another montrose relocation

Wine-fueled Italian restaurant will close and relocate after 20 years in Montrose

Divino will close its location on Saturday, July 31.

Divino Italian Restaurant & Wine Bar/Facebook

Another Montrose dining staple has announced it will soon have a new home. Divino Italian Restaurant & Wine Bar will cease operations in its current location on Saturday, July 31, the restaurant announced on Facebook.

Divino has occupied its space at 1830 West Alabama St. for more than 20 years. The restaurant's property has been sold and will be put up for lease to a new tenant, according to the announcement. Still, a glimmer of hope remains for the restaurant's fans.

"After over two decades of memories, shuttering Divino will be bittersweet, however, it provides us an opportunity for a fresh start in a new space," the post reads. "Change can be a challenge, but we hope our customers will find this an exciting one."

Led by the restaurant's chef, sommelier, and owner Patrick McCray, Divino has been a Montrose neighborhood staple. Area residents could count on it for classic Italian fare such as housemade pastas, veal scallopini, and seafood dishes.

Beyond the food, the restaurant's all-Italian wine list made it a destination for oenophiles. Five years ago, that expertise in wine led McCray to open Vinology, a boutique wine shop and wine bar near Rice Village.

Divino is only the latest Montrose staple to announce it will have a new home. The Chocolate Bar will also close this weekend in advance of a relocation. Fellow wine bar and restaurant Avondale Food & Wine closed earlier this week with plans to reopen in the fall. Neither the Chocolate Bar nor Avondale have revealed their new locations.

CultureMap has contacted McCray to request more information about Divino's future. We will update this article when we receive a reply.

closings

What's Eric Eating Episodes 404 and 405

Bobby Heugel gets candid about the future of restaurants in Houston

Courtesy of Through Fare Hospitality.

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On this week's episode of "What's Eric Eating," hospitality veteran Bobby Heugel joins CultureMap editor Eric Sandler to discuss the current state of the restaurant industry. One of the founders of Anvil. Heugel is a co-owner of Thorough Fare Hospitality, the company behind Refuge, Squable, Better Luck Tomorrow, Theodore Rex, and Catbirds.

While those places have achieved considerable fame and financial success, Heugel is concerned about the future prospects of independently-owned restaurants and bars. He and Sandler discuss the increased costs for materials, labor, and real estate that make it more expensive than ever to operate a business. They also look at some of the behind-the-scenes requirements of leasing real estate that didn't exist when he opened Anvil in 2009.

It has him concerned that quirky, ambitious establishments won't be able to call Houston home.

"I hear more about the struggles than I did in the past. If you compare this era to 2010, 2012, which I know was a big boom for independent restaurants in the city, I know there was a lot of optimism at that time. We opened Anvil in 2009. I did Underbelly, Hay Merchant, and Blacksmith after that," he says.

"That optimism is not here anymore. There's so many more financial barriers. There's no way that we open Underbelly today. It's not possible. WE don't get approved as tenants. We can't afford to open the restaurant. It never exists. That building gets sold to a developer who wants to turn it into an AT&T store."

Listen to the full episode to hear Heugel's thoughts on the kind of concepts he thinks are still viable. He also provides a brief update on the first year of operations at Catbirds.

On this week's other episde, Chelsea Thomas, staff writer for The Infatuation Houston, joins Sandler to discuss the news of the week. Their topics consist of Shake Shack closing two Houston locations and the extension of Houston Restaurant Weeks.

In the restaurants of the week segment, Thomas and Sandler share first impressions of Thai Tail, the fast casual restaurant from the owner of Kin Dee, and Ramen Moto, the new izakaya from Tiger Den chef and founder Mike Tran.

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Subscribe to "What's Eric Eating" on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hear it Sunday at 10 am on ESPN 97.5.

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