A rapidly-growing Houston restaurant group is opening two new concepts in Memorial. Salad-focused concept Leaf & Grain has claimed the former Texadelphia space near Memorial City Mall for its sixth Houston-area location as well as a pizzeria called Murray’s Pizza & Wine.

Initially, Leaf & Grain founder Deets Hoffman and business partner Edward Thompson intended to open a pizzeria in 2019, but they put those plans on hold due to the pandemic. Located at the same Village Towers development (9655 Katy Fwy) that’s home to Cajun favorite Treebeards, the Texadelphia space’s size dictated that it could be divided into both a new location of Leaf & Grain as well as an opportunity to bring the pizzeria to fruition.

Here's a sneak peak at Murray's sausage pizza.Photo by Michael Ma

Named for Hoffman’s wife, the restaurant will serve pizzas and small plates. For the first time, the group will also operate a restaurant that serves cocktails. Both the new Leaf & Grain and Murray’s are expected to open this summer.

"We’ve been trying to break into Memorial for almost a decade, and then we stumbled onto this opportunity serendipitously while doing a ‘Guest Chef’ collab at Belong Kitchen next door,” Hoffman said in a statement. “We fell in love with the space. The only complication was that it was twice the size of what we needed, so we thought this was the perfect opportunity to open the pizza concept we had been working on, as well.”

Leaf & Grain serves salads, bowls, and sandwiches. Diners may build their own from a range of toppings that include six vegetable or grain bases, 19 standard toppings, 20 premium toppings, and 14 dressings. Preset choices include staples such as a Caesar salad and lemon-caper salmon bowl. Seasonal specials add variety and freshness to the menu.

The restaurant opened its first location in the Shops at Houston Center in 2017. Last year, it opened its fourth location in Tanglewood. A fifth location will open this summer in downtown’s Chase Tower (600 Travis St.).