Houston Restaurants – Insider Tips & My Favorite
Houston restaurants: Bistro Menil is a small, friendly place to eat in the Museum District.
Houston restaurants have evolved. Once limited to Tex Mex and BBQ, they now offer a wide variety of other cuisines and some very unusual preparations of local ingredients. I learned this during a recent brief visit, during which I managed to try at least a half dozen Houston restaurants.
Best Houston restaurants
After all the sipping and sampling, my favorite place to eat is Bistro Menil, located in Houston’s Museum District across the street from the wonderful Menil Collection. Here, Chef Greg Martin offers innovative “European-inspired, American fare.” Equally interesting are the craft beers from Houston and Austin – with names like “Great White Buffalo” and “More Cowbell” from the Buffalo Bayou Brewing Company.
Houston restaurants: Chef Greg Martin of Bistro Menil specializes in European-inspired American dishes.
Chef Martin and his partner Paul Garcia have also solved the “white – red” tug of war between diners by offering an impressive range of cask wines from California, Orgeon, Washington, Argentina,and New Zealand. Altogether, 30 wines are available by quarter, half, or full-bottle decanters.
On a balmy and bug-free Houston evening, my husband and I sat outside on the patio and enjoyed a fab starter of char-grilled octopus tentacles with paprika and caviar of lime fingers. Rick also enjoyed the crisp duck confit main course, but the biggest hits of the night were the incredibly tender seared scallops and the amazing roasted beet risotto made with walnuts and goat cheese.
Houston restaurants: “Love Jack” in front of Bistro Menil.
Insider advice on Houston restaurants
FYI – Bistro Menil is always closed on Monday and Tuesday. I discovered this when we turned up for lunch and saw the sign on the door. Even though I was disappointed, this turned out to be a good thing because young-dude-about-Houston Jason Hubbard had also failed to do his homework. As we stood at the “closed” front door commiserating about our misfortune, he started rattling off a list of his local favorites (which I later cross-checked with other Houstonians in the know).
Jason in a wine cellar in Buenos Aires, Argentina, last year.
Here’s Jason’s list of his favorite Houston restaurants with his comments:
Himalayas. Hole in the wall Indian place. I love the green chicken dish in a curry. Also the grilled BBQ platter.
B&B. New local favorite. Very good. Need reservation. Expensive.
Liberty Kitchen (only the San Felipe location).
Uchi. For sushi. Amazing brussels sprouts.
Brasserie 19. Place to be seen Thursday to Sunday. Their grilled octopus is amazing.
BCN. Amazing place. Small old house. Need reservation. Hard to find even with GPS.
Hugo’s. Amazing dishes, including cabrito and octopus. They even have crickets. Their Sunday brunch is great, but doesn’t include the above mentioned exotic dishes.
Artista. Inside the Bagby Center downtown. Only open whe there’s a theatrical show playing. Very good.
State of Grace. Great new spot. Very old fashioned nostolgic place . Nice decor. Definitely need reservations.
Masraffs. Good calamari dish.
Mais. Good Vietnamese lunch place. The famous dish is “number 97.” Very simple. Their salt and pepper calamari is good. They also have an amazing jalapeno slice and salty lime clear sauce to dip. Their Vietnamese coffee will make your head spin it’s so strong.
Tiny Boxwoods. A charming place. Must go there on a weekend for breakfast or lunch. Cute place with greenery. Its neighbors a nursery. Usually long lines. Firsy come, first served. Lots of older wealthy wives. More women than men.
Houston restaurants: Bistro Menil paella.
Eddie V. Amazing food, including lobster tacos and sea bass are great. I also think their steaks are the best in town. Yellow fin sushi appetizer is great.
Houstons. A popular local chain. Always busy. I only get prime rib.
Backstreet Cafe. Great Sunday brunch place.
Carrabbas. The Kirby location is the only one still owned by Johnny Carrabbas. He’s there every day. The other locations are owned by a chain and are terrible.
Killeen BBQ. Located in Pearland. It’s super casual. World famous.
Pass and Provisions. Two places in one building. One is super fancy, nine course foodie place. Other is more casual.
Coltivare. Great spot in the Heights. Fairly new, casual. Don’t accept reservations. Usually 30-40 minute wait.
DeMarco. Fancy Italian place. Chalkboard menu. Items are erased as they sell out.
Oh, and I almost forgot: Carocal.
Enjoy Houston.
Cheers,
Category: USA Southwest
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