major chef talent

Posh Med Center hotel recruits Michelin-worthy chefs for four new restaurants

Chef Ho Chee Boon will lead the Blossom's food and beverage offerings.

Courtesy of Blossom Hotel Houston

A luxurious hotel in the Texas Medical Center has recruited top culinary talent to make its restaurants citywide dining destinations. The Blossom Hotel's retooled restaurant lineup features three chefs who have worked at Michelin-starred restaurants around the world.

To bring this vision to life, the Blossom has named chef Ho Chee Boon to oversee all food and beverage at the property, including its restaurants, bars, events, and in-room dining. Working with a team, Boon, who held a Michelin star at the elevated dim sum restaurant Yauatcha's London location, will open a duck-focused Cantonese restaurant, a Japanese restaurant, an intimate tasting menu concept, a rooftop bar, and a dessert bar. These new efforts replace some of the plans the hotel announced last year for its culinary offerings, which included a sushi restaurant by chef Akira Back.

First up will be the Blossom Club Chef's Table. Slated to open on the hotel's top floor in the third quarter of 2022, the 20-seat venue will feature a menu created by Singapore-based chef Zhineng Chen, who has worked with Boon at hotels in Singapore and as the corporate chef of the Hakkasan Group, the international hospitality company behind Yauatcha and other restaurants.

Three concepts will open in the fourth quarter. They include:

Sky High, a cocktail bar that will be adjacent to the hotel's rooftop pool
An unnamed Japanese restaurant focused on sushi and sashimi
A dessert bar in partnership with chef Rory Macdonald that will serve elegant pastries and high tea.

Macdonald is another Hakkasan veteran who also worked for Gordon Ramsay's two-Michelin star restaurant at The London hotel. He's the chef-owner of Patisserie Chanson in New York City.

In early 2023, Boon will open Duck House by Boon. Located in a building on the hotel's ground floor, the Cantonese restaurant will serve duck dishes, stir-fried dishes, dim sum, and soups. It will be similar to Empress by Boon, the restaurant he opened in San Francisco last year.

As CultureMap has previously reported, the 16-story Blossom Hotel offers 267 luxury guestrooms and suites, plus more than 9,000 square feet of meeting and event spaces. The property also boasts a rooftop pool and lounge with views of downtown Houston.

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bring on barnaby's

Favorite Houston comfort food spot picks Garden Oaks for 10th location

Courtesy of Barnaby's Cafe

Barnaby's Cafe is coming to the Stomping Grounds this fall.

Earlier this week, real estate developer Bryan Danna promised “big news…very soon” about a new tenant for the former LuLoo’s Day & Night space at his Stomping Grounds development in Garden Oaks. That news is that Houston favorite Barnaby’s Cafe has claimed the space for a new location that will open later this year.

When a Barnaby’s decal appear on the restaurant’s door a couple of days ago, news of the restaurant’s imminent arrival spread quickly on social media. It will be Barnaby’s tenth location, joining outposts in Montrose, River Oaks, the Heights, and more.

The restaurant will occupy a 2,250-square-foot space at the Stomping Grounds. It will offer a to-go window for people hanging out in the development’s green space as well as a gated, dog-friendly patio. Houston artist Roberto Cervantes will contribute works to the restaurant’s interior.

Founded in 1992 by restaurateur Jeff Gale, Barnaby’s is known for its wide-ranging and affordable menu of classic American fare, including salads, sandwiches, breakfast items, and dinner entrees. Customer favorites include the Lebanese chicken fattoush salad, chipotle black bean burger, baby back ribs, and green eggs, which are scrambled with spinach and artichoke hearts. Dogs can snack on a special “puppy menu” of ground beef, sliced chicken breast, or scrambled eggs over brown rice.

Stomping Grounds green space A to-go window will expedite orders for people in the Stomping Grounds' green space.Courtesy of Stomping Grounds

“Bringing Barnaby’s to Garden Oaks and Oak Forest has been on my wish list for more than a decade, so I’m incredibly grateful that Jeff Gale and his team saw Stomping Grounds as the right fit,” Danna said in a statement. “Jeff and I go back to his first Heights location, which was one of Barnaby’s first big moves north of Montrose, and I have always respected what he and his longtime team have built. Thirty years in the restaurant business is a serious accomplishment. You do not make it that long unless you know how to take care of people, build loyalty, and become part of the neighborhood.”

When it opens this fall, Barnaby’s will be open daily from 11 am to 9 pm. It will join other restaurants at the Stomping Grounds, including Fat Cat Creamery, Tex-Mex restaurant La Mex, Bollo Woodfired Pizza, casual sushi restaurant Himari, Little Sister Cake Shop, and High Five Mini Bar. Earlier this week, casual Vietnamese restaurant Pho Prime announced that it had claimed the space formerly occupied by The Pho Fix for a new location that will also open this fall.

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