Locations like Traveler’s Cart are gearing up for Houston Restaurant Weeks.
Diners, get your wallets prepared. Houston Restaurant Weeks (HRW) is again for its twenty second yr. The annual monthlong occasion, which runs from August 1 via September 1, is as soon as once more inviting diners to attempt prix-fixe menus from an estimated 400 eating places with a particular deal.
Diners can take pleasure in new dishes at a fraction of the standard price whereas supporting the Houston Meals Financial institution’s combat towards meals insecurity.
Final yr, HRW helped elevate greater than $22.5 million for the Houston Meals Financial institution, funding 68 million meals to these in want. This yr, the Cleverley Stone Basis, the nonprofit group backing the occasion, is switching issues up. In response to the rising prices within the meals and hospitality trade, the inspiration will donate $5 for each $55 dinner, which equates to fifteen meals financial institution meals, $3 for each $39 dinner (9 meals on the meals financial institution), and $1 for each $25 lunch or brunch meal (three meals).
In true Houstonia style, editors have their HRW hit checklist prepared, crammed with newcomers, classics, and severe bargains. Right here’s a information to among the finest offers and meals at HRW this yr.
5 New Eating places to Strive
Chardon
fourth ward
This French restaurant, which opened its doorways in February on the Thompson Lodge, has already grow to be a diner favourite due to its French delicacies ready with a Texas aptitude. This HRW will welcome Houston eating scene followers in for its $55 three-course dinner, which comes full with an epi baguette and chickpea panisse. The primary course contains highlights equivalent to its caramelized onion soup gratinée; smoked salmon rillettes served with horseradish and smoked trout roe; and a crab and endive Caesar, obtainable for an upcharge of $8. For the second course, select from the gnocchi Parisienne, an eight-ounce center-cut filet for an extra $25, a roast duck Montmorency for an additional $15, the seared yellowfin tuna, or the fried rooster paillard. If in search of one thing wealthy that goes properly with a glass of purple wine, don’t miss out on the meat cheek bourguignon. Dessert contains indulgences equivalent to the sunshine and ethereal inexperienced Chartreuse crème brulée and the irresistible profiteroles, which include salted caramel ice cream, Caramelia, and almond croquant. When you’re keen to splurge a bit of, attempt the Le Grand Macron Au Chocolat for an extra $6.
Ichijiku Sushi
asiatown
Drive on over to Asiatown to take pleasure in this Houston newcomer’s $39 four-course menu. Begin with dishes like truffle edamame, rooster karaage, shishito pepper, teriyaki rooster wings with Japanese barbecue sauce, and spicy tuna with crispy rice, earlier than shifting on to crudo for the second course. Diners can choose from kanpachi jalapeño, yuzu miso salmon, or sesame snapper, earlier than shifting on to a handroll or nigiri.
Finish the meal with one of many desserts: a warabi mochi with inexperienced tea ice cream; mochi ice cream; or a scoop of ice cream in flavors like yuzu or inexperienced tea.
Benefit from the spicy rigatoni at Maven Espresso & Cocktails throughout HRW.
Maven Espresso & Cocktails
sawyer yards
Maven doesn’t simply assist Houstonians gasoline their caffeine addictions these days. With this yr’s HRW, diners can take pleasure in a $55 four-course meal that goes past the idea’s espresso choices at its Sawyer Yards location.
Let the expertise start together with your alternative of a gazpacho shooter made up of chilled contemporary tomato and vegetable soup, oysters, or bread and burrata. Then, transfer on to the second course, which options the restaurant’s handheld Caesar salad cups lined with an anchovy-pepper relish, cauliflower rings with housemade barbecue sauce for dipping, or its fancy deviled eggs. The third course carries the burden, actually and figuratively. Highlights embrace a six-ounce steak with Au Poivre sauce, a spicy rigatoni, and a traditional cheeseburger. End with its tiramisu, an affogato for a candy ending with a caffeinated kick, or the s’mores cup (chocolate ganache ice cream, toasted meringue, and graham cracker crumble).
Diners can even check out Maven’s three-course brunch, which options chilaquiles, waffles with whipped cream and contemporary fruit, and croque madame. Finish with an non-compulsory pop tart, cinnamon roll, or banana bread.
Perseid
montrose
Nestled in Lodge Saint Augustine in Montrose, chef Aaron Bludorn’s latest restaurant is providing a well-rounded preview of its Houston-Frenchish choices throughout HRW. It’s $55 three-course dinner begins with a alternative of refreshing white gazpacho, smoked salmon dip, or a child lettuce salad made with peaches, hazelnuts, pecorino Romano, and roasted shallot French dressing. Perseid follows that up with choices like tomato risotto, steelhead trout, or rooster paillard, served with fingerling potatoes, piperade, and arugula salad. Dessert, which can also be included, is at all times a deal with, that includes decadent chocolate entremets, a sorbet trio with blackberry basil, mango, and passionfruit-coconut flavors, and a butter cake accompanied by blueberry coulis and lavender ice cream. The 2-course lunch menu options related choices.
The Jamaican jerk pork ribs are included in Traveler Cart’s HRW menu.
Traveler’s Cart
montrose
Additionally new to the HRW, this new Montrose restaurant is providing a three-course dinner with tender drinks or iced tea included for $39. Begin with dishes like butter rooster samosas, Puerto Rican carne frita, or the herbaceous Vietnamese beef lettuce wraps, earlier than digging into plates of shrimp pad Thai, miso-ginger salmon, spice-laden Jamaican jerk pork ribs, or the lomo saltado. Finish with mango purple sticky rice or the chocolate sticky toffee pudding.
Brunch and lunch are additionally obtainable, that includes dishes equivalent to pork quesabirria tacos, fish and chips, beef rendang, churros, Persian French toast, and pandan soufflé pancakes.
Except for nice offers on meals, Traveler’s Cart can also be internet hosting in-store weekly giveaways to interact with its visitors. Some prizes embrace baggage from Away in Highland Village, a keep on the 4 Seasons Lodge Houston, and flight credit score to Southwest Airways.
4 Basic Houston Eating places We Love
BCN Style & Custom
montrose
What higher option to take pleasure in HRW than by visiting a Michelin-starred restaurant? This beloved Montrose institution is providing a stacked three-course menu for $55 per individual, with seven choices only for its first course alone. Diners can select from dishes like its strawberry gazpacho, burrata salad, potatoes with spicy oil and aioli, Spanish octopus, or its beet-pistachio-raspberry ravioli salad. The second course is simply as spectacular, that includes grilled choices equivalent to salmon, filet mignon, duck breast, and its iconic branzino. Different favorites embrace the roasted fideo pasta and its traditional Suckling Ibérico pig “a la Segoviana.” Spherical out the evening with the sponge cake crammed with whipped cream and caramelized custard or the crispy fillo dough with Catalán vanilla brûlée.
When you’d somewhat cease by earlier within the day, hit up BCN for its two-course brunch, which options particular brunch-only gadgets like free-range sunny-side up eggs, sautéed white beans and garlic, and confit rooster thighs.
Reservations required.
Pondicheri
Higher Kirby
This tried-and-true Indian restaurant is serving a three-course dinner for $39. The expertise begins with Meena Bazaar samosas, cauliflower Manchurian, or Bhel Poori, a Mumbai-style toasted rice puff salad that includes cucumber and corn. For the principle dish, diners can go for butter rooster, Shrimp Yetti (shrimp masala stew served with Malabar paratha), or Avlyal, a South Indian coconut-based vegetable stew. Lastly, dessert: You may’t go mistaken with the lemon and pistachio kulfi or the chocolate mousse with The whole lot Laddu. Better of all, this deal is on the market to go.
Rainbow Lodge’s Mafalda pasta ribbons with summer season basil pesto, roasted tomatoes, and Parmesan.
Rainbow Lodge
timbergrove
Whether or not it is time for a romantic date evening or a enjoyable patio day with pals, Rainbow Lodge is a well-liked go-to, and now you possibly can dine there for simply $55. Its three-course HRW dinner begins with the diner’s alternative of its cult-favorite smoked duck gumbo, fried quail bites, a roasted golden beet, summer season stone fruit, or salad. The principle course options its distinctive sport choices, together with grilled Texas quail, venison, and Bison hanger steak, plus much less meat-heavy choices just like the Mafalda pasta ribbons with summer season basil pesto, roasted tomatoes, and Parmesan. Avoid wasting room for dessert. The nice and cozy croissant bread pudding, chocolate mousse cake, and peach panna cotta gained’t disappoint. Brunch and lunch are additionally obtainable.
Ostia
Montrose
For Italian and New American fare that may hit the spot each time, head to this Montrose restaurant for its $55 dinner menu. The primary course contains the selection of Caesar salad, crudo, or bruschetta. Followers of Ostia’s iconic roasted rooster are in luck. This coveted dish, served with salsa verde and a roasted lemon, seems on the menu’s second course, alongside a 10-ounce New York strip accompanied by hazelnut romesco, and swordfish with a cooling marinated cucumber and mint. You’ll be unhappy when the meal involves an finish, however dessert will supply some cheer within the type of ice cream, budino—a chocolate Italian pudding with whipped cream and hazelnut—or an olive oil cake with whipped mascarpone and contemporary berries. Ostia additionally affords a lunch and brunch menu.
3 Eating places That Provide the Greatest Bang for Your Buck
Himari
backyard oaks
For $39, diners can take pleasure in Himari’s four-course meal.
Select from tropical tuna, spicy yellowtail, and himari kanpachi for the primary course. Then, comply with it up with a spicy tuna maki, wagyu pitchfork, or Philly roll. For extra substance, dig into the third course, which boasts a candy potato tempura, a Kinoko Buta (king trumpet, bacon, and balsamic), or the Negima, a rooster thigh with teriyaki and sesame. Lastly, spherical out the go to with both a strawberry or matcha mochi ice cream or the chocolate truffle cake.
Kick off your go to with a Southwest chopped salad from Picos.
Arnaldo Richards’ Picos Restaurant
higher kirby
Identified for its shaker margaritas and mole, this decades-old restaurant will serve a $39 three-course menu, loaded with the hits. Kick off the expertise with the Southwest chopped salad; the tostada de ceviche made with the catch of the day; mussels al chipotle; a beetroot carpaccio; or aguachile negro de camaron (shrimp with squid ink). The principle course contains a few of Picos’s favorites, together with the traditional chile relleno, enchiladas divorciadas, pork shank with inexperienced salsa and purslane, carne asada a la huasteca, and a grilled vegetable mixta. For $8 additional, diners can order the Wagyu churrasco, or a veal shank osso bucco stew. Dessert right here is at all times a deal with. Strive the tres leches, a Spanish-style crème brûlée, margarita cheesecake, and a seven-layer chocolate cake. Dinner and brunch menus are additionally on supply for HRW.
Silk Street
rice village
Dim sum fanatics will dig the $39 four-course meal at this new resort restaurant. Begin easy with the new and bitter soup earlier than shifting on to dim sum and dumpling delights, together with crispy shrimp Cheung enjoyable, a contemporary twist on dim sum with crispy fried shrimp, and Cantonese dumplings (Vegetarians and vegans can indulge within the plant-based dumplings and rolls, and a steamed stuffed tofu pores and skin). The third course affords a alternative of fried rice or stir-fried noodles with rooster, beef, or tofu (char siu pork is on the market for an extra $5, or shrimp for $8), or steamed pork ribs with salted black beans. Spherical out the evening with the osmanthus flower jelly dessert, mango pudding, lava bao, or custard bao. A lunch menu can also be obtainable.
Reservations are required.
2 Suburban Standouts
Amrina
the woodlands
Lucky for suburbanites and curious vacationers, HRW extends properly past metropolis limits. Diners or vacationers in The Woodlands ought to make the most of Amrina’s $55 three-course meal, which kicks off with truffle raj kachori (masala mushroom), samosa, lamb pepper fry, malai paneer tikka, tuna crudo, or a tandoori cranium island prawn. The second course options simply as many thrilling choices, like matar paneer, jackfruit kofta, Malabar prawn curry, branzino gassi, Rara lamb chops, or a six-ounce filet mignon. End robust with a honey and yogurt shrikhand, strawberry and coconut panna cotta, or its cardamom chocolate mousse sealed with a gold kiss.
Pearl and Vine
katy
For a seafood repair, plan a go to to Pearl and Vine in Katy. The restaurant’s $55 three-course menu contains starters equivalent to an elote Caesar salad, blackened tomato soup, beef carpaccio, and fried calamari. The second course contains a few of its diner highlights, like its crispy-skinned salmon, Texas Gulf snapper, braised brief rib ranchero, bacon-wrapped shrimp, and cauliflower steaks for vegetarians. Finish on a candy be aware with apple pie bread pudding, a chocolate tart, churro cheesecake, or a key lime bar.
1 to Bookmark for Brunch
Indulge within the beet cured lox at Okto.
Okto
Montrose
Because of diners’ rave opinions and Instagram images, this newer Mediterranean restaurant from Doris Hospitality has been on our brunch bucket checklist for some time, and it simply so occurs that it’s providing a $25 two-course brunch throughout HRW. Diners can begin with its heat Frena, a Moroccan bread served with pistachio butter, olives, and pickled peppers, earlier than shifting on to the mains, which embrace a picture-worthy beet lox; inexperienced shakshuka crafted with spinach, basil, zucchini, feta, and sourdough; and a crepe Suzette, made with Grand Marnier, candied orange, and whipped ricotta.
If brunch isn’t your pace, Okto can also be providing a $55 three-course HRW menu, dishing a few of its dinner favorites, together with hamachi tartare, a spicy crab squid ink linguini, and steak frites, plus dessert, which incorporates its Basque cheesecake.
