Houston’s New Mega Food Hall Prepares to Open — Your Guide to POST Market, a Chef Driven Foodie Paradise

Carving out a 53,000 square foot space within The POST, Houston’s new mammoth 550,000 square foot mixed-use center in the old Barbara Jordan Post Office building at 401 Franklin Street, you’ll discover the POST Market. This food hall is set to open on November 13th with more than 30 distinct food kiosks and restaurants. It will feature tastes from nearly every corner of the globe.

One will be able to stroll about this market-like setting and create a progressive dinner (or lunch or brunch) with a bite of this and a helping of that.

The vendors are organized from smallest to largest, starting with clusters of “grab-and-go” kiosks concentrated at the north and south entries to larger ones towards the center of the market hall. Seating is plentiful and scattered about, including upstairs on the Skylawn, where farmers from the Blackwood Land Education Institute, a 33-acre nonprofit teaching farm in Waller County, cultivate organic vegetables, fruits and herbs for the POST Market‘s restaurants and bars.

With an undertaking this forward-thinking, it’s no surprise the powers that be lured some big names in the food world to create several one-of-a-kind concepts. Top chefs making their Houston debut at POST Market include the Norwegian chef Christopher Haatuft, whose Lysverket restaurant made him a sensation in Norway. Haatuft is launching Golfstrømmen Seafood Market, his first American restaurant and market designed to sell and serve only sustainably and ethically caught seafood at POST Market. (Golfstrømmen is Norwegian for the Gulf stream’s ocean current, connecting the Texas Gulf Coast to Norway’s rich fishing banks.)

Meanwhile, Filipino-Brazilian chef Laila Bazahm — whose Barcelona-based restaurant Hawker 45 was named one of Conde Nast‘s 30 best Barcelona restaurants — will debut Hawker Street Food Bar, her first United States food spot. A riff on the street food hawkers in Asia, it will blend the best of Southeast Asian and Latin American street cuisine.

Wine aficionados will want to meet sommelier Mark Bright, partner, and wine director at the San Francisco, Michelin-rated Saison restaurant, who will open his first brick-and-mortar locale of Saison Cellar at Post Market. Bright sources some of the rarest wines from around the globe, curating selections from his favorite producers.

Roberta’s, the Brooklyn-born pizzeria, famed for its wood-fired Neapolitan style pizzas and Italian-inspired salumi has people lining up around the block for a table in New York. The now bi-coastal concept with a presence in Los Angeles, New York — and now the third coast — arrives with an array of creatively composed dishes that push past traditional culinary boundaries.

The creation of Brandon Hoy and Carlo Mirarchi has, since its opening in 2008, become a New York institution. “Roberta’s pizzas are marvelous things, of no particular geographical provenance,” the New York Times writes.

Austin’s Thai Kun named one of Bon Appetit’s Best New Restaurants in America 2014, will also open a location in Houston’s new food hall. Chef Thai Chanthong’s Thai Kun serves authentic Thai street food like crab fried rice, Panang curry, Khao Moo Dang (Thai BBQ pork) and the classic Pad Thai.

POST Market’s True Food Wonderland

The Market Hall provides a platform for aspiring food and beverage entrepreneurs to build their businesses —particularly amidst the pandemic recovery – with cost-effective “plug and play spaces” equipped with all the necessary cooking equipment, seating, tools and POS systems. For many chefs who got their start behind the wheel of a food truck, they’ve found a turn-key home here on terra firma.

Operators like chef Nick Graves, creator of Lea Jane’s Hot Chicken — inspired by a childhood cross country road trip where there were picnics “filled with love, laughter, and fried chicken” — will dish out some of his best-loved Southern foods, including the cultish Nashville hot chicken and mac-n-cheese.

On the subject of spice, Austinite chef Sidney Roberts fell head over her cowboy boot heels while living in London, eating her way through the best Indian food spots there. Her new restaurant (founded as a food truck in Austin), G’Raj Mahal, is described as “Indian food with a rock-n-roll attitude.” This adventurous eater explores her way across India’s 28 states, delving into the varied cuisine found across the country.

Houston foodies can also discover Rollin Phatties, which started as a first-of-its-kind Pakistani food truck combining authentic South Asian flavors with international elements to conjure fusion fare. Rollin Phatties specializes in Paratha Rolls, aka “phatties,” wraps loaded with tender chargrilled meats and homemade sauces.

Abu Omar Halal started with Houston’s first and only halal food truck. At POST Market, he expands his arsenal of Mediterranean fast-casual eats with healthy salads, sandwiches, rice bowls, kebabs and falafel. In good company, they share the spotlight on halal with another concept on wheels called Taco Fuego. A South Houston Latin-inspired restaurant, you will be able to find them at The Post Market, specializing in charcoal-grilled fare, including halal quesabirrias.

Where Texas Chefs Thrive

Plenty of high-profile Texas-based chefs are also making an appearance at POST Market. Like Paul Qui, who gained culinary stardom after winning Top Chef and a James Beard Award (Best Chef Southwest). Qui brings his Austin restaurant dubbed East Side King, a Japanese street food venue created by Qui and Moto Utsunomiya during their time at Uchi and Uchiko. While it is inspired by Asian cultures, rock bands and art, it’s good to note they use only all-natural pork products raised without antibiotics or hormones.

In addition to Qui, the Manila-born chef cooked up Soy Pino to expand the canon of Philippine cuisine stateside, offering dishes such as fried chicken adobo, vegan Kare Kare and Lechon and Lumpia.

Up for noodles? Mike Tran, who brought us Tiger Den, the Japanese ramen and Izakaya restaurant located in Houston’s Chinatown, is debuting Motto Ramen, where the house-made noodles are served in a fragrant broth that’s simmered over 20 hours.

Houstonian Ope Amosu, while armed with an MBA from Rice University, left the corporate world to wear a chef’s white collared coat. A child of Nigerian immigrants, he hosted a series of buzzy pop-up West African meals called ChòpnBlok. Celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson even called him out on his television series No Passport Required, noting Amosu’s boldly spiced, healthful plates.

Chef David Guerrero is also back. The owner of Andes Café, named for the world’s longest mountain range that links seven South American countries, is reviving the restaurant he shuttered in early 2020. Andes Café (the 2.0 version here) will meld together those seven regional cuisines on a menu rich with South American favorites.

“My goal is to make food that traces my story from Quito to Houston,” Guerrero says. “I want to show the resiliency of South American cuisine to a broader global audience.”

For those craving a comforting hot bowl of Vietnamese pho, head to SOUPreme, an authentic Pho and Bun Bo Hue spot created by Tuan and Thy Tran using family recipes passed down through generations, including their signature bone broth recipe.

Calling all carnivores. Check out Salt & Time Butcher Shop, the brainchild of Ben Runkle and Bryan Butler. They run this butcher shop and boutique grocery store that provides quality locally raised meats, house-made sausage, charcuterie and gourmet groceries. Salt & Time Butcher’s original Austin shop was recently named one of Food & Wine magazine’s “Best Butcher Shops in America,” and Bryan Butler was crowned “Best Butcher in Texas” by the Texas Beef Council in 2017.

The Butcher’s Burger is this duo’s answer to who makes the best burger. They’ll take up the challenge and bring on burgers made with meats sourced directly from the ranchers they know and trust.

POST Market’s Dessert and Coffee Choices

A stroll through this market can’t end unless it’s on a sweet note. Want to feel like a kid again? Get yourself to Sweets with L&L and treat yourself to a sweet billowing cloud of cotton candy. Owner Tameia Frank Jones named the place for her two daughters, who undoubtedly helped create their 20-delectable flavors.

Parisian Julien Eelsen learned to flip crepes at the knee of his grandmere and tante (aunt). His Whisk Crepes Cafe first debuted in Dallas six years ago, serving up both sweet and savory-filled crepes made daily from scratch. Now, it arrives in Houston.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for Flower & Cream. A premium artisan, Houston-based ice creamery, this place is on a mission to make unique flavors using locally sourced ingredients and delectable mix-ins made fresh daily.

GELU Italian Ice is a fresh, dairy-free, gluten-free, and fat-free chilly alternative for those who can’t stomach dairy.

Healthful Thrive Juices offer diners nutrient-rich yet palatable juices, smoothies and food that is geared to aid the heart, mind, body and soul. Founder James Kelso is a health-conscious fitness enthusiast from New Orleans and he’s cultivated a garden-fresh menu of juices, smoothies and food through family legacy and culture.

Coffee? Only if it’s brewed by the biochemist-turned-coffee roaster Weihong Zhang at Blendin Coffee Club. Launched initially in Sugar Land in 2017, they serve more than 10 different single-origin coffees selected from all over the world. Every bean can be traced from tree to cup with knowledge of the bean’s route, including every country, region, farmer and even specific lot. Each unroasted bean is inspected onsite than freshly roasted in-store.

Yes, POST Market is no small food hall. This place brings food choices galore.