Introducing Calle Onze

Stylish new Mexican restaurant serves up excitement in The Heights

Whether Mexican or Tex-Mex, Houstonians don’t lack for choices when it comes to restaurants that serve food inspired by our neighbor to the south. And yet, for all the exciting new establishments that have opened in The Heights over the past few years, the neighborhood’s traditional Mexican restaurants, Tex-Mex joints, and taquerias have mostly gone unchallenged by newcomers.

That status quo is changing rapidly. Sometime in the next month or two, State of Grace owner Ford Fry will open his Tex-Mex restaurant Superica in the former Bernadine’s space at Shepherd and 18th Street, but that isn’t the area’s only new option for fajitas and margaritas.

Before Fry can unleash Superica, the owners of popular northside bar Edison & Patton have quietly opened their Mexican restaurant, Calle Onze. Located on 11th Street next to Eight Row Flint, Calle Onze aims to offer a mix of Mexican and Tex-Mex dishes in an atmosphere that’s a step up in fit and finish from Edison & Patton.

“We wondered if there was an area [in the market] that’s not a taqueria but not as fancy as a place like Xochi or Caracol. Casual enough where the price point is right and it feels good, but it’s a nice place where you can go out and eat dinner in a nice environment,” co-owner Christopher Manriquez tells CultureMap.

That environment starts with the dining room, which the group built from the ground up in just over six months. With high ceilings, exposed beams and duct work, and an open kitchen, the room has a stylish look that still aims to feel welcoming to a diverse set of diners.

“We may have a little more glitz, but we still have tables with concrete tops, we left the beams and rafters exposed, we have hardwood floors that will scuff over time,” Manriquez says. “We want to have a patina over time where it feels homey as it breaks in.”

Just as Calle Onze has a more polished look than Edison & Patton, its food offerings are more extensive; really, it’s the difference between a bar with food and a full-on restaurant. Executive chef Oliver Loeza blends his Mexican heritage (and some of his grandmother’s recipes) with French techniques and plating styles to craft dishes that range from expected options like fajitas and quesadillas to more adventurous fare like chorizo and nopales ravioli. Don’t worry: diners still get chips and salsa when they sit down.

“I refer to our head chef Oliver Loeza as a home run hitter,” director of operations Nick Barton says. “He’ll swing for the fences every single time. He either knocks it out of the park or spins himself into the ground striking out.”

Call Loeza the Evan Gattis of Houston chefs. To rein in some of those swing-and-miss tendencies, Manriquez, Barton, and even the line cooks have all contributed ideas to the menu. Barton says the restaurant wants to be flexible, especially in its current soft opening mode. If diners don’t like a dish, it’ll probably be changed pretty quickly.

In the coming weeks, the restaurant plans to roll out a Sunday brunch buffet and weekday lunch service. For now, the bar opens at 4 pm with dinner service beginning at 5 pm.

Whereas the food offerings have been a collaborative process, Barton gives beverage director Greg Perez full credit for the cocktail program. Built around fresh-squeezed juices and housemade syrups, Perez’s drinks are backed by 400 bottles of agave spirits (tequila, mezcal, etc).

“Our ultimate aim is to have the most bottles of agave-based spirits in the state,” Barton says. “We’re very close to that right now. It’s not that we want to hang our hat on that. We want people to come in and be impressed by the cocktails and the products that go into them. Just like they’ve never had chorizo-nopales ravioli, I want them to come in and see bottles they’ve never seen before.”

Taken together, the goal is to make Calle Onze a more refined version of what Edison & Patton is — a place where groups of friends can come for a casual happy hour and a couple of drinks or where a couple can come for date night or a special occasion. So far, the response has been favoriable.

“I think things are going better than I expected, probably better than Chris expected,” Barton says. “We want everyone to come out and check us out. It’s as simple as that.”

Calle Onze is now open.

Photo by Eric Sandler

Calle Onze is now open.

tex-mex the-heights news-you-can-eat openings cocktails

the more things change

Houston's essential Jewish diner looks better than ever after refresh

Photo by Sergio Trevino

The dining room has more light than ever.

It’s tricky to renovate a restaurant that’s as essential to its community as New York Deli. A staple of Houston’s Jewish community for almost 50 years, the tiny restaurant near Meyerland will serve as many as 400 people during a busy Sunday brunch.

Still, the time had come, as the tape on the deteriorating banquettes and peeling wallpaper illustrated. With the restaurant’s lease up for renewal, co-owner Michael Saghian saw an opportunity for some updates.

“I couldn’t be the new guy who ruined the place by moving it,” he tells CultureMap. “We worked out a deal with the landlord [to stay] and did a big refresh.”

The most noticeable change is the removal of the restaurant’s front door and vestibule. Instead, diners enter through the restaurant’s companion bagel shop. Separate entrances made sense when the bagel shop was certified kosher by local religious authorities, but now that designation only applies to the Bellaire location that opened in 2020. Not only is the new setup easier for people with mobility issues to navigate, it allows more light into the dining room, brightening the place considerably..

Saghian and co-owner Riana Sherman worked with interior designer Erin Hicks on the refresh. Tables, chairs, and banquettes are all new, but the color scheme remains the same. The process yielded 10 more seats, and the furniture is a little more durable, too.

“People have flipped chairs because they’re so lightweight,” Sherman says. “We got a sturdier chair.”

Behind the scenes, an expanded kitchen allows for the restaurant’s cooks to work faster and more efficiently. An additional egg cooker should cut down the amount of time people wait for their food to arrive.

“The kitchen had one of everything. Now we have two of everything. We can pump out a lot more food,” Saghian says.

Photographs on the walls honor longtime customers such as the “bagel girls,” a group of woman who’ve eaten breakfast at the restaurant since the ‘80s. A piece of old wallpaper has been framed and hung on the wall, too, as a nod to the space’s history.

New York Deli interior changes Photographs on the walls honor longtime customers.Photo by Sergio Trevino

Photo by Sergio Trevino

The dining room has more light than ever.

Saghian says he suffered from sleepless nights as he worried about people’s reactions to the changes, but so far his customers have been effusive.

“It still feels like an old school diner,” Saghian says. “It has pieces you remember. Even the new stuff is old school.”

While the physical environment is new, the staff remains the same. To ensure he kept the same team of cooks and servers, Saghian paid their wages for the two weeks the restaurant was closed for renovations.

Even more importantly, the prices are the same. That’s something that will make even the oldest regulars happy.

news-you-can-eat openings