fm in the montrose

Bar-forward Houston restaurant taps open date for buzzy new Montrose location

The new location opens next week.

Courtesy of FM Kitchen & Bar

Montrose's wait for its very own location of FM Kitchen & Bar comes to an end next week. The popular comfort food restaurant will open its outpost at 907 Westheimer Rd. on Wednesday, June 23.

Like its sibling on Shepherd Drive, the new FM Kitchen & Bar will feature a menu of comfort food built around burgers, sandwiches, salads, and wings paired with an extensive selection of draft beer and cocktails. However, it will distinguish itself with a broader cocktail program and an all-new late night menu.

“We look to the Montrose neighborhood as an opportunity to evolve the FM brand and build on the momentum we’ve gathered over the past 18 months as a more bar-forward concept," managing partner Jason Mok said in a statement. "We are excited about how the more elevated design not only fits this location, but also inspires what we do as a brand."

Part of that evolution will be later operating hours. The Montrose location will be open until midnight on Thursday and 2 am on Friday and Saturday and feature performances by live DJs.

Similarly, FM Kitchen utilized local design firm Gin Design Group to give the space — formerly East Hampton Sandwich Co. and the Magical Unicorn Dessert Bar — elements that are approachable at lunch and dinner and more "moody" later in the evening. With four TVs over the bar and a 96-inch projector screen for special events, FM Kitchen aims to be an ideal game day destination.

Chef de Cuisine Valentin Garcia has added lighter options such as grilled salmon tacos and a crispy Brussels sprouts salad to FM Kitchen's familiar fare. The late night menu features dishes such as birria tacos and chicken toastadas, along with signature items like the FM burger and a spicy chicken sandwich. Brunch will be served on Saturday and Sunday.

“Valentin is an incredible asset to the FM family, and has already made a huge difference to our team’s culture in his short time with us. His talent, work ethic and commitment to making improvements every day is exactly what we needed during this period of growth for FM,” Mok said.

General manager and beverage director Rochelle Touga's offerings start with a 26-tap wall that will feature 24 beers and two draft cocktails. In addition, a highball machine will dispense a properly mixed Jim Beam and soda.

"We've built a really solid craft cocktail program already, but we are raising the bar with the Montrose location," Touga said. "We'll have some new and more elevated Montrose-only cocktails, plus the addition of the highball machine."

Chef Ryan Hildebrand and business partner Chong Yi opened the first FM Kitchen & Bar in 2017. Hildebrand departed in 2019 and will open Hildee’s Dine-Inn in Wimberly later this year.

news-you-can-eat openings

hail to the chef

Food & Wine's Best New Chef list includes Gulf Coast-obsessed Houstonian

Photo by Ally Hardgrave

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A Houston chef is basking in the national spotlight. Food & Wine magazine has named Josephine’s Gulf Coast Tradition executive chef Lucas McKinney to its 2026 class of Best New Chefs.

Announced Tuesday, September 15, McKinney is one of 14 chefs nationally — and the only Texan — to receive the prestigious award. He joins a roster of local Best New Chef alumni that includes Michael Cordua (Churrascos, Americas), Bryan Caswell (Reef, Latuli), Chris Shepherd (Underbelly, Georgia James), Justin Yu (Oxheart, Theodore Rex), and Emmanuel Chavez (Tatemó), whose win in 2023 made him the first Houston chef to be named a Best New Chef since Yu in 2014.

Open since 2023, Josephine’s is a Gulf Coast-inspired seafood restaurant in Midtown. Named for McKinney’s great-grandmother Althea Josephine, its menu is inspired in part McKinney’s family history in the seafood business. It sources ingredients from across the Gulf Coast, including blue crab, redfish, oysters, and local produce.

Both Josephine’s and McKinney have already earned significant awards, including both Rising Star Chef of the Year and Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year in the CultureMap Tastemaker Awards, a Rising Star award from Star Chefs magazine, and a Recommended designation in the Michelin Guide.

“I don't know how to put it into words,” McKinney said in a statement. “Josephine's would be nothing without our team, the farmers and fishermen we’ve built relationships with, and our guests who support us. To be able to do something this big with Gulf Coast cooking – the fish we grew up eating, the crabs we grew up cooking, the oysters we shucked at home – means the world.”

McKinney has come a long way from his time as a line cook at Georgia James and a chef de cuisine at Hay Merchant. He credits Shepherd for pushing him to think about the future and what kind of chef he wanted to be.

"I didn’t know how big a moment that would be," McKinney tells CultureMap about his time at Hay Merchant. "The trust they put in me to have fun and cook. I look back, Chris would say, 'what do you want to cook?' I’d say a 'divey oyster bar.' Seven years later, we’re here in New York on the biggest stage with the best people. I’ll come back home on Thursday to shuck oysters."

In an essay on the Food & Wine website, Shepherd praises McKinney — who worked for him at Georgia James, Hay Merchant, and Georgia James Tavern — for the way the chef has embraced his Gulf Coast roots at Josephine’s. Shepherd praises many of the restaurant’s signature dishes, such as smoked red fish dip, gumbo, and Viet-Cajun crawfish, which sell “a few thousand pounds a week in peak season.” Shepherd notes that McKinney’s talents extend beyond his cooking.

“Chefs, staff, and diners are drawn to McKinney, not just because of how delicious his food is but because he is generous with what he knows,” Shepherd writes. “Spend enough time at Josephine’s, and you may find him pulling up a chair to explain the best way to eat a hard shell blue crab; I’ve seen him do it. In that moment, he’s passing along a Gulf Coast tradition that has been in his family for generations.”

Speaking to CultureMap from New York, Shepherd says McKinney came onto Food & Wine's radar after participating in last year's Southern Smoke Festival. Many of his fellow BNC alumni dined at Josephine's either before or after the festival.

"For me, every time you see someone who worked for you succeed, it’s a beautiful moment. All I want for them is to follow their dreams. It’s pretty amazing," Shepherd says.

Six of this year's BNC recipients, including McKinney, will participate in this year's Southern Smoke Festival, which is taking place at Discovery Green on Saturday, October 3. Southern Smoke shared which chefs are coming and what they're cooking in an email. Tickets for the festival are available here.

Food & Wine has named Best New Chefs since 1988. To be eligible, chefs must have led a kitchen for five years or less. The magazine’s editors travel across the country to scout applicants. Finalists undergo background checks, including anonymous surveys by the restaurant’s staff to evaluate the culture at their businesses. Previous recipients include culinary superstars such as Thomas Keller, David Chang, Tom Colicchio, and more.

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