Openings & Closings: Cuchara Slices Up a Soft Opening and the Gift Horse Lounge Opens Its Mouth

By Katharine Shilcutt Fri., Aug. 24 2012 at 6:00 AM

Photo by Joe Espelage

The fire damage to Dolce Vita was more extensive than initially expected.

Speaking of Montrose, Dolce Vita reopened today after being closed since May 23. A fire set in the Dumpster behind Marco Wiles's beloved pizza place heavily damaged the restaurant; Jacob Colby Garvin was eventually arrested in connection with the fire and charged with felony criminal mischief and felony arson.

Down the street, Korean-Japanese fusion joint Nabi has now closed for good. Owner/chef Ji Kang verified that he'd sold Nabi to another party, but couldn't disclose who. That isn't the end of Kang's run here in Houston, however. The chef has another project in the works that's absolutely unlike anything else we have in the city -- and one of the things we're sorely missing, which other cities have in spades. Anyone want to hazard a guess?

In other semi-blind news, I keep hearing rumors from solid sources who've indicated that New Orleans celebrity chef John Besh will soon be opening a restaurant in Houston. My last source even said that Besh had already chosen the spot -- in River Oaks. Which would make complete sense were it true. I spoke with Besh's representatives this week, who said that the chef has no plans to open a place in Houston. Is that anything like In-N-Out Burger "not" coming to Houston any time soon?

Last but not least, the restaurant that replaced Cabo's has been open for a couple of weeks. But it hasn't had its sign up until now: Pepper Jack's left the fiberglass marlin component of Cabo's old sign intact, which is now lighting up the downtown sky at Travis and Prairie once again.

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Location Info

Venue

Map

Moon Tower Inn

3004 Canal St., Houston, TX

Category: Music

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Dolce Vita Pizzeria & Enoteca

500 Westheimer, Houston, TX

Category: Restaurant

Pepper Jack's

419 Travis St., Houston, TX

Category: Restaurant

Cuchara

214 Fairview St., Houston, TX

Category: Restaurant

Tags:

Charity Saloon, Cuchara, Montrose, Moon Tower Inn, Nabi, OKRA, openings and closings

We Recommend

paval

Cucharas soft opening was actually a little hard on the restaurant and they ran out of food by 9pm. Probably cannot complain though, its a good soft opening if people come in you did not expect at all.

Must try:

- Grilled nopales with panela cheese

- quesadillas de huitlacoche

- chilatole, a corn veloute with some nice spice

- grilled cecina

- huaraches and sopes

- never thought I would ever write something positive about a margarita, but this one is made without nasty and artificial sweet and sour. quite refreshing and tasty

- indio beer. one of the few places that has this fantastic mexican beer

Houstess

People should note that Dolce Vita's website shows they have changed their hours since the fire and are now open for lunch only Th-Sun. They are still closed all day Monday.

Timothy Black

Meh. MTI will be back open in February kids. No wait. May. No wait. July. Early August guaranteed. Whatever.

Houstess

1 Like

So happy ~sob~ Dolce Vita is back!

H_e_x

For a second I thought the restaurant was named chicharra. Either way, I can't get the association out of my head. If you don't know what a chicharra is, google image it. You have been warned.

paval

Besh to Houston. That would be awesome. He is US-wide one of my favorite chefs and his 20.12 USD three course lunch menu at August is unbeatable. I usually spend well over 100 USD when in NOLA at august. Hopefully they will transplant the lunch special to Houston too.