My girlfriend and I are taking a trip to Houston around new years, and I’m looking for some recommendations on places to go and/or things to see.We’ll be there for probably 4 days.
I’d like to at least go to the museum of fine arts, but I don’t have much of an idea beyond that. I know that’s not much to work with. My girlfriend likes music and sports cars, but really we’ll see anything (that’s interesting).
I live in Houston for most of my life.
There are tons of great places to eat, I mean, tons.
Outside of food though…I dont know what normal adults are interested in in terms of sight seeing type things. There is NASA in Clear Lake. There is Galveston, lots of things to see there. There are some history type things like the San Jacinto monument or the Battleship Texas/Seawolf Park.
… when you’re dead.
Any places in particular you’d recommend to eat? I’m pretty much open to anything, although something novel or small and intimate would be cool. I’d much rather find a great sandwich shop than visit the big tourist destinations.
It’s a spur of the moment thing and I’ve only been to Houston a few times, never seeing much. We’re not really the type to make an itinerary, but still I’d rather follow any sort of suggestions than throwing darts at a list on some website. This is more of a chance to get away and spend time together, not about seeing sights in Houston in particular.
Also if you have any suggestions for places to avoid, that’s helpful as well!
Ninfa’s for really good fajitas and queso dip. Also, have some kolaches while you’re there. (Basically bread rolls with cheese / bacon / sausage baked inside. Good savory breakfast pastries).
Goode Company barbecue is pretty well regarded, and there’s an awesome huge armadillo statue next to it.
It’s not any kind of fancy, but when we go back to visit (my wife is from Houston), we always go to 100% Taquito for mexican (not tex-mex) food. There’s also a place she likes for cajun food, although the name escapes me at the moment.
As for general things to do, apparently Houston has some of the best strip clubs in the country. Just saying.
You could also drive out and see the giant statue of Sam Houston that pees its pants.
The absolute best thing you can do when visiting Houston is to leave Houston.
More from the wife:
Houston is some kind of center for modern art, including the Contemporary Art Museum (CAM) and the Rothko chapel.
The Natural history museum is also very good (Planetarium, Butterfly exhibit, IMAX, gemstone room).
The NASA center might have some activities. They used to do a space launch simulator which is incredibly realistic, and therefore apparently the most tedious hour you will experience.
Galveston has something called “Dickens on the Strand”, which is a big old-timey Christmas display, and is pretty nice. Galveston got pretty screwed up in the hurricane a couple years ago, but it’s mostly back to normal now (You may be able to see boats on the side of the highway).
More Food:
Antone’s Import Company: Old time Houston style sandwich place.
There’s also a very large Vietnamese population in Houston, so the Vietnamese food is surprisingly very good. There’s a lot of great vietnamese sandwich places (banh mih) too.
There’s a lot of nice small music venues (Mucky Duck, Armadillo Palace-next to Goode Company, House of Blues, etc.)
Aside from the Zoo, this is literally everything there is to do in Houston. And the strip clubs.
I also recommend the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Like many museums the tickets aren’t horribly cheap (but I’m a broke college kid so what do I know?) and it’s not as large as some similarly themed museums I’ve been to in other cities, but it’ll still eat up a couple of hours to see most everything. The exhibits are good quality and it’s right next to a large city park, some other museums and the Zoo (which I haven’t been to yet, but have heard good things).
I just went with my girlfriend to “Dickens on the Strand” yesterday. I would recommend it 100%. However, it only takes place once a year and only on one weekend which is Dec. 4-5 this year so unless you’re getting here today it won’t work. Galveston is still a cool place to go see and (assuming the weather cooperates. It was 70’s and sunny yesterday) just sitting on the beach is worth the trip in my opinion.
Beyond that there are opportunities to go see live theater, plenty of small live music venues (as mentioned earlier by others), and it seems like I find at least one small classic car show taking over a random large parking lot every weekend near where I live (northern suburbs) so it could be worth looking into that sort of thing since you said you’re girlfriend is into sports cars.
Depending on what you’re in town for, where you’re staying (Houston is a big place) and how much driving you want to do you could take a day trip out to a place like Galveston, Corpus Christi or if you really want to make a day out of it maybe even San Antonio or Austin. Obviously YMMV.
I just moved to Houston this year and have been fairly busy so I don’t have too many specific recommendations, but I know for a fact that you shouldn’t be bored if you put a little effort in. I’m sure some other folks can clue you in a little more.
Yeah taking a day to go to Galveston definitely isn’t out of the question. Although it might finally get cold by the time we come (around new years), we’ll still probably check it out.
I’m glad to hear the museum of natural science is worth visiting, as I was interested in going there.
I make a point to try a phở place whenever I go somewhere, so I’m happy to hear there may be some good ones. I’ll peruse phofever at some point. It lists 98 restaurants. Wow.
I really appreciate all the suggestions so far. Especially the food!
Get a GPS to navigate downtown. Houston can often be crazy complicated to navigate; once, in order to reach a store that i could see on my left hand side, i had to travel two miles down the freeway and make about ten right handed turns in order to reach it. The chances of figuring out how to get there without the GPS, in the dark, rapidly approached 0. Also, you have to really be aware and plan for rush hour traffic downtown; on weekends it can be a complete killer. I once sat on an elevated freeway for 20 minutes without moving, hoping i wasn’t going to run out of gas. Don’t make plans for going across town at 5pm without taking traffic into account.
I’m torn on Houston; it’s a dirtier, more “southern” town than Dallas, but Dallas is a giant soulless stripmall devoid of personality, while Houston actually has a tiny bit more culture than your average Texas town. But you should be able to get some pretty decent gulf seafood, and decent cajun, food in Houston.
I think Ninfas is WAY overrated. Its not bad, but there are dozens of places that are better, especially for the money. My two personal favorite cheap tex-mex places are both on Westheimer (a long ass road running east-west through town), Cascadas and La Fiesta.
There is also Pappasitos which, IMO, is the best tex-mex chain there is. Its a little pricey but the food is great. The family/company that owns that has several other themed places including steakhouses, BBQ, Greek, Burgers, Seafood and Cajun. If you are in a state they dont cover, I would say hit up one of their places. Pappasitos and Pappadeaux are my two favorites but you really cant go wrong with any of them. http://shop.pappas.com/Articles.asp?ID=138
For more local non-chain places I would recommend:
Kim Son, the downtown location. Chinese-Vietnamese food.
Mission Burrito, any of them. This is a build your own burrito place, crushes Chipotle or any other chain I have been to.
I’ve never been too impressed with Ninfa’s, either, for what it’s worth. Helpfully, I don’t really have any other suggestions.
I’m from southeast Louisiana, so I’m probably not going to partake of any seafood or cajun. Just saying. But still, thanks for any suggestions.
Good call on the gps. I was planning on winging it. Maybe not the best idea.
Okay. If you’re a foodie, the first place you have to go is Chez Nous. Make reservations now. If you can get in, it’s worth it. Not sure if they’re still running this particular promotion, but the last time I was there they were doing a thing where you could just let the chef decide what you eat and give them either sixty or eighty dollars a plate and you get a five or seven course meal with accompanying wines. Do not miss that food if you’re touring for food.
Ninfa’s is standard chain Mexican, though if you’re from very far away from Texas any sort of Mexican food from here will be a foreign and interesting experience for you. The further you get from the border, the more bland the food gets.
For gargantuan burritos, I would actually recommend Freebird’s over Mission, particularly if they still have the carnitas meat. It’s sort of the “originator” of the idea. Just get there early if you’re going for lunch - the lines aren’t as bad as in Austin or what I imagine they must be like in College Station, but it’s still going to be a wait if you show up at noon.
For awesome Vietnamese food, the question you want to ask yourself is how authentic you want it to be. I like Vietnam Coast, which is close enough to where I work to go from time to time. Really white people seem to like Vietopia better. Now, to their credit, Vietopia gives you free summer rolls (yeah, yeah, yeah - they’re spring rolls), and there’s a gelato shop right next door, but snobs will be snobby at you.
If you’re in the Galleria, go to the Best Buy and look across the street to the shopping center with the Spec’s in it (our local liquor store, if you really want liquor - the one downtown is three blocks long and they apparently have everything). You will see what looks like a terrible run down outlet called Chinese Cafe. You need to go to there and order either the Double Spicy Chicken (warning - firehole; it’s not as hot as it sounds, as long as you don’t eat the baked on pepper flakes on top, but it’ll retain its potency) or the Szechuan Beef (not as spicy, but I swear it tastes exactly like bacon - it’s a marvel).
Out toward where I live there’s a unique place called Peli Peli where some guy named Chef Paul who has designs on being a food network guy cooks sort of South African style. It’s really good. I mean really good. I would avoid the prawns there because cooking them in their shell is both messy and extremely effective at keeping the spices from getting into the meat, but everything else I’ve had there has been divine. I like to think that they’d recognize my name if you told them I sent you, but I only sort of half know one of the managers at this point.
Goode Company is pretty good for barbecue, but don’t go to one with outside seating only, because you will end up smelling highway exhaust the entire time. Another option toward where I live that I kind of prefer would be The County Line, which is an Austin place, but they make some excellent meat. Toward town, there’s also Demeris, which makes absolutely the most baffling and excellent barbecue turkey I have ever had in my life. It’s juicy and perfect.
For burgers, Beck’s is one of the signature places. I go there for the shakes (which you eat with a spoon, because they’re, like, nine million percent fat), but they make a fine grilled burger if you like the grilled taste. Prince’s is on the opposite end of the spectrum, with fried burgers. Never been my cup of tea, but they’re very highly regarded.
For upscale steak, I actually like a franchise called Smith and Wollensky, which I can only pronounce by calling it Stickin’ Lewinsky. There’s also a Morton’s, which is never a bad bet. Unfortunately, I’ve never been to an entirely local steakhouse that was as good as either of those options. I can definitely recommend that you avoid Mo’s. Nothing about that place was worth even half the price tag. They didn’t even mix the best whiskey sour I’ve had.
I’ve got more up my sleeve if you want more food recommendations. I don’t know what else you’d do around these parts because I live here and most of what I do is go buy junk at stores and crap, but being diabetic makes me keenly aware of all my ingestory options.
For Ninfa’s, make sure you go to the original, in Downtown, not one of the hundreds of monstrosities that besmirch her name. You really can’t go wrong with any of the Pho around - everyone has their favorite, of course, so go to one wherever you happen to be.
The big Art and Natural History museums are definitely worth seeing - the Pirates exhibit at HMNS is particularly awesome. Also check out the Menil Collection - it’s free and you can do it in two hours or so, but it’s worth it. If you’re interested at all, the Holocaust museum is really well done (I think it’s one of the biggest in the states).
I’ll second/third/whatever the recommendation to get a GPS. As far as the highways go, Houston couldn’t be simpler - it’s two loops with freeways running more-or-less-perfectly NS, EW, NW/SE, and NE/SW. Once you get into town, though, it’s just a NS/EW grid, until it turns 40 degrees, and oh yeah now the streets are one way, and you can see the freeway but have no hope of getting there…
Just stay on the west side of I45 and you’ll be fine.
Where are you staying? Houston is a big place and if you’re staying outside the 610 loop you’re going to be spending a lot of time on freeways. Conversely, most of the places that I’m going to list are within a ~3 mile radius centered just SW of downtown. If you want to stay downtown I’d suggest the Magnolia hotel.
Art:
When you go to the MFA, be sure to take some time to walk across the street to the sculpture garden: http://www.mfah.org/sculpturegarden/
Definitely go to the Menil gallery (http://www.menil.org/). It’s just an amazing place. If you have to make a choice, I would actually recommend this over the MFA, but try to hit both. Besides the main building there are smaller satellite exhibits around the neighborhood. In particular I’d suggest the Rothko Chapel (personal favorite as I got married there) and the Byzantine fresco chapel - the main Menil website has info on both. After you leave, head a few blocks down Alabama St. to the W. Alabama Ice House: http://www.westalabamaicehouse.com/history.php, especially on a Friday afternoon/evening. The crowd makes that place
The Wortham Center, Jones Hall, and the Alley Theater are all close to each other downtown and are great venues if you’re interested in ballet/opera/theater. While you’re downtown check out La Carafe (http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~hans320/projects/lacarafe/building.html) and Warren’s.
The Art Car Museum (http://www.artcarmuseum.com/)
Music:
The Continental Club (http://www.continentalclub.com/Houston.html) The Gourds usually play there around the holidays and that’s always a fun show. There’s also the Big Top next door and a warren of alleys/lounges somewhere out the back door - I was always a bit hazy on the layout by the time I got out there.
Etta’s Lounge. (http://www.29-95.com/bars-clubs/story/new-guy-visits-ettas-lounge and http://www.yelp.com/biz/ettas-lounge-houston) It looks a bit sketchy from the outside, but once you’re inside it’s the friendliest place in town. The front is a diner and every Sunday night there’s music in the back room. This place formed the soundtrack to my courtship of the woman who became my wife. The reviews all say blues, but it’s more 60s soul: Johnny Taylor, Sam Cooke, etc. It used to be that every Sunday featured Grady Gaines (Little Richard’s band leader for a while, recorded with a bunch of the greats) and whoever else happened to be in town, but right around the time I left town Grady had a falling out with Etta’s husband so I don’t know if he’s back or what the lineup is now. If you are in town on a Sunday then don’t miss it. Note: cash only.
There are a ton of other places: Elvia’s for Salsa, Mucky Duck for Folk, Fitzgerald’s for tetanus, etc. Just grab a copy of the Houston Press and see what looks good. (If you have questions about a particular place, just PM me and I’ll vet it for you.)
Food:
Mexican: Ninfa’s is notable primarily for historical purposes: the original restaurant on Navigation can lay better claim than most to being the birthplace of the fajita. Don’t bother. I’d recommend either El Tiempo 1308 on Montrose (http://www.eltiempocantina.com/) or Teotihuacan (http://teotihuacanmexicancafe.com/site/). El Tiempo is slightly more upscale with a younger, hipper crowd (Montrose is the center of Houston gay culture as well as some of the best bars/restaurants. Go figure.) while Teotihuacan is more working class. Wherever you go, skip the menu and order a parrillada. It’s just a huge mound of meat/seafood/peppers served on top of a charcoal grill. Fajitas are for tourists; parrilladas are what the folks in the kitchen really take pride in. It’ll be more food than you think so you might want to order for 1 fewer person than you actually have. If you think that “Mexican food” == “Tex-Mex”, then check out Hugo’s (Again, in Montrose). It’s pricey, but you won’t find a better representation of Mexican fine dining outside of the D.F.
Nelore or, as we used to call it, “Meatopia”. It’s a Brazilian steakhouse along the lines of Fogo de Chao but instead of a chain it’s a cool little family owned place. Also on Montrose Blvd.
BBQ: Goode Company on Kirby. Don’t listen to Brian. Go to the one that looks like a barn with all of the outdoor seating (there are tables inside, but it’s small). You won’t smell a damn thing but mesquite and meat. The main attraction is obviously the brisket, but the czech sausage and the turkey breast are also worth investigating.
Burger-wise, you can’t get any more local than Lankford Market: http://www.texasburgerguy.com/2005/01/review-5-lankfords-grocery-houston.html
Right behind the Continental Club is Tafia (http://www.tafia.com/monica_center.html) The chef, Monica Pope, was recently on Top Chef Masters and it’s a great place for locally sourced food.
Beavers (http://www.beavershouston.com/index.html) Great food, great drinks. There used to be a drink there named after me.
Istanbul on Morningside in Rice Village: Turkish food. If you go on a weekend, get the manti - tiny dumplings covered in garlic and yogurt. It’s only available on weekends because some old lady spends the whole week making them by hand. They also have fantastic rice pudding.
Next to Istanbul is a small pub called The Gingerman. They have a really nice beer selection. By today’s standards it’s not extraordinary, but when you’re looking at that wall of taps realize that they’ve had this kind of selection since the 1980’s, back when Coors was considered exotic. I think at one point it was one of the largest selections of draft beer in the country, which shows how far we’ve come.
Misc:
Thanks for the question. I love Ann Arbor, but it was fun to get nostalgic.
Wow! It’ll take me a while to digest all that, but thanks guys. We are in fact staying at the Magnolia, so I’m sure I will make stops at many of those places, James.
This is going to be a great trip, I think.
San Jacinto; see the battlefield, the monument (taller than the Washington Monument), the Battleship Texas, etc.
Otherwise there are a couple of good restaurants, otherwise just hole up in your hotel for 4 days and hope you don’t get shot.
:p
— Alan
James really put a great post together for you. Goode Co. BBQ is my personal favorite and I love The Gingerman recommendation. Awesome place!
Since you’re inside the loop, go check out Niko’s for Greek food. It’s just north of Westheimer on Montrose. You won’t be disappointed.