A glamorous new French restaurant, a doughnut shop with small batches of cronuts, and a Mexican restaurant channeling Monterey in the Woodlands — here are the Houston openings to note this December
November and December have brought a wave of new restaurant openings, setting the city ablaze with new places to dine, drink, and lounge around on the patio should the unpredictable Houston weather allow for it. From beloved neighborhood gems adding new outposts in the suburbs to original concepts offering fresh dishes and prepared family meals, there are lots of worthy new establishments just waiting to be added to your 2023 hit list. Here are the Houston restaurant openings you need to know about right now.
Tavola
Houston restaurateur Benjamin Berg has been on a roll in 2023, opening restaurants including Annabelle Brasserie and Benny Chows, plus hosting the Ranch Saloon and Steakhouse at the Houston Rodeo for the second year in a row. And on December 13, he opened his third permanent restaurant, Tavola, in Post Oak, introducing diners to a glamorous Italian establishment outfitted with a gallery, a brasserie-style bar, and an enclosed patio. Executive chef Luca Di Benedetto, a mentee of Gualtiero Marchesi, the father of modern Italian cuisine, leads the restaurant in serving fresh and classic pasta dishes like lasagna bolognese, parpadelle made with a wild boar ragu, cacio e pepe agnolotti, and pacherro pomodoro. Tavola’s brief lunch menu offers lighter dishes like salads and meatball paninis, while dinner unleashes with many options, including appetizers that present burrata in three different ways, housemade focaccia, and an oyster “carbonara,” plus entrees like its Ligurian-style branzino served with pine nuts, tomato sauce, and potatoes, and its veal milanese.
