Quattro, the contemporary Italian restaurant at Four Seasons Hotel Houston, is reinventing traditional hotel dining. The restaurant has ditched the white linen table cloths, the servers have lost their ties and the smooth jazz music has gone missing. In its place come dark wooden table tops, sleek black-on-black uniforms and über hip Hôtel Costes lounge music.

“The perception about hotel restaurants has always been rather intimidating, with the fancy décor, high prices and quiet environment,” says Dirk Burghartz, general manager of Four Seasons Hotel Houston. “We’re hoping to shake that up a little bit ... or a lot, really.”

With the introduction of Quattro’s Italian enoteca dinner menu, the restaurant offers small plates to share – all for USD 9.00 and under – and over 50 predominately Italian wines by the glass, available in 3-ounce and 6-ounce pours. The menu changes weekly, allowing guests the option of trying new twists on their favourite Italian fare at each visit.

Quattro’s enoteca-inspired dinner concept is an idea borrowed from Italy, where wine establishments that are primarily designed to give visitors the opportunity to taste wines and authentic food at a reasonable price are known as enotecas, or wine bars. Enotecas are commonly referred to as “wine libraries” because they are deemed a source of information on local wines.

Quattro’s wine library was researched and compiled by Chris DeChillo, the restaurant’s manager and sommelier, or as he is now known, Head Wine-brarian. The enoteca wine library is heavy on Italian, light on prices and easy on the eyes due to the simplified layout and concise descriptions of the wine varietals. The wine list boasts approximately 25 reds in flavour categories such as Earthy/Spicy, Round/Smooth, Plump/Robust and Super Tuscans. Similarly, the whites are broken into flavour groupings such as Balanced/Fruity, Bubbly, Light/Crisp and Rich/Satisfying.

While wine is a large part of the enoteca experience, Chef Meredith Manee’s Italian food plays no small part in Quattro’s new dinner concept. The small plates menu is designed to allow people the opportunity to get more out of their dinner by enjoying more flavours at a better value. While the traditional 1-2-3-course option is still available (with nothing priced over USD 29.00), the enoteca menu is a way to taste the Italian menu in full.

“I will keep the enoteca menu alive and changing each week so that Quattro is always offering guests something new to try,” says Manee. “There is so much depth to authentic Italian cooking, and we want to give people a way to experience and appreciate the cuisine with new options every week.”

Small plate options include varieties of flat breads, antipasti, meats, seafood, a sampling of cheeses and vegetable dishes. One signature plate, the truffle ricotta and egg raviolo accompanied by piemontaise sauce and crispy sage, is “something you won’t soon forget,” according to Manee. Other standout menu features include black and white calamari, garlic tiger shrimp with lemon risotto, truffle fondue with ciabatta and celery heart, and grilled lamb tenderloin with citrus pesto.

“Sharing small plates and enjoying large pours of wine naturally lends itself to a vibrant, engaging and lively dining experience,” says DeChillo. “We hope Quattro’s new evening atmosphere, accessible price point and inventive enoteca-style menu will show people that hotel dining does not need to be reserved for special occasions.”

Quattro has an innate passion for delivering unparalleled guest service. With over 257 years of cumulative tenure at Four Seasons, Quattro’s service staff is driven to serve up a dining experience that is inviting, comfortable, educational when necessary, engaging when appropriate and never anything less than fun. “In fact,” says DeChillo, “don’t be surprised if the hostess remembers repeat diners because, after all, sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name.”

For more information, please visit our web site. Reservations are available by phone at (713) 276-2700 or online.