Local Foods

Benjy Levit—the mastermind behind both of Houston's forward-thinking benjy's restaurant locations—has expanded his business with the opening of Local Foods. The fast-casual, walk-up counter concept features locally-sourced items in a 3,300-square-foot space next door to benjy's in the Village.

Local Foods offers Houstonians an ever-changing menu of grab-and-go items and made-to-order sandwiches, salads and sides. Almost every ingredient used in the restaurant's menu is available for sale, including local produce, homemade artisan snacks, as well as other Texas-derived products.

The sandwich and salads menu features house smoked salmon, with local greens, red onion jam and poppy seed bagel; housemade pastrami, with caraway sauerkraut, smoked provolone and whole grain beer mustard; duck confit panini, with melted brie, arugula and cranberry preserve; pepper-crusted sirloin salad, with broccoli, sesame sprouts, mint-kefir lime vinaigrette and black rice crumble. And that's just the start.

The store also offers retail items resulting from local collaborations, including custom root beer brewed by Houston food truck favorite, The Eatsie Boys. Other Texas vendors showcased include Animal Farm Greens, Texas Hill Country Olive Oil, Bee Wilde Local Honey, Pam Greer's Texas Jurassic Salt and Black Hill Farm's Pork.

Accented with vintage bakery carts, the counter serves a gourmet selection of sandwiches, salads and prepared meals. Design details include classic subway tiles and marble countertop, plus zinc and brass details. The retro-industrial ambience continues into the dining room. The focal point is a "Mondrian-inspired" wall, which combines aged, neon lettering, vintage pendant lights and porcelain socket lighting. An outside patio facing Kelvin Street offers alfresco seating for 40.