Pictured: MARCH’s citrus-cured fluke layered with pickled watermelon radish with Suero de Tigre on one aspect and spice pearls—representing the seven islands of the Mediterranean—on the opposite. Image: Zach Horst
Although Houston’s meals scene has gotten numerous national attention currently, Houston foodies have at all times recognized that the Bayou City is the place to be when you prefer to eat.
Our metropolis is house to a virtually limitless array of eating places that may meet no matter craving you’re at present attempting to satiate. Hungry for Indian meals? We have plenty of all-star options. On the hunt for a taco so sinful you’ll wish to go to a confessional after your meal? H-Town also has you covered. But with all of that limitless selection—severely, there are over 12,000 eating places in our truthful metropolis—how does one decide which eating places are the most effective?
Well, it takes numerous work (primarily consuming), however we’ve managed to place collectively a listing of our 50 high selections. Whether you’re within the temper for some life-changing West African fare by the use of a highly Instagrammable food hall or some classic Italian comfort food so good it is going to have you ever calling up your Nonna, you’re positive to search out what you’re searching for—and more—on this listing.
Buffalo Bayou Park
Flora, the most recent incarnation of the previous The Kitchen on the Dunlavy, is a scene stealer. By day, floor-to-ceiling home windows function a canvas for the pure panorama of Buffalo Bayou Park. By night time, glimmering crystal chandeliers imbue the area with a dreamy atmosphere befitting a fairy story. Flora’s up to date Mexican menu blends quite a lot of regional cuisines. Dishes just like the ceviche negro or tuna tostada take cues from Baja, whereas heartier dishes like the meat quick rib in purple mole or the pescado a la talla draw inspiration from Oaxaca and the Yucatán. Those preferring Tex-Mex can bask in guacamole, nachos, or Flora’s parrillada (a fajita-style blended grill).
Cypress
Nomad Barbecue began out as a pop-up idea, serving up smoke-and-fire creations throughout the Lone Star State and past. In May 2022, the restaurant’s proprietor, Houston pitmaster James McFarland (previously of Reveille Barbecue Co.) settled down at Cypress’s Misfit Outpost, a five-acre property full with a taproom, outdoor seating, and a playground. Here, Nomad serves up the Texas craft BBQ you realize and love however with a definite Houston edge. The restaurant’s hybrid menu, that includes barbecue specials on weekdays and à la carte meats on weekends, is a tribute to H-Town’s variety, from the smoked turkey bacon Brie sandwich and tacos vampiros to Trill-slaw and malbec-and-basil barbacoa tacos.
Downtown
West African restaurant ChòpnBlọk began out as a pop-up again in 2018. It wasn’t till 2021 that the restaurant, based by Ope Amosu, who featured as a visitor choose on the Houston season of Bravo’s Top Chef, discovered a everlasting house contained in the meals corridor at POST Houston. The fast-casual restaurant presents a up to date strategy to conventional West African delicacies; the menu showcases a variety of flavors and strategies whereas every dish is deeply rooted within the area’s numerous cultures. Dive headfirst into the diaspora by attempting the Trad combo or the Motherland combo, two of our favourite dishes there.
The friendship between Christopher Haatuft, a celebrated Norwegian chef, and Paul Qui, a Top Chef and James Beard Award winner, might have been solid within the fjords of Norway, however their new Houston restaurant is very Houston. At Norwegian-inspired seafood restaurant Golfstrømmen, which opened in POST Houston in December 2021, Haatuft and Qui have created a menu that speaks to Haatuft’s distinctive perspective along with the pair’s dedication to sustainability. The menu is stacked with sustainably sourced seafood (among the freshest you could find in Houston), and contains standout dishes like purple fish ceviche, Norwegian snitters, and a uncooked bar from which goals are made.
Astros proprietor Jim Crane envisioned a classy area for pre- and post-game eating when he opened this place throughout from Minute Maid Park downtown, however it’s a lot greater than that. Come right here to expertise la dolce vita, full with an opulent, gilded environment, refined wine service, and delicacies from longtime Brennan’s chef Danny Trace. From the pappardelle al cinghiale made with grilled Iberico tenderloin to the tacchino served with smoked Texas heritage turkey, chef Trace is setting the usual for good pasta. If you want any further incentive, it’s price noting that the truffle pasta at Potente received a shoutout from Food Network for being among the finest pasta dishes within the nation.
Named after founder Chris Cosentino’s great-grandmother, Rosalie Italian Soul will transport you again to evenings spent in your Nonna’s kitchen—even when you don’t have a drop of Italian-American blood operating by way of your veins. The restaurant focuses on Italian consolation meals with a uniquely Houstonian twist, resulting in a menu stacked with gems like rigatoni in a Texas wild boar ragu, native purple snapper served with cracked olives, and spaghetti and meatballs topped with Sunday gravy.
Soy Pinoy is a love letter to Filipino delicacies from James Beard Award-winning cooks Paul Qui—sure, that is Qui’s second look on the listing—and Tom Cunanan. The restaurant, situated within the meals corridor at POST Houston, gives up among the best Filipino cuisine you can find in the city. Cunanan not too long ago revamped the restaurant’s menu, and it’s fairly thrilling. There’s a sisig salad, made with pig’s ears fried to a crisp and seasoned with the palm vinegar so prevalent in Filipino cooking; every chew is a crunchy sweet-and-sour pleasure to the senses. The Best Lechon, an ode to the Cebu-style lechon that Bourdain proclaimed the most effective on the earth, lives as much as its identify, crispy however mild and ethereal on the similar time. Whether you are taking child steps and order lumpia (the Filipino model of egg rolls) or go all-in with the large Kamayan feast platter loaded with a smorgasbord of selection Filipino treats, Soy Pinoy makes its meals corridor setting seem to be a portal to a South Pacific taste wonderland.
Thematically, Toro Toro, a pan-Latin steakhouse from superstar chef Richard Sandoval that showcases the delicacies of Latin America alongside steak and sushi, simply is smart for Houston, particularly for the reason that buzzy new restaurant is thought to placed on fairly a present tableside. Signature starter objects just like the amarillo ceviche and smoked beef tiradito arrive in a smoky flourish. Then comes the primary course: for events that order the Toro Toro Churrasco or the 52-ounce tomahawk rib eye, the restaurant employs a basic guéridon, which is wheeled to the desk with sufficient pomp and circumstance to make heads flip. For the tomahawk, put your telephone on video mode and prepare for a grand present, as a result of the steak is doused in mezcal, set aflame, then sliced and served to order.
An idea from Landry founder Tilman Fertitta, Vic & Anthony’s was created after Fertitta and his father Vic toured the nation, tasting steaks from among the nation’s most interesting eating places alongside the way in which. (If that is how billionaires prefer to roadtrip, then depend us in.) Together, they requested themselves what makes an important steakhouse, they usually had some concepts. Obviously, Vic & Anthony’s high-grade beef performs a giant position, however so does its service and ambiance, each areas through which the restaurant makes a powerful exhibiting. While Vic & Anthony’s award-winning menu contains must-try starters like roasted bacon- and maple-glazed quail, the meaty important programs on the chophouse are likely to steal the present. Here, you may have your decide from premier cuts like imported Wagyu or regionally sourced USDA Prime steaks. Optional enhances embrace every part from salt service or roasted bone marrow.
Boldly completely different from anything in Houston, Xochi is Hugo Ortega’s chef d’oeuvre, the Oaxacan restaurant contained in the downtown Marriott that lastly clinched his coveted James Beard Foundation Best Chef Southwest title. Indigenous Mexican flavors and strategies are front-and-center at Xochi, which continues to set the bar with essentially the most thrilling and artistic delicacies within the Bayou City. The vibrant dishes and distinctive flavors right here play into the restaurant’s mission to rejoice the Mexican area of Oaxaca and its endemic delicacies. Guests can count on an abundance of mole, house-made chocolate, and masa, in addition to scrumptious vegetarian picks. And when you’re eager about a conventional Oaxacan breakfast, you gained’t be disenchanted with its Sunday brunch buffet.
East End
When the pandemic hit in 2020, Chef Angelo Emiliani loaded his life into his 2003 Toyota Sequoia, with a custom-built, 3,500-pound pizza oven in tow, and trekked his method from California again to his native Houston. Nearly two years later, the scrappy chef opened Café Louie together with his sister, pastry chef Lucianna “Louie” Emiliani, in Houston’s burgeoning East End neighborhood. Housed in a transformed warehouse often called The Plant, Café Louie incorporates a rustic menu spanning pastas, sandwiches, soups, salads, and pastries. The all-day café has not too long ago added a dinner service, full with a inventive, Mediterranean-inspired menu that speaks to the synergy of the brother-sister duo.
Nancy’s Hustle is a contemporary bistro with a bustling scene on Houston’s East End. If you’re a first-timer, begin with the spicy beef and butter dumplings and their namesake “Nancy Cakes”—fluffy, corn-based pancakes with smoked trout roe and chives. Other selection indulgences right here embrace the roasted tilefish with melted tomatoes and candy corn puree, and the crispy cheeseburger on English muffin-brioche with thick-cut fries and a housemade pickle get together. This place will get crowded, so be ready to squeeze in!
Located within the East End, Street to Kitchen’s “unapologetic” Thai menu focuses on genuine Thai delicacies, with key components, such because the restaurant’s curry paste, produced from scratch in-house. Aside from basic noodle dishes and curries, Street to Kitchen focuses on crispy Thai fried hen, drunken noodles, garlic chive pancakes, and a mango sticky rice that knocks the competitors out of the park. The restaurant is the brainchild of Benchawan Jabthong Painter, a Thailand native who grew up cooking in her household’s restaurant as a toddler. When Painter first moved to Houston along with her American husband, Graham Painter, she spent a while working below Chef Justin Yu at Theodore Rex earlier than the success of her pop-ups led her to enterprise out on her personal. We’re comfortable that she did.
Fourth Ward
There’s a cause why Chef Aaron Bludorn’s eponymous restaurant is at all times on our listing of locations to eat. From the beautifully-made seafood towers and dry-aged New York strip made with native beef to the picture-perfect cocktails and world wine choice, there’s rather a lot to like about Bludorn. The environment feels contemporary, with cerulean blue banquettes at all times full of prospects. Whether you make dinner plans for the weekend or weeknight, plan forward; tables are booked far prematurely.
Galleria/Uptown
If you’ve tried all of it and are searching for one thing actually adventurous, Hidden Omakase has a lux tasting menu ready with components sourced straight from Japan that can give you one thing totally new. With solely two seatings per night time at an 18-person chef’s counter, the restaurant gives an ultra-exclusive and intimate eating expertise that’s meticulously curated by Chef Niki Vongthong. Vongthong is not any stranger to the kitchen; she spent her early years working in her household’s beloved Heights-located Thai restaurant Asia Market earlier than her chef work took her to Thailand and finally again to Houston within the kitchens of Aqui (now closed, without end missed) and Uchi. It’s at Hidden Omakase, nonetheless, that Vongthong’s abilities actually sing.
The Galleria can really feel a bit overwhelming for some, but when there’s another cause to go right here apart from buying, it’s for a lavish and chic dinner expertise at Musaafer. The restaurant’s identify interprets to “a traveler,” and the menu itself is simply that: a journey into Indian delicacies. The à la carte menu showcases the nation’s culinary variety, permitting you to style just a little little bit of all of the areas. There’s additionally an unforgettable present high quality to a meal at Musaafer, which options some completely beautiful interiors; it’s one of many important causes we make our visits.
The flagship chophouse of the the namesake model, Pappas Bros. Steakhouse is all about premier dry-aged steaks coupled with an unmistakable, upscale ambiance. From the attentive waitstaff to the reside piano music, Pappas Bros. Steakhouse is a deal with. This buzzy spot isn’t simply recognized for its turf; tasty seafood choices there embrace can’t-miss entrées such because the broiled Ōra King salmon filet (straight from New Zealand) and Australian lobster tail. And whereas different steakhouses won’t put a lot thought into home bread, the bread at Pappas Bros. is so good you would possibly spend half your dinner attempting to give you methods in which you’ll be able to sneak some house with you.
Berg Hospitality Group (B&B Butchers, B.B. Lemon, The Annie Cafe & Bar) has a winner with this social club-style restaurant, which seems like a straight throwback to ‘70s-era opulence. Here, chef-turned-consultant Robert Del Grande oversees a menu of luxuriously and wealthy American and Continental classics (branded as “heritage-type” dishes) in an attractive darkish room filled with framed work and pictures, a child grand piano (often being performed), and a stunning black marble bar with vintage glass. If you’re planning to dine right here, simply know you’ll be diving deep into your pockets as the value of an entrée can fall between $32 and $96 {dollars} and cocktails vary from $16 to $22. Throwing cash at this place is kind of simple.
At first blush, Uchiko is almost indistinguishable from its dad or mum, Uchi. The design is analogous; the menu is analogous; the service fashion, uniforms, and tabletop—even all the way down to the basic paper chopstick covers—are all remarkably related. Precocious little one that it’s, nonetheless, Uchiko takes every part good from its dad or mum and provides its personal charms. And with Chef Shaun King at its helm, Uchiko shines with issues that Uchi can’t provide, dishes like an distinctive hearth-roasted lobster cooked in banana leaf with tom kha and umeboshi butter; craft cocktails just like the fujin, made with Japanese whiskey, smoked fig, and allspice liqueur; and desserts just like the crowd-pleasing s’mores, formed like a sweet bar and charred on the desk with Binchotan-style Thaan Charcoal. It’s just like the success of each good dad or mum’s fondest hope (supposedly) that their youngsters will outshine themselves.
If you’re craving Mexican avenue meals, Uptown Park’s Urbe is the place to go. The dinner menu hosts favorites like fire-roasted oysters and Oaxacan tlayuda topped with quesillo, however if you wish to strive Urbe at its finest, cease by at lunch time for its tacos. Whether you go together with brisket and mushrooms, pork and charred pineapple, or blackened octopus and chilaca peppers, you’ll find yourself with a brand new favourite place to eat.
Heights
From the handcrafted chef’s counter common by the prepare dinner himself to the seasonal seafood flown in biweekly from Japan, the small print and dishes at 5Kinokawa are steeped in image and story. The newest enterprise of Chef Billy Kin, previously of Blackbird Izakaya (now closed) and Hidden Omakase, 5Kinokawa gives a chef’s desk tasting menu and one of the crucial distinctive eating experiences in Houston. Kin’s ardour for his craft extends past the specialty components from Japan’s Toyosu Market. It’s ingrained in the way in which that he explains the story behind the restaurant’s rigorously curated components, equivalent to big Pacific octopus or A5 grade Wagyu beef—and it underlies his invitation to 14 company per seating to assemble across the bar and participate on this communal, multidimensional expertise.
Quintana Roo could also be a fast two-hour flight from Houston, however you will get there even quicker by visiting the Tulum-inspired patio bar and restaurant Casa Nomad in M-K-T. This Heights sizzling spot opened in September 2021, and when you observe any native influencers, you’ve doubtless seen a gentle stream of movies of them boomeranging their method by way of intimate dinners on the tiny eatery, which clocks in at a complete of 800 sq. toes (sure, you learn that quantity accurately) and seats a complete of 30 folks at a time. The pipsqueak spot is house to a breezy, tropical-inspired cocktail menu from Tyler Barrera as properly a Mayan Riviera-worthy meals menu from culinary director Araceli Perez, which options tempting choices like lobster tacos and grilled oysters cooked in chile morita.
Although Chivos, the Mexican American idea from the group behind Heights sizzling spots Space Cowboy and Trash Panda Drinking Club, interprets to “goats” in Spanish, you gained’t essentially discover goat on the menu; what you’ll discover is impressed meals produced from scratch. From contemporary salsas and moles to tortillas produced from house-nixtamalized masa, founding chef Thomas Bille laid the muse for what has turn out to be one of many coolest haunts within the Heights. The chef parted methods with the restaurant in July, however the menu and ethos behind it stay the identical. The shareable plates are notably profitable; favorites embrace a stunning tuna tostada, roasted bone marrow tacos, stone-fruit burrata and toast, and the pozole dumplings with pork broth and almond salsa matcha.
Look, a number of eating places declare to make use of contemporary components, however what number of of them can say they use components from their very personal yard backyard? With a menu dictated by Houston’s seasonal choices, Coltivare’s rustic Italian fare boasts beauties like fried heirloom okra, zucchini slices filled with ricotta, and pumpkin ravioli. And you have to try a pizza when you’re there—we recommend the slow-cooked pork, pepper, and onion pie (with a yard egg added on high, after all).
Southeast Asian flavors get a Lone Star-style makeover at Loro, the Heights’ finest (and solely) Asian smokehouse. Housed inside a renovated church, the restaurant’s laid-back environment is the proper place to take pleasure in a hearty meal. Some of our high picks there embrace the Texas candy corn topped with yuzu kosho aioli, the oak-smoked salmon served over coconut rice, and char siew pork stomach glazed with hoisin sauce. While at Loro, it’s important (after all) to scrub your entire meals down with some draft sake from the drink menu.
At this primary and solely Korean barbecue restaurant within the Heights, proprietor Ken Bridge (Pinks Pizza, Lola, The Ready Room, and many others.) wished to pay homage to the barbecue homes he frequented in his youth in Los Angeles’s Koreatown. Inside Mapojeong on any given day, the sound of scorching meat, accompanied by the aromas of Korean barbecue, greets you enticingly. And every part on the greatest-hits menu interprets to scrumptious, from appetizers just like the bulgogi tteokbokki rice muffins and the unbelievable kimchijeon (kimchi pancake) to mouthwatering steakhouse cuts of prime USDA beef, A5 Wagyu from Japan, and king crab basted in gochujang butter. If you’re with a bunch, select one of many combo meat plates and let the servers do the remaining.
One of the most recent and most notable achievements of the prolific Berg Hospitality Group, Trattoria Sofia is the Italian restaurant Houston didn’t know that it needed. Intimate and romantic, the eating room—with its half-moon cubicles, oblique lighting, and plush foliage—units the stage for a eating expertise to recollect. Food-wise, Berg tapped chef-consultant Magnus Hansson to craft a contemporary Italian menu that has “molto bene” written throughout it, from deceptively easy starters just like the crostini di stracciatella and caponata Siciliana to fan favorites like cacio e pepe pasta and pollo alla parmigiana. From the bar, thoughtfully constructed cocktails—created by consulting mixologist Alba Huerta, the 2022 James Beard Award winner for excellent bar program—embrace the Modena Cup, a Pimm’s cup with strawberry, blood orange, and white balsamic.
Independence Heights
Walking into Sao Lao Thai Cafe seems like getting into your finest pal’s condo. But this stylish, cozy Independence Heights restaurant is extra than simply welcoming vibes: chef-owner Souli Phaduangdet’s Lao and Thai creations are a labor-of-love tribute to her household’s refugee previous. The restaurant’s curated menu is an homage to Phaduangdet’s late mom, who offered selfmade dishes like Lao hen noodle soup to maintain the household afloat in the course of the Vietnam War. Today, this herby broth, stewed for eight hours and laden with handmade rice-flour noodles, is one in every of Phaduangdet’s favourite menu objects. Otherwise at Sao Lao Thai Cafe, you’ll discover principally Laotian delicacies with a splash of Isan dishes, fare that hails from Thailand’s northeast Isan area.
At new Historic Independence Heights restaurant Gaitlin’s Fins & Feathers, chef-owner Greg Gatlin and govt Chef Michelle Wallace, of Gatlin’s BBQ fame, are shifting their sights to classic comfort fare. The menu on the restaurant options dishes that you simply’ll certainly acknowledge (to not point out crave), however with a particular Bayou City spin. Take, for instance, Gatlin’s hen enchiladas, which fold rigorously smoked pulled hen beneath layers of salsa verde, crema, and cotija cheese. With every part from Gulf Coast classics to Southern seafood staples, Gatlin’s Fins & Feathers goals to be the sort of place the place people relish the flavors and linger just a bit whereas longer (you realize, to avoid wasting room for dessert).
Midtown
Some of the drinks at Winnie’s, a brand new sandwich-, po’ boy-, and oyster-dispensing patio bar in Midtown, are served in little treasure chests filled with ice. It’s a kitschy shtick that matches completely with the idea’s normal air of quirkiness. Opened in September 2021 by Johnny’s Gold Brick proprietor Benjy Mason and cooks Chris Roy and Graham Laborde, Winnie’s has turn out to be a favourite vacation spot for these searching for an informal spot through which to sit back and imbibe with associates whereas eating on some actually stoner-caliber consolation meals. Standout dishes embrace tempting eats just like the restaurant’s model of a crunch wrap supreme, a BLT katsu sando, and a shrimp po’ boy so good you’ll assume you’ve been magically transported to the Louisiana bayou.
Montrose
It’s the restaurant model of the basic American Dream story: Alfredo Mojica left his 20-year tenured place as govt chef at Da Marco to open his personal place. Investing his life’s financial savings and with assist from his household, he opened Amore Italian Restaurant to an enthusiastic word-of-mouth welcome in December 2021. The menu on the restaurant performs like his personal biggest hits album, from the decadently scrumptious Spaghetti Harry’s Bar to the red-wine slow-braised quick ribs with burrata to the merely grilled entire branzino. A dinner at Amore is a should for any Houstonian who considers themself an Italian meals connoisseur.
Georgia James ranks as one in every of our favorite steakhouses of all time. Between the ribeye steak, the Gulf Coast oysters, and the fried mashed potatoes, this Montrose restaurant does all of it, and does it properly. Georgia James, which recently parted ways with its founder, superstar chef Chris Shepherd, bought some cool new digs this previous June within the mixed-use growth Regent Square, and now the restaurant is boosting its offerings with new menu items—and a completely epic rooftop area that gives some fairly killer views. If you’re heading over to Georgia James, you should definitely carry sufficient associates in your go to to feast on the Baller Board—an off-menu merchandise that incorporates a shock sampling of meals hand-selected by the chef, together with a good mixture of seafood and steak elements. And, after all, be sure you additionally order a steak, because the restaurant gives among the finest cuts of meat you could find anyplace on the town.
We’ve mentioned it earlier than and we’ll say it once more: Hugo’s is the finest place to go for traditional Mexican food in Houston. The Montrose restaurant, from James Beard Award-winner Hugo Ortega, makes all of its meals from scratch (together with the cheese, the mole, the tortillas, and the chocolate), so each chew you are taking is one hundred pc scrumptious and genuine. Pair your meal with a drink off of the restaurant’s award-winning wine listing or tequila menu to get the total Hugo’s expertise.
Goodnight Hospitality’s MARCH prides itself on exploring areas within the Mediterranean the place boundaries meet. The menu focuses on these collections of marches—an space of land on the border between two territories一with dishes that categorical numerous cultures, languages, and traditions. When making your reservation, select a six- or nine-course meals menu, or go for the pairing menu that features drinks. The nine-course has a tantalizing plate of farro, served with salsa juvert, squid ink, and apricot; and a sakura pork collar plate with zante currants and glyko kitromilo that can make your mouth water. The restaurant’s sturdy wine listing (one other key cause to plan for a go to) options 11,000 bottles of wine from everywhere in the world, with a concentrate on Spanish wine.
High-end Italian chophouse Marmo debuted in Montrose Collective, Houston’s latest mixed-use growth hub, again in April, and it’s already making waves by way of a sturdy menu heavy on steaks, pasta, and seafood dishes—the necessities, in different phrases. Standout dishes on its menu, which was curated by govt chef Eli Jackson and Julian Marucci, a chef-partner with Atlas Restaurant Group (additionally the pressure behind buzzy H-Town spots Ouzo Bay and Loch Bar), embrace a fantastically plated hamachi, a heavenly squid ink campanelle, and any of the restaurant’s 45-day dry-aged steaks, which are available cuts like American Wagyu, Black Angus, and veal.
Hip eatery Nobie’s excels with menus that change day by day, mixing up neighborhood favorites with creative plates. The beer-battered candy potato tots with harissa and goat cheese, fried hen dinner with arugula salad, and olive oil cake stay a few of Houston’s important feel-good fare. You can also’t go mistaken with any of Nobie’s comforting pasta dishes or its many new veggie-centric choices. The excellent bar program on the quaint Montrose eatery produces a continuously evolving listing of cool cocktails, although you may by no means go mistaken with a wonderfully balanced Negroni or perhaps a shot of Fernet Branca.
Ostia’s menu takes a farm-to-table strategy and is finest recognized for its seasonally rotating dishes. As a Mediterranean-inspired restaurant with a contact of Italian flare, chef Travis McShane’s menu might function proteins like hanger steak, swordfish, and dorade, and pastas like gnocchi with seasonal greens, orecchiette with Italian sausage, and bucatini with guanciale. The cocktails, wine, and native beer menu are additionally at all times evolving, so you may by no means get uninterested in making this a recurring place through which to dine. Pro tip: When you make your reservation, request to take a seat of their greenhouse area, which has the proper quantity of pure mild so that you can ace each single one in every of your meals pics (belief us, you’ll be taking a number of them).
Modern Mediterranean meals is the star of the present at Rosie Cannonball, the place each pizza is cooked within the wooden oven and paired with a glass of refined European wine or an Italian-inspired cocktail. Though there are many scrumptious dinner choices—we insist you try the fennel sausage pizza—be sure you depart some room for dessert. And simply so you realize, no journey to Rosie Cannonball is full with out the signature mint chocolate gelato to shut out the night time.
Traveler’s Table will get excessive marks on the subject of innovation and creativity. Seated within the coronary heart of Montrose, the restaurant speaks to the variety of Houston’s inhabitants by way of a menu that’s actually world. The restaurant’s eclectic menu has one thing for wherever it’s on the earth that your tastebuds at present wish to land. With choices together with refreshing watermelon and Argentinian provoleta and Caribbean braised oxtails, govt chef Stanton Bundy will make a world traveler out of you by the point you’re prepared for dessert.
While we’re fast to reward Uchiko, we wouldn’t dare overlook its predecessor. What Uchiko does properly, Uchi did first. Spicy yellowtail served chilly with chili, ham, and egg makimono loaded with beer mustard, and buttery foie gras nigiri make this Montrose locale’s menu stand out among the many relaxation. Don’t simply take our phrase for it: Get the chef’s omakase and style check your method by way of a ten-course sampling of every part Uchi has to supply.
Multiple Locations
Don’t let these peppers intimidate you—Mala Sichuan Bistro is extra than simply spice. It’s a couple of steadiness of flavors, textures, and sensations that tingle and heat the palate. Given that their identify stands for 2 varieties of spicy flavors, “Ma” and “La,” you could find this combo in a lot of its dishes on the menu. Mala’s menu is in depth, so order something from avenue snacks like their handmade dumplings to chilly appetizers and completely different dishes divided by protein varieties, together with vegetarian choices. (Ask for the stir-fried inexperienced beans with crispy spicy hen—a tasty secret menu combo.) You can discover the bistro in 5 places round Houston: Montrose, Chinatown, Katy Asian Town, Sugar Land, and the Heights.
Museum District
Nestled within the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is Le Jardinier, the Bastion Collection restaurant serving up genuine French fare. Le Jardinier, which interprets to “the gardener” in English, sports activities a menu full of—as its identify would indicate—the freshest of components. As you may think about, a bistro housed inside a museum needs to be artistically as much as par, and also you’ll be impressed from the colourful eating room decor to the luxurious menu choices. Chef Felipe Botero takes French eating to the following degree—he has curated every part from crustacean ravioli to poached lobster and grilled octopus—and because the seasons change, so will Botero’s menu. But maybe the good half about Le Jadinier is that dinner menus are sometimes modeled after installations and exhibitions you’ll discover within the museum.
Rice Village
Sof Hospitality, the group behind Hamsa, has a monitor file of doing excellent issues. First got here Doris Metropolitan, then Badolina Bakery & Cafe. Hamsa, the group’s new fashionable Israeli idea, is not any much less spectacular. Chefs Sash Kurgan and Yotam Dolev’s menu gives a world of potentialities, from the flavorful salatim to a hummus that blows another native choices absolutely out of the water. Rounding out the menu are a number of choices for grilled skewers, entire grilled branzino, and the unforgettable Balady eggplant—entire roasted and served on a mattress of tahini with pine nuts and parsley. Hamsa, even in its early phases, is already elevating the bar for Middle Eastern meals in Houston—and should accomplish that for years to return.
River Oaks
This rigorously curated River Oaks institution epitomizes la bella vita by way of and thru, from its high-end Italian furnishings and crowd pleasing design to the chef’s desk eating and open-concept kitchen. Concura, which implies “with care” in Italian, is the creation of householders Jessica Biondi, an Italian vogue and design guide, and Alessio Ricci, each natives of Italy’s Marche area. Marche’s delicacies is seafood-heavy, truffle-rich, and favors frying (don’t all of us?). At Concura, Biondi and Ricci are on a mission to introduce Houstonians to the area’s distinctive components and flavors. You can’t go mistaken with the restaurant’s charcuterie, breaded meatballs, or parmigiana. For the primary course, contemplate choices just like the Chilean sea bass, rabbit in porchetta, chicken-fried veal, or a dish from Concura’s assortment of handmade pastas.
MAD is brief for Madrid, however you wouldn’t be utterly mistaken when you thought it had one thing to do with the River Oaks restaurant’s quirky, unconventional vibe. At MAD, eccentric, subtle decor meets vibrant, upscale Spanish delicacies. Fried child calamari sandwiched between potato buns, pistachio-stuffed ravioli wrapped in beets, and grilled octopus served with grapefruit and avocado are just some of the beautiful dishes that grace its menu.
As River Oaks’ best Indian food restaurant, Pondicheri guarantees a selfmade style produced from solely the freshest of components. Whether you crack open a pumpkin samosa, dip a dosa right into a coconut crab dip, or feast your method by way of the Texan thali, you’ll find yourself with a mouth filled with taste and a stomach full of excellent meals. Grab some housemade almond milk fudge and a masala chai tea for the street and also you’ll be good to go.
Chef Ford Fry created State of Grace as an ode to the neighborhood assembly place. Game hangs from the partitions, giant leather-based cubicles are full of folks speaking story below elegant lighting—all of which makes you’re feeling such as you’re on a film set. The meals right here takes a bow to the Gulf’s local bounty: bay scallops with salsa matcha; blue crab meat blended right into a salad with asparagus and artichoke; and, after all, an limitless array of oysters, together with tantalizing bivalves equivalent to Murder Point, Mon Louis, and Admirals. Step into the oyster room within the restaurant’s entrance nook throughout comfortable hour (till 6 p.m. on weekdays) and get them for the value of $1.50 every.
Sixth Ward
Houstonians love sushi. We additionally love the anything-goes vibe that accompanies Patrick Pham and Daniel Lee’s wildly profitable counter ideas, Kokoro inside Bravery Chef Hall and Handies Douzo within the Heights. So when the duo debuted their first brick-and-mortar in April, it was all however destined for achievement. Aiko takes the duo’s two present eateries and, in essence, merges them below one roof. Want sushi? Crudo? A superbly constructed hand roll? At Aiko, you get the pristinely minimize sushi and sashimi from Kokoro, plus the hand rolls and crudos from Handies. The restaurant additionally gives three choices for omakase at three fixed-price factors, every providing a mix of edamame to start out, a number of nigiri, a crudo, and a hand roll.
Upper Kirby
Sushi-grade fish could be laborious to return by, however that’s what makes Kata Robata stand out from the remaining. At Kata Robata, Chef Manabu “Hori” Horiuchi mixes conventional and fashionable Japanese cuisines to function arguably the freshest sashimi picks in Houston. Compliment your sushi platter with sizzling dishes like grilled meats which are cooked on the restaurant’s namesake robata. Don’t sleep on the sake and Japanese whisky menu, and for the final word Kata Robata expertise, make a reservation for an omakase—a chef’s tasting menu. Expect a mix of day by day specials and Kata Robata classics.
Warehouse District
Chef Justin Yu, the James Beard Award-winning thoughts behind eating places Squable and Better Luck Tomorrow, brings a brand new degree of taste with Theodore Rex, a comfy and informal bistro that provides a spin on upscale eating within the Warehouse District. While the menu at Theodore Rex adjustments seasonally, their signature starter is a tasty tomato toast. Expect flavorful dishes like taglioni warmed in cultured butter and seasoned with Gulf Coast oyster liquor; in addition to hen breast glazed in coconut and served with a sauce produced from anchovy, garlic, chili, and ginger. All of the dishes at Theodore Rex are nice for sharing, which implies there ought to be loads of room left for one thing candy on the finish of the night time.
