Best Eats in Houston (Sugar Land, Stafford: house, buy, restaurants)

[glorplaxy]

Where's your favorite place to grab food in Houston? This is not restricted to just one type of place; it can be an expensive restaurant, a drive-thru, or a convenience store for all I care!

My favorites:
Hong Kong City Market on Scarsdale, down 45 near Almeda Mall.
The banh mis are probably the best in Houston and they are so cheap. I haven't been to Subway or Quiznos ever since I started getting my sandwiches here because those places simply can't compare...and their sandwiches are so much more expensive at these chains anyway!

H Mart
Love the food stalls here. Sure, they have cheap sushi, but what I really love are the Korean hot pots and the bakery. So delicious.

Some Taco Truck on Harrisburg
Contrary to popular belief, Houston's Mexican restaurants are not all that great and have mostly been gringo-fied in one way or another. White people are usually too scared to go to taco trucks so these are the places that tend to have the more authentic fare. I don't know the name of this particular truck but it is close to downtown on Harrisburg and serves barbacoa, tacos al pastor, and tortas that taste almost as good as they do down in Guadalajara and Mexico city...and, in real Mexican fashion, the food is served with key limes, raddishes, cilantro, and peppers. You'd better know some Spanish though...or at least have decent knowledge of Mexican food besides the stuff served at Taco Cabana.

Bombay Sweets on Hillcroft
This probably is the only Indian place that has a buffet going all day. The real draw, however, it's the sweets (as the name implies). I love the bundis with a passion and their mango lassis are perfect. It's one of the few places in Houston where I've seen people selling paan (tobacco wrapped in betel leaf).

[DrLizardo]

Originally Posted by glorplaxy

Contrary to popular belief, Houston's Mexican restaurants are not all that great and have mostly been gringo-fied in one way or another. White people are usually too scared to go to taco trucks so these are the places that tend to have the more authentic fare.

There are places you can get authentic Mexican cuisine, but this is not Mexico and most of the places you're referring to are serving Tex-Mex (even though it says Mexican food on the sign outside), and that's a distinctly different cuisine. Some of it's done well, and I'll agree that a lot of it's done poorly. Kind of like what you imagine the pale faces in Minnesota call Mexican food. Tex-Mex is just an early version of fusion cuisine, traditional recipes done over to match the locally available foods and tastes.

Taco Cabana? It's a tad more traditional than Taco Bell, but it's still just fast food. It's like trying to call that thing they sell at McDonald's a hamburger. It kind of looks like a burger but it's just a fast food imitation of the real deal.

For real Mexican cuisine try any of the Taqueria Cancun locations, or most anyplace in the East End / Magnolia. For breakfast Huarache Azteca Express or Soliz Casa de Tacos, both in Stafford.

Best real hamburger? Broiler Burger in Bellaire or Christian's near Memorial Park.

[hou-iah]

Churrasco's - hands down best steak I've had
Taste of Texas - First class all around...food, service, atmosphere
Fogo de Chao - if you are a carnivore you will love this place

[glorplaxy]

Originally Posted by DrLizardo

There are places you can get authentic Mexican cuisine, but this is not Mexico and most of the places you're referring to are serving Tex-Mex

How do you know which places I was referring to? I was referring to a lot of these taquerias, too. I've spent quite a lot of time deep in Mexico (not on any highly touristed beach resort town or anything) and a lot of these taquerias have definitely been gringo-fied to one degree or another.

Taco trucks are definitely closer to real Mexican food than the majority of restaurants because their clientele is almost purely Mexican...the kind from Mexico.

[DrLizardo]

Originally Posted by glorplaxy

How do you know which places I was referring to? I was referring to a lot of these taquerias, too. I've spent quite a lot of time deep in Mexico (not on any highly touristed beach resort town or anything) and a lot of these taquerias have definitely been gringo-fied to one degree or another.

Taco trucks are definitely closer to real Mexican food than the majority of restaurants because their clientele is almost purely Mexican...the kind from Mexico.

Well, I certainly didn't mean to put you on the defense. I thought the term "Houston's Mexican Restaurants" is pretty wide, as in most of them. And I was agreeing that most do not serve authentic Mexican cuisine but some version of Tex-Mex, which is commonly referred to as "mexican food", I assumed that was what you referred to as "gringo-fied".

But if we're going to continue the discussion, which places are you speaking of specifically and what exactly does "gringo-fied" mean? In your travels in Mexico, which regional cuisine have you enjoyed the most, and have you found any place in Houston that does it authentically?

[theSUBlime]

Any place where people are not stuffing their fat faces, yet complaining about the city at the same time.

[AtHomeinHouston]

A few of my favorites:

For Brunch: Farrago's. Get the French Toast

For Sunday Dinner with your Parents: Ouisie's Table

For a Huge Sandwich: Kenny & Ziggy's

For Tex Mex: Chuy's or Pappasito's Half-Priced Fajita Wednesdays!

For Italian: Carrabba's (I know... another chain... but I hadn't been in four years and was AMAZED by how delicious the food was.)

For a Date: The Melting Pot

For Wine and Brie: La Strada

[crbcrbrgv]

Pizza: Angelo's (Thanks Jfre) Near Meyerland-hard to find best to Google and call

Less Americanized Chinese - Tea Cup Beechnut and Beltway 8

Americanized greasy Chinese - Lai Lai's Dumpling House Bellaire about 1/4 mile East of Beltway 8

Vietnamese -Pho Thanh Noodle House 1/2 mile south of Airport on Eldridge in Sugar Land

Italian- Have yet to find one that compares to Chicago's mom and pop joints

Date Restaurant-Mi Luna in Rice Village

Tex Mex-It's all the same, to me pretty much

What's the best part about Houston's restaurant scene? If you ask 100 people what's their favorite place to eat you just might get 100 different answers.

[quadophile]

Bombay Sweets: Authentic Indian restaurant serving buffet all day. Very reasonable price. Some of their stuff is great and I will name a few here, Naans, papar, channa masala, daal. These items are included in the buffet.

For snacks they serve Masala Dossa, which is superb, pancake type bread wrap with seasoned potato and comes with a dipping.

Their sweets are also famous and one of them which I always get is kaju katli, smooth paste made with cashews. Its triangle shaped and you can buy per lb, very similar to something like Marzipan (which ofcourse is made from almonds)

Dimassi's: It's a Mediterranean resturant They have few branches around Houston but the best is at Westheimer, taste and decor both are excellent. They serve buffet as well. They have a very large selection for both salads and the food. They happen to have the best Lambshank in town, the lambshank alone is worth the price of the buffet, really. The best items in my opinion are, Lentil soup, rice with lentil, Kofta Kabob, baked chicken, baked fish, Hummas, Tabuli, and garlic pita bread.

Bon Apetit!

[tstone]

For Mediterranean in Clear Lake we go with Wael's usually once a week, and twice a week when my wife was pregnant. Great stuff, healthy as it gets for $10 a meal. They're more on the Isreal-Lebanon side from what I gather, but some things appear to be Greek and even Italian influenced.

Taqueria Del Sol on 45/Broadway is my top pick for Mexican, Tex-Mex, whatever you feel like calling it. They call themsevles an ''Authentic Mexican Taco House'' and they have a pretty authentic bakery in there as well. It's family owned & operated but I'm thinking it's more authentic ''Tex-Mex,'' where influence from western-southern US and northeastern Mexico collide. It's a clean place, unlike some of those raggedy taco trucks. I've known a handful of people who got a bad case of food poisoning from those, when I worked at the auto shop. I personally won't get anything out of a truck. Glorplaxy, I guess that's your white people being scared.