Da Gama Canteen opened last Saturday at the M-K-T development, 600 N. Shepherd Dr., serving Anglo-Indian cuisine.
The restaurant, which is a café by day and wine and cocktail bar by night, is named after the Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama, and it draws flavor inspiration from the Portuguese-Indian territories of Goe, East Africa and Portugal.
“Da Gama Canteen is being founded on a blending of cultures. A Euro-Indo experience that also reflects the global melting pot that Houston has become,” Rick Di Virgilio, co-owner of Da Gama Canteen, said in a news release.
Da Gama’s menu offers a diverse range of Indian canteen food, a unique wine list, house-baked breads and freshly toasted spices. Customers will also be able to utilize the Chai Naasto cafe window to get specialty drinks like chai, organic coffee and tea, natty wine, tropical cocktails and light street food items such as Tandoori rolls, samosa chaat and curry bowls.
The restaurant is currently open for dinner service only from 5-10 p.m. Lunch and brunch will be added in the coming weeks.
Heights home becomes wine venue
Sergio and Carolina Weitzman have turned a historic Heights home into a destination private-event venue for wine tastings, wine classes and other functions under the umbrella of SERCA Wines.
“There are a number of wonderful boutique wines the big distributors simply don’t want to spend time on,” Sergio said in a news release. “We wanted to create a venue not only for our SERCA wines, but for other boutique wineries looking to find their place in the market.”
The husband-and-wife team added personal touches to the 1902 home, creating a versatile, multi-floor event space where small groups and events for up to 100 people can enjoy the Weitzmans’ wines along with wines from other up-and-coming wineries.
SERCA’s tasting room features an open-concept first-floor lounge with comfortable seating, a dining area with adjoining chef-inspired kitchen and brick pizza oven, bar area, wraparound porch, an enclosed tasting room with fireplace and a spirit-tasting room tucked under a staircase.
The third-floor rooftop terrace offers scenic views of downtown as well as an event space where Sergio and Carolina will lead wine education classes. The second floor is office space.
SERCA’s family of wines from Argentina’s Mendoza region is now in its 10th year and can be found in many Houston-area dining spots.
The Roastery in H-E-B ceases operation
The coffee shop The Roastery, which took root inside four H-E-B stores, including the two Heights-area locations, has closed all four locations.
The closure was announced via Instagram last week and said the shops ceased operations on May 16.
The post also said the owners are looking to relocate in the future.
Alcohol to-go to stay
Last week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 1024, which allows restaurants and bars that have mixed-beverage permits and kitchens on-site to sell alcohol to-go with pickup and delivery orders.
Abbott issued a waiver for beer, wine and cocktail kits with bottles less than 375 milliliters in March of last year as an emergency measure during the beginning of the pandemic. It was supposed to end in May 2020. But in June of last year, Abbott, the Texas Restaurant Association and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission included mixed drinks to-go in the waiver and extended it indefinitely.
The new bill is a continuation of that measure and makes to-go alcohol sales permanently legal in Texas.