Houston Galleria area/ Central Market

What's good and not pretentious near the Galleria? WIll be staying at the Westin or Doubletree Post Oak.
(Any dirt on these hotels?)

Also, is the Central Market worth a trip?

Most emphatically YES, Central Market is worth a trip. We live in New Orleans and drive to Houston about every three months to eat Mexican food and visit Central Market (and, for my husband, Fry's Electronics). We bring a cooler and fill the back of the car with things we can't get in NO. The first time we were in the store I was walking around moaning -- partly because it was so wonderful and partly because we don't live near enough to shop there on a regular basis.

Cafe Lili (family-owned Lebanese), Correlli's (Italian), Thai Restaurant, N.Y. Pizzeria, Miyako (Japanese), Pappas Burger, Bayou City Seafood, La Vista (Italian), Bombay Brasserie, and Chinese Cafe are all inexpensive and uncomplicated places I would eat anytime wearing anything. For something a little nicer, but maybe more of a scene, Arcodoro (Sardinian cuisine), Grotto (Italian), and Restaurant Ronit (European) are walking distance. Of course there is the ever trendy, and crowded, Cheesecake Factory in the Galleria adjacent to the Westin.

I haven't been there, but perhaps someone else will comment on La Vista, which is loved by many.

Re: Central Market: YES. Beautiful produce, breads, meats and seafood; great wine and cheese selection, lots of good take-out options, and the only place I know of to buy Illy coffee in Houston.

La Vista is a short drive from the Galleria; terrific Italian food but BYOB (wine available next door) and expect a wait--take a chair in the parking lot believe it or not! Ask careful directions or you will miss it. This is a very popular but easy to miss neighborhood spot for those in the know, but definitely not pretentious.

Agree with La Vista. Bring your own wine, and if you forget, there's a liquor store next door.

[The Chowhound Team]

Tex Nosh, pardon the interruption for a quick request: we ask users not to frequently change subject titles. Doing so screws up the many chowhounds who read these boards via HotPosts (check it out, it's great, via link atop our home page), which are unthreaded.

It is OK to change the title if the discussion has substantially digressed. For example if the thread started with a question about where to find good pizza downtown and the discussion morphed into a discussion of Thai food, that's a good place to change the subject line.

What we want to avoid is subject changes like "I agree!" or, "Try the fish on Wednesdays", which really confuses many of our users who use HotPosts.

Thanks a lot!

Tex Monthly said La Vista has expanded. Do they still have the lines?

Yes. Take a seat in the parking lot.

There are lots of places to buy Illy coffee in Houston. Dolce and Freddo used to serve it, too. By the way, Scientific American had a great profile of the head of the company a few months ago.

Lots of places? Like where? I don't think House of Coffee Beans, etc. carries it.

Like Whole Foods, for one. (Eatzi's also serves it.)

Of course, you can also order it from NUMEROUS internet sites and even from illy direct: www.illy.com