Austin favorites arrives in Montrose

Cool Austin oyster bar opens in Montrose with see-be-seen patio, IG-ready aquarium, and more

The latest contender in Houston’s Great Seafood Restaurant Boom of 2023 has entered the ring. Clark’s Oyster Bar is now open for lunch, brunch, and dinner.

First announced in February 2022, Clark’s occupies the former Montrose Car Care building at the corner of West Alabama and Montrose. It’s part of Austin’s acclaimed McGuire Moorman Lambert Hospitality, the hotel and restaurant group behind Austin staples such as Jeffrey’s, Joann’s, and Perla’s Seafood & Oyster Bar. Houston’s Clark’s joins the original in Austin as well as a second location in Aspen, C

Inspired by American seafood from New England to San Francisco, Clark’s menu covers a wide range of options. As its name implies, the restaurant’s raw bar section starts with oysters from the East and West Coasts. It also includes caviar, crudo, ceviche, shrimp cocktail, and seafood towers.

Entrees options range from East Coast staples like a lobster roll, clam chowder, and fried clams to classics such as cioppino, crispy snapper, and linguine with clams. Non-seafood choices include steak, chicken paillard, and a well-regarded cheeseburger topped with sauce gribiche and gruyere. Breads, including the restaurant's signature sourdough, are made in-house.

Courtesy of Clark's

Clark's serves hot and cold seafood dishes.

“We have several restaurants and I love them all, but there's something special about Clark’s,” MML co-founder Tom Moorman said in a statement. “It’s got great classic seafood, a setting that feels like a nice place in New England, and honest American cooking with just the right amount of luxury.”

The company’s in-house design team took the lead on transforming an auto repair shop into a contemporary restaurant. Design details include leather booths, a yellow-and-white-striped awning, a marble-topped oyster bar, a private dining room, and a “see-and-be-seen patio.” A 280-gallon aquarium is sure to serve as a backdrop for social media photos.

Clark’s arrives at a moment when Houston has been flush with a number of new, upscale seafood restaurants. They include Navy Blue, Aaron’s Bludorn’s restaurant in Rice Village; Little’s Oyster Bar, the caviar-obsessed restaurant from Pappas Restaurants; and Balboa Surf Club, a California-inspired restaurant from the owners of il Bracco. In addition, Dallas’s Vandelay Hospitality Group will (finally) open Hudson House next to Brasserie 19 in the coming weeks. Houston restaurateur Ben Berg will put his spin on New England-style seafood at a new restaurant called Dune Road that’s opening downtown. Despite all the competition, MML co-founder Larry McGuire has even loftier aspirations for Clark’s.

“I’m a huge fan of El Tiempo, Hugo’s, Pappas, Armando’s, Da Marco, and the other Houston institutions,” he said. “We don't really have a bunch of those kinds of spots in Austin and I think those are the restaurants that Tom and I have been trying to build. We have tons of friends and family in H-Town and look forward to cooking and hosting for them and creating a special place in Montrose.”

Only time will tell whether Clark’s achieves the same kind of longevity as the restaurants McGuire cited. For now, expect the Austin import to draw plenty of attention as Houstonians decide for themselves whether the restaurant lives up to its lofty reputation.

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the more things change

Houston's essential Jewish diner looks better than ever after refresh

Photo by Sergio Trevino

The dining room has more light than ever.

It’s tricky to renovate a restaurant that’s as essential to its community as New York Deli. A staple of Houston’s Jewish community for almost 50 years, the tiny restaurant near Meyerland will serve as many as 400 people during a busy Sunday brunch.

Still, the time had come, as the tape on the deteriorating banquettes and peeling wallpaper illustrated. With the restaurant’s lease up for renewal, co-owner Michael Saghian saw an opportunity for some updates.

“I couldn’t be the new guy who ruined the place by moving it,” he tells CultureMap. “We worked out a deal with the landlord [to stay] and did a big refresh.”

The most noticeable change is the removal of the restaurant’s front door and vestibule. Instead, diners enter through the restaurant’s companion bagel shop. Separate entrances made sense when the bagel shop was certified kosher by local religious authorities, but now that designation only applies to the Bellaire location that opened in 2020. Not only is the new setup easier for people with mobility issues to navigate, it allows more light into the dining room, brightening the place considerably..

Saghian and co-owner Riana Sherman worked with interior designer Erin Hicks on the refresh. Tables, chairs, and banquettes are all new, but the color scheme remains the same. The process yielded 10 more seats, and the furniture is a little more durable, too.

“People have flipped chairs because they’re so lightweight,” Sherman says. “We got a sturdier chair.”

Behind the scenes, an expanded kitchen allows for the restaurant’s cooks to work faster and more efficiently. An additional egg cooker should cut down the amount of time people wait for their food to arrive.

“The kitchen had one of everything. Now we have two of everything. We can pump out a lot more food,” Saghian says.

Photographs on the walls honor longtime customers such as the “bagel girls,” a group of woman who’ve eaten breakfast at the restaurant since the ‘80s. A piece of old wallpaper has been framed and hung on the wall, too, as a nod to the space’s history.

New York Deli interior changes Photographs on the walls honor longtime customers.Photo by Sergio Trevino

Photo by Sergio Trevino

The dining room has more light than ever.

Saghian says he suffered from sleepless nights as he worried about people’s reactions to the changes, but so far his customers have been effusive.

“It still feels like an old school diner,” Saghian says. “It has pieces you remember. Even the new stuff is old school.”

While the physical environment is new, the staff remains the same. To ensure he kept the same team of cooks and servers, Saghian paid their wages for the two weeks the restaurant was closed for renovations.

Even more importantly, the prices are the same. That’s something that will make even the oldest regulars happy.

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