Houston restaurant Camaraderie opened March 26 in the Houston Heights neighborhood. It’s the first restaurant from chef Shawn Gawle, and it follows a “fine-casual” concept, with a market-driven menu featuring modern American cuisine rooted in French technique.
Before opening Camaraderie, Gawle was the executive pastry chef at Houston’s Goodnight Hospitality, a group whose portfolio includes Michelin-starred March, Rosie Cannonball, and Montrose Cheese & Wine. Before that, he worked at several other top-rated restaurants around the country, including celebrated spots like Quince and Saison in San Francisco.
Gawle has a versatile skillset. He worked in the savory side of the kitchen for eight years before transitioning to pastry for the next 10 years.
A prix-fixe menu is on offer at in the restaurant’s dining room, left, and an à la carte menu is available in the bar and lounge. Photo credit: Arturo Olmos
“The goal of learning the savory and sweet sides of the kitchen was to become a well-rounded chef, so I can accomplish my dream of running my own restaurant,” said Gawle, who added that his dad instilled in him a desire to be his own boss.
“I just never thought I was ready until a few years ago,” said Gawle. “What’s amazing about the hospitality industry is there are always things to learn and it is so humbling. So I haven’t thought I was ever ready. I don’t think if I opened my own place years ago I would’ve opened with the same thoughtfulness and intention.”
Camaraderie is housed in a former metal and woodworking shed and was designed by Houston-based Schaum Architects. The new inhabitant retains most of the wood framing and metal wall paneling from the original structure, while adding skylights, hanging plants, and custom wood banquette seating.
The restaurant offers three dining options, each in a different section of the space.
The dining room seats 32 guests, faces the open kitchen, and is where diners reserve tables for a $75 prix-fixe menu. Dinner begins with house-made bread, shareable snacks, and appetizers, before moving on to a few individual and sharable entrée options, plus family-style sides and a choice of dessert.
Camaraderie serves modern American cuisine rooted in French technique. Photo credit: Arturo Olmos
The bar and lounge seats 24 guests and serves an à la carte menu with a variety of appetizers, mains, and desserts. A few options overlap with the prix-fixe menu.
There’s also a 22-seat patio where patrons order at a window counter from the à la carte menu.
Several dishes are playful and take visual cues from other items. For example, ’nduja rolls mimic the look of a cinnamon roll due to swirling layers of spicy sausage and a white cheese sauce topping. Whole roasted salt-baked celeriac is tossed in white miso dressing and topped with apple “shingles” to evoke a modern art piece inside the Houston Museum of Fine Arts’ Kinder Building. And Dover sole en croute, which serves two, sees the fish wrapped in Swiss chard and then wrapped again in laminated puff pastry until it’s shaped and decorated like a fish with scales.
Camaraderie’s beverage program is run by a couple of Houston F&B veterans. Wine director and GM Gillian Malone formerly worked at March and 13 Celsius, and bar manager Kristine Nguyen comes from Captain Foxheart’s Bad News Bar & Spirit Lodge and Nancy’s Hustle.
Before opening Camaraderie, chef Shawn Gawle worked both savory and pastry positions in top kitchens. Photo credit: Arturo Olmos
The wine list is balanced between everyday favorites and rare labels, and includes a selection of half bottles. The cocktail list features miniature classics like a Martini and Basil Gimlet available for just $8, along with creative originals like the Stumbling Still made with tequila, tepache, lime, clarified coconut, and soda.
The restaurant may be brand new, but Gawle feels set up for success after his past work with some of the country’s best hospitality groups and restaurants.
He said that his tenure at Goodnight Hospitality was a great experience, because he helped to open multiple concepts and was able to learn different systems for each.
“The company also practices an open-book policy, where they are very transparent with numbers and bookkeeping,” he said. “It was great to be a part of that and dig into what is working and what needs paying attention to, even if it didn’t relate to my direct department.”
He called Quince in San Francisco very organized, and said that management implemented a lot of very useful communication tools, which he can use at Camaraderie.
“I’ve learned that great communication is essential,” Gawle said.
