Houston: Coltivare

Coltivare: Exterior

We were on a little trip to Houston and wanted to check out the The Heights neighborhood. We drove and strolled around a bit and found it every bit as lovely as we heard. Finally, we were hungry and wanted a place to eat. There were a lot of choices, but I was drawn to the rather nondescript from the outside Coltivare by the promise of fresh ingredients straight from the garden in the back.

There was a bit of a wait for a table or we could be seated immediately at the bar. We put our names down to wait and then realized we were starving so decided to just take the bar seats. Immediately, we were impressed by the whiskey selection and the cocktail menu and selected our first round of drinks. They were good. Really good. But before we could finish them up and go for round number two, we were going to need some food.

Coltivare: Charred Octopus

The Charred Octopus was especially delightful as it was cooked perfectly and accompanied by berries from the garden. The berries added sweet and tart flavors which were unexpected yet well balanced. We ordered our next round of drinks and picked up a lovely discussion with the guy behind the bar named Morgan. His knowledge was impressive especially of NYC restaurants. When he explained that he had visited all of those places as part of the research for when they were developing the menu for Coltivare, we realized that he was one of the co-owners. So we definitely took his word for it when he suggested a pizza if we were open to something a little off the beaten path. This pizza wound up being the Slow Cooked Duck Pizza which also featured Sweet Potato, Swiss Chard, Red Onion, & Pesto. It was every bit as delicious and interesting as it sounds.

Coltivare: Slow Cooked Duck Pizza

We had an absolutely fantastic time here. This is our absolute favorite kind of restaurant- the people are very serious about their craft, but incredibly chill and not snobby about it. If we lived in Houston, we'd want to live in The Heights, preferably within walking distance to this lovely place.