The menu at Glass Wall has made strides to include a lot of the new-rustic foods trending high in Houston, like rum-and-cola-braised short ribs, and “cracklin’ mac and cheese.” But the homey humility of “local tomato salad” clashes with the tech-boom interior. Mayberry this ain’t: gleaming floors, affluent twentysomething, and—hilariously—a giant glass wall with 18-inch letters spelling out “GLASS WALL.” Although draping ceiling panels absorb the sound (thank you), tables are a little too tightly packed to be considered romantic.

While it’s refreshing that menu items like “salmon~pomegranate/molasses rub~colcannon mash~virginia egg/sherry sauce” are now extinct, things like “Fettuccine Santa Fe” should go the way of the dodo, too. Reverse the name and you could very well have an Applebee’s disaster; what arrives is much better, but the black bean-cilantro-corn relish and shrimp are not ideally delivered on the wide, flat noodles. Instead, stick to well-executed basics, like ribeye with nice marbling and crust. There’s a proliferation of $5 sides to plump up your bill, but these top out, excitement-wise, at haricots verts with a lemon sauce. Smoked gouda grits are always likeable. The bar menu’s really the strength here, with deviled egg BLTs and burgers and such.

The suggested wine pairing underneath each dish is frequently worth heeding, especially where the Washington and Sonoma/Central Coast bottles show up; otherwise, there’s some overbearing juice to contend with. Then again, better juice would have to contend with rum-and-cola-braised short ribs.