vibing on it

New restaurant plants a kiss on Sawyer Yards with Southern food and 'vibe dining'

A new restaurant has brought Southern food and “vibe dining” to Sawyer Yards. Recently opened in the former Poitín space, Kiss offers diners a lively atmosphere and a stylish interior.

The Clé Group, known for their nightclubs Clé and Spire as well as Bisou restaurant in River Oaks District, teamed up Profit Hospitality Group to create Kiss. Profit Group partners Thomas Ford, Darryl Cloud, and Imaine Molo first established a relationship with the Clé Group as concert promoters. Ford tells CultureMap that Clé Group partner Zack Truesdell became a mentor of his, which led to the opportunity to open Kiss.

Just as Bisou means “kiss” in English, the two restaurants share some similar traits but express themselves differently. Whereas Bisou’s decor features white and gold, Kiss has a mostly black interior with gold accents. Large TVs hang over the bar, and private rooms offer plenty of space for private events. A walk-in cooler has been transformed into a champagne bar — complete with a private entrance for VIPs.

“It turned out better than I thought it would,” Ford says about the design. “I never pictured it that way once everything came together.”

Just as they look different, Kiss has a different atmosphere than Bisou. Ford says they originally envisioned the restaurant as matching Bisou’s nightclub-style vibe, but Kiss’s customers want something a little different.

“The people want this place to be a vibing restaurant, so that’s what we’re giving them,” he says. “We’re focusing on doing better at being a restaurant.”

That focus starts with service — Ford cites Steak 48 as an example of what they aim to achieve — along with the food. Chef Frédéric Perrier swaps Bisou’s French-inspired fare for a menu that features an eclectic mix of Cajun and Southern flavors.

Expect dishes such as fried green tomatoes, boudin egg rolls, Caribbean jerk short rib, and a decadent fried seafood platter that can feed the whole table. Other highlights include beer battered flounder, cognac barbecue jerk lamb chops, and surf and turf brochettes presented on a hanging skewer.

Brunch, served both Saturday and Sunday, features a similarly wide range of options with everything from crab beignets and avocado toast to a fried lobster tail over grits. Chicken and waffles comes with a choice of Hennessy, bananas Foster or brown sugar cinnamon waffle.

Cocktails suit a wide range of tastes. Ford’s favorite, the $39 Illmatic, is made with Clase Azul tequila, Grand Marnier, and Hennessy cognac.

Three months of success has Kiss’s partners looking to the future. “I feel like we’re on the right path,” Ford says.

“It’s going amazing. We’re already entertaining opening another location in Dallas.”

Kiss features a black interior with gold accents.

Courtesy of Kiss

Kiss features a black interior with gold accents.

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Houston's 'Chinese takeout bar from the future' touches down in Webster

Courtesy of The Rice Box

A rendering previews The Rice Box's new location in Webster.

Houston’s Chinese takeout bar from the future is coming to the Bay Area. The sixth location of The Rice Box will open in Webster later this summer.

Located at 114 El Dorado Blvd, the new location will be called Rice Box Space Center after NASA’s headquarters at the nearby Johnson Space Center. Founder John Peterson tells CultureMap that it’s a bit of a homecoming for him and his wife/business partner, Jenny Vo, as they grew up in the area. As with every new location, the restaurant created a movie-style poster to announce its opening.

Rice Box Webster movie poster The Rice Box Space Center is expected to open later this summer.Courtesy of The Rice Box

For its first truly suburban location, Peterson plans to offer a more efficient pickup system for to-go orders. Dubbed The Rice Box Pickup Reactors, the system applies Rice Box’s sci-fi aesthetic to curbside ordering. As seen in the rendering above, the building will have six slots that drivers will pull into to get their orders.

“The goal is to have guests in and out with food in hand in around 90 seconds,” Peterson writes in an email. “It’s still pickup, but we’re trying to make that moment feel more intentional and more connected to the digital side of Rice Box instead of treating it like an afterthought. We’re looking at this opening as both a new store and a prototype for how Rice Box can work in more suburban markets without losing the part of the brand that makes it feel like us.”

Bay Area-area diners can expect the same menu as the Rice Box’s other locations. That includes staples such as General Tso’s chicken, sesame chicken, beef with broccoli, and orange peel beef. The restaurant also serves traditional Chinese-inspired fare such as Chongqing chicken, cumin beef, mapo tofu, and chow fun noodles.

Recently, Peterson rolled out a new version of Rice Box’s dumplings. Available in chicken, pork, or vegetable, each style of dumpling comes with a different wrapper that enhances the filling’s flavor. They’re also available either steamed or fried.

The Rice Box started as a food truck in the early 2010s. After moving to a permanent location in the Greenway Plaza food court, it has opened brick-and-mortar locations in the Heights, River Oaks, Rice Village, and Memorial.

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