David Skinner spent three decades in oil and gas before building a fine-dining career in Kemah, and Ishtia is its most personal turn. A Choctaw tribal member, Skinner converted his decade-old Eculent into this 18-seat room in June 2024; the name means "begin" in Choctaw. The evening starts in the upstairs winery, passes through a live-fire kitchen, and settles at communal counters for roughly twenty modernist courses rooted in Native American ingredients — a scallop Three Sisters under tableside dry-ice mist, reimagined fry bread, game served with historical footnotes. Texas Monthly named it among its 10 Best New Restaurants of 2025. At $239, expensive but, by most accounts, rewarding. For a Choctaw-rooted tasting menu that doubles as an education.