Rice Village customers have a brand new possibility for wine, espresso, and connoisseur items — with a restaurant to observe quickly. Mercato and Firm will open this Saturday, December 14.
Positioned at 3642 College Blvd., founder Arlene Ventura created Mercato as a mixture of the New York Metropolis bodegas she grew up with and the markets she experiences whereas residing in Milan for eight years. After a trial run in Brownsville, she’s introduced Mercato to her adopted hometown of Houston.
“The Brownsville location was our first alternative to check the Mercato and Firm idea, although it was tailor-made to that market as a comfort retailer,” Ventura tells CultureMap in an electronic mail. “Whereas it carried the identical identify, it was extra of a stepping stone towards realizing our bigger imaginative and prescient. A few 12 months in the past, we closed that location as a result of we acknowledged that to deliver Mercato and Firm to its full potential, it wanted to be in Houston, the town we name dwelling. Our new West College location represents the end result of this journey — an area that mixes genuine, connoisseur merchandise with a welcoming group environment.”
The shop affords quite a lot of connoisseur merchandise, together with:
- Coffees from Ella Espresso, a Houston-based, Italian-inspired roaster
- Pastries, panini, and different meals objects ready in-house
- Cheese and charcuterie
- Italian wines
- European grocery objects akin to olive oil, chocolate, spices, and extra
Mercato will host cooking courses, wine tastings, and different occasions to bolster customers’ connection to the shop.
Ventura recruited chef-partner Tatiana Perna to create Mercato’s menu. Perna, who’s the chef at Podere 1384, a resort in Tuscany, can be creating the menu for Osteria di Mercato, an Italian restaurant and wine bar that’s scheduled to open in early 2025.
“An osteria is by definition a spot that brings folks collectively over good meals and wine,” Perna mentioned. “At Osteria di Mercato, that’s precisely what we intend to do. We’re utilizing high-quality components and conventional Italian recipes and practices to create meals which might be easy and authentically scrumptious, all in an intimate, welcoming house.”
Mercato and Firm’s hours of operation are 7 am to 9 pm every day.
