Best of Houston® 2020

Best Food Hall: Bravery Chef Hall Even before it opened, it was more than just a food hall. Bravery Chef Hall was designed to showcase Houston’s incredible culinary talent, and it serves that up in spades. Curated by owner and founder Anh Mai, each of the chef’s counters is a...

Table-side service by chef Austin Waiter — one of the hallmarks of great service at Tony's.

Best of Houston® 2020: Best Service

By Houston Press

Best Service: Tony’s The country at large has been experiencing a service shortage for the past several years now, and Houston is no different. With so many new restaurants opening, and a small pool of servers, you’ll often see your favorite server or manager from one restaurant appear at a...

An outstanding part of a rustic Italian menu.

Best Of Houston® 2020: Best Pizza

By Houston Press

Best Pizza: Coltivare Pizza & Garden This city has seen, in the past few years, an increase in quality pizza kitchens slinging artisan pies on wood-fired crusts. Respectable pizzerias of every variety, from chef-focused concepts sourcing exotic ingredients to mom-and-pop hole-in-the-walls tossing simple feel-good pizza. Some honorable mentions include the...

Oozing with butter and raclette cheese, Squable's French cheeseburger is a stunner.

Best Of Houston® 2020: Best Burger

By Houston Press

Best Burger: Squable It’s only been around since last spring, but this bodacious burger has already secured its spot in Houston’s Burger Hall of Fame. Created by Squable’s Mark Clayton and Drew Gimma, the “French Cheeseburger” features a fat, ultra-moist Augustus Ranch beef patty (done medium-rare unless you specify otherwise…we...

Travis Scott at the 2019 Astroworld Festival.

Best of Houston® 2020: Best Music Festival

By Houston Press

Best Music Festival: Astroworld Festival A note about crowning Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival Houston’s best music fest: It’s not simply by default. True, the hometown hip-hop hero’s music-filled ode to the bygone amusement park stands as tall and nearly as singular as the Texas Cyclone. But even a music landscape...

Readers picked this as the best place to transform in the Best Category We Forgot.

Best Of Houston® 2020: Best Category We Forgot

By Houston Press

Best Category We Forgot: Best Spa - Bare Necessities Spa & Boutique Over the years, Bare Necessities has won many awards, including from the Houston Press. So it was no special surprise when our readers in the Readers' Choice portion of this year's Best Of Houston®, picked Best Spa as...

Bamboo House's Peking duck is phenomenal.

Best of Houston® 2020: Best Chinese

By Houston Press

Best Chinese: Bamboo House Houston It says a lot when a location that’s notoriously difficult to fill becomes a magnet for hungry foodies, but that’s what Bamboo House Houston, the second location of the Peking duck specialist in Humble, has become. Tucked away in the corner of the strip mall...

Peruvian ceviche is a signature dish at Pacha Nikkei.

Best of Houston® 2020: Best Ceviche

By Houston Press

Best Ceviche: Pacha Nikkei Ceviche is the national dish of Peru, so when chef Masaru Fukuda, who was born in Lima, debuted Japanese-Peruvian food stand Pacha Nikkei at Politan Row food hall in Rice Village, it was a given that ceviche would feature on the menu. And sure enough, ceviche...

General Manager Adele Corrigan leads the pack of talented staff behind the bar.

Best Of Houston® 2020: Best Wine Bar

By Houston Press

Best Wine Bar: 13 Celsius For Houstonians, 13 Celsius has come to embody all the things we desire in an enoteca. Ambiance. A killer wine list. Friendly, educated staff with excellent service. Salumi sliced thin to order. And that one-of-a-kind scent of sweet, malt-sugar wafting from the fortune cookie factory...

Fall in love with La Sicilia Italian Bakery & Cafe.

Best Of Houston® 2020: Best Bakery

By Houston Press

Best Bakery: La Sicilia Italian Bakery & Cafe With its charming storefront located on lower Westheimer, La Sicilia backs up the optics with expert pastry technique, perhaps best proven in the folds of a sfogliatella . Grandiose pastries, both sweet and savory, push the limits of what’s deemed “regular” in this...

Best of Houston® 2020: Best Live Venue (Small)

By Houston Press

Best Live Venue (Small): White Oak Music Hall The subtle irony to the tiff between White Oak Music Hall and its residential neighbors is that the concert venue actually feels a little like a residence. It recalls youthful visits to the homes of especially cool relatives, houses filled with artsy...

Best Of Houston® 2020: Best Beer List

By Houston Press

Jan 28, 2020

Best Beer List: The Ginger Man “It’s hard to separate a good beer list from the place that you’re drinking the beer,” said a chap at the bar who’s been frequenting The Ginger Man for 25 years, not just because he loves beer, but because he likes going there. For...

El Tiempo Cantina never fails to impress.

Best Of Houston® 2020: Best Tex-Mex

By Houston Press

Jan 28, 2020

Best Tex-Mex: El Tiempo Cantina Admit it. Great-Aunt Janet comes to town and wants to get down on some dope Tex-Mex, where do you take her? Exactly. El Tiempo Cantina continues to make the magic happen night after night. Appetites perk moments upon entering as the sound of roasting meats...

Julep is a cocktail bar that crafts in modern southern style, backed up by top-notch technique.

Best Of Houston® 2020: Best Bar

By Houston Press

Jan 28, 2020

Best Bar: Julep White lace and a frosted, silver cup—Julep is the sexiest bar in Houston from top to bottom. Owner Alba Huerta leads a talented staff of individuals where no shortcuts are taken and special care is given to the simplest of details. In the past five years Julep...

At Best Sushi winner MF Sushi, chef Chris Kinjo prepares sushi for an omakase dinner.

Best of Houston® 2020: Best Sushi

By Houston Press

Best Sushi: MF Sushi Tuesday nights are hopping at MF Sushi in the Museum District. But then again, so are Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The reason? Compared to other sushi restaurants in Houston, the quality and style of MF is said to be the closest you can get to...

The Blood Bros. crew makes it look easy.

Best of Houston® 2020: Best Barbecue

By Houston Press

Best Barbecue: Blood Bros. BBQ In a town where the national and (let's be honest) local food media rarely deviate from praising a handful of beloved chefs, three lifelong friends from Alief appeared seemingly out of nowhere to steal the national spotlight and redefine Texas barbecue. The culinary and cultural...

Breakfast is served all-day at this globally inspired chef's take on a diner.

Best Of Houston® 2020: Best Breakfast

By Houston Press

Best Breakfast: Atlas Diner Located in the super cool Bravery Chef Hall in Downtown’s Aris Market Square, this 1940s-style, globally inspired diner concept was originally the brainchild of highly revered chef Richard Knight (you may remember him from his excellent work at nose-to-tail spot Feast and Hunky Dory). As Knight...

Best of Houston® 2020: Best Record Store

By Houston Press