Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/221565
PLACES MAXIMILLIAN BURKHALTER FRIENDS IN LOW(BROW) Omar Afra Lowbrow, 1601 W. Main St. (at Mandell St.), 281.501.8288; lowbrowhouston.com R FOR THE SWELLS ON OUR LISTS WE'LL SCOPE OUT EDO SAINT CLOUD FOR MERRY LOUNGE WEAR, J. LANDA FOR A STOCKING FILLED WITH BAUBLES, AND LOCALLY SOURCED SAVORIES FROM HEIGHTS GENERAL STORE. THEN I'LL MAKE MYSELF MERRY AND BRIGHT FOR ICY OYSTERS AT LIBERTY KITCHEN & OYSTERETTE AND CHINESE BAO STEAMED BUNS AT NARA. SUGAR PLUMS FOR ALL! SHAU LIN HON PIE IN THE C Liberty Kitchen & Oysterette, 4224 San Felipe St., 713.622.1010, libertykitchenoysterette.com filled dining room boasts copper-topped tables, blackand-white penny hexagonal tiles and a circular bar with cocktails on one side and a robata grill on the other. Ellis and Eaves — the design minds behind all the restaurant and retail concepts developed by F.E.E.D. TX — ferret for everything from lighting (much of it found in Paris) to art (large photos of American barns) to the Art Guys' yardstick installation above the communal table. Chef Fegen's menu lets you dabble through a meal with small plates, such as big-eye tuna takaki with a spicy mayo dipping sauce ($4.75) or Pacific salmon hot-smoked in a banana leaf ($4.50). Or go big with a hand-chopped salmon burger or pasta carbonara layered with pork belly ($18 each). Feeling more adventurous? Try the Japanese A5 Waygu Loin, a two-ounce portion smoked and served with seared foie gras and a soy-maple syrup reduction ($40). For dessert, try Susan Molzan's decadent American-style layer cakes and pies. Laurann Claridge Art Guys' yardstick installation above the communal table Carl Eaves, Lance Fegan, Lee Ellis JENNY ANTILL Look who's at it again: concepteur Lee Ellis and his F.E.E.D. TX chums — an acronym created from the initials of the partners (chef Lance Fegen, Carl Eaves, Ellis himself and Will Davis), who also brought us BRC and Petite Sweets. This time, they've reinvented their original Heights concept Liberty Kitchen and added "Oysterette" to the name, meaning a small seafood kitchenette. Positioned inside the loop at the edge of River Oaks, LKRO feels like a chic brasserie. The light- 281.249.5944; narahouston.com JENNY ANTILL OYSTERS, ANYONE? SHAU LIN HON aint Cloud boutique is the brainchild of two native Houstonians, Jessica Rodriguez and Cecilia Marquez, who met by chance and instantly bonded over a shared dream: offering a selection of handmade luxury goods curated from near and far. A recent edition to the newly minted Hanover Plaza in West U, the 1,400-square-foot shop is next to Zoe's Kitchen and around the corner from Coppa Ristorante. Designer Garrett Hunter crafted the interiors, employing a mélange of the raw and refined, punctuated with pop art, calmed with minimalistic surroundings à la Donald Judd, including an ingenious manipulation of fluorescent lights into a honeycomb structure that hovers above the space. Saint Cloud is chock-full of names you need to know: Arielle de Pinto jewelry, Lem Lem loungewear, Jerome Dreyfuss handbags, Eskayel home textiles, Kelly Wearstler fashion accessories, Paul Schneider ceramics and a personal fave of mine: French handbag designer Clare Vivier, who marries Cecilia Marquez and Parisian chic with L.A. cool. Owner Rodriguez and Jessica Rodriguez creative director Marquez have snagged a few fabulous exclusives: Lizzie Fortunato jewelry, Prism eyewear, Jennifer Behr hair accessories, Michele Varian home textiles, Alyssa Norton jewelry and Araks loungewear. We're forecasting plenty of Saint Cloud ahead. Megan Pruitt Winder Nara, 2800 Kirby Dr., hef and restaurant owner Donald Chang Donald Chang has opened a ground-breaking modern Korean restaurant at West Ave. We've been counting the days till Nara's official debut early this month. Does the name sound familiar? Then you must be one of the food cognoscenti who, for a decade, made their way west on Westheimer to dine at the original Nara, then-26-year-old Chang's first effort, which was renowned for its serious sushi. (After all, Chang studied the Japanese craft classically.) After the lease expired, Chang shuttered Nara and concentrated on his next venture, Uptown Sushi. His reinvention of Nara takes the restaurant into another realm, as he educates diners about a cuisine foreign to many but close to home for this Seoul-born Houstonian. He collaborated (again) with Issac Preminger on the quiet earth-toned design of the nearly 7,000-squarefoot space with an elaborate Sakura tree made from petrified wood strung with pink blossoms, furnishings from Janus et Cie, sleek glass-enclosed wine storage and an open robata kitchen (in a footprint left from the previous occupant, Katsuya). The Korean food, created in collaboration with mama Kyong La Chang and sister Esther Cho (the only ones, Donald says, who possess the vital marinade recipes), focuses on elevated ingredients with Kobe beef, Berkshire and Spanish Duroc pork in coveted roles throughout the menu. Try a couple of Chinese bao steamed buns ($9 to $12) such as chashu sandwiched with braised pork and its belly; tasting bites including jellyfish salad with green bean noodles, crab and pine nut vinaigrette ($17); and creative comfort food that will leave you craving more, such as a fragrant Bulgogi pot pie — a rich, beefy dish with Kobe hanger steak cubes and black truffle encased in a puff pastry ($18). Last, the sushi here is a blend of traditional Japanese rolls and those popular at the Korean table, such as the eponymous Nara roll, a kimbap-style roll stuffed with rib eye, spinach, carrot, egg and pickled radish that Chang will encourage you to try sans soy sauce, the way the Koreans do. Laurann Claridge JENNY ANTILL Saint Cloud, 5217 Kelvin St., 713.522.0077; shopsaintcloud.com S IS IT DÉJÀ VU? JULIE SOFER SKY MAXIMILLIAN BURKHALTER JUST 24 DAYS TO PICK GORGEOUS enaissance man about town Omar Afra (founder and publisher of Free Press Houston, organizer of the Free Press Summer Festival of Music and a partner in the reinvigorated Fitzgerald's) has a new outlet for his creative energies: Lowbrow, a sort of postmodern gastropub close to The Menil Collection. The space — formerly home to Café Artiste and Sophia — serves imaginative bar food created by the Eatsie Boys, with a full bar and 12 local craft beers on tap, including offerings from the Eatsie Boys' own brewery, 8th Wonder. The interior is buzz-worthy as well, evoking not a border-town cantina or an Irish pub, but … Houston! On two walls, artists have created a toile de Jouyesque wallpaper of iconic Houston images: the Astrodome, Houston Oilers logo, Barnet Newman's broken-obelisk sculpture in front of the Rothko Chapel and the downtown skyline. Master cabinetmaker Ed Gordon was left to his own devices to create the bar and tables: a solid, traditional bar design that he calls a "a classic steak-house look." Artist Shelby Hohl, a regular contributor to Free Press Houston, created a series of watercolor portraits of deceased Houston celebs with accompanying quotes, including Marvin Zindler, Lightnin' Hopkins, Anna Nicole Smith and DJ Screw. Houston artist Jermaine Rodgers, who is associated with the local music scene, contributed a silkscreen-on-birch-veneer images of David Bowie, plus Adam and Eve in the Garden as dusky Neanderthals. Afra even created an artwork of his own for the space: a large Jenny Holzer-like sign with words picked out in little lights: "I love you this much." George Alexander