New Houston Wine Bar Brings Night Life Power to Uptown Park — Say Goodbye to Starbucks and Hello to Postino

If Friday night’s opening bash for Postino in Uptown Park is any indication of success, this place should be rocking and rolling all the way into the next decade. The scene was an SRO mash-up of cafe society headliners, hoi polloi, bloggers, influencers and fashionistas. Wine and beer flowed while bruschetta boards, paninis, charcuterie boards, and more were on parade from the new bustling  Houston kitchen.

With the most colorful of chairs — Shannon Hall, Ceron, Amanda Mills, and Ally Shell — how could this be anything other than a rollicking night and nothing less than jolly? Welcoming the jazzed contingent was Lauren Bailey, CEO and founder of Upward Projects Restaurant Group which boasts Postino and four other brands in its stable of restaurants. The glam redhead jetted in from her headquarters in Phoenix for the event with the restaurant officially opened on Monday.

This grand opening of Houston’s fourth Postino wine cafe (with the others in The Heights, Montrose and Town & Country) doubled as an opportunity to support Toys for Tots. Guests obliged filling the toy box with high-tech scooters, monster trucks, digital sets, games and dolls.

It’s a casual sort of place with an open-air layout featuring rollaway glass garage doors and an expansive and vibrant indoor-outdoor bar. We found a quiet corner beneath umbrellas on the patio while Rachel and Jeff Bagwell joined Debbie and Rudy Festari at one of the elevated booths on the interior. Shannon Hall found his perch in front of the outdoor fireplace. Dr. Roland Maldonado and Kayvon Sohrabi snuggled at a cocktail table near the front the 3,483 square foot wine cafe.

Those familiar with Uptown Park will recall that Postino resides in the former location of Starbuck’s at the corner of Post Oak Boulevard and Uptown Park Boulevard. The transformation includes a quirky but delightful 250 square foot art wall installation featuring vintage luggage stacked to the ceiling.

PC Seen: Kendra and Jonathan Phillips, Stacey and Al Lindseth, Susan Getty, Martijn van Koolwijk, Natalie Wall, Yuam Yuam, Erik Bednar, Cindy and Dr. Franklin Rose, Claudia Sierra, Crystal Saldivar, Jake Gallagher, Jennifer Pinkerton, and Jessica Rossman.