First Look: Heights General Store

In an inspiring example of re-use and re-purposing, the much-anticipated Heights General Store opened in mid-November in the historic Harold’s building on West 19th Street in The Heights.

The first floor of the former department store houses the kitchen and a market featuring prepared foods, meats, bakery, local produce and a selection of grocery items and sundries – think Mercantile or Local Foods. HGS vendors include Houston Dairymaids, Black Hill Ranch (meats), Kraftsmen Bakery, Homestead Gristmill, Atkinson Farms  (produce) and area craft breweries. (Full disclosure: My Table/Lazywood Press is also a vendor; you can find a copy of The Ultimate Food Lover’s Guide to Houston here.)

Breakfast (e.g. homemade granola, quiche, potato hash, cast-iron oatmeal) and lunch are served from the first-floor counter. Last week we ordered the Carolina pulled pork with homemade potato chips and the daily special of jambalaya. Both were worth a return visit. Homemade pizzas are fired in a wood-stone pizza oven.

The upstairs, which is open in the evening and for weekend brunch, contains a full bar, main dining room, covered rooftop patio and a private dining room. Antoine Ware – you’d know him from Catalan, The Hay Merchant and Federal Grill – is HGS’s executive chef, and he focuses on fine Southern cuisine with many menu items made in-house, such as home-cured bacon, freshly ground sausage, flatbreads and pizza dough. The seasonal dinner menu currently includes she crab soup, Low Country Beaufort stew with shrimp and andouille, braised short rib and roasted Gulf fish.

The full bar menu features a wide selection of wines, craft beer and, yes, specialty cocktails, but since this is the “dry” part of The Heights, you’ll need a free membership in the Harold’s Club to purchase a drink. A swipe of your driver’s license is all it takes; there is no charge.

Golfer and South Carolina native Alli Jarrett is the woman behind the Heights General Store. She has paid homage to brothers Harold and Milton Wiesenthal and their store’s six-decade history with a display of Harold’s memorabilia in the second-floor restaurant. (An oversized-mirror from Harold’s men’s dressing room is prominently displayed in the dining room, for example.) Harold Wiesenthal, the magnetic retail icon whose commercials were a staple on local television, died last year at age 84.

The Harold’s property was sold in 2011 to Braun Enterprises, which has retrofitted the space to also house Torchy’s Tacos and, coming soon, a clothing boutique.

Heights General Store, 350 W. 19^th St. at Ashland (the entrance to the restaurant is located on the alley/rear side of the building off Ashland St.), 713-382-8723, heightsgeneralstore.com