Foodie News

Buzzed-over restaurant grocery store opens in historic Heights spot — with rooftop dining power

After almost a year of construction, the Heights General Store will open for its first dinner service Thursday night. Located next to the recently opened Torchy's Tacos on 19th street, the restaurant/grocery store has made extensive changes to the former Harold in the Heights space it took over.

Heights General Store will serve dinner Thursday and Friday before opening for breakfast, lunch and dinner starting on Saturday.

“I am so excited to bring this unique concept to the neighborhood," owner Alli Jarrett said in a statement. "My goal is to provide a relaxed, comfortable environment with convenience close to home and a delicious dining experience. Supporting our local and regional growers and suppliers is also important to me."

A market will sell local produce, prepared foods, fresh meats, bread and other items, but the upstairs restaurant is the real star.

Downstairs, a market will sell local produce, prepared foods, fresh meats, bread and other items, but the upstairs restaurant is the real star. The dining room utilizes reclaimed wood from a 19th century barn and incorporates a mirror from the Harold's men's dressing room. Although situated in a dry part of the Heights, diners will be able to purchase drinks from the full bar by signing up for a free membership to "Harold's Club."

Now that the weather's finally cooled off, expect the rooftop terrace to be a favorite place to dine, particularly during brunch.

Former Catalan/Hay Merchant/Federal Grill chef Antoine Ware has created a menu based around Southern classics and local ingredients that's divided into starters, sharable plates and entrees. He's curing bacon and grinding fresh sausage. The restaurant makes it own dough for the pizza and flatbreads that emerge from the wood-fired, stone-floor pizza oven.

For those who want to sample the menu more broadly, Ware will offer a chef's tasting option ($60, $80 with wine). Full happy hour and dessert menus will follow in the coming weeks.

For now, a couple of the most intriguing options look to be the Gulf fish on the half shell and the shrimp-based Low Country Beaufort Stew. At $16, the restaurant's burger better deliver big flavor if it hopes to compete with the high-quality offerings from neighbors such as Down House and Hubcap Grille.

Expect the fully covered rooftop terrace at the Heights General Store to become a brunch hotspot.

Heights General Store November 2013 Rooftop Terrace

Photo courtesy of Heights General Store

Expect the fully covered rooftop terrace at the Heights General Store to become a brunch hotspot.

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Relish responds

Houston restaurant breaks silence about wage theft allegations

Photo by Julie Soefer

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A Houston restaurant has broken its silence about a lawsuit that accuses it of wage theft. Relish Restaurant & Bar issued a statement about allegations made by an employee that it improperly allocated money from the restaurant’s tip pool:

For more than a decade, we've worked hard to build a restaurant where our employees feel valued and respected. Our team is central to everything we do, and we take our responsibilities to them seriously. We remain committed to fair and lawful employment practices, and firmly deny the allegations that have been made. Given that this is an ongoing legal matter, we will not comment further at this time. Thank you for understanding.

According to an article in the Houston Chronicle, employee Michael Baron alleges that Relish and its owners, Addie and Dustin Teague:

Used his and other employees’ tips to pay the maitre’d, who also had managerial roles, such as disciplining employees. The maitre’d was allegedly paid at least $21,000 in 2026 from pooled tips, according to the lawsuit. The maitre'd position is not included in the restaurant's notice about which workers get paid from the pool, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit further alleges that the practices at Relish’s Town & Country location violated the Fair Labor Standards Act, the federal law that governs how tipped employees are paid. Under the law, restaurants are allowed to pay tipped employees as little as $2.13 per hour, because the vast majority of their income is generated by customers’ tips. The law also governs which other employees — such as bartenders and other customer-facing positions — are eligible to receive a share of an employee’s tips. Salaried managers or employees in supervisory roles are not eligible to receive tips.

Baron is represented by attorney Josef F. Buenker, whose firm specializes in employment law, as noted by its domain name houstonovertimelawyer.com.

In March, a federal court ruled that Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille must pay $21 million for misallocating tips to more than 700 servers.

Relish is known for its classic American fare such as burgers, fried chicken, steaks, salad, and seafood. Its River Oaks location, which has been open since 2016, will soon close before moving to the RO mixed-used development next year. Relish’s Town & Country location will remain open.

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