Little Bird opens in Houston's Heights near old Bernadine's
Chef Graham Laborde returns to his old Heights corner with a 168-seat Creole and Cajun dining room built around a hand-carved oyster bar and two patios.
Little Bird opens on 1815 North Durham Drive in Houston's Heights, where chef Graham Laborde trades his old Bernadine's address for a 168-seat Gulf Coast dining room built around a hand-carved oyster bar.
The restaurant opened for dinner on Thursday, October 29, inside a former filling station just around the corner from where Bernadine's ran from 2015 to 2017. The building keeps its service-station bones, with murals on the walls, a dining patio and a separate cocktail patio out back.
Laborde grew up in Louisiana and trained in New Orleans kitchens, including Commander's Palace and Boucherie, before moving to Houston, where the state's dining scene has drawn fresh Michelin attention. His first solo restaurant, Bernadine's, closed after two years; in 2021 he partnered with Benjy Mason on Winnie's, also in the Heights.
A familiar chef on a familiar block: Little Bird is betting Thursday-night nostalgia still fills seats.
Little Bird keeps two dishes from the Bernadine's menu: a New Orleans barbecue shrimp toast and a ribeye au poivre. Everything else is new, built with chef de cuisine Matt Staph, who previously cooked at One Fifth and Brennan's of Houston.
Little Bird's Gulf Coast menu
The kitchen leans on Creole and Cajun technique with a contemporary edit: crawfish bucatini in a vodka sauce, roasted red snapper with lemon velouté and charred okra, chicken and dumplings, and a burger built for the bar crowd. The approach echoes what is winning recognition in New Orleans itself.
Pastry chef Julia Doran, who worked at Bernadine's, Tiny Champions and Nancy's Hustle, runs dessert: a triple-layer chocolate cake, an apple hand pie with cajeta and brown sugar ice cream, and a hurricane sno-ball for the patio.
Brunch hours and cocktail program
Bar director Justin Ware, who also oversees drinks at Winnie's, Johnny's Gold Brick and Starduster Lounge, built a list around a Creole margarita, a freezer-pour martini, and two shaken originals: the gin-and-Madeira Orange Marmalade and a frozen Salted Peanut made with mezcal, amaro, peanuts and cola.
Little Bird serves dinner nightly, lunch on Fridays only, and brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. "This is the food I love to cook and the way I love to host," Laborde said of the opening.
The Heights has absorbed several closures this year alongside new openings; Little Bird is betting that a familiar chef on a familiar block still draws a crowd on a Thursday night.
