A taste of morocco

Zesty Moroccan restaurant bowls over diners with newest location now open in Upper Kirby

Houston’s fast casual Moroccan restaurant has opened its newest location. Zoa Moroccan Kitchen is now open in Upper Kirby.

The new Zoa joins sister concept Coco Crepes & Coffee in the former Velvet Melvin space at 3303 Richmond Ave. Bella Restaurants chef and CEO Youssef Nafaa developed Zoa based on his mother’s recipes from his childhood growing up in Morocco. The concept has been successful, growing to three locations and ranking sixth on Yelp’s list of the Top 100 Places to Eat in Texas 2023.

The fast-casual restaurant offers diners a mix of Moroccan flavors in the form of bowls or sandwiches. Diners can opt to assemble their own, Chipotle style, or go for a preset mix of ingredients such as the Casablanca (lamb, taktouka, vegetables, garlic aioli) and the Marrakesh (beef tagine, vegetables, green harissa).

Zoa’s seven proteins, which include beef, chicken, and lamb, are all halal. They’re paired with 21 toppings, including roasted root vegetables, confit onions, feta cheese, and cucumber-tomato salad. To finish, diners may opt for any of nine sauces such as harissa, mint-avocado yogurt, or garlic aioli.

Bowls start with a base of couscous, saffron-jasmine rice, lentils, or mixed greens. Sandwiches utilize scratch-made Fatima bread, which is named for Nafaa’s mother.

The 20-seat restaurant features Moroccan-inspired design elements such as lanterns and patterned tiles, a mural wall, and a patio that looks out onto Richmond. It’s open daily from 10:30 am until 10 pm.

Zoa will celebrate its grand opening this Thursday, August 24. The first 100 customers will receive either one of 90 gift cards for a free bowl or one of 10 for a free meal prep package valued at $39. In addition, all customers will receive a free bowl from 5-7 pm.

“We are so excited to open the third Houston-area location of Zoa Moroccan Kitchen,” Nafaa said in a statement. “In traditional Moroccan households like the one I grew up in, small dishes are served and passed along the table around one main course. At Zoa, the traditional table is in your bowl or sandwich. It’s a modern Moroccan dining adventure.”

Photo by Shawn Chippendale

The restaurant serves bowls and sandwiches.

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head east

Eagerly-anticipated Houston barbecue joint hosts weekend preview pop-ups

Courtesy of Eastbound Barbecue

Get a first taste of Eastbound Barbecue this weekend.

One of Houston’s most eagerly anticipated new barbecue joints is giving diners a preview of what’s to come. Eastbound Barbecue will host “Sneak Peak Weekends” every Saturday and Sunday beginning this Saturday, December 20, until the restaurant opens in early 2026.

Held at the restaurant’s location in the East End (1105 Sampson Street) from 12-4 pm (or sold out), the weekend service gives diners their first chance to try Eastbound Barbecue’s smoked meats, sides, and desserts. That includes, smoked brisket, baby back ribs, jalapeno & cheese sausage, hatch chili lasagna mac & cheese, herbed potato salad, and more. Save room for the two dessert offerings, salted caramel banana pudding and cookie butter cake.

To distinguish Eastbound’s barbecue, chefs Lopez and Granville use different seasonings than other restaurants, such as rosemary salt in the brisket rub and a miso-caramel sauce that gives its ribs a sweet and savory bite. During the preview, Eastbound’s prices are noticeably lower than many other Houston barbecue joints, with brisket priced at $29 per pound, ribs at $26 per pound, and pulled pork at $22 per pound.

As CultureMap reported in August, Eastbound unites four friends, Ryan Penn, Ryan Powell, Luis Lopez, and Jake Granville, who also held senior roles at various restaurants owned by prominent Houston chef Ronnie Killen. Since then, the four partners have finished many of the improvements they needed to make prior to opening, including closing in the patio and installing offset smokers on the property.

For Penn, leaving the Killen’s organization after almost 20 years was a difficult decision, but one he felt he had to make. “I could have worked for [Killen] forever and been happy. It was more along the lines of, if I don’t do this now, I don’t want to be 70 and wish that I had,” he said at the time.

Courtesy of Eastbound Barbecue

Get a first taste of Eastbound Barbecue this weekend.

news-you-can-eat barbecue openings