welcome olive & vine

Popular Houston olive oil shop uncorks new location in The Heights

Olive & Vine has moved from Memorial City to The Heights.

Photo courtesy of Olive & Vine

Heights chefs, rejoice: Olive & Vine has uncorked in the neighborhood.

The olive oil and vinegar boutique, known for its wide selection of products, has shuttered its Memorial City shop and now has a storefront at 508 W. 19th St. — making it a neighbor to the beloved Penzey’s Spices, a geography that will give home cooks something of a one-stop shop experience for ingredients.

Owners Wayde and Susan Burt are excited to be a part of the explosive growth taking place in The Heights. “We owned our first home here in the ’80s and are amazed at how much has changed since those days. We are delighted to be back in the neighborhood — it’s like coming full circle,” says Susan Burt.

The new shop boasts that it offers the widest selection of extra virgin olive oils, infused olive oils, and aged balsamic vinegars available in this region of Texas. The European style “tasting bar” allows customers to sample the oils and vinegars before making a selection. It is then bottled on the spot to take home.

Dedicated to providing the freshest products available, Olive & Vine offers products from the most recent harvests in the northern and southern hemispheres.

In late fall/early winter, look for oils imported from Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Tunisia, and California. Oils from Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Chile, and South Africa will turn up in the late spring and early summer.

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Olive & Vine is open Monday-Saturday 10 am-6 pm and Sunday 11 am-5 pm.

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Restaurant business

Comfort food chain Cotton Patch Cafe acquired by Dallas restaurant group

Chicken fried steak, CFS, Cotton Patch Cafe

Facebook/Cotton Patch Cafe

Chicken fried steak at Cotton Patch Cafe.

The Southlake-based Cotton Patch Cafe restaurant chain, known for its Texas-style comfort food, is finding comfort in the form of a new owner from Dallas.

According to a release, Dallas-based Local Favorite Restaurants group purchased Cotton Patch Cafe from Altamont Capital Partners. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Local Favorite's growing restaurant portfolio includes 99 restaurants spanning 10 brands, including well-known names like El Fenix Mexican Restaurant, Snuffer’s Restaurant & Bar, Meso Maya, Taqueria La Ventana, Wok Star Chinese, Twisted Root Burger Company, Campuzano Mexican Food, and Village Burger Bar.

The Cotton Patch acquisition “is an important step for Local Favorite Restaurants and a natural fit for the kind of brands we want under our roof,” Local Favorite founder Mike Karns says in the release. “Cotton Patch Cafe has loyal guests, a proven track record, and a Texas identity that gives it meaningful room to grow.”

Founded in 1989 in Nacogdoches, Cotton Patch operates 46 restaurants in Texas and New Mexico. The only Houston-area location is in Spring.

The deal also brings changes to the leadership team.

Karns will remain with the company in the role of founder and "Free-Range Creative," overseeing its creative direction and growth strategy. Cotton Patch Cafe CEO Brandon Coleman III will become CEO of Local Favorite Restaurants.

Local Favorite also owns and operates Sunrise Mexican Foods, which produces chips, tortillas, and other Mexican food products for retail and foodservice operators.

Cotton Patch Cafe is known for scratch-made, comfort classics like hand-breaded chicken fried steak, along with $9.99 Texas Value Meals.

Coleman says the acquisition won’t result in changes to the “heart” of Cotton Patch.

“We will continue to bring the small-town spirit, big Texas value, and quality scratch-made food guests count on, with the same focus on hospitality and community that has always made Cotton Patch feel like home,” says Coleman.

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