Welcome to the seventh part of a series where we showcase the noteworthy food and drink experiences of a very weird year. In the spirit of the holidays, it's also a very special collaboration between the food writers of the Houston Press and Houston Food Finder, the online publication founded by former Houston Press restaurant critic and food editor Phaedra Cook. This seventh edition covers some of our writers' favorite delivery and to-go experiences. Part eight will cover cocktails and spirits.
Favorite Delivery
In March, when restaurant dining rooms were closed to help fight the spread of coronavirus, many establishments shifted to delivery. Some used third-party apps, others opted to employ their staff for direct delivery (and some did both). Since delivery options were often limited by distance, it was difficult to sample many of the diverse options Houston offers, but here are a few of our favorites.
Bravery Chef Hall, 409 Travis: When the COVID-19 closures hit, this well-appointed food hall quickly pivoted to direct delivery by its own employees, offering a diverse array of cuisines from its eight food stands. Customers can mix-and-match modern Vietnamese from
Christine Ha's The Blind Goat with
Cherry Block Craft Butcher + Kitchen's decadent
CB Burger or
Kokoro's well-executed sushi with a bowl of
BOH's housemade pasta and
beef empanadas from
David Guerrero's
Andes Café (or all of the above). There are options for everyone, and the food arrives promptly. Curbside pickup and dine-in are also available.
Click Virtual Food Hall, 4901 Rose: Helmed by chef and Kata Robata-alum
Gabe Medina, this ghost kitchen was offering delivery in the before-times. Now,
its delivery is a comforting go-to in this age of limited dine-in. With ten virtual “restaurants” — including collaborations with
burger-chan and
Ninja Ramen — operating out of one blue bungalow, there are delicious dishes to suit just about any palate, which is particularly useful for families.
Phat Kitchen, 2616 Blodgett: Combining favorites from Katy's
Phat Eatery,
Alex Au-Yeung's Malaysian restaurant, with soon-to-be favorites from
YELO,
Cuc Lam's forthcoming bricks-and-mortar bánh mì shop, Phat Kitchen is offering inside-the-Loop residents the chefs' acclaimed dishes for delivery and takeout. Order the piquant and crunchy
Char Siu Xiu Mai Bánh Mí, the warming
Chicken Curry Noodle Soup and a hearty
Beef Rendang Roti Taco, then prepare to enjoy a much-deserved feast in the comfort of your own home. —
David Leftwich, associate editor, Houston Food Finder
Favorite Family Meal To Go
click to enlarge Kim Son's Simple Dinner Salad with shrimp.
Photo by Tao La.
Takeout may have been a necessity this year, but it wasn’t always affordable, especially for families. For those who didn’t have the option of cooking everyday, some Houston restaurants came up with creative ways to provide homey, everyday takeout meals for less.
Kim Son, 10603 Bellaire: With 37,000 square foot of restaurant and event space at the Bellaire location alone (Kim Son has three locations), rent to pay and employees to take care of, restaurateur
Tao La didn’t just have expenses to consider, but also the employees whose families depended on him. So he devised a way to keep his staff employed and Houston-area families fed, introducing a take-out-only “Simple Family Dinner” for four, priced at an incredibly reasonable $28. To give people variety, as well as a reason to order each day, he posted a new menu every Sunday for each day of the following week. Some days there was
bo luc lac, or shaking beef, as the main, with
goi tom thit salad with pork and shrimp, a
stir-fried vegetable and maybe a
soup. Sundays were roll days —
spring rolls,
sausage rolls,
skewers and
finger foods. Offered from the beginning of lockdown until mid-November, the Simple Family Dinner, while it lasted, provided an incredible service to the community.
— Mai Pham, contributing writer, Houston Press
Favorite Food Truck
click to enlarge Think Tacos truck parked at Antidote Coffee.
Photo by David Leftwich.
Think Tacos, various locations: Biting into
Think Tacos' fluffy eggs laced with bacon and cheese has been like a warm, comforting embrace — something that's been much needed this year. Almost every Saturday during the pandemic, after my trip to
Urban Harvest's farmers market, I've pulled into the parking lot of
Antidote Coffee, where Think's red and blue striped white bus was parked, and bought
breakfast tacos to take home to my wife and daughter. In addition to a variety of breakfast tacos, which come with both a fiery red salsa and a piquant green, Think Tacos offers
street tacos and
quesadillas with a choice of fillings such as
pastor, carnitas and fajitas, plus truck specialty
Candi's Potatoes — a decadent combination of fried potatoes, cheese, onions and cilantro. On Fridays, owner
Candido Serrano fires up a stew pot and sells
tacos birria at
Black Hole Coffee from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and at
Heights Bier Garten from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. To keep up with other locations and occasional specials, such as
lengua and
barbacoa, follow
Think Tacos on social media. —
David Leftwich, associate editor, Houston Food Finder
Favorite Takeout
click to enlarge Thai food spread from Street to Kitchen.
Photo by Kirsten Gilliam.
With the dining world turned upside down, restaurants offering takeout are definitely having a moment. In Houston, that includes a date-night favorite that tastes just as good at home and a sizzling new Thai kitchen rocking a Theodore Rex alum and a drive-thru takeout window.
Squable, 632 West 19th: The butter-rich, raclette-smothered
French Cheeseburger at this date night-spot absolutely holds up in a takeout setting, so long as you polish it off the second you reach your dining room table (which is not hard to do). The restaurant was quick to add an easy online ordering system and convenient curbside pickup process when restaurant dining rooms closed, and it’s still in place along with Squable's reopened dine-in service. Take advantage and score that burger, plus house favorites such as
marinated mussels toast and
fusilli a la béarnaise (or whichever pasta this talented team led by
Mark Clayton,
Drew Gimma and
Terry Williams is serving). Oh, there are to-go brunch offerings, too.
Street to Kitchen, 6501 Harrisburg: Chef
Benchawan “G” Jabthong Painter refers to the food at her newly opened East End kitchen as “unapologetically, authentically Thai.” That means no subpar ingredients, no saccharine sauces and no chicken in your
pad Thai — though, there will be plump Gulf shrimp. The kitchen was initially open for just delivery and takeout from its drive-thru window but has since added socially distanced dining on the patio. Visit to pick up traditional
laarb (a northeastern Thai salad with chicken, chili, garlic, cracked rice and more), fiery
Drunken Noodles, and Painter’s addicting
Thai-style fried chicken. —
Brooke Viggiano, contributing writer, Houston Press