Rice Box Village

Houston's 'Chinese takeout bar from the future' unboxes cool new Rice Village outpost

Houston’s favorite Blade Runner-inspired Chinese takeout bar will soon add a fourth location to its roster. The Rice Box is coming to Rice Village.

Slated to open later this fall at the intersection of Times Boulevard and Morningside Drive, the new Rice Box will be the restaurant’s biggest location yet — approximately 60 indoor seats, which is roughly double the size of the River Oaks restaurant that opened in 2019. Plans to open the restaurant have been underway since 2020, but Rice Box owner John Peterson waited until the morning of Thursday, October 13 to announce the new location with a movie poster-inspired social media post.

Rice Box Rice Village movie poster Coming attractions.Courtesy of The Rice Box

“We’ve been looking at Rice Village for a very long time,” Peterson tells CultureMap. “If you’re from Houston, this is the stomping grounds for everybody.”

The Rice Box is one of several new restaurants to open in the area over the past couple years. It will be located across Morningside from Israeli-inspired Hamsa and its sister concept Badolina Bakery, as well as a few steps away from Navy Blue, Aaron Bludorn’s eagerly anticipated new seafood restaurant.

“It’s special to be in ground zero in Rice Village. It’s gone through so many changes,” Peterson says. “Aaron Bludorn is opening right down the street from me. It’s hilarious.”

Formerly an auto repair shop, demolition work revealed the building has a core of structural steel. In keeping with the Rice Box’s futuristic and dystopian design, the restaurant is being built inside the steel beams. Skylights will allow diners to, in Peterson’s words, “look straight through to the sky.” It’s a fitting setting for a restaurant that started as a food truck and was founded by a long time car enthusiast.

‘There’s definitely some volume that’s turned up on the atmospheric details, especially since this will probably be the largest store we’ll ever build,” he adds.

Customers can expect a menu that’s mostly the same as the Heights and River Oaks locations. That means American-style Chinese favorites like General Tso’s (available with chicken, tofu, or cauliflower), Chinese broccoli with beef, fried rice, lo mein, and more. Ingredients and cooking techniques have been refined since the food truck days, but Peterson wants the Rice Box to be true to what it has always been.

“At the end of the day, we’re a Chinese takeout bar,” he says. “I stay in my lane.”

Rice Village will get an upgrade in the beverage department. Peterson says he’ll add one more nitro tea to thee restaurant’s offerings as well as 15 beer taps and a high-end soda dispensary that will serve “a fantastic Coca-Cola Classic.”

“We’re bringing classic American Chinese takeout — a place where you want to get shrimp fried rice or lo mein with an egg roll or General Tso’s chicken for an affordable price,” Peterson says. “We’re that offering. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun for students and people in the Village.”

Photo by Danh Phan

Expect a similar interior design as the River Oaks location in Rice Village.

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say hey to Hypsi

Houston chef's hip new Italian restaurant now open in Heights hotel

Photo by Julie Soefer

Hypsi serves pasta and other Itaian-inspired dishes.

A new Italian restaurant is now open in the Heights. Located within the newly opened Hotel Daphne, Hypsi marks chef Terrence Gallivan’s return to professional cooking in Houston.

Known for his time as the co-execuive chef of The Pass and Provisions and owner of ElRo Pizza and Crudo, Gallivan brings strong culinary credentials to Hypsi. Although he isn’t known explicitly for Italian fare, he has significant experience making pizza, pasts, and other Italian-inspired dishes. After closing ElRo last year, the chef says that working for Bunkhouse Hotels, the Austin-based company that operates the Daphne, had a lot of appeal.

“My wife and I always made it a point to stop at their places whenever we’re in Austin. They know how to make cool stuff,” Gallivan says.

Hypsi’s menu includes updated takes on Italian fare begins with starters such as lamb meatballs, black truffle arancini, and Caesar salad. A selection of house-made pastas include squid ink radiatori with rock shrimp, butternut squash tortellini, and lumache with vodka sauce that gets a little heat from nduja. Entree choices include a roast chicken, pork Milanese, and roasted snapper with salsa verde.

The restaurant is also open for breakfast during the week and brunch on the weekends with items such as a panatone waffle, frittata, and breakfast sandwich. Lunch will follow in January.

“We took inspiration from tradition without being traditional,” Gallivan says. Later, he adds, “For me, it’s about balance. You try to please everybody. I want my mom to enjoy herself as much as a 25-year-old foodie. It’s important to hit as many marks as you can.”

One of the restaurant’s signatures will be the mozzarella cart that rolls through its dining room. Gallivan says he’s sourcing a mix of both American and imported Italian cheeses that will rotate every week or two. The cheese is served with a range of pickled fruit and vegetables, olive oil, aged balsamic vinegar, focaccia, and more. Of course, seeing a cart immediately grabs diners’ attention, making them want whatever is on offer.

“That’s the beauty of carts,” Gallivan says. “It’s a fun thing to do. I think sometimes we get a little too serious in restaurants. It’s supposed to be fun. People are here to enjoy themselves.”

All that eating and drinking takes place in a dining room that’s inspired by Prohibition-era speakeasies, according to press materials. Details include blueberry lava stone on the bar, vintage velvet chairs, and custom Carimate dining chairs by Vico Magistretti. An outdoor patio features brick pavers, mosaic tables, and sculptures.

Photo by Julie Soefer

Hypsi serves pasta and other Itaian-inspired dishes.

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