mamma mia

Guy Fieri-favorite Houston chef opens fine new Italian restaurant in River Oaks

Roberto Crescini Fresco Café Italiano Guy Fieri Diners Drives In Dives

Davanti chef Roberto Crescini with Guy Fieri.

Courtesy of Food Network

Two veterans of the Houston food scene have teamed up to open a new Italian restaurant that will be opening for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Chef Roberto Crescini and Francisco “Paco” Calza will open Davanti Ristorante Italiano on July 6.

Located near Central Market at 2900 Weslayan St., Davanti will serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a menu built around Crescini's freshly made pastas that diners can combine with different sauces and proteins. Other menu items will include pizzas and Italian desserts like tiramisu. Italian wines and craft beers from both Europe and America will anchor the beverage program.

“We will work to have a warm, courteous, and efficient service,” Calza said in a statement. “While at the same time offer the best beer and wine pairings for Roberto’s cuisine”

The closure earlier this year of Fresco Café Italiano, chef Crescini's former restaurant, provided the opportunity for the two men to work together. In a release, the duo explain that they share a passion for high quality European ingredients. Calza, who will remain in his role at BCN while contributing to Davanti, adds that chef Crescini makes the best pasta he's ever eaten.

Crescini first made his mark locally as the opening chef for Bellaire favorite Enoteca Rossa. At Fresco Café Italiano, he earned devoted fans for his fresh pastas. The chef appeared alongside Food Network star Guy Fieri on a 2021 episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

Calza has a similarly sparkling resume. After working as the general manager of Cafe Annie for many years, he joined chef Luis Roger to open Spanish fine dining restaurant BCN in 2014. As BCN's general manager, he played a key role in helping BCN establish its reputation as one of Houston's best restaurants with top flight service that matched the quality of its food.

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the sylvie switcheroo

Loch Bar owner takes over downtown tower's cafe, add Japanese eatery

The Sylvie/Facebook

Atlas Restaurants has taken over operations at The Sylvie.

Downtown Houston will soon welcome a new, upscale Japanese restaurant. When it opens later this year, Kannon will be the newest Houston concept from Baltimore-based Atlas Restaurants.

Located in downtown’s Texas Tower, Kannon will a Japanese fine dining restaurant. The 7,000-square-foot restaurant will seat 200 diners, including a 70-seat patio. Atlas Concept Chef Timur Fazilov will create the restaurant’s menu of elevated Japanese fare.

That may sound familiar, since it’s very similar to Azumi, Atlas’ upscale Japanese restaurant in River Oaks District that opened in 2024 and also features a menu by Fazilov. Atlas president and CEO Alex Smith acknowledges the two restaurants will have similar menus, but he tells CultureMap that Kannon will have a different “design and feel” than Azumi.

Along with opening Kannon, Atlas has also taken over operations at The Sylvie, the Texas Tower’s European-inspired all-day cafe. Fans of the concept can take comfort in knowing that Atlas does not plan any major changes to the restaurant’s existing menu.

Atlas also operates Loch Bar, an East Coast-style seafood tavern in River Oaks District, and Marmo, an Italian steakhouse in the Montrose Collective.

“We opened our first concept in Houston in 2019 and have loved getting to know the River Oaks and Montrose Collective communities. We’re eager to expand into Downtown Houston with The Sylvie and Kannon, and are thrilled to partner with Texas Tower,” Smith added in a statement.

It has been a bit of a journey to bring an upscale restaurant to the Texas Tower, the 47-story high-rise on the site of the former Houston Chronicle headquarters. In 2021, Chicago's What If Syndicate hospitality group announced plans to bring its Italian concept Etta to the property, but those plans fell through.

Then, Berg Hospitality opened The Sylvie in 2024. At the time, the company, which is known for restaurants such as B&B Butchers, Trattoria Sofia, and Turner’s, also planned to open Dune Road, a New England-inspired seafood restaurant in the space that had been slated for Etta, but the restaurant was quietly shelved. Berg still operates Real Agave at 1100 Louisiana.

A represented for Berg Hospitality declined to comment on the company’s decision to exit The Sylvie.

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