5 things to know

5 things to know in Houston food right now: Openings and a farewell to Ouisie

Elouise Adams Jones died Monday.

Photo via www.ouisiestable.com

Editor's note: Houston’s restaurant scene moves pretty fast. In order to prevent CultureMap readers from missing anything, let’s stop to look around at all the latest news to know.

Openings and coming attractions

Chicago-based restaurant 5411 Empanadas has opened its second Houston-area location in Midtown at 309 Gray Street. the international dialing code for Buenos Aires, 5411 Empanadas offers a taste of Argentina with flavors like smoked ham and cheese, spinach and cheese, mac and cheese, and, for dessert, banana Nutella. The restaurant opens at 11 am Monday-Friday and 9 am on Saturday and Sunday.

Mikki’s Soulfood Cafe, a restaurant with locations in Southwest Houston and Pearland, recently added a food truck to its offerings. Mikki’s on Wheels will be soon be rolling throughout the Houston area. Check the restaurant’s Facebook page for its current schedule.

Successful Houston-based restaurant Russo’s New York Pizzeria & Italian Kitchen will add new locations in Katy and Richmond this spring. Both will be owned by first-time franchisee Carmen Maria Torres. Known for its New York-style pizza and Italian-American dishes, Russo’s operates locations across the Houston area, throughout Texas, and beyond.

Investment news

Mambo Seafood, a Houston-based restaurant with 11 locations, announced that Garnett Station Partners, a New York-based investment firm, has partnered with it. Garnett will “recapitalize and provide growth capital” to the company, which is led by founder Michael Ho and CEO Robert McKinley. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“Garnett Station is an ideal partner for Mambo, given their many years of success within the restaurant industry,” Ho said in a statement. “The entire GSP team have been highly collaborative and have executed on every commitment they made during this process. Mambo is in the right hands and I’m excited for this next chapter for the brand."

Passings

Ouisie’s Table founder Elouise Adams Jones died Monday on her 79th birthday after a long illness. Jones opened the first location of her eponymous restaurant on Sunset Boulevard in 1973. She made her mark by serving a daily rotating menu that was grounded in classic Southern fare like shrimp and grits, chicken fried steak, and pimento cheese sandwiches.

After a six year hiatus, she reopened the restaurant in 1995 at its current location on San Felipe. General manager Wafi Dinari purchased Ouisie’s Table in 2016 and continues to operate it to this day.

A graduate of the Kinkaid School, Jones worked for the Houston Chronicle before establishing her restaurant. She will be remembered as pioneering female restaurateur as well as a writer and philanthropist. At the time of her death, she was working on a cookbook but was unable to finish.

A memorial service will be held in Houston at St. Luke’s Memorial Methodist Church, 3471 Westheimer, at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 19th, with Rev. Cliff Ritter officiating. Jones will be interred in Kerrville, Texas. For information on the memorial service or to leave remembrances go to kerrvillefuneralhometx.com.

news-you-can-eat

Houston's smallest restaurant?

Michelin-recognized Houston sushi chef fires up 4-seat Japanese skewer spot

Courtesy of Sip & Skewer

Diners sit in front of chefs cooking on a grill.

The team behind one of Houston’s Michelin-recognized sushi restaurants is opening an intimate new izakaya. Sip & Skewer is the newest concept from Hidden Omakase owner Tuan Tran and chef Marcos Juarez.

Opening Friday, February 13, Sip & Skewer is a four-seat restaurant devoted to skewered meats that’s located within Sushi by Hidden, the group’s affordable omakase restaurant in Rice Village. At Sip & Skewer, diners sit across from the chefs as they cook a 10-course, $90 meal on a Japanese binchotan grill.

“Sip & Skewer is small, loud, and intentional. The kind of hidden experience you’d find in Tokyo,” Tran said. “And with Chef Marcos guiding the team at Sushi by Hidden, this space is getting new energy from every angle.”

A four-seat restaurant within a 10-seat restaurant might seem kind of superfluous, but Tran explains that it’s part of a larger plan for his group of restaurants, which also includes West U. hand roll restaurant Norigami. It also builds on the success of Hidden Omakase, the Galleria-area sushi counter that earned a Recommended designation in the Michelin Guide.

“Sip & Skewer is part of a larger vision. It’s designed as a stepping stone toward our next concept, Kōri, a new hand roll and craft cocktail bar opening in the Heights. Our plan is to open Sip & Skewer directly next to our hand roll spot, creating a small alley of Japanese concepts that feed into one another,” Tran explains.

“This allows us to build awareness, train our team in a new format, and introduce guests to Japanese charcoal grilling in a very personal way before we scale the idea into a larger setting with Kōri. The four-seat format keeps overhead extremely low while serving as a live test kitchen and brand builder for what’s coming next,” he adds.

On a related note, Juarez and the other chefs at Hidden Omakase are dividing their time between all three restaurants. Tuam explains that it’s a deliberate strategy to ensure a consistent customer experience.

“The same team that works Michelin-recognized omakase service also runs the grill here, which keeps quality and execution consistent while allowing the chefs a creative outlet in a very different format,” Tran said. “Because Sip & Skewer is only four seats and reservations only, it does not require a dedicated full-time staff. It’s an extension of the team rather than a separate operation.”