Houston Chronicle: Top 25 Restaurant Patios in the Houston Area October 09, 2022
Houston Chronicle: Top 25 Restaurant Patios in the Houston Area
The tree-shaded courtyard patio at this surprising wine and tapas bar in Old Town Spring has a vintage New Orleans feel. It’s not a formal Spanish Creole affair like the Brennan’s courtyard. The brick-paved space, with tables set along surrounding covered wooden walkways, echoes the eccentric quirk of Faubourg Marigny, with a Texas-y hint of “Westworld.”
You see, those covered walkways surround connected shopfronts of the sort you’d see in an old Western, including an old-school leather-worker. But the piped-in musical vibe and the climate suggests the Gulf Coast, so sitting out here is like visiting a slightly off-kilter dreamscape.
It’s a lovely, unexpected place in which to while away an afternoon or an evening sampling wines from proprietor Thomas Perez’s interesting Old World list, many available by the glass; and dining on tapas like piquillo peppers stuffed with delicate crabmeat. The warm hospitality and quality of food and wine speaks to Perez’s palate and deep experience at such venues as Houston’s La Table. If Old Town Spring has always seemed too cutesy and Disneyfied to you, check this place out. It’s worth a trip.
By: Alison Cook