Foodie News
Two new restaurants are set to fill the Gravitas space — and they're full offoodie power
Terrence Gallivan (left) and Seth Siegel-Gardner during the Pilot Light dinners.The Pass and Provisions is their first permanent restaurant concept in Houston.Photo by Ruthie Johnson Miller
The former Gravitas location — also famous as the original Antone's importcompany — will soon house The Pass and Provision.Google Maps
It's been a real estate mystery for weeks: Word on the street was that the former Gravitas space at the corner of Taft and Allen Parkway was getting a new restaurant tenant, but who? Now we finally have some answers — and it's even more exciting than we thought.
The space is being taken over by Seth Siegel-Gardner and Terrence Gallivan, the culinary assassins behind Pilot Light Group. After a search that lasted two years, Pilot Light revealed on Monday that it is opening its first concept, called "The Pass and Provisions" at 807 Taft.
Taking something of a cue from the Underbelly/Hay Merchant model, The Pass and Provisions is set to be two separate restaurants sharing one kitchen under the same roof. (Of course, Underbelly and Hay Merchant don't share a kitchen, just butchery space. But they do share a roof.)
Taking something of a cue from the Underbelly/Hay Merchant model, The Pass and Provisions is set to be two separate restaurants under one roof.
Provisions is set to be the latest restaurant to challenge Houston's status as a gourmet pizza desert, with "a mammoth wood-burning oven designed to churn out anything with smoky traces and a pizza-like crust."According to a press release, Provisions will also house a full bar and an outdoor patio.
Pilot Light says that "The Pass" is the place inside a restaurant where dishes are plated and garnished before being sent out to the dining room. The concept sounds like an individualized approach to Gallivan and Siegel-Gardner's exacting contemporary cuisine, as the duo have demonstrated in Houston first at the Just August Project and more recently in a trio of Pilot Light dinners. According to the release, the experience will be "similar to dining at a chef’s table . . . diners will be able to connect with the local and global inspiration and experience of each chef and behind every dish."
P&P (can I call it P&P?) already has the most distinguished pedigree of any restaurant in town. Siegel-Gardner and Gallivan met when running Gordon Ramsey's Maze and have a collective résumé that includes world-renowned restaurants like Aquavit, August, C-House, Aureole, The Modern, The Fat Duck, Viajante and more.
Opening in the former Gravitas space is auspicious for a couple of reasons. Gravitas was a really exciting concept from Scott Tycer when it opened in 2005, so giving way to The Pass and Provisions seems like a passing of the baton the the next generation of chef/restaurateurs remaking the Houston restaurant scene. It's also just blocks from where Siegel-Gardner grew up.
There's no word yet on when the restaurant will open, but it seems poised to be yet another reason why 2012 is Houston's biggest restaurant year ever.
Are you excited about The Pass and Provisions? What do you think?
