48 Hours In Houston

[Nealpollack]

Hey, folks. My wife and I live in Austin and have never been to Houston. We're going for a weekend, staying at the Hotel Derek, and I want to eat big-city style. Austin is the greatest, but the restaurants are mediocre at best.

So here's what I'm looking for:

1 Outstanding Fine-Dining Restaurant (specializing in regional ingredients)

1 Great Vietnamese Restaurant

1 Breakfast Place

1 Cheap Eats Heaven

I love the description of the place in San Leon (Topwater Grill) in another post, but am not sure if that's a day trip from Houston or a separate trip to Austin. Because that place sounds amazing.

Anyway, we have about six weeks before we go, so I'd sure appreciate any feedback y'all are willing to provide. Thanks so much.

NP

[Kevin72]

You can knock out cheap eats heaven and Vietnamese in one fell swoop and go to Mai's near downtown for lunch. Not sure if they're open Sundays.

[RebeccaT]

For a restaurant that specializes in regional ingredients, check out T'afia in midtown. I wouldn't call it "fine dining" per se, it's a pretty casual atmosphere, but Monica Pope changes her menu daily to focus on what is available from her local purveyors. Get the Texas wine tasting menu - it's great.

For breakfast, go right next door to The Breakfast Klub to get the most fantastic fried chicken, waffles, biscuits, etc. If there's a line, stand in it. It's worth it.

For cheap eats, another recommendation is Niko Nikos, a short-order Greek place on Montrose. Yummy fries and gyros!

[fifi]

Welcome to the Society NealPollack, and to the Texas forum.

I second all of the above. If you want to go really upscale, there is always Tony's (review here) or Cafe Annie. Those are the all time stand-bys. I haven't been in a while or since Tony's opened in the new digs. But, My favorite upscale experience remains Brennan's, particularly for the Sunday jazz brunch. The turtle soup is one of the culinary experiences of a lifetime.

Topwater is worth an excursion. If you are traveling from near the center of town (I am not sure where your hotel is) expect about 45 minutes to an hour depending upon traffic. Traffic usually isn't that bad on the Gulf Freeway outside of rush hours. It would be a fun excursion to see our waterfront area. A lot of folks don't realize that Houston is so connected to Galveston Bay. Use the map link that I posted at the end of my report here and use the zoom feature to see where it is in context. Popping down for lunch certainly isn't out of the question.

[Jay Francis]

Here are the places that I typically recommend and take outside towners to on their visit to Houston...picking up a Houston Press will help you with addresses etc.

Tampico on Airline for grilled red snapper

Julia's on Main Street for Latin fusion

The original Ninfa's on Navigation for Mexican food and Lopez onWilcrest

Hugo's for upscale Mexican food

Symposio and Arcodoro for really good Italian food

Hickory Hollow for chicken fried steak and bluegrass music

[Deacon]

fine dining: Cafe Annie, Damian's, and especially Brennan's

great Vietnamese: Vietopia

breakfast place: since you'll be there on the weekend, either the Buffalo Grille or Goode Company Hamburgers and Tacqueria

cheap eats heaven: Williams Smokehouse or Goode Company Barbecue or Luling City Market for barbecue, Star Pizza or Fuzzy's Pizza or (no kidding) Kenneally's Irish Pub for pizza

Edited April 20, 2005 by Deacon (log)

[jess mebane]

For cheap eats and a funky breakfast dive, it's gotta be House of Pies. I also enthusiastically second the Star and Fuzzy's Pizza Recs.

Fine dining is usually Brennan's, but I always throw the River Oaks Grill out there as a great upscale romantic joint that flies under the local radar.

[fifi]

Oh, I forgot about River Oaks Grill. That is one of my favorites even though I haven't been in a while. A dear friend and I used to go there for dinner on a Friday after work with great regularity. Great atmosphere.

edit to add: Damian's is my all time favorite upscale Italian.

Edited April 21, 2005 by fifi (log)

[jscarbor]

Tafia or Aries would fit the bill for local ingredients place. Marks is a little more sophisticated food and they do have local ing in addition to flying more exotics in.

Tampico is the place for a killer fish night out. Get the snapper al la plancha. Sit upstairs on weekend.

Breakfast at the Breakfast Klub is great.

Topwater is great for a little excursion. Really good seafood in a cool old school bay atmosphere.

RE River Oaks Grill, I hear they are really focusing on the ladies of the night atmosphere these days. Anyone else hear that?

[LDLee]

My wife's from Austin. I agree with you about dining there. My recommendations are as follows:

Fine Dining with Local Ingredients - T'afia, Ouisie's, maybe Daily Review

Fine Dining - Mark's, 17 American Food. No to Cafe Annie -- overpriced, overhyped, overrated, underwhelming.

Vietnamese - Many, many choices. I like Van Loc. I hear great things about Les Givral's Cafe. I am not a fan of Kim Son or Vietopia

Breakfast - The Breakfast Klub would be my first choice. Maybe Barnaby's.

You will need reservations for most high end dining establishments. It may be too late.

If you need an Austin fix, go to Onion Creek. Hang out on the patio, drink a beer, eat crawfish, listen to live music.

Also, the Houston International Festival is going on this weekend.

Lindsey

Edited April 21, 2005 by LDLee (log)

[jess mebane]

RE River Oaks Grill, I hear they are really focusing on the ladies of the night atmosphere these days. Anyone else hear that?

←

say what?!

[fifi]

RE River Oaks Grill, I hear they are really focusing on the ladies of the night atmosphere these days. Anyone else hear that?

←

say what?!

←

Whoa! Haven't heard that! Used to be the older River Oaks crowd. (Actually, that sounds kind of interesting. )

[JetLag]

Topwater grill for sure and for some very good food in an atmosphere that being in Houston will surprise you The Rainbow Lodge(think hunting lodge in the mountains).

[fifi]

Rainbow Lodge is lovely. And they do some very nice game dishes. As an aside, the original part of the building was the home of my pediatrician.

Hmmm . . . 48 hours is much too little time.

[Nealpollack]

It might be too little time, Fifi, but we're only 2.5 hours away, and if the food is as good as it sounds from all these replies, we may have to make more frequent trips. I'm always amazed at how bad the food is in Austin.

I was kind of leaning toward T'afia. Sounds very Alice Waters.

Thanks so much for all your suggestions. And keep 'em coming if you've got them! If you need a survival guide for a trip to Austin, don't hesitate to call on me.

Thanks,

NP

[yimay]

hey neal, we've never officially met but i've met your sweet doggie before! i love him! i also have pictures of him! i swear i wasn't stalking (joanna brought him to a party once). i also saw you the other night in the parking lot while leaving a disasterous night at club deville.

anyways, i'm from houston, now live here in austin. i think i have a pretty good handle on what you can get in houston that you can't get here. for (casual) fine dining i would recommend Churrasco's, or if you are feeling up for it, its sister restaurant Americas which has a similar menu but is more refined and more expensive (incredible interior). they specialize in south american cuisine, so it's not regional to texas, per say, but it sure is damn good. i prefer churrasco's... get the steak marinated in chimichurri, and the "tower" appetizer plate.

for vietnamese i would get Grilled Pork Banh Mi from Givral's on Bellaire in the "china town" Din Ho shopping center. they also have traditional vietnamese dishes that are delish (my vietnamese uncle approves). there is a location downtown too, but i've never been. if you are feeling adventurous, head down Bellaire, outside of the Tollway and you will see tons of Vietnamese restaurants. there are several "famous" ones located in the strip malls you will pass that are written up in the local chinese papers. they all claim to have the best pho, but you really can't go too wrong in houston. i've been to several, can't say any one is the best, but they all have pretty good pho. there is one in particular, that is on a strip mall to the left (as you are driving west on bellaire) that is next to an african grocery store. sorry, the name escapes me. make sure to stop by the Hong Kong market, the most gigantic asian grocery store you will ever witness.

one of my most favorite places to eat is <a href="http://www.dailyreviewcafe.com/">The Daily Review</a> in the museum district. the menu is sort of upscale comfort food. they have wonderful brunches (and lunch and dinner)

one thing austin is in serious lack of is chinese food. so if you are up for chinese brunch head towards Bellaire again and find the Dynasty Mall shopping center on the corner of Bellaire and Sam Houston Tollway. there is a huge Dim Sum restaurant upstairs, on the right side of the building. There is also the staple dim sum place, Golden Palace on Bellaire near Gessner. these two restaurants always change owners so sometimes the recipes/qualities change, but still is better than what you can get here in austin.

one of my favorite chinese restaurants is Cu Po La, but they moved to another location and might be called Shanghai Restaurant now. also on Bellaire... 9116 Bellaire to be exact, next to Sichuan Cuisine Restaurant. best of all, all dishes are like $7. (good) chinese food is cheap eats heaven for me.

enjoy!

[FoodMan]

For a fine dining experience Aries is a good place to check out. Here is a recent chat we had with the chef/owner Scott Tycer.

I also would recommend T'afia for a more casual experience, and you are correct the chef/owner Monica Pope's cooking is very much like Chez Panisse. Very simple, local, and delicious.

Elie

[Nealpollack]

Hey, Yimay. I guess that was you talking to Ben outside the bar. Yes, I was pretty dang annoyed, but have since returned to my usual state of mild rage mixed with a little Zen happiness. Thanks for the recs. South American food sounds grand to me...

[ariggsby]

Hey, folks. My wife and I live in Austin and have never been to Houston. We're going for a weekend, staying at the Hotel Derek, and I want to eat big-city style. Austin is the greatest, but the restaurants are mediocre at best.

←

I'm curious where you've been eating in Austin. I've always been surprised that the high-end restaurants in Houston and Dallas aren't in a whole different league than those in Austin.

Andrew

Edited April 22, 2005 by ariggsby (log)