GJ Tavern shuttered

Prominent Houston restaurant group suddenly shutters intimate downtown tavern

GJ Tavern has closed.

Photo by Claudia Casbarian

A prominent Houston restaurant group has bid farewell to its downtown location. Underbelly Hospitality announced it has closed GJ Tavern effective immediately.

“Closing GJ Tavern was an incredibly difficult decision to make but we ultimately realized that operating a 40-seat restaurant in downtown Houston was financially unsustainable,” Underbelly Hospitality president Nina Quincy said in a statement. “We loved building the GJ Tavern brand and are hopeful that it will someday have a place within Underbelly Hospitality.”

An Instagram post announcing the closure offers a longer tribute to the restaurant’s staff and customers.

First opened in the summer of 2021 as Georgia James Tavern, the restaurant aimed to serve as an intimate establishment for Theater District patrons and an amenity for residents of the Market Square Tower high-rise. The company changed the restaurant’s name to GJ Tavern in the spring of 2022 to prevent consumer confusion with Georgia James, its luxurious steakhouse. To further differentiate the new GJ Tavern from the original Georgia James Tavern, then-Underbelly Hospitality founder Chris Shepherd recruited chef Tim Reading to lead the kitchen.

Bringing experiences from Boston chef Michael Schlow’s restaurants and Caracol, James Beard Award winner Hugo Ortega’s Galleria-area seafood restaurant, Reading refined GJ Tavern’s menu with classic dishes such as duck fat potatoes, hand-rolled cavatelli pasta, and a mushroom-Swiss burger. He earned a Rising Star Chef of the Year nomination in the 2023 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards for his work at GJ Tavern. Sadly, his time with the company has also come to an end.

GJ Tavern Tim Reading UBH laid off chef Tim Reading. Photo by Julie Soefer

“Tim is an excellent chef with an extraordinary talent. As it stands, we have no executive chef positions available within Underbelly Hospitality. For that reason, he has been laid off,” Quincy said in response to CultureMap’s request for comment. “We are very appreciative of Tim and wish him all the best.”

Despite today’s news, Underbelly Hospitality has been growing since Shepherd’s departure last year. It recruited star chef Scott Muns to serve as culinary director and recently opened Pastore, an Italian seafood restaurant that’s located next to Georgia James in the Autry Park mixed-use development. It will open Spring Branch locations of Underbelly Burger and Texas comfort food restaurant Wild Oats later this year.

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Croissant-obsessed French cafe sets opening date in downtown Houston park

Photo by Mariela Callaway

Petite Lucie opens this Saturday, May 30.

Downtown Houston will soon welcome a new, all-day French cafe. Petite Lucie, a new restaurant from Love Croissants owner Culinary Matters, will begin its soft opening this Saturday, May 30.

Located in the former Niko Niko’s space at Market Square Park, Petite Lucie offers a covered, outdoor dining pavilion and an indoor-outdoor cocktail bar. Designed by the Houston office of the global architecture giant Gensler, the cafe also includes lighting, greenery, and other details to make it a comfortable place to dine throughout the day.

The restaurant is led by chefs Omar Pereney and Sahira Malherbe. Pereney’s history in Houston goes back more than 10 years, when the then-20-year-old served as executive chef at Peska, an ambitious (but short-lived) seafood restaurant in Uptown’s BLVD Place development. Since then, he’s worked as a consultant who contributed to a number of local restaurants as well as the owner of Love Croissants, which supplies oversized pastries to restaurants, coffee shops, and markets throughout Houston. In January, Pereney and Malherbe took over operations at Weights + Measures in Midtown.

“At its core, Petite Lucie is about creating moments of escape and discovery in the middle of the city,” Pereney said in a statement. “We wanted to build something romantic but approachable — a place where someone can stop in for a croissant and espresso in the morning, meet friends for cocktails in the afternoon or linger over a casual dinner under the stars at night.”

Of course, Petite Lucie’s menu starts with a selection of pastries from Love Croissants, including a butter croissant, almond-cardamom croissant, pain au chocolat, and a coffee bun. Other breakfast options include a breakfast sandwich served on a croissant, lemon blueberry French toast, and avocado toast with smoked salmon.

Lunch and dinner options include jambon croquettes, croque monsieur, chicken salad croissant sandwich, steak frites, and a bowl made with lentils, quinoa, vegetables, and onion jam that can be enhanced with salmon or grilled chicken. Desserts include chocolate chip cookies, ice cream, and what’s described in press materials as a “life-changing” birthday cake.

Petite Lucie birthday cake Share a birthday cake at Petite LucieCourtesy of Petite Lucie

Jaime de Leon, an advanced sommelier and frequent Pereney collaborator, oversees a beverage program that includes spritzes, cocktails, and a French-oriented wine list that includes large format bottles of sparkling wine to power group celebrations. A custom St-Germain cart will serve draft cocktails at busy times and during events.

Located in the oldest part of Houston, Market Square Park is close to attractions such as the Theater District, Daikin Park, Post Houston, and more. In addition to Petite Lucie, the area will soon welcome a second location of modern general store Henderson & Kane in the former Treebards space. On Saturday, downtown will celebrate the opening of the nearby Main Street Promenade with a market, live entertainment, and more.

Petite Lucie is located at 301 Milam Street. It’s open daily from 7 am-9 pm.

Photo by Mariela Callaway

Petite Lucie opens this Saturday, May 30.

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