A Protégé of One of America’s Best Pizza Chefs Just Opened a Houston Restaurant

This all-day destination prides itself on specialty coffee, ceremonial matcha, and standout specialty drinks like the ube cream vietnamese Coffee and strawberry-lychee lemonade, but it’s also one of the few places where you can secure a craft beer before noon without setting foot in a bar.

There’s a new pizza joint in town. Chef Angelo Emiliani, protégé of chef Chris Bianco of Pizzeria Bianco, has teamed up with his sister, pastry chef Luciana Emiliana, and business partner Alex Dunlevie to open Angie’s Pizza. Culturemap Houston reports that diners can choose from its menu of seven wood-fired pizzas, which include a classic margherita; Piccante (Calabrian honey, Spanish chorizo, fennel, and garlic); the Louie, Louie (provolone, mozzarella, olives, garlic sausage, and miso butter onions); or the Black Gold (mozzarella, Texas sheep’s milk gouda, black garlic, and dried porcini). 

Aside from the locally sourced cheeses and toppings, which include boquerones, sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, and olives, the pizza stands out for its combination of Neapolitan and New York styles. The menu goes beyond pies with pastas and small plates, including hamachi crudo, polenta tots, fried olives, plus dessert: blueberry and cream tiramisu, ice cream sundaes, and chiffon cake.

Fans of Mexican hotspot Doña Leti’s can now visit its new brunch spot. Open from 7am to 1pm Tuesday through Sunday, Buenos Días (“good morning” in Spanish) offers breakfast classics, including breakfast tacos, alongside heart, Texas-sized, Hispanic-inspired dishes. Think fried chicken tender funnel cakes dusted with powdered sugar, chocoflan pancakes, fresas con crema, tres leches French toast made with grilled, soaked pound cake, chilaquile burritos, and menudo, all served in personal pots with all the fixings.

This new Italian spot is slinging Roman-style pizza al taglio, sandwiches, pasta dishes, and small plates from a converted train car. Chef Chris Zettlemoyer and his fiancée, Amanda Mendez, both formerly of Figo Sugo, say their goal was to bring an affordable, easy-to-access option to the area. However, they don’t skimp on quality. Zettlemoyer told Culturemap Houston that the dough requires a variety of techniques, including 72-hour fermentation. The hope is to eventually open for coffee in the morning, complemented by homemade syrups.

Following its first location near the Johnson Space Center, Koyo opened its second outpost in the Heights in mid-July. The new sushi spot offers just 26 seats at its counter, where diners can grab their fresh hand roll as soon as it’s made. Order à la carte, or choose between assembled sets of three, four, or five rolls filled with some of Koyo’s most alluring proteins, including tuna, salmon, yellowtail, and lobster. Other options include a variety of vegetables, shellfish, asparagus, and shiitake. Beer, sake, and non-alcoholic options available.

Got a need for speed, but with some discretion? Velocity’s Sim Racing Lounge opened this speakeasy inside its digs in mid-July, meaning you can secure cocktails by Peter Nolan (Permission Whiskey * Service Co.) along with small bites (millionaire bacon, charcuterie boards, and seafood campechana) while giving your best on the featured state-of-the-art professional racing simulators.

Chef Austin Simmons made quite the splash when he announced he was leaving The Woodlands steakhouse Tris in early 2025. Now he’s back with his new, 200-seat restaurant in Hughes Landing. Opened in mid-July, Charolais showcases Simmons’s passion for premium beef, with steak boards featuring top-notch cuts and options for various preparations, including live-fire, cast-iron, and high-temp broiling (the restaurant itself is named after a breed of cow). Diners can also find items other than steak, including roasted Chilean sea bass and beef-tallow-fried chicken (Simmons also bragged about the beef-tallow fries, which come as an appetizer with Aleppo pepper-miso ranch). Tris fans will also get to relive some of its classics with the cult-favorite kimchi crab appetizer, tuna sushi pizza, and watermelon salad.

Whether in it for day-drinking or a nightcap, this new place delivers. Uptown Sporting Club is marketing itself as an all-day destination and headquarters for sports games, including football Sundays, Astros playoffs, Rockets games, and any other game. Though outfitted with eight large-screen TVs and a 115-inch LED screen, the space leans upscale with brass accents, plush seating, and barrel-vaulted ceilings inspired by whiskey barrels, and dishes including Korean fried chicken, truffle fries, steak frites, Wagyu smashburgers, and flatbreads. Loyal bar-goers can consider a membership, which gives them access to one of the 134 bottle lockers, plus priority seating, reservations, members-only events, discounts, and preferred bottle pricing.

Inspired by the ancient Roman philosophy of leisure with dignity, this new cocktail bar opened in late July, offering a space for those ages 25 and up to convene over expertly made drinks, including over-the-top tableside martini service, plus a selection of Champagne, Italian wines, and regional and rare spirits.

After years of operating as a pop-up and food truck at Las Perras Cafe, this Dominican-owned pop-up has found a permanent home where it can serve its Caribbean cuisine. Houston Chronicle reports that Flor Y Miel is serving its original dishes, plated in a way that encourages diners to stay. Find dishes such as mofongo, chofan (Caribbean fried rice), carne guisada, and empanadas, as well as tropical fruit juices.

Those who frequent Anvil, Better Luck Tomorrow, or Theodore Rex—you’re in for a treat. Chef Justin Yu’s latest venture with Thorough Fare Co. partner Bobby Heugel is a deeply personal one. Named for his aunts’ beloved California restaurant where Yu got his start bussing tables and scooping rainbow sherbet, House of Louie brings French-Italian cooking with a modern American edge to the former Vibrant space on Fairview. A curated wine list and cocktails from the team behind some of Houston’s most celebrated bars round out a room designed to feel warmer and more stylish than you’d expect. “House of Louie was how I fell in love with restaurants,” Yu says. “There was a magic there.”