The crew at Hemispheres, the inflight magazine of United (and formerly of Continental), is making the best of its ties to Houston. A couple of months after including a recipe from Michael Cordúa, the magazine has published a splashy 13-page guide to visiting the city in the April 2012 issue.

Written under the guise of a three-day itinerary, Hemispheres actually does a great job of mixing in well-traveled sites — The Menil Collection, Ninfa's on Navigation, Discovery Green and, of course, Anvil Bar & Refuge — with some more obscure discoveries.

For example, the magazine recommends readers experience Texas barbecue at Heights hole-in-the-wall Gatlin's rather than the ever-popular Goode Company Barbecue and directs visitors to Chinatown to roll their own spring rolls at Saigon Pagolac and to Airline Drive to experience sweetbread tacos from Taqueria Tacambaro and the strictly-locals-only Canino produce market.

They've even managed to include a couple places that I like to bring out-of-towners to, including the Saint Arnold's brewery, Phoenicia and Hugo's. The Hemisphere's guide isn't a terrible blueprint for even Houstonians wanting to break out of a rut. Want to try it out?

Here are the basics, minus the hotels:

Day 1: Brasil, The Menil Collection, Rothko Chapel, Feast, Anvil. (Bonus: Montrose residents can experience this day without ever getting in a car.)

Day 2: Hugo's, Memorial Park, Saigon Pagolac, Alley Theatre, Catalina Coffee, Gatlin's, La Carafe

Day 3: Phoenicia, Discovery Green, Saint Arnold Brewing Co., Canino Produce Co., Taqueria Tacambaro, Art Car Museum, Adickes SculpturWorx Studio, Ninfa's on Navigation, The Orange Show

What do you think? I would add some shopping at Kuhl-Linscomb and Hello Lucky, a banh mi and a Vietnamese coffee from Les Givral and a tour of Rice University, but that's me.

What's on your perfect three day itinerary of Houston?