Here’s a word salad: A Georgian restaurant from Austin is moving to Houston, filling out the former space of a longtime Italian restaurant across from a Costco in Houston’s Greenway Plaza/Upper Kirby area.

Thanks to a tip, Chron has learned the Bread Boat is expanding to 3835 Richmond Ave., an address once occupied by a Colina’s Italian Cafe. That information is corroborated by documents from the Texas Comptroller’s Office and the Houston Permitting Center which confirms both the restaurant and the owner, Cheese Boat LLC.

The news marks a couple of things. For one, it’s the Bread Boat’s first Houston location. Georgian natives Giorgi Sharabidze, Saba Shonia and Khatuna Kopaliani launched the first restaurant at 1912 E. Seventh St. in East Austin in July 2025, Austin Monthly reported. The restaurant billed itself as the first Austin restaurant dedicated to Georgian khachapuri, a “boat” of bread often filled with cheese and other things.

Two, it adds some sorely needed Eastern European representation in Houston’s dining scene. Foreign Grill in POST Houston blends Uzbek, Georgian and Ukrainian cuisine handily, and its khachapuri features some of the best bread I’ve had in Houston. Good Times Kitchen + Bar in Midtown is still serving its spicy, tangy sujuk sausage, a recipe that’s been in owner Isa Loshaj’s family for more than a century.

There’s no word yet on when the Bread Boat will open, but the restaurant’s Instagram page indicates its coming soon.

The 3835 Richmond Ave. holds a bit of local restaurant lore. Lisa and Paul Hill opened the original Colina’s Italian Cafe in 1993. Alison Cook wrote a glowing review of the restaurant a year later in the Houston Press.

“In the eight-table microcosm of Collina’s Italian Cafe, the simple act of breathing is therapeutic: from its homely open kitchen tumble warm, yeasty drafts, tomato-edged and ripe with garlic, that beget an almost giddy sense of well-being,” Cook wrote.

Colina’s was forced to close in 2025. The restaurant has since expanded to the Heights (502 W. 19th St.) and the Memorial area (8800 Katy Fwy).