Once upon a time, I took my middle-school aged daughter to a new restaurant near my hair salon in Montrose. This restaurant was (We are) Vibrant and it went from innovative neighborhood experiment to its current incarnation as the best thing about Houston’s Memorial Park. At its location off of North Picnic Lane, Vibrant offers organic, gluten-free, and refined sugar-free food and drinks with a large patio for enjoying its park.
If there is a place in Houston that reminds me of California’s easy appreciation of outdoor beauty and clean food, this is it. The vibe is calm and laid-back, and the décor is light and bright from its huge windows and cool furniture in shades of cream and light wood. It is a place where people come for actual conversations or bring a laptop for a quiet work oasis. It is rare to see people staring at their phones here which makes for a very enjoyable and human-forward atmosphere.
The menu is constantly evolving and rotating. It is short, yet solid. Fan favorites include their wheat and corn-free soft tacos in egg, chicken, beef or fish (current red snapper), and pastries like orange olive oil cake. For those given to spontaneity, recent off-menu Kitchen Specials included Limon Cured Sea Bass with Miso Butter Toast and a Zaatar Chicken Bowl.
Vibrant, 7575 Memorial Drive, Houston 77007