a casual tavern for downtown

Chris Shepherd cooks up casual steakhouse for downtown high-rise and Texas fare for farmers market

Chris Shepherd’s Underbelly Hospitality will open at least two new restaurants in 2021. The company has announced more details on the restaurant chef Nick Fine will open at The Houston Farmers Market and revealed a new casual concept for one of downtown’s most luxurious high-rises.

Georgia James Tavern will open in Market Square Tower later this year in the former Coterie space. Pitched as a more casual, less expensive offshoot of Shepherd’s luxurious Georgia James steakhouse, the Tavern will serve salads, sandwiches, and burgers along with Georgia James’ signature cast iron-seared steaks and dishes cooked in a wood-burning oven.

Shepherd tells CultureMap he’s had the Tavern concept in mind for a while and sees Market Square Tower as the ideal place to test and refine the restaurant before potentially expanding it to multiple locations. Being in a residential building will provide the restaurant with a built-in clientele who could utilize its dining room, order room service to their units, or get food packages for the building’s amenities such as the pool or the poker room.

“We can offer things to the residents that I look at and say this could work really well,” he says. “Especially with the way the laws are, we’re working with TABC to where I can sell the entire building cocktails. If you’re going to the pool, here’s a couple of bottled cocktails to-go.”

Georgia James sous chef Matthew Coburn will serve as the restaurant’s chef de cuisine, and the Underbelly Hospitality management team will all have contributions. Pastry director Victoria Dearmond is developing a tavern-specific dessert menu, and wine director Matthew Pridgen will offer a scaled-down version of he steakhouse’s selections.

“A tavern is a place for people to gather, drink and eat,” Coburn said in a statement. “We want to build a sense of community with this restaurant strengthened by our relationships with local farmers and ranchers, and the simple, technique-driven menu will reflect those relationships. My goal is for our guests to feel the culture we create from the moment they walk in the door.”

Local firm NEST Interior Design Group will take its inspiration from the building’s Art Deco décor to create an interior that will feature vintage wall sconces, tufted leather banquettes, and a back bar that features handmade Zellige tiles made in Morocco.

Turning to The Houston Farmers Market, the company has revealed more details about the restaurant chef Nick Fine will open on the property, which is being redeveloped by Shepherd’s business partner Todd Mason and his firm MLB Capital Partners. Called Wild Oats, the restaurant will explore the “history and traditions of Texas cuisine” while utilizing the techniques Fine learned while working for chefs in Germany, New York City, Aspen, and more.

As with other UBH establishments, Fine will source most of his ingredients from local farmers and ranchers with a focus on those that operate at the market. The menu is still under development, but Fine will put his twist on familiar dishes such as a take on shrimp and grits that swaps in masa dumplings.

“We were talking about the market,” Shepherd recalls. “[Fine] said, ‘I want it.’ [I said] ‘Let’s go.’ It’s going to be fun.”

Georgia James Tavern will serve steaks, salads, sandwiches, and more.

Georgia James steakhouse bone-in strip loin

Photo by Julie Soefer

Georgia James Tavern will serve steaks, salads, sandwiches, and more.

openings news-you-can-eat downtown chefs

a CultureMap Exclusive

Houston's 'Chinese takeout bar from the future' touches down in Webster

Courtesy of The Rice Box

A rendering previews The Rice Box's new location in Webster.

Houston’s Chinese takeout bar from the future is coming to the Bay Area. The sixth location of The Rice Box will open in Webster later this summer.

Located at 114 El Dorado Blvd, the new location will be called Rice Box Space Center after NASA’s headquarters at the nearby Johnson Space Center. Founder John Peterson tells CultureMap that it’s a bit of a homecoming for him and his wife/business partner, Jenny Vo, as they grew up in the area. As with every new location, the restaurant created a movie-style poster to announce its opening.

Rice Box Webster movie poster The Rice Box Space Center is expected to open later this summer.Courtesy of The Rice Box

For its first truly suburban location, Peterson plans to offer a more efficient pickup system for to-go orders. Dubbed The Rice Box Pickup Reactors, the system applies Rice Box’s sci-fi aesthetic to curbside ordering. As seen in the rendering above, the building will have six slots that drivers will pull into to get their orders.

“The goal is to have guests in and out with food in hand in around 90 seconds,” Peterson writes in an email. “It’s still pickup, but we’re trying to make that moment feel more intentional and more connected to the digital side of Rice Box instead of treating it like an afterthought. We’re looking at this opening as both a new store and a prototype for how Rice Box can work in more suburban markets without losing the part of the brand that makes it feel like us.”

Bay Area-area diners can expect the same menu as the Rice Box’s other locations. That includes staples such as General Tso’s chicken, sesame chicken, beef with broccoli, and orange peel beef. The restaurant also serves traditional Chinese-inspired fare such as Chongqing chicken, cumin beef, mapo tofu, and chow fun noodles.

Recently, Peterson rolled out a new version of Rice Box’s dumplings. Available in chicken, pork, or vegetable, each style of dumpling comes with a different wrapper that enhances the filling’s flavor. They’re also available either steamed or fried.

The Rice Box started as a food truck in the early 2010s. After moving to a permanent location in the Greenway Plaza food court, it has opened brick-and-mortar locations in the Heights, River Oaks, Rice Village, and Memorial.

openings news-you-can-eat the rice box