First look: A’Bouzy restaurant on Westheimer

The Shrimp Gazpacho from the menu of a'Bouzy, a new fine dining restaurant withe a 1,000 bottle wine list that includes about 250 champagne selections.

The Shrimp Gazpacho from the menu of a'Bouzy, a new fine dining restaurant withe a 1,000 bottle wine list that includes about 250 champagne selections. Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Houston Chronicle Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 38 Caption Close First look: A’Bouzy restaurant on Westheimer 1 / 38 Back to Gallery

Nothing would make Shawn Virene happier than to see all his tables littered with wine and champagne buckets. That won't be hard to imagine when his new restaurant, a'Bouzy, opens Aug. 2 on Westheimer. After all there will be more than 1,000 wines on the list, including a whopping 250 sparkling wines, at prices below retail (and certainly below the customary markup for restaurants).

But don't call a'Bouzy a wine bar. Virene, former managing partner at Brasserie 19, said a'Bouzy is a fine dining restaurant – American with a French twist – that just happens to be ridiculously well stocked with wine. That should surprise no one who knows Virene from the years he spent catering to the champagne-thirsty hoards at Clark Cooper Concepts' bubbly-busy B-19.

Make no mistake, however, the boozy imprint of grape juice passion is very much evident at the restaurant that opens at 2300 Westheimer this week. Named for the French village Bouzy where the best pinot noir grapes are grown (the varietal responsible for the most prestigious sparklers), the restaurant is decorated with wine and champagne bottles galore. And those bottles, priced from $12 to more than $2,000, can be selected from iPad menus.

The restaurant's food menu has been created to complement wine and champagne. Co-executive chefs Freddy Gonzaga (formerly with Clark Cooper) and Jose Ruiz (formerly with Liberty Kitchen restaurants) have collaborated with Virene on a menu that is heavy on starter dishes such as mushrooms marinated in black truffle oil; marinated Spanish white anchovies; ahi tuna and watermelon sashimi with spicy soy caviar; steak tartare with Dijon mustard and quail egg; pork belly with pickled vegetables; baked oysters; Gulf head-on shrimp with garlic butter and preserved lemons; and roasted tomato and burrata salad. A raw bar will dispense oysters on the half shell; Alaskan King crab, scallop crudo, and other seafood savories.

For dinner, the kitchen offers seared diver scallops with a seafood broth reduction; lemon sole with brown butter and crispy capers; wild Alaskan salmon with Pernod citrus butter; filet mignon with horseradish mashed potatoes; Cornish game hen with blue corn grits; butter roasted Maine lobster with Texas sweet corn puree; and whole branzino.

The star of the menu, however, might just be the house pommes frites: twice-cooked potatoes fried in duck fat. "I really think they're going to make us famous," he said.

Virene predicts a busy weekend brunch when the bubbles will be flowing to complement dishes such as heirloom tomato galette, bagel and lox, corned beef hash, Reims fried chicken (champagne and buttermilk brined), egg white crab omelet, and a Scotch egg on parsley and arugula salad with caviar crème fraiche.

A'bouzy takes over the space of the failed Harwood Grill and 60 Degrees Mastercrafted before that. The space has been completely redesigned with a new bar, a glassed-in raw bar, private dining room, and a generous patio on Westheimer. The design: Whitewashed brick, wood floors, navy blue color accents, a dining room ceiling hung with a thousand hand-blown glass balls suggesting champagne bubbles, and patio tabletops impressed with the a'Bouzy logo. There are a lot of seats to fill: 126 inside and 140 on the patio.

"I wanted a fun place that doesn't feel stuffy," Virene said. "I wanted it to feel like a Mediterranean beach that makes you want to drink champagne."

About that champagne: according to the Chronicle's wine writer Dale Robertson, Virene intends to impose wine pricing that is easy on the wallet. A bottle of Veuve Clicquot "Yellow Label," for example, is $47 on a'Bouzy menu (it's often priced at $100 or more at other restaurants).

While River Oaks denizens might be the restaurant's most obvious customer base, Virene said he wants all of Houston to enjoy his wine-happy restaurant. "If you drive a Bentley you'll be comfortable here," he said. "And if you drive a Yugo you'll be comfortable too."

We'll see if any Yugos are in the parking lot come Aug. 2.

A'Bouzy, 2300 Westheimer, 713-722-6899; abouzy.com. Open Monday through Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Thursday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.