ten spot
Bosscat Kitchen's new sushi sister concept rolls into Houston
A California-based sushi restaurant is coming to the Highland Village area. Ten Sushi + Cocktail Bar will open at the intersection of Westheimer Road and Mid Lane in Spring/Summer 2022.
Owned by BCK Management, Ten Sushi will open across the street from its sister concept Bosscat Kitchen, the whiskey-obsessed comfort food restaurant that opened in 2017, and next door to two apartment towers where the company operates private bars for residents.
“I thought the Afton Oaks, River Oaks area was ripe for what we do,” BCK Management CEO and co-owner John Reed tells CultureMap. said in a statement. “The blend between sushi and ambiance, I think is going to be fun for this area.”
Ten serves sushi alongside a pan-Asian menu of dishes that range from Japanese (miso soup, tempura) to Chinese (honey walnut shrimp, kung pao chicken) and beyond. Houston’s location of Ten will seat approximately 100 guests in a 3,200-square-foot space.
Originally opened as Ten Asian Bistro in 2008. Reed and his business partner Leslie “Miss Bosscat” Nguyen purchased the concept in 2014. With plans to relocate from Newport Beach to Irvine, CA and open a second location in Houston, the partners decided to rebrand away from Ten’s nightclub roots and towards a direction that focuses on Bosscat’s reputation for personalized service and creative cocktails.
“We wanted to modernize the brand and the menus,” Reed says about the name change. “Our cocktail program across the Bosscats is very successful. We saw the opportunity to do the same thing with Ten.”
To help facilitate that change, Ten hired Gary Ly as a consultant. Known locally for his work at Underbelly and as the chef and co-owner of 93 ‘Til in Montrose, Ly worked with BCK Management chef Peter Petro on a lineup of small plates that draw from a diverse array of Asian cuisines. Chef Ly will roll out the offerings at Ten’s upcoming Irvine location before bringing the dishes home to Houston.
“We gave him carte blanche to bring some fun flavors,” Reed says. “We put together 14, 15 new items that are going to be pretty amazing.”
On the sushi side, Ten offers a diverse selection of sushi and sashimi, including nigiri and sushi rolls made with black rice.
As they did with Bosscat, Reed says BCK will introduce Ten to Houston with a series of pop-ups. Stay tuned for more information as the opening becomes more imminent.
