Best Under-The-Radar Restaurants

Best under-the-radar restaurants: 8 eateries that proved to be the year's biggest surprises

Picking 10 restaurants wasn't enough to sum up what an excellent year 2014 was for dining in Houston. So many new places opened and became important to people that one list of best new restaurant felt incomplete. Here are the eight restaurants that were 2014's most pleasant surprises: the off-the-radar spots that opened quietly and earned acclaim through high quality food and top notch service.

After all, not every restaurant has a splashy opening or a ton of buzz from a high profile chef.

Think of the list below as the companion to the year's most disappointing new restaurants and the best new restaurants. They may not be splashy (well, not all of them), but each of these restaurants offers something special, something that makes dining in Houston a little more fun.

Andes Cafe
David Guerrero returned to the dining scene with this casual cafe in the Second Ward that serves comfort food classics from across South America. As Andes Cafe has evolved from its January opening, Guerrero has added dinner entrees to the original breakfast and lunch offerings. Don't miss the Thursday night parillada special, a sizzling platter topped with meat and housemade sausages.

Dosi
Korean flavors and small plates are two emerging trends that come together well at this River Oaks restaurant. Dishes like scallion pancakes, kimchi and Korean fried chicken wings deliver the signature spicy/sour mix Korean cuisine is known for in a slightly more accessible package than might be found at more traditional restaurants on Long Point. Beverage options built around various fruit-infused sojus add to the appeal.

Georges Bistro
Georges Guy brings his history serving Houstonians French cuisine to the former Feast space on lower Westheimer. His menu of unpretentious bistro fare, backed by a reasonably priced list of French wines, offers the sort of sustaining comfort food that's becoming hard to find. Keepiing it classic is the way to go here, as in the elegantly plated duck d'orange or puff pasty wrapped snapper quenelle.

The Honeymoon
This cafe gives the 300 block of Main a daytime destination. Backed by Boomtown Coffee that's roasted on site, the daily menu of breakfast and lunch options includes the crispy, gooey chicken liver po boy that's one of 2014's best dishes. At night, the New Orleans inspired cocktail menu makes The Honeymoon a placcid escape from the frenetic scene at nearby spots. Both sides come together during weekend brunch diners fill the room for grillades and grits and an appropriately spicy Bloody Mary.

Kitchen 713
This restaurant that blends classic Southern dishes with Asian flavors is another promising Second Ward newcomer. Dishes like crispy fried okra, housemade boudain and turkey necks in lettuce wraps show serious potential. Hopefully, strong word of mouth helps it find a sustainable audience in the up and coming neighborhood.

KUU
This sushi restaurant in the Gateway Memorial City development backs up its high style dining room with serious culinary chops. Chef Addison Lee takes the techniques he learned at celebrated New York restaurant Nobu and blends them with the skills he's showed at a variety of Houston restaurants to create Japanese-inspired dishes. In particular, Lee's use of fruit like apples and pears provides a memorable sweetness to complement the meaty fish. A beverage programs that offers both reasonably priced wines and flavorful cocktails gives KUU even more appeal.

Pappas Meat Co.
What does one of Houston's most successful restaurant empires do when it finds itself in possession of a "spare" building? Enter a restaurant category that was missing from its portfolio, of course. Pappas Meat Co. takes the appeal of casual steakhouses like Saltgrass and Outback and improves upon it with offerings like hand-cut, bone-in steaks and well-executed cocktails. Comfort food dishes including chicken fried steak, pot roast and fried green tomatoes improve upon the classics served at sister restaurant Dot Coffee Shop (and upon higher priced options at more prominent comfort food restaurants). The location at I-10 and Federal Road may be off the radar for most inner Loopers, but don't worry. This concept is so clearly head and shoulders above its peers that it feels bound to expand quickly throughout the Houston area.

Tout Suite
"If you build it, he will come" didn't originally refer to an all-day cafe/coffee shop in EaDo, but it certainly describes Tout Suite. Anne Le and Sandy Tran expanded upon the bakery goodness of surprise CityCentre success story Sweet with a menu of breakfast items, salads and sandwiches. High quality ingredients from suppliers like 44 Farms and Greenway Coffee help ensure deliciousness. A variety of seating options makes it a comfortable choice for students looking to study or downtown office types in search of a healthy lunch. With plans to install a new menu and add beer and wine to the mix, Tout Suite should be even more appealing in 2015.

Tout Suite's varied seating makes it a flexible space for different people.

Photo by Eric Sandler

Tout Suite's varied seating makes it a flexible space for different people.

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he finished the job

Houston chef Tristen Epps dishes on his Top Chef victory — and what's next

Photo by David Moir/Bravo

Kristen Kish, Tristen Epps, Gail Simmons, and Tom Colicchio.

Houston has played a leading role in America’s culinary scene, but the city has never been home to a Top Chef winner — until last night. In the final episode of season 22, chef Tristen Epps earned the title and a $250,000 cash prize.

Epps secured his victory by remaining true to the Afro-Caribbean cuisine that helped him secured an impressive four Elimination Challenge wins and $35,000 in additional prize money from two Quickfire wins and as a member of the team that won the show’s signature Restaurant Wars challenge. His four-course menu took a panel of celebrity judges on a journey that also referenced the finale location of Milan, Italy.

In particular, Epps wowed the panel with his second course — Chicken “Durango” with injera shrimp toast and shellfish jus — that referenced both the Ethiopian chicken stew doro wat and the Italian dish pollo durango, a sly nod to the history of imperialism between the two countries. He finished his savory offerings with Oxtail Milanese Crepinette with Carolina Gold rice grits, curry butter, and bone marrow gremolata, which earned praised from the panel.

“Historically, we’ve been underserved oxtail,” Top Chef alum and James Beard Award winner Gregory Gourdet said during the episode. “Tristen took the time to pull it, create that beautiful, huge, maybe too big, portion of oxtail. And cover it with that gremolata. He did not forget the bone marrow. That’s very, very smart.”

Throughout Top Chef’s run, Epps has been holding a series of pop-ups devoted to everything from hot dogs to steakhouses. Now, he can turn his attention to Buboy, a tasting menu concept that will celebrate the Afro-Caribbean cuisine he championed throughout his time on the show.

CultureMap caught up with Epps on Friday morning for a brief chat about his victory and what’s next.

CultureMap: What do you remember from the day you cooked that final dinner?
Tristen Epps: It was an extreme amount of focus. A lot of writing in my notebook. I didn’t want to laugh. I didn’t want to cry or do anything except finish the job, regardless of whatever the outcome would have been. I remember wanting to call my mom. I really wanted to talk things out so I could calm myself down and stay within my focus. Once I got into cooking, I felt so much at ease. It’s my happy place. It’s my serenity.

CM: How did you feel when you saw Gregory Gourdet on the panel? Did you feel like you had an advocate in the room?
TE: I’ve cooked with gregory before, a long time ago. It was really fun. I loved what he was doing.

I felt like I had kind of an advocate. I was worried my food wold be too spicy or too overpowering [for the European chefs]. Seeing Gregory was really good, especially with what I was doing.

CM: Other chefs, including Gregory Gourdet and Houston chef Dawn Burrell, have done well on the show with Afro-Caribbean cuisine but they didn’t win. How important was it to you to finish the job and use those flavors to win the title?
TE: To me that was super important. There’s adventurous people who make phenomenal food. They’ll go once because it’s interesting, bu they’re usually skeptical. When you don’t nail it, they say, that’s why I go to the regular places that are familiar.

Finishing the job was really important to me. People have come up short on this. I wanted to get this right for everyone who’s made that step forward and created the ladder.

CM: What have your last 12 hours been like since the episode aired? Have any celebrities reached out to you?
TE: A lot of calls, a lot of good luck. A lot of everything. It’s been amazing.

A lot of past Top Chef winners reached out to me, giving me a lot of support and telling me what they did after they won.

[ESPN football commentator] Mina Kimes did, which was really cool.

CM: What are your plans for the prize money?
TE: It’s going to go to Buboy. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, it can go a little faster.

CM: You’ve been holding a series of pop-ups that range from tasting menus to hot dogs? What’s next?
TE: Part of getting the restaurant open has been introducing myself to all of Houston. These pop-ups represent my interests and my fun. They’re the things that Buboy is going to represent. It can be fun, it can be a conversation, it can be educational, it can push the limits of cuisines we know. It’s an expression of culture in whatever way I see fit that day.

The hot dog concept will probably be a separate venture, but who’s to say there’s not a hot dog at the end of that meal?

Photo by David Moir/Bravo

Kristen Kish, Tristen Epps, Gail Simmons, and Tom Colicchio.

chefs interview q&a top chef tristen epps