New venture to join BYOB dining options
Floyd’s Porta’Vino set to open in April; where to bring your own for the holidays
There aren’t many genres of restaurants Bill Floyd hasn’t had a hand in running through the many years — decades, really — he has spent in the hospitality business in Houston. But he intends to expand his horizons again next year.
Floyd has signed a lease on a spot west of the Heights and just north of Interstate 10 opposite Memorial Park that will feature a concept he has long personally embraced: BYOB.
Floyd will open Porta’Vino (“bring wine” in Italian) sometime in April, in what he calls a “way cool building” that until recently was a disused warehouse at 7800 Washington, where it splits into Hempstead and Old Katy Road. There won’t be a bar or a TV or a hint of pretension on the premises. Just good, simply presented food and possibly the best wine list in town, which is to say your own.
Porta’Vino will serve dinner seven days a week and brunch on weekends. It will have about 100 seats in the 4,500-square-foot main room with another 60 seats on the patio, come rosé weather. The space will be bright and airy with huge doors that can be left open in the spring and fall.
For those who don’t want to tote their own juice or run out of what they do lug in, Floyd intends to have a small house list of maybe 10 classic whites and 10 reds (think Cakebread for the chardonnay, Alexander Valley Vineyards for the cab, two of his personal favorites) that he promises will be “super cheap, even less than the big retail chains when I get deals.”
That model, of course, is in keeping with the aggressive pricing structure he became known for with Reef in Midtown and is currently in place at both the posh Potente and the casual Osso & Kristalla next to Minute Maid Park, the neighboring spots he operates in a partnership with Astros owner Jim Crane. (Crane won’t be affiliated with Porta’Vino.)
The plan is to charge $12 corkage for the first bottle, then $1 less for each subsequent one. In other words, a 13th bottle would cost nothing. And, presumably, you will be cabbing or Uber-ing home — or sleeping under a table — at that point.
Potente’s Danny Trace will oversee the Porta’Vino menus as side gig, creating “wine-friendly” small plates and under-$30 entrees, Floyd said. Think steaks, short ribs, grilled seafood, pizza and charcuterie/cheese plates.
Also coming is the repurposing of a 1,100-square-foot tin-sided barn on the site, featuring a huge terrace of its own. That will be Maho Taco, serving frozen winebased cocktails, tacos and arepas (“the daily bread” of Venezuela). The name honors Maho Beach on the Caribbean resort island of St. Maarten, where incoming commercial jets roar in frighteningly low over the sunbathers’ heads. Because it will share a liquor license with Porta’Vino, beverages can be transported back and forth across the venues’ shared parking lot.
Floyd readily admits his inspiration for Porta’Vino was the former La Vista, a long-popular BYOB spot on Fountain View that he once regularly frequented. Ironically, the restaurant has resurfaced in the Heights under the name LaVista 101 but without the popular BYOB component.
Floyd concedes his only concern with his still off-the-beaten path location is “getting people to come up that neighborhood. There used to be no reason to go (north of Interstate 10 on Washington)” because the largely industrial area was devoid of restaurants or other evening entertainment options.
“But,” he said, “once they see how easy it is to get to from every direction and how much parking we have, we’ll do fine.” Speaking of the parking, the restaurant floor sits well above street level because of what used to be building’s surrounding loading dock, so cars pulling up outside in the evening won’t blind diners with their headlights. Other businesses that will occupy space in the 40,000-square-foot venue include the Ladco Design Center, Levcor Real Estate and Frankel Custom Homes.
“I want it to be the kind of place,” Floyd said, “where I can kick back and hang out with my friends.”