We seem to have made it through the second weirdest year in Houston dining history, a little bit worse for wear but still kicking.
What a rollercoaster 2021 turned out to be in the restaurant world. Dire winter COVID numbers gave way to the vaccinated spring — and a few brief, heady months into the summer, when dining in came clinking and chattering back to life. Then came Delta, and now Omicron, and more uncertainty as we head into a new year.
The silver lining? Houston restaurants still turned out exciting fare, whether it came from curbside or takeout, counter or table, indoors or — increasingly — outdoors, on patios in venues high and low and in-between. And although we lost some dining stalwarts after the rigors of the past few years, interesting new restaurants opened at a steady clip.
So as always in this dynamic food city, I ate well, even under the less-than-ideal circumstances. Here are the 20 dishes I found most exciting.
Charro beans from Ixim in downtown’s Bravery Chef Hall
My eyebrows shot toward my hairline at first bite of the charro beans at Ixim, a new counter kiosk in downtown’s Bravery Chef Hall. The porky bloom of bacon and chorizo seemed to fill my cranium, and the crunch of the pork-skin cracklings floating on the chile-gigged tomato broth rattled my skull. A whole universe lurked in that bowl of pinto beans.
Chef Tim Reading (formerly executive chef at Caracol) and his sous chef, Rebecca Aguirre, work from a tight, seasonally changing menu of regional Mexican cuisine using many local ingredients. Seating is first come, first served at the counter seats. But you can take your food to one of the hall’s central tables or booths, if you like.
Ixim, 409 Travis St, 281-653-6767
Numerous dishes at this pricey, eye-popping modern Indian restaurant are as extravagantly composed as the decor. But chef Mayank Istwal can do lower-key classics with an assurance that’s just as striking.
Witness his Nihari-style lamb shank, slowly braised and moored in a vivid red gravy of lamb-y clarity. So riveting was this dish that my guest and I devoured every last, tender scrap, scooping up stray drops of gravy with the various breads we had to keep ordering from the kitchen once our two small rounds of roti were gone. The juices in that gravy sang with chili oil, fresh serrano and star anise, with a freshening green note from cilantro stems. I did not lick the plate, but I wanted to.
Amberjack crudo with chermoula, radish, pickled rose and apple at March
The culinary theme was Northwest Africa’s Mahgreb when March opened its doors for its first season of tasting menus. So chef Felipe Riccio’s version of Gulf amberjack crudo came to the table in the form of a Moroccan tile, a dish I’ll long remember as the year’s most beautiful.
The square of amberjack, topped with a crisp square of radish, had been adorned with carved petals of apple and curls of pickled rose petal that curved and twined across the surface. It was a tart, cool sea breeze made manifest. This type of artwork is part of the $225 nine-course menu that’s a splurge, as is the $175 six-course tasting. Thanks to beautifully choreographed service and the precise buoyance of the supplemental wine pairings chosen by Master Sommelier June Rodil’s team, dinner here is a festive indulgence.
The Madonna from Angie’s Pizza
You have to jump on the opportunity to reserve one of chef Angelo Emiliani’s pop-up pizzas. They sell out fast when he announces a new date on his Instagram account (@angiespizzapies) or his website. I found out why at first bite of his magnificent Madonna pizza, one of his seasonal offerings that draw on excellent local ingredients —some from his backyard garden in the East End, where his wood-fired pizza oven currently resides.
Emiliani soaked up his skills under the mentorship of one of America’s pizza gods, Chris Bianco, of the venerated Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix. Unsurprisingly, his crust turned out to be a bubbly masterpiece that balanced crackle and stretch, soot and salt and tang. Made with flour from the great Texas Barton Springs Mill, splashed with a little olive oil in spots, it was impossible to stop eating.
Marinated peppers in shishito-green and gold exploded on the pizza’s surface, along with translucent slices of chile-hot schiaciatta picante, a sopressata-like salumi from the Calabria region of Italy. A backdrop of mozzarella, ricotta salata and a flurry of reggiano shavings evened out the excitement just enough.
One of the things I’m living for in 2022 is Emiliani’s upcoming brick and mortar pizzeria. May the gods make it happen.
Angie’s Pizza; angiespizzapies.com
Friday special cemita sandwich at Puebla’s Mexican Kitchen
This Friday-only special illustrates the law of superior sandwiches: namely, that the whole must be greater than the sum of the parts.
The parts of this particular cemita, a regional sandwich from Puebla, are exemplary at family-owned Puebla’s Mexican Kitchen in Sunset Heights. It’s anchored by a thin, superbly crusty milanesa, the pounded-flat and pan-fried steak. Then it’s cushioned with soft slides of avocado and strips of fresh white cheese that relax into smoothness as they absorb heat.
Lashings of a hottish red-chile mayo knit things together inside super-toasty, sesame-seeded halves of a broad, flattish cemita bun that is made in-house — which makes all the difference.
The colossal size of this cemita is part of its mystique. Have it on the vibrantly hued front patio under a rustic wood-beamed portico, with big fat tamarindos and limonadas to go along.
Puebla’s Mexican Kitchen, 6320 N. Main, 713-426-9062
Tagliatelle with cultured butter, oyster liquor, mignonette and dried breadcrumbs at Theodore Rex
Deceptively simple looking, these springy flat noodles come dressed in cultured butter made even more flavorful with shots of Gulf oyster liquor and tart mignonette. The pasta was perfectly al dente the night I tried it, and the effect managed to be both subtle and vibrant at once. A final textural flourish came in the form of coarse bread crumbs that seemed not just dried, but hyper-dried, so that you could sink your teeth into them. The way they popped out in context was pure genius. So were the vivid shadings of flavor that sprang from a field of not-so-innocent white. It’s the kind of complex, surprising dish that shows why this snug Warehouse-district bistro from chefs Justin Yu and Kaitlin Steets is so highly regarded.
Theodore Rex, 1302 Nance, 832-830-8592
Vada Pao at Da Gama
I’m obsessed with the Indian snack sandwich called vada pav. The specimen at Da Gama, the new contemporary Indian restaurant from Oporto partners Rick and Shiva Di Virgilio, is particularly exhilarating.
Rick’s Portuguese roots come into play in the sweet, toasty pao bun baked in house. Shiva’s Indian background inspires the spherical potato croquette, kicked up with three vibrant chutneys and a flurry of crushed spicy peanuts for texture. The singed green chile speared to the top adds a subdued note of vegetal heat. Yowza.
Da Gama , 600 N. Shepherd, Suite 520, 281-888-7806
Roasted pumpkin soup at Mutiny Wine Room
Somewhere between the fluffy yam gnocchi and the multidimensional roasted pumpkin broth in which they reposed, I became a fan of Chilean chef Eduardo Alcayaga. He heads up the kitchen at this cordial, wine-centric Heights restaurant, which offers two handsome patios to go with its bar, tasting and dining rooms.
Alcayaga brings a keen sense of balance to his dishes. His pumpkin soup fairly vibrated, from the tang of aged Parmesan to the float of crème fraîche deepened with roasted pumpkin skin. I’d eat this autumnal dish every day if I could — heck, I’d even eat it in the middle of summer. Ask Mutiny’s David Garza for a suitable wine recommendation. Virtually every wine on the interesting list is poured by the glass, a rare treat.
Mutiny Wine Room, 1124 Usener, 832-618-1233
If you’re a connoisseur of onion rings, you’ll want to try the remarkable version from chef Erick Anaya at Gatsby’s Prime Steakhouse. These paragons are thick-cut circles dipped in a Dos-Equis-and-vanilla batter that balloons up into a thin, crackly glaze. These shiny orbs are so puffy you half expect they to be doughy inside, but no — they’re ethereal, and the subtle touch of vanilla arbitrates between salt and sweet.
Forget ketchup. Ask for the sauces that come with shrimp and oysters here, from a zippy cocktail number to a creamy mustard sauce to a tart mignonette. (Try the atomic horseradish potion at your own risk.) Have them at the tall vintage bar, all dark wood and mirrors that anchors the Roaring Twenties themed dining room. The rings are an affordable gateway to the statospherically priced steak and seafood menu.
Gatsby’s Prime Steakhouse , 4319 Montrose, 713-393-7282
Meatball banh mi from Khang’s Vietnamese Sandwich Cafe
My first bite into the meatball banh mi at Khang’s Vietnamese Sandwich Cafe told me plenty. First, that they cared enough to procure the best possible French loaf, one that crackled a bit outside and had a pully center that was almost fluffy. Next, that the meatballs involved (xiu mai) had been made by somebody careful to achieve a delicate texture, the gently sweet ground pork balanced by the umami exclamation points of — hey, what’s this?! — a crisped, bronzy rubble of pork bits. A New Orleanian might have labeled them “debris.”
That debris gave personality to every one of the reasonably priced sandwiches I sampled and loved at this year-old shop on the western edge of Alief. Some love —and plenty of garlic — had gone into the almost buttery aioli that made the meats and tangy pickled vegetables slide a little. A twinge of cilantro scent and a couple of fresh jalapeño slices snapped back at me. Each sandwich I’ve tried here was equally well-calibrated.
Khang’s Vietnamese Sandwich Cafe, 13618 Bellaire, 713-498-4548
Gulf tile ceviche at Golfstrommen in the Post Houston food hall
“Golfstrommen” is Norwegian for “Gulf Stream,” the warm current that runs from the Gulf Coast to Scandinavia. So Bergen chef Christopher Haatuft — renowned for his modern “fjordic” seafood cuisine at Lysverket restaurant — has encouraged an interesting Texas spin at his first American outpost, now open for self-serve lunch and a table-service dinner at Post Houston.
Ceviche pops up in a form that handsprings from Old World to New, starting with the day’s freshest fish. The day I visited, it was sweet, supple Gulf tile, fresh off the boat from Freeport. A tart “Bergen broth” that’s like soupy yogurt, cut with a bracing shiver of horseradish, functions as a leche de tigre. Batons of apple, celery leaves and dill fronds add texture and seasonal garden freshness. Afloat with dots of the green, vegetal oils Haatuft favors in his contemporary platings — he infuses them with everything from leeks to fig leaves — it’s thrilling stuff.
Golfstrommen Seafood Market, Post Houston, 401 Franklin
Drunken Noodles at Street to Kitchen
The sharp, herbal scent of Thai basil floating up from a plate of Drunken Noodles jump-started my senses at chef Benchawan and Graham Painter’s modern Houston mom-and-pop in the East End.
As I forked up the flat strands of rice pasta and sautéed chicken, the herb’s characteristic licorice flavor bloomed so darkly and alluringly it took me aback. I wasn’t surprised to learn that the Painters grow their own, from seed they got from Thailand.
The dish was pretty in a way this hangover staple often isn’t, too: bright little cartwheels of gold and red and orange and green chiles tumbled through the noodle-and-chicken mesh, glowing against the basil-leaf green and the azure ceramic glaze of the plate. All that takeout I had consumed during the pandemic couldn’t compare with eating this dish freshly prepared and rushed out to the table, in full possession of its volatile oils, its perfume, its flavors and heat levels leaping every which way.
Street to Kitchen, 6501 Harrisburg, 281-501-3435
Eggplant Parmigiana at Cafe Leonelli at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
The square of eggplant parmigiana at Cafe Leonelii showed the kind of shiny, glazed mahogany edges that bespeak serious roastiness, as if the casserole had been left at the village oven to bake overnight. It was that deep, that imbued with Maillard-y goodness. The thinness of the eggplant slices, the lack of stodgy breading, the sparkle of the tomato sauce, the quality of the cheese: It was hard to imagine a better version of this supremely comforting dish.
That’s typical of the polished, casual Italian fare from the famed New York chef Jonathan Benno, tapped by the Museum of Fine Arts to run the counter-service cafe in the new Kinder Building. Serene, luminous, graced by a floating light scupture involving 417 filament bulbs, this might just be the best-looking cafeteria on the planet.
Cafe Leonelli, Museum of Fine Arts, 5000 Main, 713-714-3014
Lemongrass pork riblets at Yelo
“Insanely good,” I typed into my Instagram caption back in May, when I posted a photo of chef Cuc Lam’s neatly chopped stack of Lemongrass Pork Riblets at her counter-serve star in Katy’s Asian Town center.
The fish-sauce umami of their salt-and-sweet glaze drew me in, and the crusty edges of the pork kept me grabbing more than my share. Bright red bits of hot chile pepper and snippets of Thai basil lit up the pile, and the minty, citric undertow of lemongrass hummed along underneath.
My fingers were a sticky mess when I finished. And the thrills of Lam’s modern and traditional banh mis still lay ahead, goosed with her housemade paté and garlic aioli, and sprouting her distinctive carrot-and-papaya slaw in place of the usual pickled carrot and daikon.
Yelo, 23119 Colonial Parkway, Suite B3, Katy, 832-882-8818
Beef fajita nachos at Candente
A severe, pandemic-induced nacho deficit brought me to Candente, the Tex-Mex smokeria run by the folks next door at The Pit Room.
Candente’s nachos earned a place on my short list by virtue of their careful individual composition, their corn-not-flour tortilla base, their general voluptuousity and — here’s the key — the primo hunks of optional beef fajita scattered across the surface.
Mesquite-grilled fajitas here qualify as a peak Houston experience. Bathed in a laid-back marinade and wrapped in a cloak of smoke, the Niman Ranch Prime skirt steaks are cooked meticulously medium-rare, in the house style — a small miracle in itself. The steak strips get chopped up for nacho use so that they arrive at the table flashing rosy centers.
The sight of pickled jalapeño slices at the center of the plate — a new serving wrinkle — cheered me up. I could have used twice as many. (One per nacho seems proper.) But I made do at the end with the restaurant’s vigorous green salsa, flecked with roasty bits and tomatillo seeds, with enough tartness to bring the milky cheese, smoky beef umami and mellow masa sweetness into sharper focus. Boom!
Jerk Chicken Sandwich at Jamaica Pon di Road
The jerk chicken sandwich I toted home from this charming new Jamaican cottage in Acres Homes was an afterthought. So much so, that I stuck it in the refrigerator overnight, with plans to reheat it.
As I unwrapped it the next day, I sneaked a bite “just to see.” Then I took another bite, and another, swept up in the rush of habanero-gigged marinade and velvety grilled chicken texture, so superior to the characterless slabs too many places churn out.
The sandwich details were finely tuned, from the Island Aioli (a jerk-spiced mayonnaise) to the slightly sweet bun. Even the frill of leaf lettuce and slice of tomato were in great shape after a night spent chilling. It’s all typical of the care that chef Gareth Powell and his wife, Danielle, have put into their venture, which started out as a food truck, and which is named for the UK Jamaican vernacular for being “on the road,” or on the move.
I am only slightly embarrassed to say that I gobbled the whole jerk chicken sandwich, at refrigerator temperature, standing right in the kitchen. Couldn’t be bothered to stop.
Jamaica Pon di Road, 2213 S. Victory, 832-328-5220
Chinese sausage and egg taco with green mango/papaya pico from Koffeteria
A bakery is not where I expected to find a hall-of-fame breakfast taco. I ordered the taco of scrambled egg and Chinese sausage on a whim, beguiled by its promise of a green-papaya-and-mango pico — a combo that spoke to owner/baker Vanarin Kuch’s Cambodian roots — as well as its half-corn, half-wheat tortilla hybrid.
The taco dazzled: eggs fluffy; sausage a tender, porky counterpoint of salt and sweet; lightly marinated green-fruit slivers alight with a reddish hot sauce that whispered of fish sauce. Even the tortilla rocked, dotted with big seared spots from the griddle and endowed with both the soft elasticity of a flour tortilla and the sweet aroma of corn masa. Add a well-made espresso drink for a Houston breakfast of champions.
Open focaccia with caramelized onion and olive filling from Badolina
The savory pastries from this new Israeli bakery in Rice Village taste as compelling as the sweet ones — perhaps even more so.
I am fixated on a spongy, seeded foccacia, oblong centered with gloriously caramelized onions, a filling sharpened by salty black olive and a jot of tomato. The crusty chew, the yielding interior, the punctuation of toasted pepitas and nigella seeds — all lift up that lush Mediterranean filling.
It took me back to the first time I encountered pastry chef Michael Michaeli’s marvelous breads at Israeli-owned steakhouse Doris Metropolitan. This roll could be lunch. Or breakfast. Or a midnight snack.
Badolina Bakery & Cafe , 5555 Morningside, 832-649-5909
Sauteed crab claws at Segari’s
Angela Segari, owner and host at old-school seafood restaurant Sam Segari’s, has a well-deserved reputation for serving the best Gulf lump crab in Houston. She’s picky about what she’ll accept from her suppliers. And when she can, and the product looks good, she’ll jump on the crab claws (or “fingers”) that are an old-timey Houston treat.
I ordered them sautéed in the lightest garlic-buttered cream, subtle enough to make the sweet, briny crabmeat shine — but spirited enough to add a rich, supple boost. Picking these babies up by their jagged, crimson claws and sucking off the meat is a primal Gulf Coast experience.
I paid $21.95 for a whole mess of the crab claws, and considered it a bargain. Then, for dessert, I polished off half a lump crab salad with avocado, tomato and racy blue cheese vinaigrette.
Segari’s, 1503 Shepherd, 713-880-2470
Cherry trout sashimi with moromi miso and chive, lower left, at Soto
It’s hard to pick just one highlight from the finely wrought omakase tasting I experienced at Soto, the handsome new Austin sushi import from chef Andy Chen. But the bite that lingers most vividly in my memory is a shiny slip of cherry trout, or sakura masu, one of the fish on the day’s list of specials flown in from Tokyo’s Toyosu seafood market.
The bright hue and the dense satin texture of this Northern Pacific fish —also known as masu salmon — leapt out against tiny touches of chive and moromi miso, a fermented soy paste. Those are the kind of finishing details for which Chen is known, and they give the entire menu an irrepressible sparkle. Look for cherry trout on Soto’s daily “Japan Express” specials sheet, priced at $7 for a piece of nigiri or $19 for three pieces of sashimi.
Alison Cook - a two-time James Beard Award winner for restaurant criticism and an M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing award recipient - has been reviewing restaurants and surveying the dining scene for the Houston Chronicle since 2002.
"Given the increase we are seeing in omicron, we could very possibly be at 100 percent omicron by January," said Dr. Wesley Long, medical director of diagnostic microbiology at Houston Methodist.