Houston’s New Late Night Restaurant Makes Ambitious Food an All-Day Thing — Your First Look at Rosland’s

Rosland’s Grill & Bar is now open, just a stone’s throw from Houston’s bustling Washington Avenue corridor at 903 Durham Drive. It is named for a fictional character dubbed Rosland, whom restaurant owners Kim and Don Cristopher of DKC Companies conjured. This mysterious Rosland was born and raised in Houston just like the many generations of women in her family before her. With a love of the arts and a whole heart for rescuing animals in need, she is a kind yet strong soul with a passion for giving back.

Ms. Rosland is a character the Cristophers hope women can relate to and see a little of themselves in.

The storied Rosland figure looms large over the newly built 6,000-square-foot restaurant and bar where chef Cameron Cain will lord over the range at lunch, dinner and weekend breakfast. Local artists like Kenneth Pierson, who works in mediums ranging from graphite and colored pencils to paints and mixed media, have used their vivid imaginations to depict murals inside and out of Rosland, her friends and her favorite nonprofit, the no-kill shelter and sanctuary — Straydog. Not to mention Houston’s spectacular skyline.

Businessman Don Cristopher’s extensive experience in the Houston restaurant world spreads fare and wide. Some of his projects include the soon-to-open Riverhouse restaurant at the new East River 9 par 3 golf complex at Midway’s upcoming East River mixed-use mega development. Cristopher is also involved with Cyclone Anaya’s Mexican Kitchen Restaurants, Juanita’s Tex-Mex Cantina, Otto’s Barbecue and Hamburgers, Mason Jar restaurants, Cliff’s Hamburgers and the Le Peep Restaurants. He is also a strategic licensee in Chick-fil-A.

What to Expect at Rosland’s

Although I have yet to dine at this new restaurant and bar, the menu offers tempting dishes like Rosland’s fondu ($22). The sharable dish of oozing “fancy” cheeses is studded with caramelized pear onions, fresh herbs with pretzel lavash to scoop it all up, as well as oysters from the East Coast. These oysters are either raw (6 for $23) or the restaurant’s namesake oysters Rosland’s with crisp lardon, spinach and garlic in a shallot cream sauce with an “oyster liquor edible cloud” for $32.

Entrees include USDA-graded prime steaks like the heavily marbled ribeye crescent (8 ounces, $59), which consists of the top spinalis of the ribeye filet and a 16-ounce prime rib ($58) with a crust of caramelized garlic and herbs with horseradish cream and au jus.

Fish mains include a Chilean sea bass napped with a limoncello beurre blanc ($43) and salmon described as the “finest Wester Ross hand raised salmon” that is brushed with a balsamic glaze, chimichurri, chile oil and a citrus foam before it is brought to the table.

Salads boast aquaponic greens and range from an heirloom tomato burrata ($18) to a Thai steak noodle ($21). Mighty sandwiches include The Hotbird ($17), the citrus brined and buttermilk battered organic chicken doused with Rosland’s signature hot sauce and The Legacy ($26), a house ground dry aged sirloin burger made more decadent with a foie gras butter and an array of wild mushrooms and smoked bone marrow.

With early morning and late into the evening hours, Rosland’s is hoping to become a hangout for those in the hospitality industry who are amped up after a late night shift and need somewhere to go after they shed their aprons.

“We’re thrilled to offer an early morning dining option where service guests, along with our neighborhood guests, can sit down and enjoy a meal, fine drink, or mocktails once they have finished their late-night shift,” Don Cristopher says in a statement. “We felt the area was missing an early morning establishment like Rosland’s that would allow all the workers in the Washington Avenue corridor a traditional dining experience.”

Rosland’s expansive menu is available for lunch and dinner and late night into the early morning hours (with a separate menu available during breakfast service). It is open 11 am to 2 am Mondays through Thursdays; 8 am to 4 am Fridays and Saturdays; and 8 am to 2 am on Sundays.