ElRo's World

Pass & Provisions co-founder officially opens his highly anticipated new pizza and crudo restaurant

One of Houston’s most eagerly anticipated restaurants has opened its doors. ElRo Pizza & Crudo began a soft opening last Friday, June 23, with full time lunch and dinner service beginning tomorrow (Wednesday, June 28).

Located in a converted bungalow on the border of Montrose and Midtown (2405 Genesee St.), ElRo is the new restaurant from chef Terrence Gallivan. Previously, the chef was the co-owner and co-executive chef of The Pass & Provisions, the dual-concept restaurant that ranked as one of Houston’s top spots from 2012 until it closed in 2019.

Photo by Julie Soefer

ElRo serves a variety of pizzas.

Provisions always served pizza, and Gallivan has leaned into that with ElRo. Diners will find options such as mortadella with pistachio pesto and balsamic onions, mushroom with tomato and scamorza, and a spaghetti carbonara-inspired pizza made with guanciale, parmesan, and black pepper. Gallivan has tweaked his dough recipe, which makes it a little different from the pizza he served at Provisions.

“It’s similar to the pizza at Provisions in that it’s roughly the same size and we offer a small menu of specialty pies, but differs in recipe, fermentation time, and the oven it’s baked in,” Gallivan tells CultureMap. “I am trying to have a little more crunch in the crust while still trying to be as light as possible.”

As for the crudos, ElRo offers a range of options, including tuna with pistachio and n’duja spice, snapper with pickled mango and olives, and beef tartare with egg yolk, mushrooms, capers, and parmesan. Small plates such as Caesar salad, chicken saltimboca sausage, and unagi arancini round out the menu.

“I (and most people) love pizza,” Gallivan added. “Since Houston is hot most of the time, balancing pizza with some lighter, more refreshing, cold seafood dishes is a nice combination.”

The beverage list focuses on a tidy wine list selected by Gallivan. Bar manager Patrick Dougherty, who previously worked at Bar No. 3 at La Colombe d’Or, has contributed a menu of house original cocktails named after Bruce Springsteen songs. For example, the Glory Days is a paloma riff made with tequila, grapefruit juice, St. Germain, and Cocchi Americano.

Named for Gallivan’s children, Eleanor and Ronan, ElRo occupies an intimate, 1,200-square-foot bungalow that seats about 30 people indoors with room for another 40 on its patio. The chef worked with designer Betty Maccagnan on the interior, which features blue and yellow highlights (the kids’ favorite colors), Hygge & West wallpaper, and globe lights.

“Elro is inhabiting a vintage bungalow so the whole idea is for the space to feel homey,” he says. “It will be a place you can pop in for a drink and bite with friends in shorts and flip flops or can be a date night spot.”

Opening weekend proved a bit frantic, as two power line fires occurred near the restaurant that disrupted service. Still, ElRo managed to stay busy Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

“It was surreal to be back in the kitchen. I haven’t done a restaurant service in four years but it felt like I never stopped,” Gallivan says.

ElRo opens at noon Wednesday through Sunday. Tuesday service will follow in the coming weeks. Reservations are available for the indoor seating, while the patio is open for walk-in diners.

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

Courtesy of ChòpnBlọk

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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.

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