Saigon

Sad You Aren't at SXSW? Here's What You Could Be Missing...

Awwwww, I know it is a shame you aren't here with us at SXSW in Austin. I can only imagine the aching and longing in your heart for walking aimlessly and standing in long lines for no reason, and sweating through your cardigan to see a band you heard on one of the Twilight soundtracks. You don't w ... More >>

Go West, Young Man

The top 10 restaurants in Westchase.

Grading XXL's Past 5 "Freshman 10" Classes

Apparently there are still rappers who want to make the XXL Freshman 10 class this year. Take Riff Raff, for example. He wants it so badly that he has been following everyone on Twitter who votes for him in the contest. The magazine began running its annual list of noteworthy, "undiscovered" rappe ... More >>

Pho to Ramen, Bulgogi to Bo 7 Mon

The top 10 restaurants in Chinatown.

Top 10 Restaurants in Midtown

Although Midtown may be more well-known for its bars and late-night clubs, there isn't a shortage of good food to be found -- even if the neighborhood is steadily losing many of the Vietnamese restaurants that once saturated the area. In keeping with Midtown's current incarnation as the drinking-ou ... More >>

Sampling Over 60 Restaurants at the 7th Annual Feast with the Beasts

Check out our pics from the Houston Zoo in our Feast With The Beasts slideshow. There were lions, cougars, giraffes, snakes, elephants, a rooster and more. Plenty of animals and plenty of food -- exactly what you'd expect to find at the Houston Zoo's 7th annual Feast with the Beasts. This past Fr ... More >>

Openings & Closings: Istanbul Is Constantinople

The big news this past week was the closing of Pesce, the longtime River Oaks seafood spot at Kirby and West Alabama owned by Landry's (Harlow's somehow stays open, yet Pesce gets closed? Go figure.). In its place, yet another Brio Tuscan Grille is moving in. No word on what will become of Mark Holl ... More >>

Burger Bracket 2012: The Elite 8

Between our last Burger Bracket 2012 announcement and today, we had an interesting development: The owners of H-Town StrEATs welcomed a beautiful baby boy into the world. The team is taking a well-deserved leave of absence, which means that H-Town StrEATs had to drop out of this year's competition. ... More >>

Chef Chat, Part 3: Junnajet "Jett" Hurapan of Blu - A Taste of Thai and More

Photos by Mai PhamChef Jett Hurapan's family recipe crispy whole fish with spicy tamarind sauce​The last two days, we've been chatting with Chef Jett Hurapan, who is currently at the helm of the fledgling Blu Restaurant and Lounge in Sugar Land. Today, we try his food. Before meeting Chef Je ... More >>

We Love Food

Our 100 favorite dishes in Houston.

The Rest of the Best: Houston's Top 5 Pho

For the next 20 weeks, we'll be rounding up the runners-up to our 2011 Best of Houston® winners. In many categories, picking each year's winner is no easy task. We'll be spotlighting 20 of those categories, in which the winner had hefty competition from other Houston bars and restaurants.

Openings & Closings: Shepherd on Draft

​Anyone who may have mourned the passing of Octane -- the coffee shop-cum-cafe in Garden Oaks -- will be pleased as punch to hear what's taking its place: Shepherd Park Draft House, a "pub/restaurant" which fills as much of a niche as Octane attempted to do. The bar will be located at 3402 N. ... More >>

Health Department Roundup

Operating a restaurant without the proper permits? Forget it, it's Chinatown.​The inspections of the past few days have resulted in just a few more closures/citations than we've seen in recent weeks. Not sure what led to the benevolence, but it might be at an end. This is potentially bad news ... More >>

Lesbian Video!! Get In on the Action!!

Get in on the action.​Are you a lesbian? Are you single? Do you live in Texas? Are you not freaked out by the idea of living your life online? No, we're not here to offer you a gig on our fledgling "erotica" Web site, but to tip you off to a casting call for thw web reality series Lezbeproud. ... More >>

Metro Etiquette

Five rules that should be added to light rail.

The Seven Most Memorable Rap Beatdowns

Wreckx-n-Effect went New Jack Swing on A Tribe Called Quest's Q-Tip in 1993.​When pop stars and Hollywood types need to settle a score, they take it to the courtroom. Hip-hop, however, operates by a different code: If you act up, you will get smacked up. Rocks Off was reminded of this when a m ... More >>

Nate Dogg's Seven Best Hooks Besides "Regulate"

​Hip-hop lost a genius late Tuesday, when Nate Dogg passed away from causes unknown in Long Beach, Calif. Maybe the man upstairs needed this OG, who was 41 and had suffered strokes in 2007 and '08, to sing hooks in the choir. Meanwhile, Nate's work here on Earth will live on in hip-hop histor ... More >>

Food Fight: Vietnamese Egg Rolls

Hollywood.​Fatty FatBastard wanted a Vietnamese egg roll battle. And what Fatty wants, that no-bean-loving bastard gets. He suggested I head to Hollywood Vietnamese and Chinese. I chose Pho Saigon Noodle House as the opponent. Let the battle begin. Hollywood For the sake of full disclosure ... More >>

Top Five Hip-Hop Foes Turned Friends

Marco Torres​Some rivalries are beyond repair. You'll never catch Kobe and Shaq trading smiles at a joint family picnic. 50 Cent and The Game will still be mugging at each other at the 2021 VH1 Hip-Hop Honors. Batman will always despise that sonamabitch The Joker. Truth be told, hip-hop is a ... More >>

Openings and Closings

The Queen, Barbara Windsor and her wig encourage you to try Houston's version of the Queen Vic pub.​Richard Di Virgilio, a man who already knows how to serve small, finely crafted plates of food at Oporto, has finally opened his second project just off Kirby: The Queen Vic Pub & Kitchen (2712 ... More >>

Dream Girls

Miss Saigon is still stunning in this TUTS production.

#98 "You Buy We Fry" Trout Basket at Hank's Fish Market 4319 Lockwood Fifth Ward

​Over the course of the next few months, I'm counting down 100 of my favorite Houston dishes. I chose some because they are such quintessential Houston creations, others for their cultural or historical significance, and others because they are just so damn tasty. Share your own nominations in ... More >>

Miss Saigon

The story of true love and helicopters

Get Out Your Hankies For TUTS' Miss Saigon

Photo courtesy Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre​Director Bruce Lumpkin is a Houston native bringing Miss Saigon back here for a five-week run with Theatre Under the Stars, after his first successful tour here in 1991. He says some people consider it an anti-war show, but it is that and more. "It's an ... More >>

Openings and Closings: 2009 Edition

​The year gone by marked some very exciting restaurant openings (such as Haven, Branchwater Tavern, Yelapa Playa Mexicana and Stella Sola) and some equally important closings (such as Cafe Annie, Bedford, Las Alamedas and Felix Mexican Restaurant). To close out the yea ... More >>

The 10 Best Places to Eat in Westchase

Unlike neighboring Memorial, the Westchase district of Houston -- which runs roughly down the spine of Westheimer from Gessner to Dairy Ashford -- is brimming with some of the city's best and (happily) least expensive ethnic restaurants. Although you could eat at a place like J. Alexander's or Le Pe ... More >>

Houston: One Tough Town for Noodles

​Tho Lam, a waiter at Pho One on Westheimer at Wilcrest, told me his life story the other day. Tho works for his parents Thamh Lam and Kim Oanh Vu who own the place. The name of the restaurant is a wordplay on his mom's middle name. Kim Oanh Vu comes from a famous pho family. Her father and Th ... More >>

Turning the Screw: Patrick Sims, Lil Wayne, Notorious, Suge Knight, Wale, Just Blaze, Devin the Dude, Klondike Kat and More

Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off's weekly rap post. It probably won't rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies. Single of the Week: "Chill," Patrick Sims Wire To Wire Weezy has announced an April release date for his forthc ... More >>

Turning the Screw: Soulbrotha, Slim Thug, Will Smith, Lil Wayne/Michael Phelps, Jodeci, DMX, MC Hammer, Yungstar and More

Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off's weekly rap post. It probably won't rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies. Single of the Week: "Viva La Revolucion," Soulbrotha Wire To Wire Slim Thug says March will be highlighted by the relea ... More >>

"Exit Saigon, Enter Little Saigon: Vietnamese America Since 1975"

This photography exhibit shows the journey one million refugees made

The Rough Guide to the Music of Vietnam; The Rough Guide to Latino Nuevo; The Rough Guide to Salsa ; Bokoor Beats; Bonde de Rolê, With Lasers; Kenge Kenge, Introducing Kenge Kenge; The Budos Band, II

Notable recent releases from beyond borders

Tale of Two Cities

Catholic priest John Chinh Tran re-created Vietnam's Thai Xuan Village in Houston with an iron hand. These days his control is slipping away.

Free At Last

A harrowing journey leads to America, and then to someplace better

Best Place to Pretend You're in the Hill Country

American Power

Phillip Noyce takes a timely look at Vietnam through the eyes of Graham Greene

The Year of Living Dangerously

Cinema 2002 counterbalanced a treacherous world

Roll Your Own

Saigon Pagolac's DIY Vietnamese fajitas may be a lot of work, but they're worth it

The Things We Still Carry

Vietnamese food served with a side of fresh perspectives

The Rise of Saigon

The musical makes a splashy regional debut despite an awkward launching pad

A Well-Rounded Production

Miss Saigon is more than just glitz and helicopters

Using Her Noodle

Liberty's Annie Wong can negotiate a tasty truce among even the most warring ingredients

An Ideal Place?

With a menu not quite as ambitious as its name, Vietopia is still a step or two away from nirvana

Elvis-American

The Asian Worldwide Elvis Fan Club Celebrates Elvis Week

Oh, Bui!

Three Seasons shows off a young director's purity and purpose

Class of '98

A reluctant retrospective

Press Picks

Vietnam, via Broadway

Despite its obvious flaws, Miss Saigon remains a must-see

Casualties of War

Houston's Vietnamese now call Texas home, but they continue to be haunted by ghosts of the conflict that drove them here

Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Have a Pepsi

Country Joe's still politically correct (sort of)

Vietnamese Variety

Song Long gets cooking with Vietnam's colonial heritage