blooming in the heights

Healthy-eating restaurant sets opening date for hot Heights location

Flower Child opens August 4.

Photo courtesy of Flower Child

A kale salad deferred is not a kale salad denied. Healthy eating restaurant Flower Child will open its location in The Heights on August 4 for to-go, delivery, and patio dining, the restaurant announced on its website.

Originally scheduled to debut in March, Flower Child delayed its opening as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. It joins Thai restaurant Kin Dee, CycleBar, and Salon Lofts in the recently constructed Market at Houston Heights development at 15th St. and N. Shepherd Dr. The restaurant's first Houston location opened in Uptown Park in 2018. A Woodlands location followed last year.

Part of Arizona-based Fox Restaurant Concepts, Flower Child serves a mix of dishes that offer extensive vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options for both lunch and dinner. With a fast casual format and reasonable prices, it's been a hit for the growing company, which was acquired by The Cheesecake Factory last year.

The menu covers a wide range of toasts, salads, bowls, entrees, and wraps. Standout dishes include the Mother Earth bowl (sweet potatoes, portobello mushrooms, avocado, broccoli pesto, and red pepper miso vinaigrette), the Rebel wrap (steak, charred onion, French Port Salut Cheese, and horseradish yogurt), and the Turkey and Avocado Cobb (romaine, arugula, red cabbage, avocado, tomato, cucumber, corn, pickled onion, smoked almond, and a gorgonzola vinaigrette). Daily soup specials, a variety of toasts, and a kids menu further explain the restaurant's appeal.

Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, The Heights remains one of Houston's top dining neighborhoods. It recently welcomed Mico's Hot Chicken, a brick and mortar home for the popular food truck, with Amsterdam & Co., a coffee shop and CBD dispensary, slated to arrive in the coming months.

openings the-heights

Farewell, ElRo

Creative Montrose pizzeria will shutter after only a year-and-a-half

Photo by Julie Soefer

ElRo Pizza & Crudo

An acclaimed Houston pizzeria will soon serve its final pies. ElRo Pizza & Crudo will close after service on December 31.

In a post on Instagram, chef-owner Terrence Gallivan thanks his staff for their dedication and his customers for their support. “We hope to see you all over the next couple weeks. Come celebrate with us,” he writes.

Open since June 2023, ElRo intrigued diners who enjoyed Gallivan’s work at pioneering Houston restaurant The Pass & Provisions. At ElRo, the chef served a modified version of the Provisions pizza recipe alongside crudos and shareable small plates such as arancini and housemade sausage. It earned four nominations in this year’s CultureMap Tastemaker Awards, including Best New Restaurant and Chef of the Year.

Sadly, Gallivan tells CultureMap that business has seen “a steady decline in business for many months.” Recently, the restaurant had tried a number of initiatives to draw in diners, such as steak night on Tuesday and fried chicken on Saturday.

The early announcement gives diners two weeks to make one more visit (or two) to the restaurant before it closes. Customers may want to time their visit for happy hour, which takes places from 3-6 pm Tuesday-Friday. It includes half-off glasses of wine, $4 draft beers, $9 select cocktails, and food specials.

Gallivan adds that he doesn’t know yet what his next move will be. Hopefully, he’s got one more comeback in him. Houston is a more fun town to dine in when Gallivan is cooking in it.

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