Molina's on the move

Historic Houston Tex-Mex restaurant picks Fulshear for third location

Cheese enchiladas and Jose's dip are coming to Fulshear in 2019.

Molina's Cantina, the beloved Houston Tex-Mex staple that traces its roots back to the '40s, announced that it will open its third Houston-area location in far West Houston. Slated to arrive in late 2019, Molina's will occupy a 5,800-square-foot end cap space at the Shoppes at Cross Creek, a shopping center that will be located near the intersection of FM 1463 and the Westpark Tollway.

For the Molina family, the announcement fulfills a promise made when the restaurant's Washington Avenue location closed in September 2017. Opening in the Katy/Fulshear area fulfills a request made by the restaurant's customers in the area for a location in their area.

"We're excited to join this growing community between Fulshear and Katy," co-owner Ricardo Molina said in a statement. "With great schools and more families moving to this area, the growth has been phenomenal. We hope to fill a void for full service family restaurants."

Molina's joins a growing parade of Houston restaurants that are opening outposts in the area. This summer, Gr8 Plate Hospitality announced its plans to bring both The Union Kitchen and Jax Grill to a development near Cinco Ranch. Last week, Bosscat Kitchen revealed it would open a second Houston-area location near the intersection of the Grand Parkway and the Westpark Tollway. With the success that established restaurants like Bernie's Burger Bus and Dish Society have already found in the rapidly-growing suburb, expect more familiar names to heed the call to go west.

The C.W. Special: cheese enchilada and taco al carbon with rice and beans.

Photo by Kimberly Park

The C.W. Special: cheese enchilada and taco al carbon with rice and beans.

openings tex-mex

Houston's smallest restaurant?

Michelin-recognized Houston sushi chef fires up 4-seat Japanese skewer spot

Courtesy of Sip & Skewer

Diners sit in front of chefs cooking on a grill.

The team behind one of Houston’s Michelin-recognized sushi restaurants is opening an intimate new izakaya. Sip & Skewer is the newest concept from Hidden Omakase owner Tuan Tran and chef Marcos Juarez.

Opening Friday, February 13, Sip & Skewer is a four-seat restaurant devoted to skewered meats that’s located within Sushi by Hidden, the group’s affordable omakase restaurant in Rice Village. At Sip & Skewer, diners sit across from the chefs as they cook a 10-course, $90 meal on a Japanese binchotan grill.

“Sip & Skewer is small, loud, and intentional. The kind of hidden experience you’d find in Tokyo,” Tran said. “And with Chef Marcos guiding the team at Sushi by Hidden, this space is getting new energy from every angle.”

A four-seat restaurant within a 10-seat restaurant might seem kind of superfluous, but Tran explains that it’s part of a larger plan for his group of restaurants, which also includes West U. hand roll restaurant Norigami. It also builds on the success of Hidden Omakase, the Galleria-area sushi counter that earned a Recommended designation in the Michelin Guide.

“Sip & Skewer is part of a larger vision. It’s designed as a stepping stone toward our next concept, Kōri, a new hand roll and craft cocktail bar opening in the Heights. Our plan is to open Sip & Skewer directly next to our hand roll spot, creating a small alley of Japanese concepts that feed into one another,” Tran explains.

“This allows us to build awareness, train our team in a new format, and introduce guests to Japanese charcoal grilling in a very personal way before we scale the idea into a larger setting with Kōri. The four-seat format keeps overhead extremely low while serving as a live test kitchen and brand builder for what’s coming next,” he adds.

On a related note, Juarez and the other chefs at Hidden Omakase are dividing their time between all three restaurants. Tuam explains that it’s a deliberate strategy to ensure a consistent customer experience.

“The same team that works Michelin-recognized omakase service also runs the grill here, which keeps quality and execution consistent while allowing the chefs a creative outlet in a very different format,” Tran said. “Because Sip & Skewer is only four seats and reservations only, it does not require a dedicated full-time staff. It’s an extension of the team rather than a separate operation.”