What's in store for the new Américas opening in River Oaks Shopping Center in September? Well, let's just say that anyone hoping for stark minimalism doesn't know owner Michael Cordúa very well.

"When you look at nature, nothing is a straight line except the rain falling straight down. That's what I want to represent," Cordúa says.

"We also watched Avatar, like, five times," says son David Cordúa, as Michael flips through verdant stills from the film used as inspiration in his iPhone.

Whereas the original Américas has a rough quality from the stone walls evocative of Machu Picchu and the Gaudí-esque tile mosaics, the River Oaks iteration has a more feminine bent, with a design focus on texture, volume and curves.

Plans call for arched walls, light fixtures like calla lilies wrapped in thick, industrial felt; chairs and booths resembling sinewy, four-legged creatures; columns covered in thick leather pinched to create waves of feminine curves; and a sculpture-like light above the new central lounge shaped as a wave "like the ruffle on a flamenco dancer's skirt."

"What I said first was, I want to represent America not as a melting pot but as a tapestry. It's not about blending into one culture, it's about keeping the backgrounds and cultures and weaving them all together," Cordúa says.

It was architect Jordan Mozer, the designer behind the original Américas and the Woodlands location, who had the idea of using textiles — industrial felt and thick leather bent to abstract shapes, as well as wood and bronze — to define the space.

"It's softer and lighter — if the original Américas is the rainforest, the new space is the canopy."

The color palette sticks to earthy neutrals, with purples and pinks woven in. Inspiration for the art in the porte-cochere and the expansive patio is drawn from Inca figures, Brazilian graffiti, Nazca lines, and Moche wares. There's also a duo of hearts turned to resemble the continents of North and South America and intertwined in the middle.

In addition to opening a new space, Américas is adjusting the menu, eschewing the heavy book format in favor of one simple page.

"It's all about showing off the different ways to experience Américas, whether you want to have a traditional appetizer, entree and dessert, or sample from several small plates or eat family style," says David Cordúa.

They've also added new versions of ceviche to compliment the classic mixto, with flavors varying from the heavy Japanese-oriented salmon with black sesame to a sweet Ecuadorian tilapia with sweet corn, red onion and habanero.

The new lobster corndogs in a corn poblano dipping sauce are as fun as they are delicious, the deconstructed BBQ pork arepas have a nice nod to Southern cuisine in the form of a rich apple-salmon slaw, plus a quartet of taquitos with everything from plaintain-crusted shrimp and bacon-wrapped quail (an Americas classic) to a beef short rib cooked sous vide for 48 hours incorporates the taco trend too .

"At first I wanted to do Latin cuisine, and then it was expanded to global, and now it's more back to Latin. I think it has to do with getting older and wanting to return to your roots," Cordúa says.

Cordúa says the River Oaks Américas in some ways feels like a sequel to the original, and would be the basis for eventual expansion into Dallas and Austin. Aside from Americas, the company has plans to bring Churrascos to Sugar Land and are in negotiations regarding the former Bice space in the Galleria.

"There are two kinds of people, those who say don't mess with a good thing, and those who are never satisfied, and I fall in the latter," Cordua says. "So for me to change, to always want everything to be better is a part of my personality. It makes me hard to live with sometimes, because with me it's never just a pat on the back, it's always, 'Let's do it even better next time.'

"But I think it also is the reason for my success."