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    Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year

    Houston's 9 best neighborhood restaurants elevate everyday dining

    Eric Sandler
    Mar 1, 2019 | 9:30 am

    Culinary awards are usually reserved for restaurants with big-name chefs, limited hours, and high price points. For the Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year category, we recognize the places people go for an everyday meal.

    Need to grab a quick lunch? Too exhausted after work to cook dinner? A neighborhood restaurant is there to provide consistently good food, friendly service, and affordable prices.

    To assemble the nominees in the of Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year, we asked our panel of former winners and industry experts to pick restaurants that are open for lunch and dinner almost every day of the week. Ideally, these are the restaurants they’re dining at on their days off.

    Who will win? Find out at the CultureMap Tastemaker Awards party presented by Woodford Reserve on March 27 at Silver Street Studios. We’ll reveal the winners, sip cocktails, and dine on bites provided by the nominees. Tickets are on sale now.

    Aladdin Mediterranean Cuisine
    Not only does this Mediterranean cafeteria serve excellent food, it serves that food all the time. When other restaurants are closed — whether for holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas or just to take a day off — Aladdin is serving up pita, hummus, kebabs, and its signature lamb shank. An extensive selection of vegetable sides means it’s possible to eat healthy, and reasonable prices make it easy to eat there often. No wonder this restaurant recently added a second location in Garden Oaks.

    Field & Tides
    No surprise that last year’s Best New Restaurant winner has been nominated in this category. With a mix of seafood, meat, and even vegan items, chef Travis Lenig’s Southern-inspired menu caters to just about every taste. Cocktails anchor the beverage program, alongside an appealing selection of wine and beer. Adding a private dining space and expanding the patio even allows the restaurant to serve as a venue for special occasions.

    Giacomo's Cibo e Vino
    Chef-owner Lynette Hawkins’ casual Italian restaurant has a reputation for being underrated, but people usually mean it doesn’t receive much press attention. While “Giacomo’s, still awesome” isn’t a take that’s going to generate a lot of debate, the restaurant is universally acknowledged as one of Houston’s most consistently excellent dining experiences. Whether a diner is seeking a light lunch of small vegetable plates or a multi-course meal built around the excellent pastas (both housemade and imported), Giacomo’s offers a variety of consistently appealing choices. The well-priced list of Italian wines makes it too easy to spend an afternoon lingering on the patio.

    Gus's Fried Chicken
    Even though Houston already has plenty of options for fried chicken, this Memphis import has made a splash. Credit the thin, crispy batter that keeps the chicken hot and juicy. Reasonable prices and quick service balance out the so-so sides. Also, it’s nice when a restaurant has a sense of humor; at least, we hope serving Mickey’s Malt Liquor in 40-ounce bottles is meant ironically.

    Houston's
    For a 40-plus-year-old chain restaurant, Houston’s has been attracting a lot of buzz. James Beard Award winner Justin Yu recently gave the restaurant a shout out in the Houston Chronicle, praising it for consistent execution and friendly service. He’s not alone; diners who pop in for dinner on a Sunday or Monday night are likely to find chefs, bartenders, and servers from some of the city’s best restaurants chowing down on prime rib and knocking back a couple of perfectly executed martinis. To steal a line from one of the '80s most accomplished poets, it’s hip to be square — and to eat at Houston’s.

    Les Noo’dle
    Every right-thinking Houstonian loves the simple pleasure of a $7 bowl of pho, but significant rewards await those who are willing to spend a few dollars more. Chef Cat Nguyen’s beef, chicken, and vegan broths show incredible depth of flavor without relying on the palm sugar and other tricks that make less expensive pho so delectable. An appealing menu of small plates and intriguing specials — the Vietnamese street corn is particularly addictive — allow Les Noo’dle to stand apart from its more traditional peers.

    Pondicheri Café
    ​Open every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, this Upper Kirby restaurant defines the utility that marks a great neighborhood restaurant. Its ambitious menu of Indian-inspired fare offers something for vegetarians, omnivores, and even people with a sweet tooth (via the upstairs Bake Lab). Picking a favorite dish is tricky, which is what makes the signature thalis so appealing; they offer a sampler of different tastes for a reasonable price and are easy to split between a couple of people.

    The Original Ninfa's on Navigation
    As this week’s James Beard Award semifinalist nomination for the country’s most outstanding restaurant demonstrates, the Houston institution that brought fajitas to the world isn’t resting on its laurels. After a comprehensive series of upgrades to its dining room, patio, and kitchen, The Original Ninfa’s might be better than ever. Sure, the fajitas, queso, and enchiladas are as delicious as ever, but chef Alex Padilla keeps things interesting with specials like lamb barbacoa, wood-roasted octopus, and current favorite rabbit in red mole. Adding chef Jason Gould to the team ensures that the upcoming Galleria-area location will be just as successful as its Second Ward sibling.

    The Pit Room
    At a time when many high-quality barbecue joints are only open for lunch or five days a week, this Montrose restaurant turns out excellent ‘cue for lunch and dinner seven days a week. That means the restaurant’s two wood-fired offset smokers are basically running 24/7, but the result is that Montrose residents can satisfy a craving for juicy brisket, housemade sausage, and succulent pork ribs at just about any time. Tex-Mex touches like queso, housemade salsas, and tortillas that use smoked brisket fat not only help it stand out from other barbecue joints — they’ll power a spinoff restaurant that’s opening this summer.

    Prime rib awaits.

    Houston's Kirby exterior
      
    Houston's Kirby/Facebook
    Prime rib awaits.
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    a CultureMap Exclusive

    Canadian comfort food restaurant puts down roots in prime Houston spot

    Eric Sandler
    Apr 29, 2025 | 12:46 pm
    Cactus Club Cafe exterior
    Courtesy of Cactus Club Cafe
    Cactus Club Cafe is coming to Houston.

    One of Canada’s most popular restaurants is coming to Houston. Cactus Club Cafe will open its third U.S. location in the BLVD Place development.

    Located next to North Italia in a former Verizon store, Cactus Club Cafe will occupy a two-level space with more than 12,000 square feet. Founded in Vancouver in 1988, the restaurant, which describes itself in press materials as "Canada’s leader in elevated casual dining" is known for its wide range of comfort food, lively environment, and excellent service.

    Christine Mastandrea, president and COO for real estate development firm Whitestone REIT, tells CultureMap that the company wanted to add a restaurant to increase traffic at the Whole Foods-anchored development.

    While many of the restaurants on Post Oak Blvd. are fine dining — a list that includes The Annie Cafe, Uchiko, and Caracol (among many others) — Whitestone decided a more casual restaurant would serve the neighborhood well.

    “You have to mix in locations people can go back to, because it has a broad range of offerings. You have a place where people connect,” Mastandrea says. “It’s a price point where you can come often. You can meet up with your neighborhood friends there or go after work, because it doesn’t break the bank.”

    Whitestone had a lot of interest from operators who wanted to join North Italia, True Foods Kitchen, and The Original Ninfa’s in the development, Mastandrea adds. When she traveled to Toronto to visit Cactus Club, she liked what she found.

    “What I saw is, number one, they’re comfortable in two stories. They’re also aware of how to operate in a multi-level building. They design to be a good neighbor,” Mastandrea says. “The consistency across locations was the same. The quality of food, the flow of people coming in and out. The other thing is, people are looking for healthier options. They have choices.”

    For its part, Cactus Club saw an opportunity to add Houston to its growing list of American locations that, for now, only includes Miami and Boston.

    “Our dedicated team is working hard to bring Cactus Club Cafe’s elevated everyday dining to Houston,” president Andrew Latchford said in a statement. “We look forward to sharing our upbeat and stylish vibe — fueled by energetic music, magnetic people, and spaces that feel as good as they look. On the culinary side of things, our future Houston guests can look forward to our chef-driven menu to deliver bold, refined dishes with something for every craving.”

    That menu, created by executive chef of culinary development Gregory McCallum, offers a crowd-pleasing array of dishes that includes sushi, shareables such as chicken wings and lettuce wraps, salads, sandwiches, burgers, pastas, steaks, and seafood. In particular, Mastandrea says the signature Truffle Parmesan Chicken and Blackened Creole Chicken shows off the restaurant’s ability to serve flavorful versions of familiar fare.

    “They walked me through this whole process of how they brined it and treated it prior to cooking,” she says about the chicken dishes she tried. “For a meat that can be bland tasting, I thought it was really good.”

    Mastandrea also praised the restaurant’s interior. Cactus Club gives each location a unique look by purchasing original art to enhance the restaurant’s ambiance.

    “They pay special attention to bringing the outdoors into the space,” she adds. “I think they’ll surprise us with some things that are unique to the area that people will appreciate.”

    Cactus Club Cafe exterior
      

    Courtesy of Cactus Club Cafe

    Cactus Club Cafe is coming to Houston.

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