New Tex-Mex restaurant serving mucho margs marks first opening in Inner Loop's newest dining district

cerveza garden

Photo by Dustyn Zenner

The Inner Loop’s new dining district welcomes its first bar next week. Verde Garden, the a Tex-Mex restaurant and beer garden from Heights Bier Garten owners the Kirby Group, will open April 25 at 1011 La Rue St.

Part of the Harlow District, the name given to the former Nino’s and Vincent’s property on West Dallas, Verde Garden will occupy the former Grappino di Nino space. In total, Verde Garden offers almost 9,000-square-feet of interior space and a more than 10,000-square-foot patio. It's the Kirby Group's second opening this year, joining Bayou Heights Bier Garten, a bar, restaurant, and bakery that opened in January.

"We are excited to open the first concept in the new Harlow District," Kirby Group co-founder Andy Aweida said in a statement. "We know Houstonians love Tex-Mex and beer gardens so we wanted to open a new concept with that in mind. Verde Garden is a great space to come enjoy made-to-order fresh or frozen margaritas while enjoying a meal or shareables."

Kirby Group beverage director Joel Ramirez’s cocktail menu starts with 12 frozen margaritas, 20 house cocktails, and 60 classics. Like other Kirby Group concepts, the house cocktails are divided into sections such as “Spirit Forward,” “Sour & Tart”, “Fruity & Sweet,” “Boozy Brunch,” “Refreshing & Spicy,” and “Refreshing & Balanced.” The classics menu includes favorites like the Mexican martini and paloma.

Patrons will find an extensive spirits selection that includes more than 250 agave-based sips and 750 selections from around the world such as vodka, bourbon, scotch, rum, and gin. A beer bar offers craft beer, wine, and draft highballs.

Kirby Group culinary director Teddy Lopez’s menu features dishes such as ceviches, enchiladas, and tacos. Specific dishes include red chili tinga enchiladas, green tomatillo and poblano mole enchiladas, chips and queso, and a torta Milanesa with a choice of crispy beef or chicken topped with avocado, lime crema, and refried beans. Vegetarian items are also available.

Verde Garden will be the Harlow District’s first concept, but it won’t be alone for long. In the months to come, the development will include: Boca, a coffee shop; Sala Social House, a cocktail lounge; and Katami, a sushi-forward restaurant from Kata Robata chef Manabu Horiuchi in the former Vincent’s space. More tenants, including a occupant for the former Nino’s space, are expected to be announced soon.

Photo by Dustyn Zenner

It wouldn't be Tex-Mex without chips and salsa.

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CultureMap Emails are Awesome

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Meet the dynamic duo behind the MFAH's French fine dining restaurant, plus our visit to Balboa Surf Club

What's Eric Eating Episodes 316 and 317

On this week’s interview episode of “What’s Eric Eating,” chef Alain Verzeroli and Felipe Botero join CultureMap food editor Eric Sandler to discuss Le Jardinier. Developed by Verzeroli, the French fine dining restaurant celebrates vegetables with seasonal menus that draw upon local ingredients.

The conversation begins with Verzeroli explaining how his first meal at a two-star Michelin restaurant inspired him to enter the world of professional cooking. Ultimately, he came to be employed by legendary French chef Joël Robuchon where Verzeroli would earn three Michelin stars as the executive chef of Le Restaurant de Joël Robuchon in Tokyo. He tells the incredible story of how he came to work for Robuchon, and, as he explains in the interview, how spending almost 20 years in Japan inspired him to create Le Jardinier.

“What I learned in Japan is respect for nature. They celebrate the sakura, the cherry blossom, the autumn leaves falling from the trees,” he says. “They have a sense of having a picnic to celebrate the cherry trees that only lasts a couple of days at most. Pausing the crazy rhythm of life just to be in tune with nature. For me, it was something I was discovering, this link to the rhythm of nature. That’s the reason I created Le Jardinier — to be more in sync with nature.”

Le Jardinier Felipe Botero Alain Verzeroli Chefs Felipe Botero and Alain Verzeroli are this week's guests.Photo by Alex Montoya

Listen to the full interview to hear Verzeroli’s opinion on whether the Michelin guide should begin evaluating Texas restaurants. Botero offers insights into the restaurant’s day-to-day operations and previews its newly launched happy hour menu.

On this week’s news episode, Sandler and co-host Felice Sloan discuss the following topics: the Houston restaurants included in the New York Times’s latest list; the closures of Kim Son’s Stafford location and Pho Binh by Night; and the latest delays in the reopening of Montrose staple Baba Yega.

In the restaurant of the week segment, Sloan and Sandler share first impressions of Balboa Surf Club, the new seafood restaurant from the Dallas-based restaurant group behind il Bracco. After discussing their favorite dishes, they weigh in on when they would choose to dine at Balboa versus Navy Blue and Little’s Oyster Bar.

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Subscribe to "What's Eric Eating" on Apple podcasts, Google Play, or Spotify. Listen to it Sunday at noon on ESPN 97.5.

CultureMap Wine Guy Chris Shepherd on a must-attend dinner at March toasting French wines

wine guy wednesday

Editor's note: Long before Chris Shepherd became a James Beard Award-winning chef, he developed enough of a passion for wine to work at Brennan's of Houston as a sommelier. He maintains that interest to this day. When Chris expressed interest in writing about wine-related topics for CultureMap, we said yes.

In this week's column, he tells us about a special wine dinner at one of his favorite Houston restaurants. Take it away, Chris.

$March restaurant chefs and Jon Bonn\u00e9$

Photo by Zach Horst

Chris Davies, Jon Bonné, and Felipe Riccio review the dishes at March.

Here we go! Have I got a wine dinner for you!

This Tuesday, October 3, the team at March will host renowned wine writer Jon Bonné for a one-night dinner celebrating the release of his amazing new book The New French Wine. If you don’t have this book, drive illegally fast to the nearest place to buy a book and get your hands on this one. If you work in a restaurant, a wine bar, or just frequent either of those places, you should have this book on the shelf.

Over the past few years, we are seeing a change and an influx of new wines coming from France. Wines are becoming more available and even more approachable. Trust me, I love the houses and vineyards in Burgundy, Bordeaux, Champagne, and Loire, but now we are seeing this deep rooted love of different areas and some new winemakers that are embracing that as well. History wasn’t wrong. It’s just as Jon Bonné writes, “C’est Compliqué,” or “It’s’ complicated.”

I’m going to share a paragraph from his book that says a lot to me. Jon writes:

The state of wine in France matters because France is (and, with luck, forever will be) the soul of the global wine industry. Its grape varieties remain benchmarks around the world. Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir and Chenin Blanc, Gamay, and so on are the base materials for so many other wine regions, whether it be California or the Adelaide Hills, or even Tuscany. And reference examples from France remain just that: precedents by which other places measure their progress.

I personally agree with all of this— history tells us this. When I spoke to Jon today, he told me, “I would argue that nothing this big has happened to the French wine business since Phylloxera over 150 years ago.”

We’re seeing the newest winemakers and lesser known regions everywhere now on wine lists, in shops, and even at the grocery stores. We’re seeing sections for Beaujolais, Languedoc, Roussillon, Provence and even the Jura.

This book took Jon over either years to write, and it’s a masterpiece. It breaks down the whys, the whos, and the wheres from region to region. France has been hard to discover forever, but this book has it all laid out for you. You want to know more about the new and the old producers of Champagne, yep! I feel like the dog that had been chasing the car forever, and I finally caught it. Thank you for that, I was getting tired.

Now, on to the dinner. It’s no secret that the folks at Goodnight Hospitality are good friends of mine. I love what they do at Montrose Cheese and Wine, Rosie Cannonball, March, and I can’t wait for Marigold Club to open. They just get me — delicious food and beverage in a very thoughtful way.

Felipe Riccio, who is the chef/partner at Goodnight, is a young, very smart chef. And he truly understands wine. Believe it or not, there are not many chefs out there that focus on wine as much as food — Erin Smith at Feges BBQ, Terrence Gallivan at Elro, Felipe. I’m sure there are a few more but not many. It takes work and passion to learn wine but once you fall into it, it’s on!

Felipe and his team at MARCH are in the middle of the Sicily menu right now but are planning this one-night, amazing dinner. Master sommelier June Rodil, Mark Sayre, Gillie Dougherty, and Felipe sat down and picked the wines for this dinner by region and then dove into the deep end of the pool to work the menu. You want to talk about special? Yeah! You need to get this ticket, I already did because it is going to be one for the memory books. I would suggest if you want a killer experience then head on over to the MARCH website and book your seat. Everyone involved is just over the moon with excitement.

June told me, “Rather than being in constant search for the same old icons, Jon is discovering new French wine icons and unlocking their history and culture while sharing with us what we should be collecting for the future.”

I know that collecting is just as important as being able to enjoy now. In this book you will find both, and that’s pretty amazing. I hope you join Jon, Felipe, June, me and the rest of the team on Tuesday. Let’s raise a glass of Champagne and have an amazing conversation and dinner! See you there.

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Contact our Wine Guy via email at chris@chrisshepherd.is.

Chris Shepherd won a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest in 2014. The Southern Smoke Foundation, a nonprofit he co-founded with his wife Lindsey Brown, has distributed more than $11 million to hospitality workers in crisis through its Emergency Relief Fund. Catch his new TV show, Eat Like a Local, every Saturday at 10 am on KPRC Channel 2.

JSX fuels up for new flights from Houston to West Texas oil-and-gas country

attention, passengers

Hop-on jet service JSX is adding a new, year-round destination for the millions of Texans who work in oil and gas: Midland-Odessa.

Starting January 15, 2024, JSX will fly nonstop from Houston and Dallas to Odessa Airport-Schlemeyer Field (ODT). According to a release, the schedule and fares will be:

From Houston (HOU) to Odessa (ODT)

Regular flight service between Houston Hobby (HOU) and Odessa Airport-Schlemeyer Field (ODT), Monday through Thursday, two flights per day.
Introductory fares start at $309 (one-way) and include at least two checked bags (with weight/size restrictions), onboard cocktails and snacks, and free Starlink Wi-Fi.

FromDallas (DAL)toOdessa (ODT):

Regular flight service between Dallas Love Field (DAL) and Odessa Airport-Schlemeyer Field (ODT), Monday through Thursday, two flights per day.
Introductory fares start at $279 (one-way) and include at least two checked bags (with weight/size restrictions), onboard cocktails and snacks, and free Starlink Wi-Fi.

As with all JSX domestic flights, customers may check in just 20 minutes before departure (hence, the "hop-on" idea) and fly out of crowd-free private terminals. In Houston, that terminal is at Houston Hobby airport (8919 Paul B Koonce St.) and in Dallas, at Dallas Love Field (8555 Lemmon Ave.).

“JSX is proud to support Texas' energy economy by introducing our unique 'hop-on' jet service with daily flights connecting business commuters from Dallas and Houston to Odessa at the start of 2024,” says JSX CEO Alex Wilcox in the release. “Not only is Odessa central to the Permian Basin, but it's also home to companies powering some of the nation's largest wind and solar farms. We take pride in supporting those who supply the energy we all depend on every single day.”

JSX continues to tout its "no crowds, no lines, and no fuss" travel experience that made them especially popular during the pandemic.

Passengers have access to valet parking, touchless check-in, Wi-Fi lounges, and speedy baggage retrieval. The 30-seat planes are now beaming up to SpaceX's Starlink Wifi, and there's a pet-friendly policy that allows small dogs and cats to fly for a small fee.

The air carrier now serves routes across more than two dozen key North American markets. In 2023 and beyond, JSX plans to expand both its domestic and international flight service with new routes and expansion plans underway, they say.

View their full route map here. All flights are available for booking via the JSX website.

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