Long-awaited Lyric Market food hall now open downtown
How many food halls can downtown Houston support?
That answer will come soon, thanks to the arrival of Lyric Market, the new player in the crowded multivendor downtown dining scene, which just opened at 411 Smith. Nine culinary vendors and a huge anchor bar that services the 14,000-squarefoot dining venue are now ready to join food halls including Post Market, Bravery Chef Hall, Finn Hall, Understory and Underground Hall.
The long-awaited Lyric Market inside Lyric Tower adjacent to the Theater District was first announced in early 2018. The project is now under the direction of Hospitality HQ, a consulting and management group headed by founding partner chef/ cookbook author Akhtar Nawab.
“Our number one goal is to provide support for best-inclass restauranteurs and truly invest in the surrounding community,” Nawab said. “We are looking forward to becoming a part of the culturally diverse tapestry that is Houston.”
The new food vendors (most are new concepts to Houston) are situated along a dining strand that spans an entire city block from Smith to Louisiana streets. Comfortable seating is situated throughout the corridor offering menus including Texas barbecue, Mexican fare, sushi, fried and Nashville hot chicken, Indian street food, Middle Eastern cuisine and Belgian waffles.
So how will Lyric Market distinguish itself in a downtown dining scene as stuffed as a po’boy sandwich?
With its diverse culinary offerings, said Monica Landry, chef-owner along with Garfield Landry of 1929 Poboy Kitchen, one of the new Lyric Market purveyors. Born and raised in Houston, Monica Landry describes her Louisiana-inspired fare as “comfort food; sassy, quick and satisfying.”
Drawing on her Cajun and Creole roots, Landry’s menu offers familiar dishes such as barbecue shrimp, red beans and rice, fried fish and oyster platters, jambalaya, gumbo (traditional chicken and andouille; chicken, andouille, shrimp and crab; and the vegetable-stoked gumbo z’herbes), oxtail yakamein and signature po’boy sandwiches (fried catfish, shrimp, oysters; roast beef debris; Peacemaker) built on traditional New Orleans bread.
“I’m a melting pot,” she said, “Our food is our history.”
Lyric Market will stay open an hour later than the buzzy Post Market food hall.
“It’s sophisticated, it’s attractive,” Landry said. “It’s made for the Theater District.”
Lyric Market, 411 Smith, is open 7 a.m.-10 p.m. MondayThursday, 7 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday.