Best Restaurant?

Not really a travel question, but I%26#39;ve always gotten such excellent advice on these forums, I thought I%26#39;d pose my question here. A friend of mine lives just outside of Houston (in Pearland, actually), and I%26#39;d like to give her and her husband a gift certificate to a great restaurant to thank them for some help they%26#39;ve recently given to me. I%26#39;d like to spend around $100 -$125 for the two of them. The problem is that I%26#39;m not familiar with Houston at all and have no clue which restaurant to contact.

Every city seems to have a handful of restaurants that are indisputably great (although the #1 spot is often subject to debate), and I thought I%26#39;d survey the folks here to see which restaurant you would be thrilled to receive a gift certificate for. Although they live in Pearland, one of them works in Houston, and they go into the city quite often. As for types of cuisine, they enjoy it all. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Best Restaurant?

There are sooo many good restaurants in Houston!! Here are a few: Taste of Texas is good steak (and is decorated beautifully at Christmas time), Damian%26#39;s Cucina Italiana, Sullivan%26#39;s Steak House, Brennan%26#39;s of Houston, Ruggle%26#39;s Grill, Churrascos, Vincent%26#39;s, Truluck%26#39;s (seafood)

That should give you quite a few to google up the websites on. They are all good, and nice ($100-125 spent on a nice meal.)

Best Restaurant?

Some of the more popular and more romantic restaurants are Marks, DaMarco%26#39;s and Rouge (all on Westheimer).

I%26#39;m sure you want them to go into Houston for a nice meal but there is a steak restaurant in Pearland that has been getting rave reviews and they say it compares with the best of the best. Called MacKenzies. Not sure if I spelled that right.

Thanks so much for the suggestions. This definitely gives me a great starting point.

One of the hot new restaurants in Houston is Catalon (on Washington) Spanish influence

Rouge easily takes the cake (in my book) for a very nice meal. The best part is their wine prices are just above retail (as compared to normal restaurant jack up prices). Chef Aldo at Rouge has been cooking amazing dishes in Houston for quite a while. Rouge isn%26#39;t as well known as others (such as the excellent Mark%26#39;s), but well worth finding and experiencing it.

I really love the Cafe Red Onion - the one I usually go to is on Kirby, but there are several locations (see http://www.caferedonion.com/index.html )

The food there is excellent and the menu is sort-of ';latin fusion'; - the chef always seems to really do a great job with flavors presentation. It%26#39;s one of my favorite restaurants here in Houston.

Hi Steph,

I agree with all the above posts above except for Catalan. I went there last Friday and they still have a couple of things to work out. It is very crowded and the service is still on the learning curve. Don%26#39;t get me wrong, the food and wine is good. But they need to reduce the amount of tables there.

I would also look into Flemmings, Pappa%26#39;s Steak House, and the Melting Pot.

John

All of the suggestions have been good and would recommend all! One intresting note about Catalan. Yes, it can get very crowded in there, but the food is very good! Also, if someone is celebrating a birthday, they whip up this huge mound of cotton candy and place it in a big martini-shaped glass and instead of birthday candles, they put a sparkler! Very entertaining!

As for a suggestion, you might want to consider if they want to make it an event to eat out in Houston. Driving to these places from Pearland can be quite an excursion. If they like shopping and going to the Galleria, they can combine that and eat at Cheesecake Factory. If they love baseball, but they%26#39;ll have to wait till next year, you could consider Vic %26amp; Anthonys Steakhouse along with tickets to see the Astros while they%26#39;re in Downtown. Otherwise, if they don%26#39;t mind driving into the city, my personal favorite is Fogo de Chao despite its location.

Just my $0.02!