Back in July, Chron learned that Eataly had registered an “Eataly Houston LLC” business entity in the state of Delaware. With nothing else to go on, it was a waiting game to see where the global chain of Italian food halls would land in the city. And now we know.
Eataly is coming to 5000 Westheimer Rd. in Uptown, as the Houston Business Journal first reported. According to a permit with the Texas Department of Licensing and Registration, the Italian company is committing to an $11.5 million buildout at the Centre at Post Oak shopping mall. It looks like it will be at the corner of Westheimer and Post Oak in a strip that once housed an Ethan Allen furniture store.
Construction on the 20,000-square-foot space is expected to start in January 2026 and end the following September. Gensler, a national architecture firm, has been tapped as the designer.
If you want to learn more about what Eataly is about, you should head to Dallas, where there’s a location at the NorthPark Center. But if you’re not up for a drive, you can think of Eataly as a food hall-meets-marketplace-meets-community event space. You could, in theory, spend the whole day there: Grab a coffee, go to a class, get lunch, shop for groceries, and go for a tasting course at night.
Oscar Farinetti opened the first Eataly in Alba, Italy, in 2004. It has now expanded to more than 50 locations worldwide. At one point, it counted Mario Batali as a minority owner and founder, but it erased his involvement following sexual misconduct allegations in 2017.
Normally, I’d think it’s pretty cool that an Italian-based chain of Italian things is coming to town, but it happens to coincide with some serious losses in our area. Houston has been losing a few of its longtime Italian institutions in recent years, including Nino’s, Vincent’s, Grappino di Nino, Dolce Vita, Damien’s Cucina Italiana, and, most recently, Paulie’s.
All of these places are mostly small-time, independent operators. It reminds me of a conversation I had with an old boss about Sugar Land in the mid-2000s. He lamented the loss of some of the old mom-and-pops in the area as the city grew and developed.
So it goes with Italian restaurants, I guess.
More Food & Drink
Debate | Houston’s beef with coffee in a paper cup spills over
Popular | Texas chicken restaurant chain snags top U.S. ranking
Nightlife | Houston drinking trend is redefining the local hangout
Business | ‘Closed’ signs seen at controversial Houston restaurant
For more food news and features from Chron, sign up for The Feed newsletter here.
This article originally published at Renowned Italian food hall chain Eataly to open Houston location.
Dining and Cooking