Chef Travis McShane is giving Houston diners one thing they’ve been requesting for nearly 5 years. Ostia, McShane’s Italian restaurant in Montrose, will quickly start serving pizza for each lunch and dinner.
Open because the fall of 2020, Ostia might be closed this week to permit for adjustments to each its kitchen and most important eating room. It is going to reopen on Tuesday, February 25.
Pizza has all the time been a part of Ostia’s repertoire at lunch, and it has earned approval for the Neapolitan-style, wood-fired pies that present a nice quantity of char and many eye-catching crust bubbles. Because of some tools upgraders that may happen whereas the restaurant is closed this week, the restaurant is now able to serve its pizzas at dinner, too. The choices embrace a basic margherita, clam with bechamel and pecorino, and a 3rd with Italian sausage, peppers, and fontina.
“We actually took this final yr to hearken to our company and take into consideration what they wish to see extra of once they come to Ostia. Time and time once more we had been requested about pizza at night time,” McShane mentioned in an announcement. “After I opened Ostia, I actually wished pizza to be one thing particular at lunch, however with the quantity of optimistic suggestions and demand for pizza all day, we determined to make some tools adjustments and make it occur.”
Because it occurs, putting in the brand new oven additionally created room within the kitchen for making extra pastas. Whereas Ostia has all the time supplemented its choices with three off-menu staples — carbonara, cacio e pepe, and all’amatriciana — the menu now additionally embrace new dishes akin to cappelletti with lobster and saffron-chili butter in addition to canestri with hen liver ragu and pecorino romano.
Even with the brand new additions, the restaurant’s followers can relaxation assured that staples such because the hen with salsa verde, hanger steak, and seasonal salads will stay obtainable.
Along with adjustments within the kitchen, the week-long closure may also permit for a minor refresh of the restaurant’s most important eating room. Adjustments embrace the addition of recent paint, paintings, and extra crops. The aim is to make it brighter and extra just like the restaurant’s common greenhouse eating room.
McShane can be giving diners a little bit extra with their meals. Diners at the moment are greeted with complimentary chips, olives, and nuts and a sip of glowing rosé, which is one thing McShane serves to company in his residence, in accordance with press supplies.
“The phrase ‘restaurant’ comes from the French phrase ‘restaurer,’ which implies merely ‘to revive.’ That’s one thing we try to not neglect,” McShane mentioned. “Our job is to make folks happier on their means out than they had been on their means in. For me, that’s by treating company like they’re at my home and never taking issues too severely.”
