Finn Hall Opening Date

Downtown Houston's next food hall serves up highly anticipated opening date

The wait for downtown's next food hall has come to an end. Finn Hall, the the 20,000-square-foot food hall coming later this year to the Jones on Main at the JPMorgan Chase & Co. building, will open its doors December 3.

Initially slated to open in February, the facility will include 10 restaurants and two bars. As a reminder, they are:

Goode Co. Taqueria, which will feature classic Tex-Mex cuisine for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Low Tide, a seafood and raw bar concept from the owner of Harold's in the Heights
Dish Society, a condensed version of of the popular farm-to-table restaurant
Mr. Nice Pie, a pizza by-the-slice concept from the owners of Voodoo Queen and Love Buzz
Mala Sichuan, a new outpost of the popular Chinese restaurant
Craft Burger, a creative burger concept from Chopped champion Shannen Tune
Oddball Eats, the first brick and mortar outpost of the falafel-centric Mediterranean
Yong, a Korean restaurant from former Cottonwood/La Grange chef Daniel Ajtai
Sit Lo, a new concept from the team behind the Bowl'D Up food truck that will serve Southern Vietnamese food.
Amaya Coffee, a coffee shop from Catalina Coffee owner Max Gonzalez

Sample menus for each restaurant have been posted to Finn Hall's website, which means diners can already start planning their first visit. The options are almost limitless, ranging from a truffle butter Juicy Lucy at Craft Burger, tea-smoked duck at Mala Sichuan, a fried shrimp platter at Low Tide, lamb chorizo fries at Oddball Eats, a bulgogi bowl at Yong, and more. For beverage options, patrons can look to St. Jac's, a beer and wine bar, or Swallow Nest, an intimate cocktail bar located on the mezzanine level.

Finn Hall will be the first of four new food halls coming to downtown. Bravery Chef Hall, a new concept from Conservatory owners Anh Mai and Lian Nguyen with partner Shepard Ross, will open in December. Understory will feature a new concept from Ninfa's and another outpost of East Hampton Sandwich Co when it opens sometime next year. Then there's Lyric Market, the mysterious food hall that hasn't released any vendor information since developer Jonathan Enav announced his plans to open it way back in January.

Craft Burger's Juicy Lucy is coming to Finn Hall.

Courtesy photo

Craft Burger's Juicy Lucy is coming to Finn Hall.

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Chef-backed nonprofit will train the next generation of Houston hospitality

Courtesy of Culinary Careers Program

Aaron Bludorn has been involved with Culinary Careers Program for many years.

A culinary training program founded by one of America’s most prominent celebrity chefs is coming to Houston. Culinary Careers Program (C•CAP) will launch in Houston with a sold out dinner this Wednesday, September 16.

Founded by multiple time James Beard Award winner Marcus Samuelsson, Culinary Careers Program is a national workforce development nonprofit that partners with public schools to provide under-resourced students with the skills they need to succeed in jobs in the hospitality industry.

The nonprofit provides education, job training, apprenticeships, scholarships, and career opportunities that both help students find good jobs and supply restaurants with well-trained, highly-motivated employees.

To date, Culinary Careers Program has reached close to 400,000 students across the United States and awarded $79 million in college scholarships.

Houston chef and restaurateur Aaron Bludorn became involved with C•CAP when he served as executive chef of Cafe Boulud in New York City. He’s leading the charge to bring the program to Houston by hosting a sold out fundraiser at Bar Bludorn this Wednesday in collaboration with chef Nick Wong (Agnes and Sherman) and Leonard Botello IV (Truth BBQ).

“It’s so important that C•CAP comes to Houston. I think it’s very similar to, if we’re going to get good at soccer in the United States we need to focus on youth soccer and getting kids interested early,” Bludorn tells CultureMap.

“For Houston to continue to become a major culinary city in the United States, it’s important to focus on the next generation of chefs. C•CAP gives that opportunity to high school students to have on the job training while still being in school.”

As the owner of a growing group of restaurants, Bludorn recognizes that businesses need a steady stream of people. C•CAP participants arrive with basic skills that allow them to get up to speed more quickly than other applicants.

“It provides chefs with young talented cooks that have been vetted and given proper training. You’re not taking a guess on someone,” Bludorn says.

Botello IV’s participation shows that C•CAP is adapting to Texas. Students will have the opportunity to work at Truth BBQ, a Michelin Bib Gourmand recipient that Texas Monthly ranks as the state’s 10th best barbecue joint.

“There will be opportunities to become a chef or a general manager, but also to learn barbecue and get your foot in the door at a place like Truth and become a pitmaster. That on-the-job training is the most valuable,” Bludorn says.

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