Let's get one thing straight: Houston has a pretty rockin' restaurant scene.
This is largely thanks to the sheer number of restaurants we have in town (by some estimates, one of the highest numbers per capita in the country) and the huge variety of ethnic food available.
Still, there are some areas for improvement. We asked the Twitterverse what they think the Houston bar and restaurant scene is lacking, and responses poured in. Pizza and authentic Thai food were two popular suggestions, along with nose-to-tail restaurants (RIP, Feast), Eastern European fare and anything worthy of two-to-three Michelin stars.
Based on your suggestions and our own unsatisfied cravings, we've compiled a list of what this great city is still missing, restaurant-wise. We're fairly certain that if we could just master this few areas...we'd be pretty darn near perfect.
5. Downtown Nightlife With the exception of the 300 block of Main Street and Market Square Park, Downtown Houston is pretty lackluster. Drive any out of town visitor from New York, Chicago or even cities like St. Louis or San Antonio, and they'll be confused by the absence of after-hours happenings downtown. The majority of Downtown Houston is made up of office buildings and parking garages, all of which shut down after dark, leaving most of the area a wasteland. The revitalization of Main Street and Market Square Park is definitely helping the matter, but there's still a large area between there and Midtown that only sees action during the day. For the fourth-largest city in the country, the vast majority of our downtown sure isn't that exciting.
4. Moroccan Food Houston used to have a few Moroccan restaurants, but they slowly shuttered, and with them went our North African feasts filled with tagines, couscous and orange flower water. Moroccan food is surprisingly approachable; One of the most popular dishes in the country is chicken with lemons and green olives cooked in a tagine, a traditional pot with a conical top (tagine is also the name of the dish). Houstonians would love that! We'd also love pastillas--essentially meat pies--lamb cooked with prunes, preserved lemons, vegetable couscous and sweet treats made with a multitude of almond paste. So where are all the great Moroccan restaurants?
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