10 New Houston Venues for 2019 Summer Entertaining and Events

InterContinental Houston—Medical Center opened in March. The 21-story hotel has 354 rooms and amenities including an outdoor pool and a Mediterranean restaurant and bar, Safina. The luxury hotel has 18,000 square feet of meeting and event space, which includes a 7,646-square-foot ballroom that seats 950 theater style or holds 1,000 for receptions. Additional spaces include 6,000 square feet of pre-function space, an outdoor terrace mezzanine, and an outdoor pool terrace space.

Mediterranean restaurant and bar Safina opened at the new InterContinental Houston—Medical Center in March. The restaurant features a blue and green aesthetic inspired by the ocean, and serves a variety of health-focused dishes. The restaurant seats 155 guests in the main dining room and has a private dining area that seats 18 guests.

Houston Tex-Mex institution Original Ninfa's opened a new location in Blvd Place in June, in the space formerly occupied by Peska. Owned by Legacy Restaurants, the restaurant features a food menu helmed by executive chef Jason Gould and a bar program overseen by Linda Salinas. The 6,400-square-foot venue, designed by Michael Hsu of Studio Red Architects, is inspired by the original Ninfa’s location and includes black-and-white photos of founder “Mama” Ninfa Laurenzo on the walls. The restaurant seats around 280 guests total—including 100 in covered patio areas—and seats 50 guests in a private dining room.

B.B. Italia, an Italian restaurant owned by the Berg Hospitality Group, opened in the Energy Corridor in May. The restaurant serves a variety of traditional Italian dishes and also offers pizza to go. The 8,000-square-foot restaurant is available for full buyouts for reception-style events of 350 guests or seated meals for 300. The restaurant also has six private dining spaces for events of various sizes. The largest space holds 125 guests for receptions and has its own bar, and a patio holds as many as 70 for receptions.

Firmspace, a network of upscale co-working spaces, opened its first Houston location in April. Located on the 10th and 11th floors of the B.B.V.A. Compass Plaza building, the venue spans 32,000 square feet, 10,000 of which is available for meetings and events. Meeting rooms on the 11th floor can hold as many as 200 people reception style. The lobby and lounge space can also hold events for groups of 100 to 150 people standing. The venue also is available for private, after-hours events.

Aveva Stadium, home to the Houston SaberCats Rugby team, opened in April. The second rugby stadium in the United States, which was opened with help from the City of Houston, seats 3,200 patrons with room for 800 others in a standing-only section. The stadium has full-service concessions, two bars, a four-room press box, and field-side activation areas for tents and advertising. The stadium also is available for non-sporting events including concerts, fairs, and festivals.

1751 Sea & Bar opened in the Heights in April. Located in the space formerly known as Star Fish, the seafood restaurant and gin bar is helmed by restaurateur Michael Sambrooks. The venue’s name refers to the Gin Act of 1751, as the space serves more than 100 types of gins. The food menu, helmed by culinary director Lyle Bento and chef J.D. Woodward, includes a seafood charcuterie board, baked oyster, and uni pasta. The 1,500-square-foot restaurant seats 120 guests and is available for private events.

B.B. Lemon, an American eatery and bar from Berg Hospitality Group, opened at the end of 2018. The 1,900-square-foot restaurant serves seafood and American dishes from chef Emily Trusler, and cocktails from beverage director Monique Cioffi-Hernandez. The restaurant is split in to two dining rooms, seating a total of 76 guests, and also has a patio with garden landscaping. The venue can hold as many as 150 people reception style for full buyouts. For other private and semiprivate events, the space holds 80 guests for receptions on the patio and 20 seated guests in a private dining room.

Bosscat Kitchen & Libations, an American restaurant and whiskey concept in Westheimer Oaks, opened a new private dining area this spring. The 1,300-square-foot space was converted from the back half of the venue’s dining room, and seats 72 guests or holds 120 for receptions. The area also has an additional 700 square feet of private patio space shaded by oak trees. Private events include a bar, full audiovisual capabilities, and customizable menus. Bosscat also offers the existing Whiskey Room, a private dining space that seats 12 guests and features more than 325 whiskeys on the walls.

True Anomaly Brewing Co. had its grand opening in April in EaDo. The brewery taproom was founded by four former and current NASA employees, and is named after a celestial mechanics term. Specializing in sour and wild beers, the 8,200-square-foot space includes a 2,500-square-foot taproom and a 1,000-square-foot patio. The space also has a 2,000-square-foot barrel room, which can hold private events for as many as 50 guests in a reception setup. The entire venue holds more than 150 guests.