge WWII aircraft carrier docked right next door to the hotel and open for tours — and Fort Sumter, where the Civil War began, on a tiny island you can see from The Beach Club. And then there’s simply tooling around Charleston, which is easy to get to by water taxi. The ride alone is an adventure: You’ve never seen so many dolphins putting on a show.
A stroll through the city is enchanting, with its leafy cobblestone streets lined with palmettos — not palms, thankyouverymuch — and French colonial-era homes with long piazza porches on the side. It feels like the best of NOLA’s French Quarter and antebellum Natchez combined, with a fresh coat of paint, lots of shade from Live Oaks and curiously not infrequent sightings of hunky hipsters with tat sleeves and man buns. If you’re hungry after a morning walkabout, Miller’s All Day has biscuit sandwiches with fried chicken, pepper jam and the city’s favorite spread, pimento cheese; at most restaurants, the stuff seems to show up on pretty much everything except the peanut butter pie.
And we’re definitely not complaining.
A glimpse of old Charleston at Christmas
Seersucker robes at The Beach Club
A Christmas tree at The Beach Club
