THOMAS PEREZ SITS DOWN WITH WOODLANDS CITY LIFESTYLE
Thomas Perez pours a crisp Spanish Albariño for a couple at the bar in his restaurant, Plane and Level. He’s describing his time in Spain, where he studied oenology. His favorite food and wine city in the world is San Sebastian in the Basque Country region. “It’s where I got this idea, this concept,” he explains.
“I’ve opened a few luxury hotels and restaurants,” says Thomas, whose resume includes stints at La Table in Houston, the luxury hill country ranch resort The Inn at Dos Brisas, and at L’Auberge in Carmel, California. “I didn’t want to do the same thing again. I wanted to do something unique. I wanted a statement, people taking pictures and posting.” He says he was brainstorming, throwing out ideas, when the notion of a vintage plane came into his mind. The concept came to include a bar top made from a vintage plane wing.
The food at Plane and Level is a tribute to Thomas’s love of Spain and the wines he experienced there. He sources the restaurant’s impressive wine list from small family wineries in Spain as well as Italy, Slovenia and France. “Most wines that we acquire have never been to Texas or to the U.S. before. These are tiny wineries. Sometimes we’re buying their entire production.”