Levy Park's 2 new restaurants

New crave-worthy Mexican restaurant and familiar Houston gastropub claim spots in bustling Upper Kirby park

Restaurants have returned to Levy Park. The Upper Kirby park announced the opening of a new Mexican restaurant as well as plans for a popular Houston gastropub to open there by the end of the year.

Gaspacho’s Mexican Bites has claimed the former Love Shack kiosk near the facility’s dog park. An evolution of chef-owner Jennifer Perez’s successful food truck, Gaspacho’s is a Mexican restaurant that serves tacos, tortas, snacks, and drinks — both boozy and non-alcoholic. It’s open daily for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and happy hour.

Perez, an immigrant who grew up in the Mexican state of Michoacán, started the Gaspacho’s Fruits and Cravings food truck to serve snacks such as elotes, cut fruit, and juices. Her signature item on the food truck is the Gaspacho, a bowl that contains cut fruit and a mixture of lime and orange juice that’s topped with Valentina, Tajín, and cotija queso.

When the truck proved a hit with park regulars, Levy Park administrators invited Perez to join full time with Gaspacho’s Mexican Bites. Having access to a large kitchen has allowed her to expand the menu with tacos — choice of birria, carnitas, or pastor — along with quesadillas, flautas, ceviches, and a Mexican-style hot dog that’s wrapped in bacon and topped with crema, caramelized onions, elote, guacamole, and hot sauce. In addition, Gaspacho’s serves tortas, including a Torta Ahogada that’s dipped in spicy salsa and served in a plastic bag to prevent spillage.

Those dishes can be paired with Mexican beers, micheladas, and margaritas — choose traditional, cucumber, watermelon, or mango. Those who want a michelada and a snack can get it with candy, mangonada, or ceviche (see photo above).

“Food should taste and feel good. It should be healthy, have the freshest ingredients and flavors,” Perez said in a statement. “We like to surprise each guest with a unique experience and look forward to bringing our heavenly bites to Levy Park.”

Turning to the full-service restaurant, popular gastropub Hearsay has claimed the former Woodshed Smokehouse space for its fifth location. It will join Hearsay’s two downtown locations in Market Square and near Discovery Green, as well as restaurants in Galveston and The Woodlands.

Photo by Jay Ford

Gaspacho's owner Jennifer Perez also operates three food trucks.

Expected to open in December, Hearsay Levy Park will serve favorites such as its cheeseburger, crab-crusted redfish, and cocktails. Two private dining rooms will be available for celebrations and other events. Exclusive to the new location with be picnic baskets designed to be eaten in the park as well as soft serve ice cream for kids of all ages.

“We are excited to unveil the newest Hearsay location and become an integral member of the Levy Park community,” Hearsay CMO Shawn Collier said in a statement. “Guests of the park will enjoy our classic American favorites with that special Hearsay twist and park friendly surprises designed to delight.”

Both the Love Shack and Woodshed spaces became available last summer when celebrity chef Tim Love closed the restaurants after his license agreement with the park reached the end of its term. Levy Park is a 6-acre park that features a dog park, rain garden, and children’s play area. It regularly hosts events such as movie nights and yoga classes.

“Hearsay is an exceptional and beloved classic among Houstonians, and we are delighted to welcome them to the park,” park director Stephanie Kiouses added.

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restaurant boom

Texas to lead nation in culinary job growth by 2032, report predicts

Photo by Lucas Law on Unsplash

With all the booming restaurant scenes in major cities like Houston, Texas' overall culinary industry will grow faster than the rest of the country within the next six years, Escoffier found.

A new analysis of the states that will have the most culinary industry job growth has revealed that Texas is expected to lead the nation with the fastest growth in the country by 2032.

The nationally recognized Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts' study, published December 30, 2025, compared all 50 states to determine their job prospects for chefs and head cooks, restaurant cooks, and food service managers based on three key metrics: projected growth rates from 2022-2032; "absolute job creation" (the total number of projected new positions) during the same 10-year span, and actual job growth rates from 2022-2024.

Texas' culinary industry is expected to grow by 24.88 percent by 2032, the report found, which is the highest projected growth rate nationwide. That translates to more than 52,000 culinary jobs created within the next six years.

Escoffier also broke down individual projections across all three metrics:

45,150 new restaurant cook jobs, a 39.72 percent increase
3,580 new chef and head cook jobs, a 19.76 percent increase
3,340 new food service manager jobs, a 15.17 percent increase

"The top three states alone — Texas, California, and Florida — will add nearly 130,000 culinary jobs, almost 45 percent of all jobs created in this industry (despite those states making up about 28 percent of the nation’s population)," the report said. "This demonstrates an extraordinary scale of opportunity for job seekers willing to relocate to states with booming restaurant scenes."

Major Texas cities, including Houston, are home to numerous highly esteemed award-winning chefs that are defining local restaurant scenes. And there are just as many up-and-coming chefs rising through the culinary pipeline.

As Escoffier notes, projections are just one factor among many that determine the strength of the national culinary industry. Texas' combined actual culinary job growth from 2022-2024 is down 0.28 percent when compared to expectations.

"This simply means that, over the past few years, the state appears to have underperformed growth projections; the industry still grew in that state, but perhaps not as much as anticipated," the report's author clarifies. "Given the short timeframe (2022-2024), this category plays a small role in our rankings relative to the ten-year projections."

Washington led the U.S. with the most new culinary jobs added from 2022-2024, with 5,800 positions created during that time. Escoffier said Washington handily beat expectations that only 1,300 jobs would be added, representing a 348 percent "overperformance."

The top 10 states with the fastest-growing culinary industry are:

No. 1 – Texas
No. 2 – California
No. 3 – Georgia
No. 4 – Florida
No. 5 – Washington
No. 6 – North Carolina
No. 7 – Utah
No. 8 – Arizona
No. 9 – Nevada
No. 10 – Alabama

texas culinary job market reports