[Urbannizer]

New Hugo Ortega concept, other restaurants revealed for convention district

A new restaurant from an acclaimed local husband-and-wife duo is among eight eateries Houston First Corp. announced for the transformation of Houston’s convention district.

The restaurants will be on the ground floor of the George R. Brown Convention Center and inside the Marriott Marquis Houston Downtown, which is expected to open later this year. Specific opening dates for the restaurants were not provided.

Confirming earlier rumors, chef Hugo Ortega and his wife, restaurateur Tracy Vaught, will open a new concept, Xochi, on the ground floor of the Marriott Marquis overlooking Discovery Green.

Few specific details about Xochi were provided, but the name means to bloom or catch fire, according to Houston First’s press release. Ortega and Vaught’s other H Town Restaurant Group concepts are Hugo’s, Caracol and Backstreet Cafe, and they most recently became partners in Origen, a restaurant in Oaxaca, Mexico. Ortega was a James Beard Award semifinalists for the fifth time this year, and Vaught received her first nod.

Another restaurant coming to downtown is Grotto, a Italian restaurant owned by Tilman Fertitta’s Landry’s Inc. According to Houston First, the new location will be “not your typical Grotto” and will have one of the largest grappa collections in downtown Houston. It will be 7,348 square feet in the George R. Brown.

Mayor to relaunch study for new justice complex

Mayor Sylvester Turner has formed a committee to study how to acquire a new police headquarters and courts complex for Houston.

Former mayor Annise Parker spent more than two years studying how to replace the city's aging "justice complex" but ultimately abandoned it without having found a viable funding source or getting City Council support for identifying one.

The project has been discussed in some form for decades, and Parker administration officials briefed council members on the idea at least six times toward the end of her tenure, spending $3.5 million on consultants and advisers in the process.

Turner has named Bracewell attorney Barron Wallace and retired Hines executive Louis Sklar as co-chairs of the commission. For the moment, they form a commission of two. They will suggest additional members to the mayor, Turner's spokeswoman Janice Evans said.