A Flashy Steakhouse and Vibey All-Day Cafe Are Swinging in for Houston Summer
A Flashy Steakhouse and Vibey All-Day Cafe Are Swinging in for Houston Summer
What’s better than one steakhouse? Three — or at least that’s how many the generative Houston-based restaurateur Benjamin Berg now runs in Space City.
The New York native officially opened two new restaurants this week, including the Sylvie, an all-day cafe housed in Downtown’s Texas Tower. Turner’s Cut, the new Autry Park steakhouse slated to be the most opulent restaurant in Berg’s roster, opened to the public on Friday, June 28, with rare cuts of meat, sultry live music, and a sophisticated, yet comfortable design. “It doesn’t feel like a steakhouse. It’s more like dining in a home, almost,” he tells Eater Houston.
A team of chefs, including Eric Damidot, Pablo Peñalosa, and Chelsea Cummings, curated the menu, which features rare cuts of meat from America and Japan, including Kobe and Japanese A5 steaks, American wagyu, and prime dry-aged rib-eye. The menu also offers customizable items and table-side preparations. Turner’s Carving Cart offers bone-in prime rib, while the Raw Cart offers an impressive selection of seafood like sashimi, oysters, lobster, king crab, and caviar. Diners can also customize their perfect martini through the restaurant’s Martini Cart and watch as servers assemble dishes, including Caesar salad, truffle and wild mushroom risotto, and the beef short rib Wellington, tableside.
Dishes at Turner’s Cut include rare cuts of meat and fanciful presentations of seafood.
Turner’s Cut diners who hope to take some thought out of the process can opt for a six- or nine-course tasting menu, featuring dishes like Turner’s Ora King salmon tart, Broken Arrow Ranch quail, and American wagyu, and an optional wine pairing. The bar offers classic drinks, mocktails, and signature cocktails, like the Honey Vesper, a smooth combination of vodka, Cocchi Americano, and Jelinek Bohemia honey, and the Toki Japanese Apricot Smash, made with Toki Suntory whiskey, mint, fresh lemon, and a spritz of apricot liqueur. At the bar, diners can order posh bar bites, including what Berg describes as “the fanciest chicken nugget,” a tender chunk of chicken that’s fried and covered in beurre blanc, shaved truffle, green oil, and sorrel.
The decor leans into quiet luxury. Berg teamed up with Gail McCleese of the hospitality design firm Sensitori to create the feel of what he refers to as New York’s Gilded Age. Inside, dark hues mix with touches of white and gold under glittering chandeliers. The bar, which seats 15, is crafted with gold-cut crystal glass and features a wall of gold Venetian glass bricks. Diners eating in the dining room will be seated in white leather banquettes and can take in live music nightly from a band that plays from the restaurant’s mezzanine level. Hidden doors lead into the private “state room,” which can seat 24 people for private gatherings, while its enclosed patio gives a taste of the outdoors with its floral, peacock wallpaper.
The wine cellar, a reprieve from the lively restaurant, allows two people to dine while surrounded by more than 2,000 bottles of wine curated by sommelier Royston Remnick. And if it’s any evidence of Berg’s commitment to “opulence,” the women’s bathroom boasts a vanity with a Hollywood mirror and champagne, while the men’s dons a large-screen television and whiskey.
The steakhouse is a follow-up to Berg’s live-fire steakhouse Prime 131, which opened in March. Berg also owns steakhouse B&B Butchers, the first restaurant that he opened in Houston in June 2015.
Ben Berg aims to scale-up Houston’s steakhouse scene with the opening of posh new restaurant Turner’s Cut.
Berg also opened the Sylvie in Downtown’s 47-story Texas Tower on Wednesday, June 24. The Sylvie, which Berg calls the “most beautiful all-day cafe and bar in the city,” kicks off the day with grab-and-go pastries, plated breakfast dishes like avocado tartines, Belgium buttermilk waffles, lemon chia seed parfaits, and a full-service coffee bar. Lunch includes salads, sandwiches, and gourmet pizzas prepared in Sylvie’s glass mosaic oven; dinner features dishes like lamb meatballs, honey-roasted chicken breast, and sides like duck fat-roasted potatoes and Brussels sprouts.
The decor takes some notes from the restaurant’s name, which is the French form of Sylvia and the Latin word for forest. Its dining room, which can seat 85 people between its bistro bar and dining room, is anchored by an illuminated tree-like sculpture that stretches from floor to ceiling, complemented by a palette of brass, rust, and rose tones.
All day cafe, the Sylvie, is an option for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
Turner’s Cut is open for dinner from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, and from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. 811 Buffalo Park Drive, Suite 160.
The Sylvie is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays, and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays. 845 Texas Avenue, 77002.