looking so fine

Posh Italian restaurant and electric car brand headline new additions to Uptown Park

Uptown Park continues to evolve

Courtesy of EDENS

Uptown Park continues to stake its claim as one of Houston’s premier shopping and dining destinations. Real Estate developer EDENS announced four new tenants that are coming soon to the Galleria-area development.

They are:

Lombardi Cucina Italiana: an Italian restaurant from Dallas-based restaurant group Lombardy Family Concepts
Polestar: a showroom for Volvo’s electric car brand
GLOSSLAB: a nail salon known for “waterless nail services”
Kindbody: a fertility clinic that aims to make treatments available at a lower cost than other providers

Lombardi Cucina Italiana will occupy over 9,000-square-feet in the former Tasting Room space. It will be the company’s second Houston-area restaurant, joining Toulouse in River Oaks District.

Assuming it’s similar to the location that exists at The Star in Frisco, Texas, diners can expect a modern, luxurious Italian restaurant centered around freshly made pastas alongside shareables like fried calamari, meatballs, and wood-grilled octopus and center of plate entrees that include whole branzino, steaks, and osso bucco. Beverage options include Italian-inspired cocktails and an extensive wine list.

Both the Polestar showroom and Glosslab salon will be their brands second Texas locations. Together with Rocambolesc, an ice cream shop by world-renown pastry Jordi Roca, the new additions give Uptown Park five new concepts to open this year, joining staples such as Etoile, Urbe, and Flower Child.

“The addition of these five concepts to Uptown Park continues to provide our guests with the most sought-after brands and experiences,” EDENS vice president Michael Hale said in a statement. “Paired with our commitment to enriching our neighborhood, we are excited to continue introducing new shopping and dining experiences that enhance the surrounding community.”

news-you-can-eat openings

income analysis

Texas families need to make this much money for one parent to stay home

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

With costs to raise a child soaring over $20,000 a year in Texas, some households might decide to have one parent work while the other stays at home to raise their child.

As the cost of raising a child balloons in major cities like Houston, many families are weighing the choice between paying for child care or having one parent stay home full-time.

A recent analysis from SmartAsset determined the minimum income one parent needs to earn to support their partner staying at home to raise one child in all 50 states. In Texas — not just Houston — that amount is just under $75,000.

The study used the MIT Living Wage Calculator to compare the annual living wages needed for a household with two working adults and one child, and a household with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child. The study also calculated how much it would cost to raise a child with two working parents based on factors such as "food, housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation, incremental income taxes and other necessities."

A Texas household with one working parent would need to earn $74,734 a year to support a stay-at-home partner and a child, the report found. If two parents worked in the household, necessitating some additional costs like childcare and transportation, it would require an additional $10,504 in annual income to raise their child.

SmartAsset said the cost to raise a child in Texas in a two-working-parent household adds up to $23,587. Raising a child in Houston, however, is somewhat more affordable. A separate SmartAsset study from June 2025 determined it costs $21,868 to raise a child in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro.

In the report's ranking of states with the highest minimum income needed to support a family with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child, Texas ranked 32nd on the list.

In other states like Massachusetts, where raising a child can cost more than $40,000 a year, the report acknowledges ways families are working to reduce any financial burdens.

"This often includes considerations around who’s going to work in the household, and whether young children will require paid daycare services while parents are occupied," the report said. "With tradeoffs abound, many parents might seek to understand the minimum income needed to keep the family afloat while allowing the other parent to stay home to raise a young child."

The top 10 states with the lowest minimum income threshold to support a three-person family on one income are:

West Virginia – $68,099
Arkansas – $68,141
Mississippi – $70,242
Kentucky – $70,408
North Dakota – $70,949
Oklahoma – $71,718
Ohio – $72,114
South Dakota – $72,218
Alabama – $72,238
Nebraska – $72,966

texas income smartasset family