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    Coltivare in Montrose?

    Montrose restaurant soars with new European menu and new chef

    Eric Sandler
    Sep 3, 2019 | 10:18 am

    Agricole Hospitality is making some changes to its Montrose property Night Heron. Effective immediately, the establishment is moving away from its previous incarnation as a bar-restaurant hybrid into more of a European-inspired neighborhood bistro.

    “As we’re about a year-and-a-half into this business, we feel like this neighborhood and our customer base, and what we do well at is more of a restaurant,” Agricole co-owner Ryan Pera tells CultureMap. “I think the customers who come in were seeking that dinner and good beverage, and we want to give it to them.”

    Toward that end, Pera has promoted Jonathan Pittman to be the restaurant’s new executive chef. Pittman, a veteran cook whose resume includes Chez Nous, Pondicheri, and six years at The Pass & Provisions, has been tasked with taking the lessons he learned during a year working at Coltivare and applying them to Night Heron.

    “We saw a good opportunity to move the talent of Jonathan over here,” Pera says. “He’s ambitious and wants people to taste his food for the first time. We thought it was a good pairing there.”

    Working within the limitations of what Pera describes as the restaurant’s “tiny, tiny kitchen” isn’t easy, but Pittman has the flexibility to add limited-run dishes that utilize the best of whatever’s fresh and seasonal. At the same time, Night Heron now has a pasta machine, which means Coltivare’s signature black pepper spaghetti, previously only available on Wednesday nights, has been added to the menu permanently. Other additions include freshly based focaccia, a sirloin steak (sourced from 44 Farms) with braised radicchio and tomato confit, chicken saltimbocca, and seafood linguini with mussels and shrimp.

    “To do a la minute food and still have a varied menu is not always an easy task in this space,” Pera says. “For a young chef, I think that’s part of the fun. I did that at 17. It’s a tinier kitchen, but you can buy one case of one thing, use it up, and change the menu again. ... That’s where we want to go with this.”

    At the same time, Night Heron is keeping some of the dishes that its existing customers love, including the chicken frites, chili mussels, and the smoked Gouda burger. Brunch now includes a little of old and new, with staples like avocado toast and the honey chicken biscuit being joined by Italian-inspired dishes such as a frittata and stuffed conchiglie pasta.

    Pera has more changes in mind over the next six months. He wants Night Heron to serve lunch six days a week. From a decor standpoint, the lounge-style couches will be replaced with more restaurant tables, and a new window on the Mandell side will open up the space to the street.

    Cocktails will remain a core part of the beverage offerings, but general manager Danny Kirgan has tweaked the wine list a bit to focus on varietals that diners are likely familiar with. He cites a Sangiovese Rose from the Willamette Valley — an Italian-style wine from a domestic producer — as one example of the new approach.

    “It’s not cheap wine,” Kirgan says. “It’s wine that punches above its weight for the price.”

    As for Pittman, he has a clear vision of what kind of restaurant he wants Night Heron to be. After all, before he worked for Pera, he ate at Coltivare regularly.

    “Ambiance, food, and service are great, and I never felt like I spent a ton of money, but I’d always order more than I [intended to] because I just wanted to try more,” he says. “Friendly, great, honest food, just delicious.”

    Heirloom tomato salad.

    Night Heron heirloom tomato salad
      
    Photo by Nuray Taylor
    Heirloom tomato salad.
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    what's on tap

    Dough-obsessed pizzeria picks River Oaks for first Houston location

    Eric Sandler
    May 22, 2025 | 6:10 pm
    Dough-obsessed pizzeria picks River Oaks for first Houston location
    Courtesy of Pie Tap

    A Dallas pizzeria known for its artisanal dough is coming to Houston. Pie Tap will open its first Bayou City outpost in June.

    Located next to Fielding’s River Oaks in the Novel Residences luxury apartment building, Pie Tap is an endeavor from Dallas restaurateur Rich Hicks and Italian chef Giovanni Mauro. The chef is responsible for the restaurant’s pizza dough, which uses a mother starter and a 96-hour fermentation process that uses natural yeast to achieve a good balance of crunch and chew.

    "Without great dough, you can't have great pizza," Mauro told CultureMap Dallas when the first location opened in 2016. "The idea that the crust is simply a vehicle for toppings is the wrong approach. There has to be a perfect balance of sauce and topping, but you have to have a commitment to the dough. If dough is everything it should be, the pizza is stellar."

    Using Italian flour and natural yeast are essential components of the dough’s flavor, Mauro added.

    "It's the kind of dough our great-grandparents used to eat," he says. "It's a very natural, slow process. We don't use any commercial yeasts. We started a 'mother dough' with a starter that's proprietary to us. It's a five-day process, an absolute minimum of 96 hours, from when we start to when we put the pizza on the plate."

    The restaurant uses that dough to create pizzas that include classics like a margherita, pepperoni, and veggie. Some of the more creative options include the Prosciutto (topped with dates, pistachio, arugula, cheese, and balsamic) and the Salami (calabrese salami, fennel sausage, pepperoni, bacon, and mozzarella).

    In addition to pizza, the restaurant touts its rotisserie chicken, which is served both as a half bird with mashed cauliflower and vegetables and as part of sandwiches, pastas, and salads. Other pastas include pappardelle bolognese, ricotta gnocchi, and the on-trend rigatoni in spicy vodka sauce.

    Having covered “pie,” let’s turn to the “tap” portion of the restaurant’s name. The bar program starts with 30 beers and wines on tap. They’re joined by cocktails, more wines by-the-glass, and non-alcoholic options. Taken together, it’s a compelling package that earned Best New Restaurant in the 2017 CultureMap Dallas Tastemaker Awards.

    “Our talented and dedicated team has been anxiously awaiting this exciting entrance to the Houston market as it is the epitome of all things interesting in food and culture and one of the friendliest and most diverse cities in the U.S. When it comes to our brand, if it is not exceptional, it is unacceptable,” Hicks said in a statement. “We are proud that we have one of the most clean, healthy, and delicious artisan pizzas you can enjoy out there because it has no preservatives, fillers, or additives.”

    Pie Tap will be open for lunch, dinner, happy hour, and weekend brunch.

    Pie Tap Pizza
      

    Courtesy of Pie Tap

    That's what crust looks like when its dough is fermented for 96 hours.

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