It's time once again for Texas Monthly food critic Patricia Sharpe's statewide look at Texas's best new restaurants. The criteria are simple. All restaurants that opened between Nov. 1, 2013 and Oct. 31, 2014 are eligible as long as it's the first location for the concept.
Unlike last year, Houston does well overall with three restaurants in the Top 10, including two in the Top 5. Sharpe rates Caracol the best new restaurant in Texas. Pax Americana comes in at number four, and Coltivare places eighth. Spanish restaurant BCN Taste & Tradition rates as the Bayou City's lone honorable mention.
In her write up, Sharpe praises Caracol, Hugo Ortega's Galleria-area seafood restaurant, for its energy. "You sense it as a palpable force that caroms from the entry to the kitchen and back, filling every nook and cranny of the restaurant’s spacious white dining rooms," she writes. Pax Americana earns praise for the way executive chef Adam Dorris uses vegetables, and Coltivare gets approval for its pizza.
The rest of the list includes two Austin restaurants, Olamaie and Odd Duck, and three from Dallas, Gemma, San Salvaje and Knife. San Antonio and Fort Worth get one spot each to round out the list.
Locally, the two most obvious snubs are Killen's Barbecue and Common Bond. Both Houston restaurants earned top spots on many best of lists, including CultureMap's, but don't even rate an honorable mention from Sharpe.
One cannot write about Caracol without mentioning the restaurant's signature roasted oysters.
Photo by Paula Murphy
One cannot write about Caracol without mentioning the restaurant's signature roasted oysters.
Brent “Doc” Watkins has a very specific reference for Doc’s Houston, his new jazz supper club that’s opening November 15 in the historic Tower Theater in Montrose.
“I ask them if they’ve seen the movie Goodfellas,” Watkins tells CultureMap. “If they have, there's that famous scene where Ray Liotta takes his girlfriend to the supper club. They walk through the secret entrance and go in through the kitchen. They bring out a special table with the white tablecloth and they sit down and the show starts.”
The very famous scene captures the spirit of what Watkins wants to create at Doc’s Houston — an intimate venue serving classic American fare and showcasing live music in genres such as jazz, R&B, soul, and the blues. It’s a formula that Watkins developed at Jazz, TX, his original jazz supper club that’s part of San Antonio’s Pearl District since 2016. He says Houston was always a logical choice to expand the concept.
“Doing a proper jazz supper club, there wasn’t anything like that in Houston 10 years ago, and there wasn’t anything like that now until Doc’s,” Watkins says.
Let’s start with the jazz part first. Doc’s will host live music Tuesday through Saturday in a variety of genres. Artistic director Graeme Franci, who, like Watkins, holds a doctorate in music from the University of Texas, is a Houstonian with a deep knowledge of the local music scene. He’s been reaching out to musicians and booking them to play Doc’s. In addition to local acts, the venue will host national touring acts — Tony Danza recently played San Antonio — and as many as 30 performances by Watkins himself.
From his perspective, Doc’s provides an essential space for friends and neighbors to connect during a shared experience.
“We aren’t inventing a brand new concept. We’re reviving something that had been lost,” Watkins explains. Later, he adds, “These are really essential spaces. It’s a very ancient tradition to gather as smaller groups of people for a meal and some music. It’s a very timeless thing. There was a blip on the radar where we lost these rooms for about a generation.”
In terms of the food, chef Jose Avila’s menu is built around classic supper club fare such as steaks, seafood, and pastas. Specific dishes include grilled octopus, short rib empanadas, pork belly chicharron paella, coq au vin, and Chateaubriand that will be carved to order tableside.
“We’ve got a massive kitchen. We’ve got the ability to do a big menu and do it right,” Watkins says. “You can’t be all things to all people, but we’ll get pretty damn close.”
Watkins has assembled an experience team to lead Doc's Houston.Courtesy of Doc's Houston
The Tower Theater has had a number of lives. Most recently home to Acme Oyster House and El Real Tex-Mex Cafe, it’s also been a movie theater and a video store, among other iterations. To turn it into Doc’s, Watkins and his team added all-new lighting and sound, built a stage, and added a wraparound balcony.
“When we found it, it was pretty wonky. The orientation was all wrong,” Watkins says. “We decided to go big and do it right. That balcony is new, but it looks like it’s always been that way. It’s how the space needs to be and wants to be, even though for 100 years it did not have a full wraparound balcony.”
Reservations and tickets will be available via the Doc’s website in the coming days. Memberships will be available that come with perks such as preferred seating and advance access.
“I hope we’re around for a very long time,” Watkins says. “I think we’ve set ourselves up to be around for a very long time. We’ve got all the ingredients that go into success. Now we just have to execute.”
Watkins has assembled an experience team to lead Doc's Houston.Courtesy of Doc's Houston 
