Local fans of Bravo’s powerhouse competition cooking show Top Chef were excited when not only was Houston the featured city last season, but hometown chef Evelyn Garcia made Bayou City food lovers proud again and again. For Garcia made it far in a very competitive field of talented toques, reaching the finals.
Now Garcia is onto her next exciting venture, this one a restaurant collaboration with her friend and co-owner chef Henry Lu. The duo recently opened Jun (pronounced like the month) in The Heights. The new restaurant is named for the women in their lives born in that summer month, including Garcia. The new Asian American restaurant explores the story of both chefs’ upbringings in diverse households.
Both of Jun’s chefs are first generation Americans. Lu grew up the son of Chinese immigrants in the Bronx, while Garcia’s family hailed from Mexico and El Salvador before making Houston home.
The duo tapped Gin Braverman, principal/owner of Gin Design Group to transform a 3,400 square-foot space which once housed a circa 1950s washateria into Jun. Gin worked closely with Garcia to create an approachable but beautiful setting replete with curved design elements and organic forms to soften what was formerly a boxy space.
Enter through the double hand-carved wooden doors and you’ll find a half-moon-shaped bar backlit with arched shelving. Inspired by the places they’ve traveled (think Tulum and points throughout the Americas), the design directive was to create a space with vaguely Asian aesthetics with South American influences from hand-troweled plaster walls to lush plants, dark woods and handmade ceramics.
A Look at the Jun Menu
Open for dinner (with weekend brunch to come in the very near future) you’ll find a curated menu with small tastes that build to bigger plates, all meant to be shared….
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