CHEF MARK HOLLEY READIES NEW RESTAURANT
A SEAFOOD TOWER WILL BE ONE OF THE MENU OPTIONS AT DAVIS ST. AT HERMANN PARK THIS FALL.
The owner of Davis St. at Hermann Park is calling the fall reopening of the shuttered restaurant a revival. That word can also be applied to the return of its chef to the Houston restaurant scene.
Mark Holley, known for his work at Holley’s Seafood Restaurant & Oyster Bar and at Pesce before that, has been busy planning the menu at Davis St. that will now bear his distinctive Southern and seafood cuisine signatures.
“I’m excited to get back in the game,” Holley said in a statement officially announcing the return of Davis St., which closed its doors in 2017. “This is what I’m meant to do in life — provide stellar hospitality and feed people. I still enjoy it to this day, as much as I ever have.”
Holley will merge his cooking style with staples from the Davis St. menu, including crispy Thai shrimp and Davis Street Sliders. The inaugural menu will include dishes such as a seafood tower; Holley’s take on Oysters Rockefeller with a crabmeat, champagne and fennel cream sauce topped with American caviar; pork belly on top of pimento cheese with fermented coleslaw; and a 40ounce porterhouse steak for two.
Holley also will offer brunch — think Holley’s signature Bananas Foster pancakes — and bring back his Sunday Suppers series, a favorite among local diners who craved the chef’s fried chicken.
Davis St., 5925 Almeda, is also undergoing a redesign that will give the restaurant a more modern look with “sleek geometric wall décor,” according to a press release.
“I love what I do, and I’m extremely excited about this endeavor,” Holley said. “Davis St. at Hermann Park will satisfy my regulars from Holley’s Seafood Restaurant & Oyster Bar, and we hope to entice new patrons to become regulars at Davis. St.”
Holley’s career took off when he scored an apprenticeship at Brennan’s of Houston working under chef Carl Walker. That led to a job at Commander’s Palace in New Orleans and then back again at Brennan’s as sous chef. In 2000, he was tapped to be the executive chef at Pesce on Kirby, a job he held until the restaurant closed in 2012. Two years later, after a series of pop-ups, he opened upscale Holley’s at Elgin and Louisiana.
Flooding after Hurricane Harvey in August 2017 forced Holley’s to temporarily close until September. But soon after reopening, Holley’s could not sustain business, and it closed in October.