houston's most luxurious restaurant

Retro-styled new restaurant reveals Houston's most luxurious dining experience

Houston has lots of restaurants, but none of them are quite like Turner's. The new restaurant from restaurateur Ben Berg's Berg Hospitality (B&B Butchers, B.B. Lemon), Turner's aims to set a new standard for luxury and refinement when it opens for service on Friday, March 6.

During the renovations that turned Cafe Annie into The Annie Cafe, Berg created the space that would become Turner’s by relocating the space’s stairwell. With approximately 1,800 square feet available, Berg realized he could execute his vision for an intimate, upscale supper club. Although the two restaurants occupy the same space, they have their own entrances, branding, and identities.

“To do it on a grand scale it would lose its intimacy,” Berg tells CultureMap. “It gave us the opportunity for a 50-seat restaurant that’s super lux.”

Those luxurious touches will be evident from the moment people enter the space. Working with local architect Issac Preminger, Turner’s features marble floors inlaid with its logo, gold leaf ceilings, a black marble bar, and a mahogany baby grand piano where pianists will serenade the dining room.

Berg has never been shy about mining his New York roots for influences — B.B. Lemon essentially channels iconic NYC restaurant J.G. Melon — and Turner’s is no exception.

“If anything influenced it from a style standpoint, it’d be more like the Polo Bar, with the dark woods and brass,” he says. “I took that as my backdrop and put my own touches on it.”

The menu, developed by Berg and chef-partner Robert Del Grande, harks back to the Continental-style dishes that ruled American dining rooms in the ’50s and ’60s: king crab terrine, lobster thermidor, and meatloaf, as well as the usual steaks and chop.

“You take some old dishes that have gotten into the home and bring some luster to them and do them at a high level. It’s all stuff I like to eat — except for salmon,” Berg says with a laugh. “The cured salmon with the Jameson spritz I can handle because of the Jameson.”

Dishes will be served with tableside presentations that add to the luxurious aspects of the experience.

On the beverage side, general manager and wine director Jose Montufar contributed a list of “big, bold wines from well known regions.” Lead bartender Curtis Harwood collaborated with beverage director Kara Slife on a menu of well-executed classic cocktails. Berg adds that he did make one request for the cocktails.

“I told [Slife] I want the best screwdriver you’ve ever had,” he says. “They made it with clarified orange juice. It’s so yummy.”

While The Annie Cafe has an upscale neighborhood vibe with a spacious bar that could accommodate everything from a casual lunch to a business dinner, Turner’s is explicitly more intimate, upscale, and expensive. The best comparison might be MAD, where the over-the-top decor and decadent food combine to create a memorable experience.

“It’s not a casual evening. It’s an evening you kind of plan for,” Berg says. “It’s elevating the dining experience, kind of throwing it back a little. The grandeur of an old hotel. It’s pure comfort and taking care of the guests.”

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Turner's; 1800 Post Oak Blvd.; Tuesday - Saturday 4 pm-late; 713-804-1212

Some of Turner's dishes.

Photo by Kirsten Gilliam

Some of Turner's dishes.

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NYT best dishes

Houston Mediterranean restaurant makes NY Times' best desserts list

Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen/Facebook

Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen is the only Houston restaurant on either list.

The New York Times included four Texas restaurants among its favorite dishes of 2025. Divided into two lists — The 23 Best Restaurant Dishes We Ate Across the U.S. in 2025 and The 14 Best Restaurant Desserts We Ate Across the U.S. in 2025 — the dishes are:

Bad Honey Bunny at Mercado Sin Nombre (Austin)
Ketan Hitam at Yeni’s Fusion (Austin)
Konafa Naama at Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen (Houston)
Picadillo Macaroni and Cheese at 2M Smokehouse (San Antonio)

Times food writer Priya Krishna, who authors the entries for all four Texas dishes, traveled to far west Houston to visit Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen. “The konafa, a signature here, arrives with a molten layer of cheese under a sticky-sweet layer of golden, nutty semolina. The craft is evident, the konafa gone in a few bites,” she writes.

Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen Konafa Naama Don't skip dessert at Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen.KSayad Mediterranean Kitchen/Facebook

In Austin, Krishna praises the rice pudding at Yeni’s Fusion. “This barely sweet version, lush with coconut milk, aromatic with pandan and as soothing as warm porridge, is the gentlest way to end a meal,” she states.

Already hailed as one of America’s best breakfast spots by Bon Appetit, Krishna singles out a honeybun at Mercado Sin Nombre. “The coiled honey bun at this semi-clandestine cafe looks almost cartoonishly perfect, and the heady scent of cardamom and honey hits you before you even take a bite. Somehow, it tastes every bit as plush and elegant as it appears,” she writes.

The picadillo mac and cheese at 2M Smokehouse showcases how the San Antonio restaurant incorporates Mexican flavors into traditional Texas barbecue. “Imagine Hamburger Helper, but spicier, punchier and even more luxuriously creamy. It’s not easy to one-up the singular, thickly spiced brisket here, but the picadillo mac and cheese — which runs as an occasional special — holds its own and then some,” Krishna writes.

The New York Times regularly shines its spotlight on Texas restaurants, In September, it named four establishments — ChòpnBlọk (Houston), Isidore (San Antonio), Lao’d Bar (Austin), and P Thai’s Khao Man Gai & Noodles (Austin) — to its list of America’s 50 Best Restaurants.

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