Restaurant Reviews

This Week in Café: VIN

This Week in Café: VIN

$13 at Fu’s Garden in Rice Village

Everything Old Is New Again

Darby's flashes back to a gentler time

Christmas Eve Dining, Without the Duck Heads

Want to take the family out for a nice meal tomorrow night so someone else can wash the dishes for a change?  Worn out from holiday shopping and don't want to cook dinner?  Or have the Bumpus hounds destroyed your turkey and you're looking for an alternative? Never fear!  There are p ... More >>

Letters

Want to take the family out for a nice meal tomorrow night so someone else can wash the dishes for a change?  Worn out from holiday shopping and don't want to cook dinner?  Or have the Bumpus hounds destroyed your turkey and you're looking for an alternative? Never fear!  There are p ... More >>

And the Survey Says...

Local Restaurant News

The Tastes of Textile

When it's on, there's no place in town like Scott Tycer's new restaurant.

On a Budget at Bistro des Amis

When it's on, there's no place in town like Scott Tycer's new restaurant.

Brain Food

You may puzzle over the menu at Robert Gadsby's Noé, but you'll love the clever chow

Voice: Tastes Great, Less Filling

The food at Voice in the Hotel Icon is fabulous. Too bad the place is such a rip.

Simposio

An old favorite has opened at a new location, but is its upscale Northern Italian fare still worth the price?

Reef

Chef Bryan Caswell is putting a new spin on Gulf red snapper and serving up some fish you've never heard of

Bacon, Eggs and Barbera

Treat yourself to Mediterranean-inflected breakfast foods and some of the most amazing wine deals in town at Catalan

Bling-Bling Bordeaux

At Pappas Bros. Steakhouse, flashing your wad is the whole point

Spy vs. Spy

Our restaurant critic gets busted at Gravitas, so we send in our counterintelligence team

Crispy Muc, Tender Bo

There's a thrilling new Vietnamese restaurant on Bellaire with a menu that reads like a mystery

Letters

There's a thrilling new Vietnamese restaurant on Bellaire with a menu that reads like a mystery

Best Indian Restaurant

There's a thrilling new Vietnamese restaurant on Bellaire with a menu that reads like a mystery

Salad Days

La Colombe d'Or

Monica Hits Midtown

Pope's new restaurant is flat-out brilliant

Terrible Ciao

A tide of jamlike red sauce splashes over the cuisine at Terra Bosco's

Best Indian Restaurant

Restaurant Indika

Best Place for a First Date

Backstreet Cafe

Is Zin In?

Zack Ateyea gives up the ghost of continental cuisine and bets the bank on a California red

Best Malaysian Restaurant

Malaysia Restaurant

Truth in Advertising

Daniel Wong's Kitchen

America's Volume Dealer

The Zagat Survey spits out large amounts of data, not informed criticism

Treat Mom Right on Mother's Day

Mother's Day is quickly approaching, and if you've already made plans to take your dear, sainted mother out to a lovely meal on Sunday...wonderful! You're ahead of about 90 percent of us. Make us all look bad, why don't you? If you're like the rest of us, you're probably still trying to deci ... More >>

Upcoming Events

Photo by Troy Fields Pizza at Bistro Don CamilloThe heat is already on this summer, so take advantage of the cool air conditioning and the cool deals going on at some of your favorite restaurants. Fleming's Steakhouse will be offering special deals starting June 23. The summer prix fixe ... More >>

Washington Ave. Revisited

Forget what I said about Catalan – Chris Shepherd is one of the top toques in Texas.

Lingering Over Lunch: Rioja's

Photo by Robb Walsh​Fine dining establishments are suffering in these days of the downturn. But as we've mentioned many a time before, the best restaurants in the city have some of the choicest lunch specials. Bistro Don Camillo's business lunch, an appetizer, entrée and dessert for $18.95 is ... More >>

Branch Water Tavern: The Best New Restaurant Not Open Yet?

​Branch Water Tavern at 510 Shepherd will be a new American tavern with outstanding whiskeys, microbrewery beers and one of the hottest chefs in the city behind the stove. CIA grad David Grossman used to cook at Gravitas and Reef. Before that, he worked with the legendary Alfred Portale at Got ... More >>

Top 11 Houston Restaurant Openings of the Decade

Since I started my job as restaurant critic of the Houston Press in May of 2000, I've had a chance to observe the Houston restaurant scene for just about the entire decade. Our fine dining scene has evolved in the last ten years, and so have our ethnic cuisines. Houston became the birthplace of some ... More >>

Braving The Crowds On New Year's Eve? Here's Where To Do It

​So you've decided not to take any of our advice to stay home on New Year's Eve and cook a nice, memorable dinner. You're either brave or foolhardy and have somehow come to the conclusion that it's an awesome idea to ford the river of amateurs and drunks that will be coursing through the stree ... More >>

Duck Fat: the New Butter

Is the theme of the awesome Branch Water Tavern "fatty foods for lean times"?

Bella Italiano

Is the theme of the awesome Branch Water Tavern "fatty foods for lean times"?

Sampler Plate: This Week In Food Blogs

Each week, we put together a sampler plate of the most interesting links from both local and national food blogs. Know a blog we should be paying particular attention to? Leave the address in the comments section below. The Mighty Rib: It's always refreshing to see new food blogs in town, and I lik ... More >>

Bailey's Shutters Seabrook Location; New Venture Planned

You'll have to get your banana pudding fix at Sudie's for now.​The second shocking shuttering of the week -- after the discouraging closure of the wonderful Sabetta Cafe & Bar -- took place in Seabrook, when employees showed up to Bailey's American Grille on Monday to find it closed after thre ... More >>

Stretch That Dining Dollar: Eat Fancy at Lunch

Photo by Kent WangEat like a prince at Da Marco (on a pauper's salary).​At Da Marco, as I ate the last, sweet bites of my antelope paillard -- the barely gamy meat pounded thin and just slightly crispy at the edges, draped with caramelized peppers and finished off with a beautiful mound of flu ... More >>

It's the Final Countdown

2011 is almost here — how will you ring it in?

Another Day, Another National "Best of" List That Mostly Ignores Houston

Photo by Troy FieldsCrispy-skinned snapper at Reef.​According to The Daily Meal, Texas is still primarily home to barbecue and Tex-Mex. Oh, and, okay, maybe a little bit of seafood. The national food website released its list of The 101 Best Restaurants in America this morning, and, as expect ... More >>

Chef Chat, Part 3: Greg Lowry of VOICE

Caprese salad.​Before last week, I had never eaten at the restaurant inside the Hotel Icon - not when it was Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Bank, and not when Michael Kramer was the executive chef of VOICE. So I can't comment on what Houston may have lost in the way of fine dining. All I can say ... More >>

Zelko Bistro Puts Female Winemakers and Craft Beer Front and Center

Photo by Tam VoChef Jamie Zelko.​Zelko Bistro, although it's only been open for less than two years, has already garnered a reputation for its wine list: Aggressively priced, the list offers an excellent selection of wines between $28 and $46 a bottle. Chef and owner Jamie Zelko wanted it that ... More >>

Houston Restaurant Week's Best Bangs for Your Bucks

​There have been a few significant changes to this year's Houston Restaurant Week, the annual fundraising-through-dining event that benefits the Houston Food Bank. Most noticeably, the event will run throughout the entire month of August (making it "Houston Restaurant Month," technically, but ... More >>

Restaurant Week Sneak Peek: Philippe

Christina UticoneSweet rock baby shrimp salad​Houston Restaurant Week is better than Christmas -- there, I said it. Last year my husband and I went crazy trying new restaurants, finding many of our favorites through the Restaurant Week event. This is the gift that keeps on giving (and I'm coun ... More >>

Despite Blue Laws, Texas Sommelier Conference Opens on Schedule

​"You'll note that there are pastries in the foyer," said Master Sommelier James Tidwell, as he and Houston's own Master Sommelier, Drew Hendricks, opened the Texas Sommelier Conference promptly at 9 a.m. yesterday morning at the Four Seasons Las Colinas Resort in Irving, Texas. The two co-fou ... More >>

Tasting Notes: This Week in Wine Blogs

​Eats Blog: Texas has a new top sommelier, and his name is Bill Elsey (right), winner of the "best sommelier in Texas" competition held each year at the Texas Sommelier Conference. The title was conferred late yesterday afternoon in Irving, Texas on the last day of the event, and the news spre ... More >>

Dining Out on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

elitemom.net​It's allegedly the most wonderful time of the year. But we're guessing whomever penned that phrase never spent Christmas Eve amid the pandemonium of wide-eyed, frantic shoppers desperately trying to cross those last few names off of the shopping list, or stayed up until the wee ... More >>

Odd Pair: Sushi and Wine (a Preview of Uchi's Wine List)

Photos by Jeremy Parzen.Uchi's executive chef Tyson Cole's cooking combines the traditional, experimental, and ambitious in a marriage of eastern and western gastronomy. But what about his wine list?​There's a lot riding on the launch of the new Uchi in Houston. Tyson Cole's Austin outposts -- ... More >>