South Houston

Openings & Closings: Pico's Mex-Mex and More Are Movin' On Up

If this week's roundup of openings and closings had a theme song, it would be "Movin' On Up" from The Jeffersons. Pico's Mex-Mex is doing just that, by vacating its old Bellaire location to move into the recently closed Maggie Rita's at Richmond and Kirby. The Houston Chronicle's Alison Cook broke ... More >>

Mama Tried: Backwoods Electric Country From the Wilds of South Houston

With a name like Mama Tried, you'd expect nothing less than the most quintessential sounds of Merle Haggard in his prime, but this South Houston five-piece is a scruffier, much faster version of the Hag. One look at Blake Plsek (banjo/harmonica) and Jason "J-Bone" White (dobro/guitar) and you'd ... More >>

Crazy for Crawfish

Houston's 10 best mudbug joints.

Top 10 Restaurants Near Hobby Airport

One of the questions I get most frequently from friends who travel is this: Why isn't there anywhere to eat around Hobby Airport? To which I say: There are lots of places. You're not looking hard enough. Hobby is one of those parts of town that requires a finer-toothed comb than, say, the Montrose ... More >>

Burgers Off the Beaten Path: Taqueria Taconmadre

For a taqueria slinging al pastor tacos, there's a disarmingly small-town Americana vibe at Taqueria Taconmadre. This isn't the bright green Taconmadre bus that many Houstonians visit regularly for their fix of breadbox-sized burritos, but rather the bright orange taqueria on Edgebrook just outside ... More >>

All 52 Restaurant Reviews of 2012, Broken Down and Mapped Out

View 2012 Restaurant Reviews in a larger map. In 2012, I reviewed 50 restaurants. Jeremy Parzen and Mai Pham graciously stepped in when I went on vacation two weeks, filling in for me and each writing a full restaurant review of their own. Together, the three of us wrote one restaurant review for e ... More >>

Saturday: The American Heist, Venomous Maximus Rawk Dallas' Riot Fest

Riot Fest Gexa Energy Pavilion, Dallas Saturday, September 22 See "The People of Riot Fest 2012" in our sister paper Dallas Observer's slideshow. If you couldn't get enough of Rise Against and The Gaslight Anthem the other night -- and were willing to drive four hours up to Dallas -- the first Tex ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes 2012: No. 8, Pho at Pho Binh

This year leading up to our annual Best of Houston® issue, we're counting down our 100 favorite dishes in Houston. This list comprises our favorite dishes from the last year, dishes that are essential to Houston's cultural landscape and/or dishes that any visitor (or resident) should try at least o ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes 2012: No. 42, Frito Pie at C&D Burger Shoppe

This year leading up to our annual Best of Houston® issue, we're counting down our 100 favorite dishes in Houston. This list comprises our favorite dishes from the last year, dishes that are essential to Houston's cultural landscape and/or dishes that any visitor (or resident) should try at least o ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes 2012: No. 48, Malted Waffle at City Cafe

This year leading up to our annual Best of Houston® issue, we're counting down our 100 favorite dishes in Houston. This list comprises our favorite dishes from the last year, dishes that are essential to Houston's cultural landscape and/or dishes that any visitor (or resident) should try at least o ... More >>

Served With a Side of Nostalgia: Houston's Top 10 Time Warp Restaurants

There are restaurants which evoke a strong sense of nostalgia, even if you've never dined there before. You can look around at the picture-lined walls or the spots near the counter where the linoleum has rubbed away and know that you are only a small speck of the humanity that this place has served ... More >>

This Week in Deliciousness

Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where we're going to try to organize an anti-SOPA fundraiser. Here's how it would go: the menu consists of SOPA-pillas, delicious Mexican batter envelopes served with honey and sugar. But seconds after your waiter brings you your SOPA-pill ... More >>

CFS and a Cigarette

City Cafe, an old-school diner in South Houston, still turns out a stellar breakfast.

Chicken Fried Steak and a Cigarette at City Cafe

Glenn Livet and I both unwittingly covered two South Houston classics this week: He in a dive bar post about Bonnie's and me in a review of City Cafe. Both establishments are notable for several reasons: they are long-lived, they are full of character (and characters) and they both still allow smok ... More >>

The 7 Deadly Queues: Restaurants Where You'll Always Have to Wait in Line

Photo by Ronald WoanThe longest line of them all...​I greeted last week's news of a second Banana Leaf with a bittersweet kind of joy. It's sad to lose the only good Chinese halal restaurant in Chinatown, but if the trade-off is getting another Banana Leaf location...then I guess it's almost a ... More >>

Pasadena, Home to Some Sickos, Is Also a Nifty Place to Retire

Retire to this in Pasadena.​The economy blows, especially for old folks, who aren't as able to kick it with an umbrella drink at some beachside hang like in the old days. No worries, according to Tom Corley, author of The Top 100 Cheapest Places to Retire in the U.S. in 2012. Instead of sink ... More >>

Dust in the Wind

If you've even heard of South Houston's Depot Saloon, your nickname is probably "Friend."

Police Station Parking Lot, 11 a.m.: Man Caught Smoking Weed While Waiting For A Friend

Google mapsA good place to flare up​You're in the tiny parking lot outside the South Houston jail and police station, waiting for a friend who's visiting an inamte. It's 11 a.m., you're halfway through your 40-ounce, so naturally it hits you: Great place to light up a joint!! Amazingly, this ... More >>

Your Shameful Musical Secrets Collected: #gotcha!

​For the past few days on Twitter, Rocks Off has been imploring our followers, our precious 3,250 friends (and counting), to tell us their shameful musical secrets by using the hashtag #shamefulafternoonsecrets or #shamefulmorningsecrets, the latter which could sound like a sordid booty call h ... More >>

Play Frisbee, Have a Picnic, Catch Some Catfish

Catching catfish as a kid with our ranch hand, Billy Garrett.​The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is about to give Houstonians another activity at their local parks: fishing. Now, plenty of folks already fish at parks around Houston. My personal favorite spot is at River Terrace Pa ... More >>

South Houston Eighth Graders Tell Us What Music Is Good

​Teaching is often cast as a thankless, glamour-free job. Nothing could be further from the truth. For the past five years, Rocks Off has taught at a Title 1 (read: poor) school in Hispanic-heavy South Houston. We've been thanked several times for several things. And we've been to several 4- ... More >>

Live Music in Pearland

Can suburb support a concert venue?

Anthony Bourdain: "There Has Never Been a Better Time to Eat in America"

Anthony Bourdain is a man who requires little introduction. The author of Kitchen Confidential -- the book published almost exactly 10 years ago, which catapulted him to fame -- and host of popular TV shows like A Cook's Tour and No Reservations, Bourdain is the prototypical bad-boy chef, Marco Pier ... More >>

Food Fight: Battle Éclair

Photos by Ruthie JohnsonThierry André Tellier Café's version on the left, French Riviera Bakery's on the right. ​Someone once said that an éclair is "a cake long in shape, but short in duration," and with him I have to agree. I have always loved this treat, with its pillowy pastry and smoot ... More >>

Sunday Afternoon at Mi Tienda

For more photos, check out our slideshow.​Whoever said you can't spend a pleasant afternoon in South Houston hasn't been to Mi Tienda (or to Pho Binh, but that's a different blog post altogether). The Hispanic-centric concept store from H-E-B opened on Spencer Highway in 2006 and has been pack ... More >>

Pho Binh on Beamer

​In this week's Café review, we visit the funky trailer in South Houston that everybody who loves pho raves about. ​The front room only has three tables, but it's a good place to sit because when no one is looking, you can sneak into the kitchen, which is right behind the cashier, and ... More >>

Where You @?

​South Houston is home to one of the most culturally diverse neighborhoods in Houston, Sagemont. There is a dense population of Vietnamese in this area, and as a result, a fantastic selection of great Asian food. T@pioca is a little Vietnamese banh mi, yogurt, and bubble tea dive on Fuqua and ... More >>

Noodles You Need to Know About

Photos by Robb Walsh​I got a medium pho with steak and brisket at Pho Binh at 10815 Beechnut for lunch the other day. I was coming down with a cold and it worked at least as well as chicken soup. Pho Binh on Beechnut is located in a shopping center. It was the winner of Best Pho in the 2007 Ho ... More >>

Houston Breakfasts vs. Austin Breakfasts

Photo by Robb Walsh​This plate of huevos rancheros with bacon and homemade flour tortillas set me back $2.29 at Taqueria Jesus Maria in South Houston. You can breakfast equally well at dozens of other taquerias all over town -- Kiko's on Fulton and Pancho Villa's on Wilcrest both charge $2.99. ... More >>

Drunk Drivers: Here's The Person Who's Giving You Hope

Slideshow: High School Photo Contest

Illegal Immigrants in the Restaurant Industry

Mexican immigrant Hugo Ortega went from washing dishes to owning Houston's best Mexican restaurant — now he has a few things to say about immigration

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.

Life on the Sunny Side

A lucky few homeless people experience life ten miles out from the Pierce Elevated

Dead End

Downtown redevelopment and economic doldrums are taking Houston’s homeless into even harder times

Going off the Rails

A proposed line into the Bayport Industrial District has residents from Clear Lake to the East End vowing to stop the "toxic train" in its tracks

Paper Chase

Jason Flores just wants his freedom. The only problems: Cops and that other Jason Flores.

Clinic at Death's Door

With a local Democratic Party official at the helm, an AIDS agency nears collapse

Da Bombing

The postering of West Gray

New Wave Good-bye

Houston's The Shivers ready for Austin

Up To Date on '98

Letters

Letters

Letters

Letters

Under Siege

City Council took away South Houston Mayor Cipriano Romano's keys. They took away his secretary. They told the 27-year-old he can't use the fax or copy machine after hours. Now they're ready to impeach him.

East End Transit

Why have bus lines to Mexico bloomed all across the East End? Maybe because it's a family affair.

A Sense of Placement

Remember your mother telling you there's a place for everything, and everything should be in its place? Well, Houston feng shui master Zeng Geng Zeng says she was right.

The Private Life and Public Death of Frank Koury

Frank Koury wanted to keep his gay life at home and his legal life at Fulbright & Jaworski separated. But when he died, everything was revealed.

Impeaching South Houston

South Houston Mayor Dennis Cordray has been run out of office... and his town isn't doing so hot either.