Houston Restaurant Weeks

Special drink pairings add buzz to Houston Restaurant Weeks menus

Dine like a king on a budget during Houston Restaurant Weeks — and add a drink pairing. Several participating restaurants, including the six listed below, have added special prices on wine or a martini that accentuate the establishment's prix fixe menu (brunch: $25 per person; lunch: $20 per person; dinner: $35 or $45 per person) now through September 7. Pairings are optional and prices vary, but it's a great way to try some top-notch vintages.

(And don't forget: a portion of the food sales goes to the Houston Food Bank.)

Au Petit Paris

HRW Menus: Dinner, Lunch
Details: Housed in a homey bungalow in Montrose, the intimate bistro with dim lighting and French cuisine is the perfect spot for cozying up on your next date. And there's nothing like a little liquor to shed your inhibitions.
Lunch drink pairings: Available during lunch, add a glass of house cabernet sauvignon, white sauvignon, or rosé to your tab for $5 each.

Ciao Bello

HRW Menus: Dinner, Brunch
Details: If a little vino with your Italian dinner hits the spot, the Galleria-area upscale eatery has got you covered.
Dinner drink pairings: Choose from a bottle of Lagaria pinot grigio (2013) for $40 or a bottle of Poggio Brigante morellino di scansano (2012) for $42 to go with your evening meal.

Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House

HRW Menus: Dinner, Lunch
Details: The HRW menu at the Galleria shopping center steakhouse goes beyond the classic hunk of meat with optional drink pairings from wine to a signature cocktail.
Lunch and dinner drink pairings: Drink up at lunch or at dinner with options including: Stag’s Leap Winery cabernet sauvignon (2012) for $80, Duckhorn Migration pinot noir (2013) for $70, Tinto Negro Limestone Block malbec (2012) for $60, Nickel & Nickel Truchard chardonnay (2013) for $75 and the VIP martini (made with pineapple infused vodka) for $14.

Eddie V's Prime Seafood

HRW Menus: Dinner
Details: Both outposts (CityCentre, West Ave) of the upscale seafood and steak chain boast a handful of wines by the glass that matchup perfectly with your HRW eats.
Dinner drink pairings: Sip a glass, priced at $10 each, of Vega Sindoa chardonnay, Lorenza rose, La Marco prosecco, Francis Ford Coppola Diamond Series merlot or McMurray Ranch pinot noir.

The Springbok

HRW Menus: Dinner
Details: Throw back a cold brew or linger over wine. The downtown rugby pub with Southern Hemisphere cuisine — heavy on game-centric fare — is going the extra mile with Sommelier-recommended optional wine or beer pairings.
Dinner drink pairings: $20 per person and $30 per couple gets you a glass of wine, or beer, per each of three courses on the HRW menu.

Tony's

HRW Menus: Dinner
Details: One of Houston’s classic dining establishments, the elegant Greenway Plaza restaurant provides top-notch Italian-accented cuisine.
Dinner drink pairings: A bottle of La Fiera pinot grigio (2013) is available for $39 while a bottle of Poggio Brigante morellino di scansano (2012) is $48.

Au Petit Paris is the perfect spot for cozying up.

Houston, Au Petit Paris, July 2015, interior

Au Petit Paris/Facebook

Au Petit Paris is the perfect spot for cozying up.

unspecified

NYT best dishes

Houston Mediterranean restaurant makes NY Times' best desserts list

Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen/Facebook

Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen is the only Houston restaurant on either list.

The New York Times included four Texas restaurants among its favorite dishes of 2025. Divided into two lists — The 23 Best Restaurant Dishes We Ate Across the U.S. in 2025 and The 14 Best Restaurant Desserts We Ate Across the U.S. in 2025 — the dishes are:

Bad Honey Bunny at Mercado Sin Nombre (Austin)
Ketan Hitam at Yeni’s Fusion (Austin)
Konafa Naama at Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen (Houston)
Picadillo Macaroni and Cheese at 2M Smokehouse (San Antonio)

Times food writer Priya Krishna, who authors the entries for all four Texas dishes, traveled to far west Houston to visit Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen. “The konafa, a signature here, arrives with a molten layer of cheese under a sticky-sweet layer of golden, nutty semolina. The craft is evident, the konafa gone in a few bites,” she writes.

Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen Konafa Naama Don't skip dessert at Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen.KSayad Mediterranean Kitchen/Facebook

In Austin, Krishna praises the rice pudding at Yeni’s Fusion. “This barely sweet version, lush with coconut milk, aromatic with pandan and as soothing as warm porridge, is the gentlest way to end a meal,” she states.

Already hailed as one of America’s best breakfast spots by Bon Appetit, Krishna singles out a honeybun at Mercado Sin Nombre. “The coiled honey bun at this semi-clandestine cafe looks almost cartoonishly perfect, and the heady scent of cardamom and honey hits you before you even take a bite. Somehow, it tastes every bit as plush and elegant as it appears,” she writes.

The picadillo mac and cheese at 2M Smokehouse showcases how the San Antonio restaurant incorporates Mexican flavors into traditional Texas barbecue. “Imagine Hamburger Helper, but spicier, punchier and even more luxuriously creamy. It’s not easy to one-up the singular, thickly spiced brisket here, but the picadillo mac and cheese — which runs as an occasional special — holds its own and then some,” Krishna writes.

The New York Times regularly shines its spotlight on Texas restaurants, In September, it named four establishments — ChòpnBlọk (Houston), Isidore (San Antonio), Lao’d Bar (Austin), and P Thai’s Khao Man Gai & Noodles (Austin) — to its list of America’s 50 Best Restaurants.

news-you-can-eat media lists desserts