“We’re chef driven but a very casual restaurant,” said Rick Costello, who has co-owned the Watershed restaurant and pub alongside his wife, Mercedes, since April 2019. Chef Christian Cullen is also an equity partner, bringing experience across several restaurants, including high-end French cuisine.
The menu offers scratch-made fare spanning German to continental to new American influences. A common item such as a Reuben sandwich can be done up with a side of dill-buttered spaetzle, a pasta made with fresh eggs found in several countries including southern Germany and central Europe. Smoking its own meats, cooking everything to order, and making its own sauces and dressings in-house shape the culinary philosophy.
Costello said the focus for Watershed remains threefold: offering high-quality food; providing good, quick service; and being neighborhood-oriented—an emphasis that the ownership trio had in mind when picking its location between West Bellfort Avenue and South Post Oak Road.
“We figured there was nothing over here that was scratch driven,” Rick said. “It was a food desert.”
Watershed—a name inspired partly by the idiom “a watershed moment” and partly from the restaurant’s location in one of Houston’s 12 watersheds—also offers a relaxed atmosphere with eclectic curiosities such as posters of famous rock bands drawn by local artists, strategically placed Simpsons figurines, the bar’s cassette tapes and a large mural drawn by local artist Pizo Meyer above the open kitchen.
Its bar has helped establish a regular crowd, with taps featuring local and regional craft beers as well as some European and imported favorites.
As COVID-19 took its toll, Watershed has been able to survive thanks to its loyal regulars, Costello said. In fact, the restaurant does not even take orders online, though call-ins are welcome.
“It’s very tough, but now that the vaccine is out, hopefully we can get more customers in the future,” he said.
Watershed
4820 W. Bellfort Ave., Houston
713-637-4205
www.watershedhtx.com
Hours: Mon.-Wed. 3-8 p.m., Thu. 3-9 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m. -9 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
