t'afia

Top 44 Must-Dos For The New Year

Sleek and open t'afia's coastal Mediterranean cuisine blasted with local ingredients is a consistently great dining choice in the Midtown/Montrose area. Chef Monica Pope, a local food celebrity, changes the menu daily, depending on what treasures she finds fresh in the greater Houston area. It could be spicy crab and peanut soup with okra one day, and Texas quail with braised cabbage the next....

After ten years chef Monica Pope closed her T’afia restaurant in Midtown, but within two weeks she reopened it as Sparrow Bar + Cookshop. The interior is vastly different, much more relaxed and inviting. Designed and installed by Jur van der Oord of InstallationsAntiques, it has a soft industrial look: concrete floor, exposed orange brick walls and reclaimed odds and ends like the antique...

T'afia prides itself in the utilization of local ingredients and products in every course served. Chef Monica Pope is one of the founders of the Midtown Farmers Market which is hosted at T'afia every Saturday morning. The happy hour is a steal; the excellent and creative cocktails are paired with a complimentary appetizer. Fridays feature a three course menu for lunch at a reasonable price.

T'afia stars chef Monica Pope, featured on Bravo’s Top Chef Masters in 2010. The cleverly restored brick building housing the restaurant, around the corner from the hip Continental Club, only adds to this trendy side of downtown. Starkly industrial chic, the concrete-floored dining room has bare white tables dressed with mismatched silver and tiny glowing candles. The menu highlighting local...

Celebrated Houston chef and restaurateur Monica Pope left behind the landmark local eatery t'afia in its prime to chart a new culinary adventure a fresh start that is a result of Pope's continually evolving dialog with food, family and community.

Sparrow Bar & Cookshop is a back-to-basics concept that finds its story in the intimate, 1940s-era warehouse building at 3701 Travis Street, where...