If you describe Third Coast as a “health-conscious restaurant on top of a parking garage in the Texas Medical Center,” you might get shrugged shoulders, even a bleh. If you describe it as an “upscale Houston-centric restaurant with a fine happy hour menu and a dramatic sixth-floor view of the Medical Center,” you’ll spark some interest.
Before it was completely re-designed this past summer by Gensler Architecture + Design and reincarnated as Third Coast, this restaurant atop a parking garage/water wall was Trevisio for 14 years. Recently chef Jon Buchanan and beverage director David Cook began unrolling their new concept to the media, one small group at a time.
Buchanan has developed a menu with some healthful considerations, but the focus is more on the culinary diversity of Houston rather than than low calorie count and gluten-free options. Cocktails and wine selections are anything but an afterthought, and dessert is a point of pride for the kitchen.
If you happen to find yourself in the Medical Center − and we hope it’s just an annual check-up− and want to dine at Third Coast, parking is a breeze. Pull into the parking garage at 6550 Bertner and follow the signs to park underground at no charge or park on a higher level and you’ll have your parking validated. Take the elevator to the sixth floor, and step out into a whole new space.
The orientation of the bar has been changed so that drinkers can see the dining room as well as the views. But if you wish to zone out and just watch a ball game, that’s possible too, with new televisions over the bar and earbuds available. The waterfall feature is history, but there is new booth seating.
Open at 7 am for breakfast, the restaurant also serves lunch and dinner Monday through Friday, and happy hour lasts from 3 to 7 pm.
When we visited earlier this month as guests of the restaurant, we sipped specialty cocktails like the Texas Toddy and Orange Clove and were impressed with the lunch items we thought would be too “light” to be satisfying such as a poke bowl (photo above, $16) packed with marinated tuna and fruit in a coconut shell with fresh-cooked taro chips, turkey enchiladas with mole ($14) and Texas prime beef tartare (photo below, $18) made with beef from 44 Farms and a whisper of truffle and mustard.
Herbsaint-scented grilled oysters didn’t skip on the smoked gouda or bacon ($14), and we would happily return to eat a half-dozen with a glass of white wine from the USA-only wine list. Berkshire pork tenderloin (photo below, $24) with spätzle was lean but tender, napped with a puree of sweet potato and a handful of shaved Brussels sprouts for color.
The menu pulls influence from the many cuisines found all over Houston, which can be seen in dishes like red snapper green curry with lemongrass-ginger rice (photo below, $24), Gulf shrimp with rice grits, cotija cheese and poblano cream ($27), turkey pastrami sandwich with kimchi ($14) and crab and shrimp gumbo ($8).
This past year has been one of many restaurant goodbyes: Mark’s, Bramble, Mockingbird Bistro and Foreign Correspondents were all Houston institutions – even receiving regional and national acclaim – and we hate that they’ll not return in 2017. We’re glad the team behind Trevisio had the imagination and deep pockets to re-invent the space with a new look and fresh menu.
Third Coast, 6550 Bertner Avenue in the Texas Medical Center, 6th Floor, 713-749-0400, thirdcoasthouston.com