“We have a great parking garage ... patio—you can see that the patio going all the way down. And then its price, both our menu prices and our wine prices,” Brenneman said. “That’s kind of what we’re doing here.”
Porta’Vino in The Woodlands is the restaurant’s second location. The first restaurant in Houston’s Heights area is owned by Bill Floyd, a restaurateur who has helped run many restaurants in Houston.
“He actually came up with this concept quite by accident, in a way. He just wanted a place where he could drink wine with his buddies,” Brenneman said.
Customers can bring their own bottles of wine, pick from the restaurant’s selection or order wine to go, the owners said.
“We consider ourselves kind of half-restaurant, half-wine store. Our wine prices are incredibly competitive,” Brenneman said.
Brenneman met Floyd when Brenneman was the president of Continental Airlines in the 1990s.
“I brought in the best chefs from Houston, Cleveland, New York and Honolulu. I said, ‘For international service for first class, could you come up with your signature dish that we can serve on the airplane?’” he said. “That’s how I got to know Bill. Bill was that for Houston.”
When Floyd developed the concept of Porta’Vino, he said he immediately called Brenneman to tell him about it. Brenneman said he liked the idea and offered to open The Woodlands location.
“This was kind of a fun project in my hometown,” Brenneman said. “It’s a fun thing to do.”
The restaurant has a BYOB focus and an Italian casual menu developed by Danny Trace, the executive chef at Potente and Osso and Kristalla in Houston.
“We had him develop a casual Italian menu, no item over $29, that you can share with your friends,” Brenneman said. “We wanted to build out a place that looked like a discount wine warehouse; that was Bill’s concept.”
Brenneman’s favorite part of running the restaurant is being able to work with the community and his team.
“I love having the team here to run it and operate it here. We’re all learning together,” he said. “We built a team. We’ve had virtually no turnover; we’ve got great servers that do a great job; and we’ve got a phenomenal kitchen.”
Caroline Ragsdale, Brenneman’s chief of staff, said the group has team “family” dinners once a month where they can make whatever they want.
Ragsdale said the community has been more than welcoming to the new restaurant.
“I love interacting with the community. It’s been really fun to get to know people, especially our regulars and our neighbors here,” she said. “It’s a really fun place to be. It’s a fun community, and we really develop relationships with our guests.”
Porta’Vino The Woodlands
207 East Shore Drive, Ste. 130, The Woodlands
346-237-5380
www.portavino.com
Hours: Sun.-Thu. 5-9 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 5-10 p.m.
