Pappas Restaurants—owner of three Wine Spectator Grand Award winners in Texas—debuted its latest endeavor, Little’s Oyster Bar, in May in Houston’s trendy Montrose neighborhood. The new seafood spot takes inspiration from old Hollywood, with scintillating chandeliers, a bountiful raw bar, luxurious lobster platings, caviar service and a finely tuned wine list to match.
For Robert Smith, Pappas Restaurants’ fine spirits and expanding concepts wine director, it was an exciting challenge to develop a wine list for an upscale seafood restaurant aiming for a younger clientele, in contrast to the programs for the Pappas Bros. Steakhouses. “It’s got a different feel to it,” Smith explained to Wine Spectator. “The neighborhood is home to a lot of the new hip bars and restaurants, and we thought this place was a perfect location for Pappas to do something different, to create a space that is upscale but friendly and not stuffy. It just feels really good when you’re in there.”
The wine list sits at 250 labels, with a clear emphasis on Champagne (the list even indicates disgorgement dates for every bottling for which the information is available) and younger white Burgundies from the 2021 and 2020 vintages. This includes horizontals from Chablis to Corton-Charlemagne, with value bottlings throughout. The list also spotlights Smith’s passion for white wines from the Loire Valley, Spain and Austria, among other regions, with vertical and horizontal depth.
But if you prefer pairing red wine with fish, Smith has curated a list of seafood-friendly picks, including Beaujolais and select California Cabernets. “With the reds, the challenge was holding back,” said Smith. “I was trying to keep the red selection at around 15 percent of the list, but now we’re hovering at like 20 percent. There’s just all these great red Burgundies—and the ‘21 Beaujolais that were being released—and I just couldn’t help myself. I had to grab a few things while they were available!”
Little’s also offers an aperitif-focused cocktail program from bar manager Oliver Bondswell, which includes some refreshing, lower-alcohol beverages as well as fuller-proof tipples like a Golden Martini accented with chamomile, grapefruit and licorice.
Seafood is, of course, the star of the menu, and chef Jason Ryczek lets the quality of his ingredients speak for themselves. Alongside Maine lobster and Atlantic yellowfin tuna, there are fruits de mer from the Texas Gulf Coast, brought in each morning by Pappas’ own boats. Dishes include crab claws with creole aioli, shrimp with pomegranate cocktail sauce and Texas redfish with Castelvetrano olive salsa verde. One of Ryczek’s main focuses is caviar: He has partnered with California Caviar Company for several years and travels to California each October to help with harvesting. (The Little’s menu features caviar from six white sturgeons Ryczek selected himself.)
The Little’s space is intimate, featuring 80 seats indoors and 50 on a patio with a retractable roof. Evy Pappas, design director of her family’s restaurant group, fashioned the bright, retro-style restaurant to be inviting and comfortable, with details like Ryczek’s culinary drawings lining the entrance. The restaurant also features the original neon sign from Little Pappas Seafood House, which previously occupied the Little’s space.
Little’s Oyster Bar is open Wednesday through Sunday for dinner service.—J.L.
Espelette Moves Into Former Jean-Georges Beverly Hills Space
Earlier this year, chef-restaurateur Jean-Georges Vongerichten closed his namesake restaurant on the lobby level of the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills hotel. While Vongerichten’s long relationship with the Waldorf Astoria continues at the Rooftop by JG, the hotel quickly replaced the former Jean-Georges space with Espelette, a new Mediterranean concept from chef Steve Benjamin. Currently the culinary director, Benjamin has worked with the Beverly Hills hotel since 2017; previously, he led Best of Award of Excellence winner L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Las Vegas for 12 years.
Maykel Escalona, director of the hotel’s food and beverage, said the primary reason for the change was to utilize the culinary team’s creativity: “We have a star-studded lineup of chefs that have been part of Michelin-starred restaurants, and we wanted to tap into that and do a refresh and make [the restaurant] more approachable and a frequent dining space, rather than a celebratory place.” Where Jean-Georges epitomized fine dining and often used lavish ingredients, Espelette aims for a more minimalistic approach with accessible Mediterranean-inspired fare. Dishes encourage menu exploring and sharing, from the classic eggplant parmesan to steamed mussels with French fries to a variety of wood-grilled proteins such as branzino, whole chicken and Wagyu tenderloin.
The new eatery’s name references the commune of Espelette in Southwest France, as well as the town’s famed Espelette pepper, which is used in 80 percent of the dishes at the restaurant. The pepper is more delicate and fruity than spicy and it can subtly enhance dishes, as with Espelette’s tuna carpaccio with sundried tomato oil and piment d’Espelette or its scrambled eggs with Bordier butter, Espelette and crème fraîche.
With about 500 selections, the wine list was largely inherited from Jean-Georges; but Escalona said the team aims to develop it a bit: “We want to continue and expand the French, Spanish and Italian selections to add some special touches that tie into the concept a bit more.” The current list already includes a solid selection of Mediterranean bottlings like Domaine Ott rosé, Planeta Etna Bianco and Bodegas Terras Gauda Albariño.
Aesthetically, little has changed, as Jean-George closed on May 6 and Espelette debuted on May 13. The floor plan has shifted, and discussions about renovations are underway, with plans to introduce indoor plants and new decor. “The space today looks brand new, even though it’s the same. We also want to add some special touches,” said Escalona. “Music is a big part of that too. Previously it was jazzy and slow-paced; now, it’s more upbeat with Ibiza vibes. Small details can make a big impact on [the] feel.”—A.R.
Angler Closes in Los Angeles
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence winner Angler closed earlier this summer in Los Angeles. Saison Hospitality founders Joshua Skenes, Mark Bright, Gary Gauba and Jag Kapoor opened the restaurant in the Beverly Center in 2019 as a follow-up to the original Angler restaurant in San Francisco, which holds a Best of Award of Excellence. (Saison Hospitality’s portfolio also includes California Grand Award winner Saison.)
At the L.A. Angler, fresh, local, sustainably sourced seafood was the primary focus, celebrated across a range of raw and wood-fired dishes: fried California striped bass collar with cultured cream and seaweed rice with cured yolk and trout roe, for instance. These joined an extensive list of more than 1,000 wines overseen by Bright; France was the star of the program, particularly Burgundy, Bordeaux, Beaujolais, the Rhône Valley and Champagne.
The 128-seat restaurant pivoted to outdoor dining during the COVID-19 pandemic, then closed temporarily for a revamp and renovation in 2022. It reopened its doors in Feb. 2023 under new Saison Hospitality culinary director Paul Chung, before finally closing this summer. “Saison Hospitality is proud and honored to have served the Los Angeles community; however we have made the difficult decision to close Angler L.A. and focus on our efforts and concepts in the Bay Area at this time,” read a statement from the restaurant group on the Angler L.A. website. “[We] have been deeply moved by the loyalty of our guests as we evolved the concept and reopened this year. We are forever grateful for our team and their dedication to our ethos of quality product and sustainability.”—C.D.