The culinary team responsible for some of Houston’s most interesting pop-up dinners over the past 18 months is settling down into a home of its own. We’ll let chef Justin Yu tell you in his own words: “As a born and bred Houstonian, it has always been my dream to have a restaurant in my hometown. Even while traveling and cooking throughout this country and this world, Houston is where we’ve always wanted to start a business, live our life, and raise a family. So it is with great excitement, along with my wife and head baker, Karen Man, and my good friend and sommelier, Justin Vann, that we’re able to announce our intention to open Oxheart Restaurant located at 1302 Nance in the eastern end of downtown, which currently houses the amazing Latin Bites Cafe. Latin Bites’ owners, Roberto, Carlos and Rita have been integral in jump-starting the food culture in that area of Houston, and I look forward to both maintaining and pushing forward the level of food, drink and service in Houston.” Oxheart should be open by March.

Latin Bites, meanwhile, is moving to the Rockwood Room’s old location at Chimney Rock and Woodway. Chef/co-owner Roberto Castre told us Tuesday night that he expects to be open soon. The new location will include a ceviche bar and outdoor dining.

We also learned that the opening of Triniti – Ryan Hildebrand’s new place on S. Shepherd between Westheimer and W. Alabama – has been pushed back a couple weeks. GM Fred Zenatti says the team is still hoping to be open by Christmas.

A few blocks away, at Fairview and Hazard, the Latina Cafe sign is gone and the new Roost sign is in place. Not only that, but the whole clump of buildings on that corner has been painted and looks pretty snazzy for the neighborhood. Roost is the new farm-to-table restaurant from chef Kevin Naderi, who was sous-chef at Haven under Randy Evans. It should be open very soon.

Houston’s second Mi Tienda is scheduled to open its doors on December 7. Specifically designed with the Latino shopper in mind, Mi Tienda (from the H-E-B folks) is home to fresh produce and hard-to-find products from Mexico and Central America. The 97,000 square foot – more than twice the size of the first Mi Tienda on Spencer Highway in Pasadena – will be located at 3800 East Little York.

What has become a staple in the Austin food truck scene, Chi’Lantro is expected to bring its signature food truck stylings to Houston by mid-February. Chi’Lantro is a fusion food truck that serves Korean-Mexican cuisine, merging tacos, burritos and quesadillas with traditional Korean flavors. One of the most notable menu items is the award-winning kimchi fries, featured on the Food Network and Cooking Channel. The dish starts with a bed of French fires, which are topped with caramelized kimchi (a spicy Korean cabbage), a choice of Korean barbecued beef, pork, chicken or tofu and a secret “magic sauce.”

The Burger House, a Dallas hamburger and fries institution since 1951, is coming to Houston, thanks to a local investment company, CWKS Enterprises, Inc. No surprise, perhaps, that among CWKS’s management are several Southern Methodist University alums who spent many college hours dining at the hamburger hangout. The company has begun researching locations in the Rice Village/University area and hopes to open the first store in 2012.

A group of Houston restaurant and bar owners, led by Anvil’s Bobby Heugel, has teamed up to create Organized Kooperative on Restaurant Affairs – OKRA for short. It’s an organization that intends to campaign for Houston’s independent restaurants, bars, cafes, food trucks, purveyors and producers. The idea for OKRA was born over a year ago when personalities from Pilot Light Restaurant Group (Seth Siegel-Gardner & Terrance Gallivan), 06 Restaurant Group (Justin Yu & Justin Vann), Greenway Coffee & Tea and Blacksmith Coffee Bar (David Buehrer & Ecky Prabanto) and Anvil, Underbelly and Hay Merchant (Chris Shepherd, Kevin Floyd, Steve Flippo, Mike Burnett, & Bobby Heugel), pledged to form a loose affiliation that would one day host annual charity events as well as establish a non-profit bar in Houston. When the looming off-street parking ordinance recently inspired them to jump into action, they found capable allies throughout the industry, but worked most closely with individuals that had for a long time advocated a similar stance on industry issues. To learn more, read Alison Cook’s article here. Or check out OKRA’s Facebook page.