ERA

So sad to see you go! You had some great pizzas (the Thai Thai and 809 were my faves), and most recently I tried your jalapeño shrimp gnocchi and found my new love.
Edgar, wherever you go next, I know you’ll be a hit. You created such a great menu at ERA, and you put your HEART into each and every fresh ingredient in your creations (I mean, you created your very own peanut sauce just for the Thai Thai! That’s dedication.) Gonna miss you, but excited to see what the future holds. Only good things, I’m sure.

s l o w
wow. this place is slow
no drink menu, ran out our shiner
personal sized pizza is just right for a small women (at least it’s under $ 9)
the sandwiches for the most part use french rolls and taste like those Vietnamese sandwiches you can get for $ 3 in china town.
place is ho hum and food took forever. will pass.

I live downtown and I’m always happy to see a new place open. The food here is really, really good. We had the gnocchi appetizer, which was fabulous (very rich, but really good), 809 pizza and chimichurri sandwich. All great.
But I have to say, the service was not so great. It was 8pm on a Friday and the place was a bit slow — it’s new and all. I know it’s easy to get lazy when there’s not a lot going on, but new places can’t afford to do that. Keep an eye on empty glasses, clear plates, bring us our check (we had to go to the bar and ask for it…).
I’ll give this place another shot, because the food is excellent and the staff was really nice. I really want this place to stick around, so my fingers are crossed that it’s better next time.

I came back with a friend and actually got to eat this time!
Everyone was really cool, and the food was delicious.
Great atmosphere!

After visiting other major cities in America, it made me want to explore downtown Houston!
We are the 4^th largest city in the US, yet barely anyone actually hangs out in downtown.
So after trying the sushi restaurant next door I just had to come back for the Italian restaurant. The only benefit about not having a lot of people in downtown is after hours you can get so much street parking. The night I went I was able to park right in front of the restaurant. We walked inside we were literally the only table from start to finish…
Sad sight, as this place is great, but the word needs to get out. We started our meals out with the gnocchi and crab cakes as appetizers, the gnocchi was spectacular and both dishes were very reasonably priced.
As far as entrees we both had the individual sized speciality pizzas. My friend had the purple rain which has marinara, whole milk mozzarella, eggplant, fresh spinach, sun dried tomatoes, capers, portabella mushrooms, roasted bell peppers and sausages and I had the purgatory which has creole marinara, whole milk mozzarella, ham, sausage, chicken, and pancetta, with pineapples, roasted garlic, and fresh jalepeno. The ingredients were a great compliment to one another. The best part was it was priced right to have your own pizza.
The staff was very friendly, granted we were the only table in the restaurant but the food came out fast and the cups were always filled.

I don’t really know how I have waited so long to review ERA, since I go once every few weeks. It is totally worth.
For starters, the staff is really friendly, and excited about the menu, so if you have any questions, ask away, they are more than willing to tell you everything about the menu. The food is fresh and so sometimes the wait can seem a little long, but it’s not unreasonable.
Most things on the menu are really unique blends of food and flavors, and it’s good to be adventurous! My favorite appetizer is the Sherri Lewis, a quesadilla-​like dish with naan, lamb and and a yummy mint pesto on the side. As for the pizzas — try something new. Things like the meat head are safe play, but you’ll be much more impressed with the Chupacabra, the Purple Rain or the 809. They are personal pizzas, 4 slices, and I like going with people and sharing to get to try different things. Pizza and sandwiches are all under $ 10 a piece.
Stay for dessert. Fried twinkies, fried oreos, chocolate bread pudding, and $ 1 Nutella wontons. Don’t leave without a Nutella wonton.

ERA: it sounds like something a year one student at Hogwarts would shout, trying to imitate Severus Snape’s brilliance at drafting new spells out of neologisms (e.g. sectumsempra!) however the vocabulary of a child is often limited so you are left with «Era!» and *nothing happens* — that is, nothing happens except for something pretty delicious, wonderful, and flavorful. The correct spell to cast would have been «Accio delicious pizza!»
I referenced how awesome ERA’s pizza is in the review for Market Square Park but here we get down and dirty and talk brass tacks about how delicious the pizza is and how much I like this business.
They do take out — phone ahead and give them at least twenty minutes and they are on like Donkey Kong. Or dine in, your choice. They also deliver if you are downtown and are willing to hit the $ 20 minimum.
To get things out of the way: yes they have limited hours. Like Treebeards. But Treebeards plus: ERA has dinner hours on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday!!! Yay!!! When you need something different than Pink’s and Piola and other things, ERA is clutch.
When you walk in, use the door on the left. Just so you don’t feel dumb. Oh and it is 809 Congress. Remember it, instead of walking down the block and realizing you went too far, then walking by the same group of drunkards in front of La Carafe you already passed six times … that’s what a friend said, yeah, a friend.
Check out the menu online at
just so you know what you are getting into — some delicious, absolutely delicious collections of flavor. The Purple Rain (or shall I say, the Pizza Formerly Known as The Purple Rain?) lives up to the epic name with some of the best eggplant you can find since Josephine’s closed up shop and went adiós quietly into the night earlier this year. The Meathead also lives up to its reputation: this thing is custom-​built for a truck drivin’, wood haulin’, tree choppin’, gun totin’, and anything else with a dropped G that those «masc» guys claim they do in the outdoors and/​or for a living. It is a lot of meat — but in the classy Texan way, that you eat it all, but you still talk about how much meat was in it (a lot!)
My favorite tasty treat however is the Purgatorio. Like all good things it is a little bit of evil (mostly) and a little bit of nice (hardly any) which makes it absolutely perfect for me. The Purgatorio is basically as good as you can get with as much as is going on in there — it is literally a madman’s pizza cooked up in the wee hours of the morning after a Grateful Dead concert, wine tasting, beer bongs (I said beer bongs, mom,) and a shot of tequila for good measure. This pizza is a globe trotter, taking the best things and running like the dickens with it: ham, sausage, chicken, and pancetta, with pineapples, roasted garlic, and fresh jalapeño. You know the jalapeño caught my attention and it was love at first sight. The pineapple is just icing on the pie, such a delicate and tropical light in a dark sausage/​chicken/​pancetta world. And the sauce? Molto bene! It is good enough to act stereotypically Italian, something you have been trying not to do your entire life, but yeah, the sauce is quite excellent.
The workers are all-​around friendly — Morgan in particular made sure I had my crushed red pepper plastic cup and that it was full — it was nice and so is everyone else I have come across there. They have a big bar. This is one of the oldest buildings in Houston. It is across from Market Square Park. And it can be your dinner on Friday night!
This was my favorite place downtown and my favorite pizza place in the city. I am sad to see it go. But Dolce Vita will be seeing a lot more of me next week than they have seen since I discovered ERA. Farewell.

I’ve never had a bad meal OR experience here. the PYT and the Chupacabra are my favorites, but lately I’ve been ordering different items on the menu (last night I had pork belly biscuits and gravy) and now I don’t have a favorite anymore because everything is delicious. The prices are very reasonable, considering everything is fresh and gourmet. I always recommend this restaurant to people, so if you’ve never been, what are you waiting for? GO NOW!

A+++! Great food, great menu, great service and overall great experience. Everything on the menu is pretty much under $ 10 with excellent gourmet toppings and selections. We ordered the gnocchi appetizer. Delicious! The grilled caesar salad. Mmmmm. The Joan of Art pizza is like spinach artichoke dip on a pizza pie! Yes. that’s right. Cream cheese on a pizza. Salvador Dali, Purple Rain, and Gonzo were just as yummy and unique with the variety of toppings. Great space for events and great for large groups. I suggest ordering one of everything! It’s so much more fun that way! We were told that there are plans to renovate the upstairs into a live music venue. That is exactly what downtown h-​town needs! More live music!

Great place!
Very interesting menu and everything is delicious, and surprisingly cheap.

I love this place!!!
My friends and I have been twice and the food is fanominal. You will love it. If you want something different, somthing with an island flare, you have to check this place out. The chef creates the most unique combinations of flavors that I would never believe would taste good together before. But after experiencing the menu first hand, I would never dream of asking for a «create your own» pizza here, it would be sacrilidge. So far I’ve had the Avo Brujo, the Gnocci, the Shari Lewis, the 809, the Nova and the Puntanesca. All of them have been exceptional! The restraunt also boasts unique and colorful art from local artists. This place is great for lunch or dinner before a night out on the town. ERA is right off Market Square. The first night I went, a live performance was going on in the square. So while waiting on my friends I sat in the cool night air and watched the 3 man band play some mellow music. There’s also a dog park nearby. ERA should be getting their outdoor seating permit any day now (or so I’m told), so if you’re at the park and want to grap a bite to eat after entertaining the pups, then this is your place. Give your taste buds a jolt without breaking the bank.

Great personal pizza really good service this place will even better when it’s complete

Summary: Chic décor and tasty pizza make this a good lunch spot, but slow service and over-​enthusiastic servers make this place a better option for takeout.
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So me, my co-​worker, and my friend met up for lunch. We wanted to go to Les Ghivral on Congress, so we began our trek from the BofA building to the market square area. Well, our plans didn’t quite work out. Upon arriving at the meh vietnamese place, we quickly reconsidered our decision. The line went out the door. We quickly high-​tailed it out and found ourselves staring at ERA. I recognized ERA from Unilocal and suggested we give it a try.
It was a bit confusing upon first arriving in the restaurant. The inside is decorated very chic and there is white table cloth. The confusing part was the lack of a hostess. The bartender shouted at us to pick a place out to sit, and we did so.
We were approached by a very enthusiastic young waiter dressed in head to toe in black. The menu itself was a bit overwhelming, despite being only two pages long. While not necessarily a mistake, the server caught me off guard. He was so excited about the pizza that it came off a little over the top. He even waxed poetic about how obtaining a heart of palm resulted in the death of an entire palm tree.
The food itself was definitely above average for downtown. The pizza crust had a nice texture and flavor, but was by no means the star. The ingredients were the real stars. I tried the 809 and the kashmir. The 809 had figs, pistachios, brie, and other misc. ingredients, while the kashmir was like a coconut curry pizza. My other friend got a vegi sandwich with plantain chips (which I swiped half of).
All in all, the experience was good, but not outstanding. I liked the food, but it took too long to get and the server was a bit over the top. My tip, and one I would use in the future, would involve calling ahead so our pizzas would be ready to go. At about $ 10 apiece after tax, it’s a tasty, affordable, downtown option.

Have been back here two additional times from my first review. The pizza is fantastic! If you’re a NY pizza snob, go back to New York and stop complaining about Houston’s lack of «good» pizza. And holla to the west coast, and all the yummy toppings you bringeth.
Avocado on a pizza sounded a little strange, but was quite enjoyable – it added a really nice buttery flavor. The staff at ERA were also very accommodating in terms of making substitutions/​removing ingredients deemed as unworthy (aka, taking the meat off otherwise perfectly good, vegetarian pizzas, like the Purple Rain).
The gnocchi appetizer was very tasty (I asked for it sans shrimp), but the raw jalapeño in it seemed slightly out of place/​not as creative as the rest of the dish. Maybe I’m just sensitive to jalapeño being randomly dumped on non-​related food items in Tex Mex cooking territory. Some in my group didn’t like the gooey-​gumminess of the cheese in the gnocchi, but c’mon – it’s cheese!
The beer selection is solid, and all the sodas available are sweetened with cane sugar (vs. HFCS). The dessert menu changes daily (or at least frequently), and there is some seriously dangerous stuff here.

St. Patrick’s Day requires a certain mindset. If I could feel as though I might cry during a difficult pose when doing yoga earlier (note: this is a first; the only other extreme reactions I’ve had are feeling like vomiting, taking a nap, and dying, all in quick succession, after consuming copious amounts of sugar and caffeine before hot yoga – don’t do that), I was afraid that the drunken hordes on St. Patrick’s Day might feel like leprauchans jigging on my exhausted, headachey brain. Well, I did get to see some dancing, but it was done by the fabulous Danielle S. and her Irish dance school. In fact, the three men sitting at the bar area at ERA were more raucous than the purported drunken hordes at the pubs, who were more like small clusters of individuals conversing. It took the assistance of Meredith N. (yes, St. Pat’s turned into a UYE) to get these gentlefolk to stop arguing/​conversing (it was hard to tell – all sides were very loud; also, kudos to ERA for great acoustics) with Warren A., so we could hear what our server was saying.
Besides the three gentlefolk, the only other people dining were two women, as we walked in about half an hour before close. Our server was quite nice, and so, so very enthusiastic. I asked if the gnocchi was homemade, and he said yes, proceeding to breathlessly describe how the sauce was made. I don’t remember if I was able to find an appropriately long pause or had to wait for him to finish his description before I was able to ask, again, if the actual gnocchi was homemade. It is not. I bet he thought he could get me to forget the actual content of my question if he spent enough time describing how the shrimp and spinach are cooked. In any case, good on him for maintaining his energy levels to closing time.
I wound up having The 809, which has mozzarella, spinach, artichoke hearts, brie, pistachios, hearts of palm, and figs. Kim H. had the Purple Rain, which has marinara, mozz, eggplant, sausage, and other vegetables. Warren A. had the Meat-​Head (of course), which has marinara, mozz, pepperoni, sausage, beef, pancetta, and ham. These pizzas are personal pizzas ($ 8.32 and 7″-8″ in diameter). The crust is soft and doughy, and the ingredients are good. Naturally, my pizza was declared the favorite (how can you go wrong with brie and figs?). Definitely get The 809 when you check out this place. Meredith N. had the empanadas, which had a weird, not necessarily bad, flavor to them. It made me think of Thai. Dessert options include a tres leches (not soaked to the brim – sigh), a chocolate bread pudding, a cappucino crack something or other (apparently, crack is lingo for pieces of brownie and… toffee?), and some other thing.
The dining area is a square (well, possibly rectangular) space, with the small bar on the left side, and a narrower dining area leading to the back of the kitchen. ERA can do gluten-​free items, and it is now serving alcohol. Apparently, it had opened three weeks ago, and we went on the day it got its temporary liquor license, which perhaps is why those gentlemen were so excited. When I asked our server if ERA had a drinks menu, he gestured expansively towards the bar and said that we could have whatever was at the bar. I looked towards the bar. There were less than a dozen bottles of liquor and about the same number of bottles of beer. It looked like a sad house party. If you are looking to get your date drunk or yourself drunk during a bad date, I would wait a few weeks before coming here. However, if you want good, individual portions of pizza, check out this place.
Finally, ERA stands for Entertainment. Restaurant. Air. My reaction to that is WTF. I don’t think I need to say what that stands for.

I call this place «Affordable Gourmet.» All the ingredients are fresh made in house and you can easily tell. Their combination of foods is absolutely brilliant as well. You look at a description on the menu and you think, «Wow, that looks interesting,» but you’re not prepared for them to work so well together. The best part? Everything on the menu is under $ 10. I’m not sure why Unilocal rates it as $$, because it’s totally just $. In fact, I feel I should walk back to the kitchen and give them more money. Don’t believe me? Try the Angry Rabbi, the Kashmir, the Gnocci, Nonnah’s Plate, or a Fried Oreo, and wash it down with homemade limeade. I dare you not to run back to the kitchen, wallet in hand.

I am always looking for good pizza joints in Houston. This will definitely be added to my list. The owners came from Pinks Pizza so they know what they’re doing. Each pizza is small, but they are generous with their high quality toppings. 4 of us shared 3 pizzas and the gnocchi appetizer. We all left somewhere between satisfied and full. I want to go back and try the other pizzas and sandwiches. We didn’t try the Castro pizza with pulled pork and fried plantains, but it certainly sounds delicious. Once this place has its grand opening and puts an actual sign on the front (the current sign reads «open»), I predict it will do well.

Surprised me at how small the pizze were for the price. Will NOT be returning.

Most think that the best part of a sandwich is what is placed between the two pieces of bread. While the sandwiches I’ve tasted; the Rocky Balboa and the Commie, were flavorful and immensely satisfying on the inside, it was the bread that won me over. It is almost impossible to find a sandwich shop to pull off the magical performance of bread wrapped around a chewy, gooey center of meat and cheese, to keep a crispness throughout the entire sandwich. This is no easy feat! How does the bread not absorb the moist filling and become glue-​like baked bread that sticks to the roof of your mouth? The answer is found in the kitchen of ERA. Do yourself a favor a try a sandwich from ERA and savor each crispy bite of delectable gooey goodness on the sandwich menu.

ERA is a great new addition to Market Square. The night I went in they were somewhere between their soft and grand openings. There were a few items on the menu that they didn’t have yet but the guy working behind the counter let us know that before we reviewed the menu.
For an appetizer we ordered the Shrimp Gnocchi. It was served in a creamy tomato sauce and was delicious. I don’t care for seafood but was able to enjoy the gnocchi since the shrimp didn’t overpower the taste of the dumplings. Bread also accompanied the dish so I was able to enjoy that with the sauce as well.
We both decided on pizzas for the main course. I opted for the Margherita pizza and was not disappointed. The portion was just right after the Shrimp Gnocchi appetizer. The crust was crisp yet chewy and had wonderful garlic flavor and an overall good texture. The sauce was pretty neutral and not too strong or too sweet. The tomatoes and basil were both fresh and the cheese mild. My dining partner had one of the more adventurous pizzas but I will let him write a review on that.
The interior of the restaurant is nice and very spacious. The bar wasn’t quite complete when we dined but that wasn’t an issue. Despite ordering at the counter, the staff checked on us multiple times throughout our meal and refilled our water.
Since I live Downtown I am very excited to have ERA in my ‘hood and within walking distance. I can’t wait to go back and try something different!