New Wine-Centric Local Foods Market to Permanently Take Over Benjy’s Prime Rice Village Space

Expanded Patio, Organic Wines and Restaurant Counter Service Are Coming

By Shelby Hodge // Feb 11, 2021

Photography Julie Soefer

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Benjy Levit's Local Foods Market in Rice Village opens on February 16. (Photo by Julie Soefer)

The grocery side of the concept includes small, artisanal foodie staples across the country including specialty spices and sauces. ((Photo by Julie Soefer)

Local Foods' Benjy Levit in March with fresh produce straight from the farm to his pop up market. (Photo by Local Foods)

Local Foods' Benjy Levit with fresh produce straight from the farm to his pop up market. (Photo by Local Foods)

Dining in at Local Foods Market in Rice Village launches next month with the addition of breakfast and brunch service. (Photo by Julie Soefer)

Local Foods Market in Rice Village to open with shelves filled with specialty food items from across the country and locally sourced. (Photo by Julie Soefer)

The second floor of Local Foods Market in Rice Village is a place for buying as well as wining and dining from the restaurant's menu.(Photo by Julie Soefer)

The reimagined Local Foods Market features a 50-seat outdoor patio. (Photo by Julie Soefer)

The Local Foods Market menu includes creative dishes such as Chicken Matzo Ramen soup. (Photo by Julie Soefer)

A platter of offerings from the Local Foods Market restaurant kitchen. (Photo by Julie Soefer)

Local Foods Market in Rice Village is opening next week with owner Benjy Levit elevating his Local Foods pop-up concept, which grew out of the COVID-19 restrictions, into a full-blown permanent enterprise.

Levit closed his namesake benjy’s restaurant, which had served the neighborhood for 25 years, last March to make way for a pop-up grocery at his Local Foods sandwich shop. In the interim, the veteran restaurateur envisioned a new future for the Rice Village space, one offering expanded grocery products, plus counter service and a wine shop. He tapped Austin-based architect Michael Hsu for the redesign.

“We are thrilled to continue the pop-up success with the conversion of benjy’s into a larger Local Foods Market. Our chefs have created an amazing menu featuring upscale ingredients for diners to enjoy in a casual atmosphere,” Levit says. “We wanted to create a fun wine-centric space with a laid-back vibe, a new way to highlight our great purveyors.”

When the Local Foods Market opens this Tuesday, February 16, customers will find the second-floor wine shop with a compelling array of natural, organic, hard-to-find wines at below retail prices, eight draft wines by the glass, craft beer and artisanal ciders.

Local Foodsl (Photo by Julie Soefer) — Dining in at Local Foods Market in Rice Village launches next month with the addition of breakfast and brunch service. (Photo by Julie Soefer)

The redesigned space features a covered patio that will seat 50. That’s a good thing especially for the time being as the restaurant is temporarily pickup and delivery only. The restaurant refresh concludes next month when dine-in returns with breakfast and brunch service launched.

Former benjy’s chefs Maria Gonzalez and Mike Potowski are heading the kitchen with menu options that include cheese and charcuterie plates using local Houston Dairymaids cheese and Dozier’s meats, chicken matzo ramen soup, vegan sushi, Japanese-style egg salad 3-way sando made with in-house milk bread, beef stroganoff and Texas Buffalo meatloaf.

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As Local Foods offerings included staples, so the LFM larder will be filled with local eggs, milk, Texas beef and Houston Dairymaids cheeses. Exclusive products on the shelves include Rancho Gordo heirloom beans from Napa, SQIRL Jams from Los Angeles, Woon sauces from Los Angeles and La Boîte biscuits and spices out of New York.

Levit operates five Local Foods sandwich shops in Houston and will soon open one in Austin.