Coming to Houston Next week..

[SaminSFL]

I have 3 days in Houston, and I want to know some greatplaces to eat. Im not looking for chains, I would like mom and pop type places that serve good local food, i.e. BBQ, tex-mex etc... all recommendations are greatly appreciated.

[helphand]

Check out Cyclone Anaya's. Amazing Tex-mex.

[DoobieWah]

Houston is a big city. What part of town will you be visiting?

[Jayro]

Hi,

I don't know which part of town you'll be visiting, or even if you will have a car... Whatever your situation, you may find these previous topic threads helpful. They offer a wide variety of choices for the hungry visitor:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/619314
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/422472

Enjoy your visit!

[SaminSFL]

Im going to be in the Galleria Area, but Have no problem driving for good chow!

[SaminSFL]

Thats Great! My family is normally very picky about food, but Imsolo on this trip, so Im like a foodie dream trip... If you have a great Viet place or even a great Bahn Place let me know.. also How is Hong Kong City Market? and a great dim sum while you are at it...No REAL good Dim Sum in south florida

[air]

I implore you, please don't eat at Cyclone Anaya's. Also disregard suggestions for Lupe Tortilla or Cafe Adobe. All are overpriced, subpar TexMex.
I recommend El Tiempo or Pico's, both are pretty close to the Galleria area.

Pierson's isn't a bad drive from the Galleria for some decent BBQ.

Hit up Givral's Sandwiches for banh mi and go to Fung's Kitchen for dim sum.

Here's another thread to help you out:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/593933

[SaminSFL]

What about a really good breakfast place... local favorite place.... Gallaria area.

[DoobieWah]

For breakfast, I suggest The Fountainview Cafe:
http://www.b4-u-eat.com/houston/resta...
About a mile from the Galleria proper.

I love The Ocean Palace at the Hong Kong Mall for dim sum on Saturday and Sundays. It's not the very best in town, but I just love that big old room. We've been going there for years. The Hong Kong Market is a must visit if you do go there.

I love to hit the local markets when I travel and usually end up buying all of my "souveniers" from them. Local honey, spice blends, etc.

Be sure to post back and let us know what, where and how you liked it.

[SaminSFL]

Absolutely, I have a habit of keeping menu's from places to keep track of what I had and if I liked it.. So I will make sure to put up all my experiences, and let you know what I thought

[JEN10]

I don't mean to highjack your post, but we will be coming to the Houston area and staying downtown. Is this in close range to the Galleria area? I too am looking for some great local places for breakfast. I love GODD dim sum, and definetly want to have some BBQ.
Thanks in advance.

[SaminSFL]

Please by all means, Hijack away... I guess the best question to ask is which Downtown, I think Houston has 2 different downtowns? Galleria is by the Mall, and from what I understand not to far from one of the downtowns. For breakfast, I really enjoyed House of Pies, The Pankcakes where Great, the Hash browns were off the hook, and the Bayou Goo Pie is too good to really exist, it should be made illegal...

BBQ, I missed Pierson's but hear thats the one to go to. Riojas on Westheimer was an amazing Spanish Tapas restaurant, and Rainbow Lodge was an unbelievable meal, dont make the mistake of not choosing the Chefs menu if you go there, I regretted it with every bite the table next to me got to try. Check out their site

www.rainbow-lodge.com

[JEN10]

I have no idea about which downtown, we are staying on Main street at the Hotel Icon. I have just started to do some research and saw your post. Thank you for your rec's, I will copy them onto my list.

[danhole]

Really Downtown is not that close to the Galleria, but not that far. And actully there is only one downtown. If you want to stay in the actual downtown area your bet bet is to go to B4-U-Eat.com and search under downtown. I wish I could help you out more Jen, but downtown is not an area I eat in very much.

[JEN10]

Thanks for your help dan. I have done a fairly good search, we have a car and will be traveling daily down to Needville area. So we plan on venturing out a bit. I think we may head down to Seabrook and pass on the more touristy Kemah. So any suggestions there would be much appreciated.
My top picks so far to try and hit up would be Goode Co BBQ, El Rey's, 100% Taquito, Dolce Vita, Dim Sum (love Dim Sum!!!!) Golden or Fungs?, and some other smaller places for breakfast like Los Dos Amigo's or Los Arco's, Jimmy Wilsons?, We will only be there for 4 day, but I really want some good BBQ (no smoke flavoring the real thing), and some GREAT Cajun ( fried Green tomatoes and crab).

[Bulldozer]

If you want real real BBQ, Goode Co will not do. The class of Houston is Burn's or Pierson's, with Pizzitolas and Luling a step down from that. Haven't been to Virgie's, but I hear good things, but that's way out there. Only go for lunch tho as B or P will run out of meat by dinner.

Most dim sum places have their A game on the weekends. You can order it during the week, but they don't have the carts and have limited menus. I like Fung's, Kim Son (the Fountains shopping center location ONLY), and Ocean Palace.

I'd try Tel Wink for a good greasy spoon breakfast.

[JEN10]

Bulldozer, thank you for the recs, I will adjust my list for BBQ and add Tel wink for breakfast.

[danhole]

Actually, since Pierson's is only open from 11am to 7pm (Tues - Sat.) they aren't likely to run out of meat. Now the smoked chicken is a whole other story! You can only get that on weekends and you had better go early! Don't know about Burn's though, so I would take Bulls advice.

[JEN10]

Pierson's is mentioned a lot on here, so I think I will take the kiddo there. Here in So Cal, almost everyone puts smoke flavoring in their sauce. I get a case of the hives like you can not believe from that stuff. I want to experience the REAL thing! Thank you all for your help.
Jen10

[danhole]

Ask for the sauce on the side. I really like it because it has a tangy flavor, but my husband doesn't at all. He likes sweet sauce. I don't think Clarence at Pierson's uses any smoke flavoring (you sure can't taste any), but it wouldn't hurt to ask, especially with hives!

[Bulldozer]

Ahh glad you mentioned this. I think Piersons and Burns puts smoke flavoring in the sauce, which is completely unnecessary IMO. Both certainly don't require sauce, but you'll have better luck at Piersons with that request. Burns is a madhouse and they generally slather everything with that sauce.

[JEN10]

Good to know! Do you have a link for them so I could call?

[Demandrea]

If you're into Vietnamese, Houston has got you covered. Our third most spoken language here is Vietnamese and the choices of restaurants are in the thousands I'm sure. Most of the 'real' Vietnamese restaurants are going to be about 10-15 minutes from you in either direction. The Downtown restaurants are a little less adventurous than those that will be in the Southwest part of town where my favorite places are: Paris Cafe 8282 Bellaire Blvd. - Little hole in the wall family owned restaurant in a strip center. The pho is amazing and the banh mi is delicious and super cheap at $2 a pop! If you do go downtown try Pho Nga- the duck salad is great and the fried chicken is crunchy and a little sweet. It's across from another popular Vietnamese cafe, Les Givral who has great banh mi as well. Skip Mo Mong, the trendy spot in Montrose, as the food is less authentic. If you go to Hong Kong Food Market (and the giant mall it's inside of teeming with restaurants) try Pho Dung, it's the best, and plan on spending a while gawking at all of the amazing ingredients, especially the live seafood selection!

[JEN10]

Thank you both for all of your help! I am getting hungry just thinking about all of this food.

[JEN10]

I found the website and e mailed them about the smoke flavoring.