F&W's guide to Houston

Food & Wine gets Houston (mostly) right in new tourist guide to city

The articles includes classics and newcomers.

Photo by Kirsten Gilliam

When it comes to national media profiling Houston, we have to take the good with the bad. Just last year, a New York Timeswriter put together a very reasonable “36 Hours in Houston” column — but still managed to annoy locals by picking Montrose staple Tacos Tierra Caliente as the city’s best taco truck.

Earlier this week, Food & Wine published its updated take on “Our Favorite Places to Eat, Sleep, and Explore in Houston.” Written by Dan Q. Dao, a native Houstonian turned New York-based writer, it offers a fairly comprehensive overview of the state of Houston dining.

Dao covers most of the immigrant culinary traditions that fuel the city, mixing classics with some new options. For example, in the fine dining world, he recommends Bludorn, Riel, March, and Theodore Rex alongside Creole institution Brennan’s of Houston. Similarly, he recommends of-the-moment tasting menu concepts Tatemo and Neo.

Barbecue gets three strong representatives in Truth BBQ, Feges BBQ, and Blood Bros. BBQ, while the Original Ninfa’s on Navigation is Dao’s only Tex-Mex pick. South Asian restaurants get a mix of classics and more contemporary options that include Pondicheri, Da Gama Canteen, vegetarian staple Shri Balaji Bhavan, and Himalaya, Kaiser Lashkari’s game-changing Indo-Pak destination.

Dao plays it mostly safe in Chinatown, sticking to staples such as Ocean Palace, Kim Son, Mein, and Mala Sichuan Bistro. Viet-Cajun favorites Crawfish and Noodles and Cajun Kitchen both get shout outs, just in time for crawfish season.

The article’s biggest issue is a couple of geography mix-ups. For example, Dao states that Theodore Rex is in Montrose (downtown’s Warehouse District) and puts Money Cat in Katy, when it’s actually in Upper Kirby.

Similarly, for as comprehensive as the article is in acknowledging a broad style of cuisines, it only recognizes one Black-owned restaurant in ChòpnBlọk, the West African concept in downtown’s Post Market food hall. Keeping with Dao’s preference for classics, he could have easily name checked The Breakfast Klub and Lucille’s to cover his bases.

The article gets a little weaker in the “things to do” component. Recommending the Rodeo is always a safe bet, but praising Eleanor Tinsley Park for hosting Free Press Summer Fest is a little strange when it hasn’t taken place since 2017. Also, how about a little recognition for Memorial Park’s Land Bridge and Prairie project?

In the “where to stay” section, the author recommends mainstays such as the Four Seasons, the Marriott Marquis (and its Texas-shaped lazy river), the Post Oak Hotel, and La Colombe d'Or, among others. However, the article recommending where to stay in Houston leaves out the iconic — and consummately Houston — Houstonian Hotel, Resort & Spa, which like the Post Oak, just landed on Forbes Travel Guide.

Minor objections aside, any visitor would be well served with these suggestions. They’ll have to discover local favorites like Candente and Aga’s by befriending locals — or discovering CultureMap.

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the search is on

Game-changing leader of Houston Parks Board to retire after 10 years

Houston Parks Board CEO Beth White stands at a podium at the Captain Herod Memorial, Houston Mayor John Whitmire is seated nearby.

Photo by Melissa Taylor

Beth White speaking at the Captain Herod Memorial on January 28,2025

It's the end of an era at the Houston Parks Board (HPB). CEO Beth White announced Wednesday, May 21 that she will be retiring on January 1, 2026.

"As I reflect on my career, one of the most rewarding decisions I have made was coming to Houston," White said in a statement. "The entrepreneurial drive in this city is very powerful, our public-private partnership model is second to none, and the creativity at play is a model for the nation."

White began her stewardship of the HPB in 2016. Before coming to Houston, she oversaw Chicago's Trust for Public Land, guiding the development of the city's famous elevated trailway, the 606. Her experience made her perfect to lead the HPB as Houston dedicated itself to a radical improvement of its park spaces. With HPB responsible for 3,300 acres across 250 parks, as well as coordinating access to another 14,000 acres, it was an executive position for an area physically larger than many cities.

White proved herself a competent and visionary general of Houston's greenspaces. During her time, she led the revitalization of 30 Houston parks, mostly in marginalized and underserved communities. Her work netted her an appointment to the chair of the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) by former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden in 2021, where she helped federal agencies make long-term plans about public space usage.

Perhaps her greatest accomplishment as CEO of HPB is the Bayou Greenway project, a bold re-imagining of Houston's waterways. The project has built 150 miles worth of trails that hug the various bayous and creeks meandering through Houston, turning what were often foot traffic barriers into an artery system of green trails connecting various park spaces across the city. Isolated pockets of community space are now linked through easy to use trail systems, making foot traffic across Houston simpler and more beautiful to experience.

“It is very gratifying to see that Houstonians are embracing parks and greenspace as an essential part of the region’s infrastructure. I am proud to have played a part in Houston’s green renaissance and look forward to continued progress thanks to the talented and dedicated staff and board at Houston Parks Board,” said White.

Cory King, president and CEO, and Ben Feit, principal, at Kittleman and Associates, are leading the search for suitable candidates to fill White's very big shoes. In the meantime, White will continue to lead the organization for the rest of the year.

"Houston Parks Board would not be in the position it is today without the guidance and leadership of Beth White. As we commemorate her throughout this year, we are grateful that Beth’s vision has helped transform our organization into a regional and national leader for parks and greenspace,” said Houston Parks Board chair Cullen Geiselman Muse. “We are also excited to begin the search for her successor. Houston is a unique region that offers different opportunities to maximize available space and create multi-purpose greenspaces that make real, lasting impacts on our communities. We look forward to sharing more information as the search progresses."

parks houston parks board beth white