in robb we trust

Robb Report names buzzy Montrose sushi spot to best new restaurants list

Robb Report loves Hori-san.

Photo by Casey Giltner

Houston’s best new sushi restaurant has earned some national recognition. Robb Report named Montrose restaurant Katami as the only Texas representative on its list of the 10 best new restaurants in America.

For those unfamiliar, Robb Report is a magazine devoted to the world of luxury. Its 36th annual Best of the Best Awards cover everything from watches to watercraft to restaurants.

Written by culinary editor Jeremy Repanich, the Best New Restaurants list finds that the state of America’s restaurants is very strong.

“This list could have been much longer than our customary ranking of the top 10, as we experienced numerous chefs and restaurateurs combining ambitious cuisine with outstanding service. And while the pandemic and it’s after effects have made it even more difficult to succeed as the industry’s razor-sharp margins grow ever thinner, great restaurants continue to emerge,” Repanich writes.

Ranked No. 4 on the list, Katami earns praise for all the ways it improves on sister concept Kata Robata, including a more luxurious dining room and using luxurious ingredients such as Ohmi A5 wagyu beef. The writer recommends ordering an omakase for the best experience from chef-partner Manabu Horiuchi (known as Hori-san) and his team.

“Horiuchi and his buzzing band of chefs put out exquisite delicacies, such as a square of simple house-made goma tofu in soy sauce; Japanese sardine nigiri with kombu, ginger, and green onion; and a green-tea kakigori made with ice imported from Kanazawa, Japan. His knack for elevating some of the best raw materials with world-class technique is on full display,” Repanich writes.

Katami has already received plenty of attention, including being ranked as the state’s best new restaurant by Texas Monthly. It also earned two nominations in the 2024 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards for Wine Program of the Year and Best New Restaurant. Still, the restaurant is flattered to be included on the Robb Report list.

“Actually this means more than one might think. Hori, Yun [Cheng, Katami’s owner], myself and the entire team are very happy and humbled to receive this recognition,” managing partner Ryan Snyder tells CultureMap. “We did great work at Kata for so many years but flew under the radar nationally, so to get some national recognition for Katami so fast right after we opened has been very rewarding.

“Being honored on a national level is only further confirmation that all the hard work and dedication we have put into our craft at Katami is appreciated and noticed. We love Houston, we love taking care of the local gentry, but it's nice to know people outside of this great city appreciate our work too. We are very fortunate and thankful."

Robb Report knows Houston well. Last year, it ranked seafood restaurant Navy Blue as No. 3 and eclectic Heights restaurant Jūn No. 10 on its best new restaurants list. Mediterranean tasting menu restaurant March ranked No. 2 on the 2022 list. It also named James Beard Award winner (and CultureMap wine columnist) Chris Shepherd the best chef in the world in 2019.

In addition to Katami, Robb Report’s list include restaurants in Seattle, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. Restaurant Yuu, a theatrical tasting menu restaurant in Brooklyn, takes the top spot.

lists awards media news-you-can-eat

fit to print

New York Times critic awards Houston restaurant 2 stars in glowing review

Courtesy of ChòpnBlọk

undefined

Let’s just call 2025 the year of ChòpnBlọk. In a review published Tuesday, December 16, the New York Times has awarded the Houston restaurant two stars (“very good”).

Written by chief restaurant critic Tejal Rao, the review touts many of the same qualities that the Times already praised when it included ChòpnBlọk on its list of America’s 50 best restaurants.

Rao writes that she usually avoids restaurants that serve food in bowls, but she’s impressed by the way that chef-owner Ope Amosu has put a West African spin on the concept.

“For inspiration, Ope Amosu looked to the kind of chain restaurants that were built to scale, where flavors are often subdued to appeal to the broadest possible audience, focus-grouped to death. But the delight of ChòpnBlok is in its sure sense of self, its lively, multidimensional cooking and clear, delicious vision for modern food from the Black diaspora,” Rao writes.

She singles out specific dishes, including the Nigerian red stew with short rib, the Black Star bowl with shrimp, and the signature Motherland, made with chicken, greens, and plantains. “It’s utterly simple, but draws you in for more with the mouthwatering twang of not-too-much MSG — an international shortcut to building umami that tends to be used carefully, and layered with other forms,” she writes.

The review also touches on the way Amosu switched the restaurant from counter service to full service — described as “warm, informal, and quick with the jokes” — and his time working at Chipotle to learn the basics of the restaurant operations.

A two-star review is only the latest instance of ChòpnBlọk receiving national attention. In addition to the Times 50 best list, Esquire recently named it one of America’s best new restaurants. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand designation for 2025. Amosu earned a semifinalist nomination for Best Chef: Texas in the 2025 James Beard Awards.

news-you-can-eat media