Food for Thought

A tale of two Mondays: Meat or meatless? The choice is yours

Knopp Branch Roasted Beet Salad with carrots, endive, radish, crumbled bleucheese, crushed hazelnuts and Haas satsuma vinaigrette at Backstreet Cafe
Photo by Paula Murphy
Every weekend, Backstreet chef Hugo Ortega goes to the Urban Harvest FarmersMarket to buy fresh greens and vegetables for the restaurant so it just seemedlike a good idea to offer a vegetable meal on Mondays.
Photo by Terri Fensel
Tuscan Kale Soup with potatoes and carrots at Backstreet Cafe
Photo by Paula Murphy
Chef/owner Anita Jaisinghani, who also owns Indika, started Meatless Mondaysabout five weeks ago at Pondicheri.
Photo by John Carrithers
Jaisinghani does serve eggs at breakfast on Mondays.
Photo by Marene Gustin
That’s my problem with the Meatless Monday movement. It’s on Monday. As inMontrose Mondays at El Real Tex-Mex.
Photo by Julie Soefer/Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau

Meatless Monday is a concept promoted by the nonprofit The Monday Campaigns in association with the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health. It’s a really good idea but I do have one problem with it. But I’ll get to that in a minute.

The benefits of going meatless one day a week and decreasing your animal consumption by 15 percent are many. You can reduce your cancer risks, heart disease, fight diabetes and lower your carbon footprint.

These are good things.

“I had about 50 people walk out,” says Jaisinghani. “I was really surprised that some people were so upset about not being able to order meat."

The Web site for Meatless Monday talks about all of these benefits and lists hospitals, schools, universities and restaurants that are part of the initiative including Houston’s own Backstreet Cafe.

“We just thought it would be a good idea,” says chef Hugo Ortega. “I go to the Urban Harvest Farmers Market every weekend and buy fresh greens and vegetables for the restaurant so it just seemed like a good idea to offer a vegetable meal on Mondays. For our family we’ve always tried to emphasize fresh greens, vegetables and grains, those are my passions.”

Chef loves Swiss chard, squash, mushrooms and kale (although he also likes fish and shellfish) and he can do some incredible things with these ingredients like the Tuscan kale soup and his Knopp Branch roasted beet salad with carrots, endive, radish, crumbled bleu cheese, crushed hazelnuts and Haas satsuma vinaigrette.

For the Backstreet Monday special Ortega is doing a weekly changing three-course meal of veggies he’s sourced from the farmers market. The meal is $30 with $5 going to Urban Harvest. You can also order a la carte with a portion of the price also going to the nonprofit. Or you can order from the regular menu, which has plenty of dishes with meat.

Which makes it a little different from the Meatless Monday at Pondicheri.

Chef/owner Anita Jaisinghani, who also owns Indika, started Meatless Mondays about five weeks ago. And her first day didn’t go to well because on Mondays all her dishes are meatless. No. Meat. At. All.

“I had about 50 people walk out,” says the petite chef. “I was really surprised that some people were so upset about not being able to order meat. I was in the kitchen and my son was working the front. He came back and told me he had to stand up for me.”

She does serve eggs at breakfast on Mondays, but none of her great kema or savory samosas. No meat. Period.

“It’s not for everybody,” she says. “Last Monday we still had about 10 people walk out when they found out we weren’t serving any meat. But I’m definitely going to keep doing it. I’m making dishes I grew up with in India. It’s healthy and it’s good for the environment.”

I’m all for meatless days. I love meals of vegetable soup and artisan breads, fresh pasta with Swiss chard polenta and roasted root veggies. And when summer comes I’ll hit the farmers market for ingredients to make tomato and cucumber sandwiches and fruits and greens for salads. Yum. It really is easy to go meatless for an entire day.

Jaisinghani adds that when she was growing up they always had a meatless day once a week, usually on Tuesdays.

And that’s my problem with the Meatless Monday movement.

Here’s the deal. If you live in the zip codes of 77006, 77019 or 77098 (and have a drivers license to prove it) you get half off all your food on Monday nights at El Real.

It’s on Monday. As in Montrose Mondays at El Real Tex-Mex.

Here’s the deal. If you live in the zip codes of 77006, 77019 or 77098 (and have a drivers license to prove it) you get half off all your food. That’s half off the wonderful chile con queso topped with spicy picadilla (meat). Half off the fabulous San Antonio-style puffy tacos stuffed with chicken. (More meat.) Half off the beef enchiladas and venison chili and posole. (Meat, meat, meat!)

And yes, you could order the new vegetarian chile rellenos stuffed with cheese (no meat) but come on. The beauty of eating at El Real is the meat. The beef, chicken and pork cooked into those retro Tex-Mex dishes and made with lard rendered on site from heritage pigs. Sigh. So delicious. Now, if they would just make those margaritas in the frosty beer mugs half price on Mondays…

So, OK, I can go meatless once, even twice a week.

Just don’t make it on Mondays.

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Spoiler Alert

These 7 Houston restaurants could earn Michelin Guide honors this week

Photo by Vivian Leba

Chef Manabu Horiuchi looks poised to earn a Michelin Star for Sushi Horiuchi.

The eyes of the culinary world will be on Texas this Thursday, October 8, as the Michelin Guide announces its third annual selections for the state’s restaurants. Unlike in 2024 and 2025, when Michelin hosted a ceremony in Houston that drew almost all of the state’s top culinary talent, this year’s announcement will be made via email.

As a reminder, the selections are determined by anonymous inspectors who evaluate restaurants on five criteria: product quality; mastery of cooking techniques; harmony of flavors; the personality of the chef as reflected in the cuisine; and consistency over time and across the entire menu. Based on those criteria, inspectors may recognize restaurants with one of three designations:

Michelin Stars, rated at one, two, or three for restaurants that offer exceptional experiences
Bib Gourmand, described as “restaurants that offer great quality food at good prices”
Recommended, for good restaurants that don’t quite meet the level of either a Star or Bib Gourmand

The Guide also presents special awards to individuals. Elliot Wood of Credence received the Michelin Service Award in 2025, and Steven McDonald of Pappas Bros. Steakhouse received the Sommelier Award in 2024.

Last year, Michelin added three Starred restaurants statewide, bringing Texas’ total to 18, along with eight new Bib Gourmands and 16 new Recommended restaurants. Overall, 140 restaurants were included in the Guide in 2025.

Naturally, rumors have been flying about which Houston restaurants could be added. Based on conversations with various people in the hospitality industry, CultureMap has identified at least seven establishments that are likely to receive good news on Thursday.

They are:

Sushi Horiuchi: Chef Manabu Horiuchi’s six-seat omakase counter looks poised to be the newest Houston restaurant to hold a Michelin Star.
Oru: This sushi restaurant in the Heights from Comma Hospitality — the Houston group behind Japanese-inspired restaurants Neo, Toga, and Kira — could be in line for either a Bib Gourmand or Recommended designation.
Osteria di Mercato: One of this year’s buzziest openings, chef Mauricio Alvarado’s 30-seat Italian restaurant in West U. might not be Star-worthy (yet), but it should join the Guide.
Angie’s Pizza: Just like his mentor Chris Bianco’s eponymous Pizzeria Bianco, chef Angelo Emiliani’s recently opened Italian restaurant in the Heights should add a Bib Gourmand designation to its growing list of accolades.
1111: Chef Emmanuel Chavez already holds a Star at Tatemó, his Mexican tasting-menu restaurant in Spring Branch. Now 1111, the Montrose bar with a Mexico City-inspired menu that includes a tuna tostada, tacos, and sea bass with red and green salsa, should soon celebrate its own spot in the Guide.
Kitchen Rumors: Chef Jassi Bindra may have had a too-brief run on Top Chef, but his restaurant in Old Sixth Ward that blends Indian flavors with global influences will likely join the Michelin Guide with either a Bib Gourmand or Recommended designation.
Murray’s Pizza & Wine: Founded by Leaf & Grain partners Deets Hoffman and Edward Thompson, this Memorial-area restaurant devoted to sourdough pizza, small plates, and wine should join Angie’s as Houston pizzerias with Michelin designations.

Photo by Vivian Leba

Chef Manabu Horiuchi looks poised to earn a Michelin Star for Sushi Horiuchi.

Some restaurants that locals are rooting for — such as Camaraderie, Squable, Milton’s, and Barbacana — still seem to be shut out of Michelin recognition. Perhaps opening Zaranda will finally earn James Beard Award winner Hugo Ortega his first spot in the Guide.

What’s not clear is whether Michelin will elevate any local restaurants above their current status. For example, some people have speculated that Baso, the Basque-inspired live-fire restaurant in the Heights, will move from Recommended to a Star. Similarly, one-Star March could be in line to become Texas’ first restaurant to hold two Stars.

While Michelin could also lower a restaurant’s designation or remove it from the Guide entirely, we’re erring on the side of optimism that all of Houston’s entries will at least maintain their current status.

The future of Michelin in Texas

This year marks the end of the initial three-year, $2.7 million agreement between the Michelin Guide, the destination marketing organizations of five Texas cities — Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Fort Worth, and Dallas — and the statewide Travel Texas agency. Reporting by Matthew Odam in the Austin American-Statesman suggests the agreement will be renewed in some form, ensuring that Texas restaurants have Michelin recognition to aspire to.

While the Guide’s track record in Texas has been mostly positive, a selection doesn’t guarantee financial success. Two Houston restaurants included in the Guide — Afro-Mexican restaurant Late August (Recommended) and Southern comfort-food restaurant Killen’s (Bib Gourmand) — both closed this year. In Austin, one-Star Olamaie closed in July after 12 years in business.

Beyond the criteria referenced above, Michelin’s process is largely opaque to both the restaurants it reviews and the general public. Dining anonymously helps ensure inspectors receive the same treatment as any other customer, which is undeniably beneficial.

Still, tweaks to other aspects of Michelin’s process could further enhance its credibility. Michelin won’t disclose how many inspectors are assigned to Texas, how many visits the inspectors make to a restaurant before deciding on a designation, which restaurants it visits that don’t make the Guide, or whether it revisits restaurants from year to year to ensure standards are being maintained.

Renewal could be an opportunity for the tourism bureaus to insist on changes. For example, almost all of the Houston selections are in Harris County, shutting out potentially worthy suburban restaurants like Amrina, Charolais, and Xalisko in The Woodlands and Ishtia in Kemah. The Guide has shown a willingness to go beyond a city’s main county for barbecue restaurants such as Burnt Bean Co. (Seguin), Barbs-B-Q (Lockhart), and Killen’s Barbecue (Pearland), which is in Brazoria County, but not for other types of cuisine. Houston First, the city’s tourism agency, could partner with its sister organizations in those places to require Michelin to at least consider these establishments.

As the Guide continues to expand its presence across America, it’s important that Texas restaurants remain on an equal footing with their peers in other states. That means maintaining the state’s relationship with Michelin and pushing for better, more thorough coverage in the years to come.

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