3 new downtown restaurants

Ben Berg bringing 3 new restaurants to 2 downtown office buildings

Houston’s Berg Hospitality Group is making a major push into downtown by developing two new restaurants for one office tower and taking over operations at two establishments in another. The moves will bring one of the company’s most popular brands to the downtown tunnels and introduce two new concepts at a theater district high-rise.

First, the company has partnered with Bill Floyd Concepts to manage its properties at Enterprise Plaza at 1100 Louisiana, the 55-story tower managed by global real estate development firm Hines. Per the agreement, Berg will replace the El Real Tex-Mex restaurant in the tunnels with B.B. Lemon, its New York-inspired burger joint and comfort food restaurant. In addition, Berg will begin operating Real Agave, the cocktail bar and lounge that Floyd opened in 2022.

Real Agave will continue to serve upscale Mexican fare and agave cocktails in its existing space on the building’s ground floor. Berg’s plans include upgrading the dinner menu and adding lunch service.

B.B. Lemon’s familiar green-and-yellow branding will soon replace El Real’s signage in the tunnels. Similarly, its menu of burgers, sandwiches, and salads will replace El Real’s Tex-Mex fare. As part of the rebrand, Berg will introduce breakfast service and add catering options for the adjacent offices.

Floyd is a Houston hospitality veteran who’s best known as the co-founder of Reef, the groundbreaking Midtown seafood restaurant that closed in 2019. More recently, he’s opened two locations of Porta’Vino, a BYOB restaurant with an Italian-inspired menu.

“It’s an honor to be entrusted with these two venues,” Berg Hospitality CEO Ben Berg said in a statement. “With Bill Floyd’s extensive experience managing 32 Houston restaurants, he has set a standard of excellence in the industry. We aim to honor his vision and do him proud downtown.”

The changes at 1100 Louisiana are only one part of Berg’s downtown projects with Hines. The company will also open two new restaurants at the Texas Tower, the developer’s 47-story office building on the site of the former Houston Chronicle building at 845 Texas Avenue.

First up will be The Sylvie, a French-inspired restaurant on the ground floor. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, the restaurant will take significant inspiration from Annabelle Brasserie, Berg’s French restaurant in the Autry Park mixed-use development, with some touches from Trattoria Sofia, its Italian restaurant in the Heights, Ben Berg tells CultureMap. It is expected to open this summer.

In the morning, The Sylvie will have grab-and-go pastries and coffee for those heading upstairs to their offices along with dishes for those dining in. Lunch will feature salads, sandwiches, and pizzas. Dinner will feature both a full menu of entrees as well as cocktails and snacks designed for people going to performances in the theater district.

Following The Sylvie, Berg will debut Dune Road, its previously-announced New England-inspired seafood restaurant. The menu will center around New England favorites such as chowder (both clam and seafood), lobster bakes, fried clams, and lobster rolls.

New York-based ICRAVE will design both new restaurants. The Sylvie will feature a “whimsical, visually stunning environment,” according to a release, and seat 85 people. Dune Road will have a nautical look with polished metals, lacquered wood, and shiplap-inspired elements. It will feature a 56-seat, circular bar along with a 44-seat patio as part of a total capacity of over 200 people.

“The Sylvie marks the beginning of a dynamic partnership with Hines that will bring two unique restaurants to Downtown,” Berg added. “Together, we're set to elevate the culinary landscape and invigorate the vibrant heartbeat of our city that is Downtown."

Berg Hospitality has opened four new restaurants in less than a year — upscale Chinese restaurant Benny Chows; French-inspired Annabelle Brasserie; posh Italian restaurant Tavola; and, most recently, Prime 131, a live fire steakhouse in Timbergrove. In addition to its downtown projects, the company plans to open Turner's Cut, a luxurious steakhouse next to Annabelle Brasserie; Buttermilk Baby, a retro-inspired diner serving burgers, biscuits, and Carvel ice cream in the Heights M-K-T development; and a still unnamed fine dining restaurant in the former La Table space above Tavola.

Courtesy of Berg Hospitality

The Sylvie will be open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

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bring on the Bacalhau

Michelin-starred Houston restaurant heads to Portugal for new season

Photo by Zach Horst

No conversation about Houston’s best restaurants would be complete without mentioning March, Goodnight Hospitality’s Mediterranean-inspired, fine dining, tasting menu restaurant in Montrose.

For its 12th season, which begins this Friday, August 7, March will take a broad look at Portugal. Over the course of pre-dinner snacks in its lounge, seven courses in its dining room, and take away desserts, chef-partner Felipe Riccio and his team will guide diners through all aspects of Portuguese cuisine, including its trade routes with China, India, and North Africa.

Riccio tells CultureMap that Portugal was the logical follow up to March’s 11th season, which examined northern Spain. He began the research process a few months ago, drawing upon published literature, cookbooks, and his own experiences as a stage at a restaurant in Lisbon. More than a menu update, seasons at March also include changes to the beverage offerings and creating service touches that enhance the experience.

Photo by Zach Horst

Rabbit cozido.

“Portugal is so close geographically to the north of Spain, and there’s a lot of similarities,” he says. “The menu really explores a lot of places outside of the Mediterranean where the Portuguese had influence and were influenced by. It’s all these trade routes.”

Priced at $230 plus drinks, tax, and gratuity, a meal at March begins in the lounge with four snacks, including a peri peri-spiced duck rillette, a delicate tart with lobster and caviar, a tempura-fried fish (peixinhos da horta) and the Macau-inspired porcho balichao made with manilla clams.

As always, March brings premium ingredients to its take on classic dishes. For example, it sources Japanese Almaco Jack for a crudo that’s inspired by Portuguese salt cod (bacalahua). Cozido, a slow-cooked stew that’s a staple of Portuguese cooking, gets reinterpreted as a house made rabbit sauce with foie gras. Riccio acknowledges that diners expect a certain level of luxury at this price point, but diners may not always realize how valuable properly-sourced ingredients are.

“I don’t think it always has to be so overt. I think the majority of people, the experience as a whole delivers that value,” Riccio says.

Similarly, the Portugal menu continues March’s move to a set, seven-course menu instead of giving diners the choice of either six or nine courses. Riccio see that as another sign of the restaurant’s maturity.

“A tasting menu is restrictive. We needed to earn that trust and give people options. I felt like people trust us and we’ve proved we can create an experience,” he says.

Since part of the criteria for a Michelin star is consistency across visits, March’s ability to hold its star while still changing its menu twice a year is a testament to the kitchen’s skill. Add in the server’s deep knowledge of every dish on the menu, its comprehensive beverage offerings, and a dining room that features museum- quality art, and it’s reasonable to think that March might become Texas’ first restaurant to earn a two-star rating. For his part, Riccio would welcome the recognition.

“I think March as an entire experience, as a restaurant day-in and day-out, we can be at that level. We strive to give people that experience to where they have that menu and feel it’s well worth it,” he says. “That recognition. I’ve seen what it means for the team, for the guests, and for the validation of the experience, and, obviously, for my career and the restaurant as a business.”

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