Introducing Ready Room

Prolific Heights restaurateur shakes up neighborhood with new musically inspired cocktail bar

Houston Ready Room Heights Peter Clifton bar front

Veteran Houston bartender Peter Clifton's menu represents Houston's six wards.

Photo by Eric Sandler

One of the Heights’ most prolific restaurateurs has quietly opened the neighborhood’s newest cocktail bar. Delicious Concepts owner Ken Bridge (Ritual, Lola, Republic Diner + Noodle Bar) has partnered with veteran Houston bartender Peter Clifton on the Ready Room, a new bar located next to Ritual.

Named for a Houston dive bar where Bridge went to see live blues and jazz as a teenager (he met B.B. King there once), the Ready Room has a decidedly retro vibe with a decor that features wood-paneled walls, ceiling tiles that look like pressed tin, and vintage chandeliers.

Clifton and general manager Cody Northcutt collaborated on the cocktail menu, which features different sections named in honor of Houston’s six historic wards. Drink names from each section are taken from a historic person or place associated with that ward.

“We investigated the demographics, culture, and history of all the wards. We figured out it’d be a really cool idea to break the menu up into six wards, depending on what style of drink you got,” Clifton says. “It came with a story of you understanding what Ready Room was. It’s not really about us, but it’s also about the city.”

The bar’s liquor selection starts with 64 bottles of liqueurs and amaros; it also includes an extensive collection of bourbon, global whisky, and just about any other spirit someone could possibly want, which is all part of the partners’ goal of providing the neighborhood with a welcoming space where someone could sip something neat, dive into a couple of cocktails, or even crack open a beer.

True to its namesake, Ready Room will host musical performances on Fridays and Saturdays. A vintage piano sits in one corner, and Bridge says he wants to see jazz and blues performed in the space. The bar will start hosting performers in the next couple of weeks.

“It was a big part of the concept for the Ready Room for me,” Bridge says. “Some of my favorite clubs and bars throughout the country have soloists or vocalists, some sultty jazz stuff, maybe a two piece with an upright bass. I love that.”

Bridge and Clifton are quick to emphasize they’re not reinventing the wheels on successful cocktail bars, and they’re even quicker to reject any labels like “speakeasy” for the bar, which doesn’t have a sign or much of any indication from the outside of what patrons will find when they open the door. Still, it should be poised to find a niche as a more elegant alternative to some of the other options on White Oak.

“I like to give my community what I think they want,” Bridge says. “I don’t like to put merit badges on me personally. I want people to have a good time and enjoy what we’ve done.”

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Ready Room; 2626 White Oak Street; Open daily from 4 pm to 2 am.

what's on tap

Dough-obsessed pizzeria picks River Oaks for first Houston location

Courtesy of Pie Tap

A Dallas pizzeria known for its artisanal dough is coming to Houston. Pie Tap will open its first Bayou City outpost in June.

Located next to Fielding’s River Oaks in the Novel Residences luxury apartment building, Pie Tap is an endeavor from Dallas restaurateur Rich Hicks and Italian chef Giovanni Mauro. The chef is responsible for the restaurant’s pizza dough, which uses a mother starter and a 96-hour fermentation process that uses natural yeast to achieve a good balance of crunch and chew.

"Without great dough, you can't have great pizza," Mauro told CultureMap Dallas when the first location opened in 2016. "The idea that the crust is simply a vehicle for toppings is the wrong approach. There has to be a perfect balance of sauce and topping, but you have to have a commitment to the dough. If dough is everything it should be, the pizza is stellar."

Using Italian flour and natural yeast are essential components of the dough’s flavor, Mauro added.

"It's the kind of dough our great-grandparents used to eat," he says. "It's a very natural, slow process. We don't use any commercial yeasts. We started a 'mother dough' with a starter that's proprietary to us. It's a five-day process, an absolute minimum of 96 hours, from when we start to when we put the pizza on the plate."

The restaurant uses that dough to create pizzas that include classics like a margherita, pepperoni, and veggie. Some of the more creative options include the Prosciutto (topped with dates, pistachio, arugula, cheese, and balsamic) and the Salami (calabrese salami, fennel sausage, pepperoni, bacon, and mozzarella).

In addition to pizza, the restaurant touts its rotisserie chicken, which is served both as a half bird with mashed cauliflower and vegetables and as part of sandwiches, pastas, and salads. Other pastas include pappardelle bolognese, ricotta gnocchi, and the on-trend rigatoni in spicy vodka sauce.

Having covered “pie,” let’s turn to the “tap” portion of the restaurant’s name. The bar program starts with 30 beers and wines on tap. They’re joined by cocktails, more wines by-the-glass, and non-alcoholic options. Taken together, it’s a compelling package that earned Best New Restaurant in the 2017 CultureMap Dallas Tastemaker Awards.

“Our talented and dedicated team has been anxiously awaiting this exciting entrance to the Houston market as it is the epitome of all things interesting in food and culture and one of the friendliest and most diverse cities in the U.S. When it comes to our brand, if it is not exceptional, it is unacceptable,” Hicks said in a statement. “We are proud that we have one of the most clean, healthy, and delicious artisan pizzas you can enjoy out there because it has no preservatives, fillers, or additives.”

Pie Tap will be open for lunch, dinner, happy hour, and weekend brunch.

Courtesy of Pie Tap

That's what crust looks like when its dough is fermented for 96 hours.

pizza openings news-you-can-eat pie tap