November 21, 2024

Ojo de Agua – A New Eatery for the Medical Center Coming in the New Year

If the world-renowned Texas Medical Center (TMC) is the crown of Houston Southeast, than Helix Park is the jewel in that crown. Helix Park opened just over a year ago as a 37-acre campus housing the TMC3 research center (7255 Helix Park Ave., Houston, TX 77030) and six parks shaped around the building as a double-helix. The center is designed to create collaboration and work/life balance.

TMC CEO William McKeon said in a press release that Helix Park will have academic institutions, laboratory partners, office space, a hotel, a residential tower, and a mixed-use building with retail. “Every building will have retail in the front. It will have parks in the middle. So, our researchers can come together socially, that the public can come and really celebrate this largest medical city in the world.”

And coming in the New Year, Helix Park will be home to tropical Mexico City-born casual dining concept, Ojo de Agua. In 2023 the second U.S. Ojo (and the first in Texas) was opened in the River Oaks District. If you want a taste of what’s in store for Helix Park, check out the snazzy interior, great service, lobster tacos, and fancy ceviches there.

The new 3,400-square-foot restaurant in Helix Park, featuring an expansive patio, will offer a vibrant mix of those authentic Mexican and Mediterranean flavors alongside a wide selection of beverages. Ojo de Agua will be a welcoming retreat for TMC tenants, visitors, and patients.

“It’s an honor for Ojo de Agua to be the first restaurant revealed for the remarkable Helix Park development,” said the restaurant’s Gitano Capital partner Rafael Montero. “We look forward to creating a stylish but approachable retreat for tenants, visitors and patients amidst the bustle of the Texas Medical Center. We envision a place for people to gather and get away from it all with an all-day menu of incredibly flavorful food and drinks using the freshest ingredients and served against a chic, boho-coastal backdrop with artisan design elements sourced from Mexico.”

“Food has a way of bringing people together, and as our campus continues to welcome visitors from all over the world, Ojo de Agua will showcase high quality, fresh ingredients that reflect the vibrancy and diversity of our community,” added McKeon.

Drop by for breakfast, lunch or dinner, and dine on chilaquiles and Swiss Enchiladas in the morning; those wonderful tacos and ceviches for lunch, as well as sandwiches like the Spanish serrano ham with fig, tuna steak with ginger and honey sauce, chicken breast with mango chutney, turkey with avocado pesto, or a free-range kobe burger with plum sauce. Dinner is table service and will feature such menu items as Cauliflower Mole Octopus, Stuffed Plantain, Mahi Mahi cooked in a classic adobo marinade, Filet Medallions, and a Mexican Bowl of brown rice, beans, zucchini, baby corn, rib eye, sour cream, cotija cheese, guacamole and sprouts. There will also be a kid’s menu, and the restaurant will offer catering for the community.

by Marene Gustin

Photo credits:
Castroparedes International (Interiors)
Public Content. (food)