Comings and Not Goings
The Rumor Mill: Forget whatever you've heard about the hot new Daily Review Cafe having to find new quarters. Ain't so,... More >>
Poor me. I drove by Mandola's Deli for eight years without stopping. And no wonder: the blank brick facade of this windowless East End lunch spot... More >>
Backstreet Cafe outgrows its niche as a fair-weather favorite
By Alison Cook,
February 16, 1995
Once upon a time, the Backstreet Cafe rarely entered my mind unless someone said, "It's such a beautiful day, why don't we eat outside?" Then and... More >>
Truffle Stop
All crisp black and white under its eccentric deep-rose ceiling, DaCapo's three-table bakery-cafe brings an assortment of modest... More >>
New Menu Blues
There are new menus and New Menus. At Americas, where Nicaraguan-born Michael Cordua has experimented so deftly and originally... More >>
Daily Review has the foodies alerted, and for good reason
By Alison Cook,
January 12, 1995
Word of mouth comes to a fast boil on the foodie circuit: if this is January 1995, any Inner Loopster worth his Kosher salt can be found at the... More >>
The flavors of China's Lower Yangtze flow into Houston
By Alison Cook,
December 15, 1994
Rejoice, all ye Chinese-food buffs: an early holiday present awaits you at Diho Square -- Houston's new center of gravity for serious Chinese... More >>
At this time of year, solace and fortitude are more liable to be found steaming in a soup bowl than sitting naked on a plate. There is no set of... More >>
I hate to say I told you so, but the new-and-improved Abdallah's is further evidence of my theory that Middle Eastern spots turn out the most... More >>
It had been years since I'd eaten at La Strada. For quite some time, venturing east of Ruggles on lower Westheimer has seemed a bit too much like... More >>
A quest for all that's good and greasy in an American icon
By Alison Cook,
October 13, 1994
When is a burger not a burger? This is a riddle to which there is no longer an easy answer. Not since cholesterol consciousness and animal-fat... More >>
Houston's best undiscovered cuisine unfolds along the Hillcroft strip
By Alison Cook,
September 15, 1994
Connect the dots along a certain 12-block stretch of Hillcroft and you'll come up with Little Persia: Houston's latest ethnic commercial hub, a... More >>
Number One Males
Barbecued crabs, those splendid Texas Gulf Coast perversities, usually entail a trip to the raffish Bolivar Peninsula, where... More >>
The trouble with rushing off to brand-new restaurants is that occasionally you blunder into one that is not quite ready for prime time. My recent... More >>
Galveston Ho
It's that time of year when those of us who are not blessed with summer addresses in Aspen or Santa Fe start packing the car for... More >>
Chef Louis Cressy enlivens the Lancaster with his neo-Gulf Coast cuisine
By Alison Cook,
May 12, 1994
It's a pleasant -- and all too rare -- surprise when a restaurant you'd written off acquires a new lease on life. Yet that is exactly what has... More >>
Quintessence of Kebab
For years I thought that of Houston's ethnic eateries, Indian places were the most consistent. Nowadays the honors go to... More >>
Top 10
New restaurants and bars are opening in downtown Houston faster than we can keep up, thanks to a renaissance around the Market Square Park area that's bringing new life… More >>
Here, Eat This
Vietnamese cuisine has become one of Houston's favorite over the past few decades — coinciding with the large influx of Vietnamese immigrants that began following the Vietnam War… More >>
It's been more than a century since the first Tex-Mex restaurant opened in Houston. George Caldwell brought The Original Mexican Restaurant to our city in 1907, influenced — most agree… More >>
The 10 Best Downtown Restaurants
The Pho-ndamentals
Todo con Queso
