The Tasting Room’s newest, grandest location – at 818 Town & Country Blvd. in CityCentre – opened this week. Chef Michael Kramer (formerly at Voice in the Hotel Icon) is running the kitchen, so you can expect a seriously ratcheted-up menu. The Tasting Room group – now three locations in Houston, plus Max’s Wine Dive – has come a long way in just a few short years …

The opening of Pizzeria Alto (2800 Kirby) has been pushed back at least couple more weeks due to a serious traffic injury suffered by one of the chefs … Philippe Gaston posted on Facebook last Friday that it was his last at Reef … The Midtown location of El Patio has been made over to a hipper Mexican outlet with food by Jonathan Jones from nearby Beaver’s. The new Xuco Xicana (say “chuco chicana”), still operated by the original founding family, emphasizes flavors from central and southern Mexico in lieu of the old-school Tex-Mex that was an El Patio standard. And we know what you’re wondering: What about the recipe for now-defunct Felix’s classic chile con queso that El Patio had begun making for die-hard Felix fans? Word is that you can still get it at the Westheimer location of El Patio … Candalari’s Pizzeria is set to open a new location, its fifth, at the end of the month at 14545 Memorial, where Las Adas Latin Grill used to be … Gugliani’s is opening a new location in the Memorial area on Kingsride at Gessner. Look for it later this spring … Stacey and Brock Silverstein recently left Buffalo Grille after 10 years helping the McAleer family open and operate the Voss Road location. Now they’ve developed their own similar concept, Pecan Creek Grill (1510 Eldridge Pkwy.) out in the Energy Corridor where they recently began serving breakfast and lunch.