To celebrate the city's multicultural dining table, the Houston Chronicle food team compiled a cookbook of dishes and drinks from Houston's notable restaurants and chefs of distinction. We hope it gets you cooking.
Get a taste of Houston with these 42 dishes from the city's most iconic chefs and restaurants.
It also endeared her to the city she calls home. The second-generation Vietnamese American went on to write a cookbook and eventually realize her dream of a restaurant, a Vietnamese gastropub that she dubbed The Blind Goat, which opened in 2019 in Bravery Chef Hall. In this recipe, combined with coconut and cardamom, she says, the tapioca pearls pick up the flavor of persimmon, making for a simple, sweet aromatic finish. The pudding can be enjoyed warm or cold.They don’t call her the Enchilada Queen for nothing. Sylvia Casares, a product of Brownsville — is a frontera girl who grew up in a family of good cooks and whose own kitchen skills are prized in Houston.
Mendoza’s thrilling desserts matched the creative flair that made Triniti a hot spot. In 2016, she joined the team at Killen’s Steakhouse and soon began turning out the kind of indulgent desserts high-end steakhouse diners expect. She also created a chocolate program designed to send guests home on a cacao high.
Since then, the campechana de mariscos has earned its place among Houston’s most iconic dishes. Though there are many outstanding versions in the city, the Goode cocktail remains the benchmark. A zippy mashup of chunky tomato sauce, seafood and avocado, campechana is usually served in a distinctive parfait goblet along with tortilla chips.
The menu includes a shrimp étouffée over green pasta, but more true to his roots is his recipe for crawfish étouffée served over rice.In Houston, the great queso canon can almost be bookended by two classic styles — the slick, fireball-orange sludge served at the late, great Felix’s Tex-Mex and the velvety elixir served at the Original Ninfa’s on Navigation.
But Lam is still cooking, and her new restaurant, a banh mi and coffee shop called Yelo, is opening in Katy in a partnership with Alex Au-Yeung, proprietor of Phat Eatery, the Malaysian street-food restaurant in Katy Asian Town. At Yelo, next door to Phat Eatery, Lam serves classic banh mi and new interpretations including beef rendang and curry chicken, as well as a take on a French dip made with beef brisket dipped in pho broth.
Burrell’s work with I’ll Have What She’s Having and her efforts to draw attention to food deserts in the city’s mostly low-income neighborhoods endeared her to many. Her food, however, remains her calling card — smart, accomplished global comfort cuisine.When it opened in December 2017, Mastro’s Steakhouse became the culinary crown jewel of billionaire businessman Tilman Fertitta’s Post Oak Hotel at Uptown Houston and the glitziest place for high-end socializing in town.
At Mein Chinese Restaurant in Asiatown, chef Jack Tran creates Cantonese for the soul. From one-bowl meals of authentic Hong Kong-style wonton noodle soup, to hand-pulled cold chicken, squid ink fried rice or the juiciest char siu barbecue pork, dishes are affordable and great for sharing family style.
The Killen’s story, though, began with the steakhouse, where his creamed corn helped make the chef a star.Kenny & Ziggy’s owner Ziggy Gruber is a third-generation deli man. His grandfather, Max, immigrated to the U.S. from Hungary, landing on New York’s Lower East Side. In 1927, he opened a Jewish deli there, where Ziggy’s father, Gene, worked from an early age.
Pucha recruited two of his brothers — Victor, a French-trained pastry chef, and Christian, an aspiring sommelier — to open Maison Pucha Bistro. Together, the Ecuadorian-American brothers have created a stylish Heights bistro where their combined skills shine. Ecuadorian dishes make nice with French classics such as gougères, onion soup, baked brie, steak frites and duck à l’orange.
The mandu steamed pork dumplings are a signature menu item and can be ordered as an appetizer or entree. Served steaming hot, the dumplings come 10 to an order and are best enjoyed with MDK Noodles’ complimentary kimchi. There are iconic margaritas in every corner of the city, but for aficionados, the perfect marriage of tequila, lime juice and orange-flavored triple sec is found at Arnaldo Richards’ Picos, the Kirby restaurant that has perfected the shaker margarita. Beverage director Monica Richards de Osberg has created an enviable spirits menu with plenty of serious tequila and mezcal selections, high-end private barrel options and a wealth of creative, festive tequila-based libations.
Houston fell hard for the Gatlin’s brand of smoked meats and home-cooking side dishes such as collard greens, candied yams, potato salad, baked beans and swoon-worthy dirty rice. Led by pitmaster Greg Gatlin, operations moved to a grand new space on Ella in 2015. Along the way, it lost not an ounce of its charm.
Petronella’s “Paulie’s” cookbook, published in 2018, celebrates the food that has kept the restaurant bustling.The Pit Room in Montrose is known for its stellar barbecue, including house-made sausage and to-die-for meat-stuffed tacos on tortillas made with brisket fat. But we’re big fans of its mustardy, creamy potato salad. It’s perfect for a big outdoor gathering.
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