Houston’s soon-to-open Hotel Saint Augustine is rooted in dualities—old meets new, contemporary meets classical, a mirror of both the city and the surrounding Montrose neighborhood. In some respects, Perseid, the Bunkhouse Hotels group’s onsite bistro helmed by the lauded chef Aaron Bludorn, is no different, although its roots are arguably far more tangled. After Bludorn moved to Houston in 2019 following stints in California and New York, he found a Gulf Coast culinary scene drawing inspiration from far-flung influences including West African, Creole, and Vietnamese. That same sensibility now infuses Perseid, Bludorn’s fourth restaurant in Space City, where duck frites, dressed with mango and sauce au poivre, might appear alongside fried squash blossoms stuffed with jambalaya. Still, Bludorn notes, while Perseid and Hotel Saint Augustine are very much products of Houston, they have universal appeal. “At the end of the day,” Bludorn says, “we’re all people just hanging out together, enjoying good food, enjoying the fruits of the season.”
Southern Agenda