Foodie News

Sushi for Huskies, Burgers for Wildcats: Where fans can officially gather onFinal Four weekend

Porch Swing is a spot for VCU fans
Designated hangouts: Christian's Tailgate is for Kentucky Wildcat fans
Photo by Spencer Hutton
360 Sports Lounge is for the Butler faithful
Sushi Raku aims for U Conn fans
Photo by © Jill Hunter

Now that the Final Four is set, it's time for the 12 official fan gathering restaurants to hang up those team flags and welcome baskeball fans from across the country.

For the first time at an NCAA basketball finals weekend, Hospitality Zones have been established with select Houston area restaurants as designated spots for fans for each of the remaining teams. Fans are encouraged to gather to watch the game and grab a bite at the designated spots.

With three restaurants per team (one each in Downtown/Midtown, Galleria/Uptown and the Washington Corridor) how's a new-to-town net-lover to choose? We've got your back.

Kentucky

As the winner of the East regional, Kentucky fans have a couple great choices — and one really bad one. First, let me implore you, even if you're a Wildcat and you're staying in the Galleria Westin, please venture beyond the Chili's in the mall to cheer on your team. Please.

Especially since Kentucky fans have the option of heading to one of Houston's best burger spots. Christian's Tailgate in Midtown has plenty of tv screens and a decent selection of beer, but it's the burgers that have gotten them national attention from Playboy and Hamburger America, among others.

Your Washington Ave space, Sawyer Park is actually a nice space with tons of screens and a nice rooftop area, especially since Kentucky fans should crowd out the normal crowd. The bar food is fine in a pinch but I wouldn't recommend it.

University of Connecticut

The three restaurants that will be home for Huskies are a solid if oddly global bloc. Near Washington, Cadillac Bar was known for years as a dive-y Tex-Mex joint where people liked to party — with Sharpied walls to match. Now that it's owned by Landry's, it's been cleaned up and kitschified (good-bye, graffiti) but the drinks and the Tex-Mex are still draws.

For something a little swankier, head to Midtown's Sushi Raku, which has some of the best sushi in the city in a large, trendy space. Honestly the only thing aboutr Raku that says "sports" is the 24 Hour Fitness upstairs, but I'm assuming they'll be putting in some big screens and offering sake bombs, so why not?

Or for a more traditional sports bar experience head to Texadelphia near the Galleria, which is not as big but totally sports-focused in addition to serving some decent cheese steaks. While none of these restaurants draws real excitement on a culinary scale (except Raku on a good night), there's not really a bad choice either.

Butler

Oh, Butler. I hope Indianapolis is not secretly a culinary mecca, because the Southeast bracket seems to have come up short in the good food department.There's Maggiano's in the Galleria area, which is consistently high-quality, if not local or terribly original.

For drinking and watching the games hit Front Porch Pub in Midtown, which is kinda small but perfect for those objectives as well as for Midtown people watching. Or 360 Sports Lounge on Washington Avenue wouldn't be bad either — for a description, see Sawyer Park, above.

Virginia Comonwealth University

If the general advice here is to drink at the Washington bars, eat at the downtown/midtown restaurants and be wary of the Galleria, the Southwest Regional fan gathering spots are a little different.

The Galleria choice, Gigi's Asian Bistro, is a restaurant that's admittedly inside a mall, but it's also a large and pretty space, the work of second-generation Houston restaurant family and a spot for some excellent Chinese food — especially the signature dumplings.

However the downtown spot, *17 and Sam Bar in the Alden-Houston Hotel, is a set of two smallish spaces separated by the lobby and not particularly designed for sports watching. And with the recent changeover of command, I can't be too sure of the execution of the food on either side (though I hear the Sam Bar burger is good).

The Washington pick, Porch Swing Pub, is one of the block's best spots, essentially a larger version of Front Porch Pub in Midtown with similar stregths and more room to roam.

Of course no fan spending time in Houston should do so while limiting themselves to a handful of restaurants. Check out the CultureMap City Guide and our CultureLists for even more ideas.

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NY Times names pioneering Houston restaurant to 'greatest Mexican' list

Photo by Julie Soefer Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau

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The New York Times included four Texas restaurants on its list of “41 of the Greatest Mexican Restaurants Across the United States.” Published Thursday, August 13, the Texas restaurants on the list are:

Burnt Bean Co., a barbecue restaurant in Seguin
Garcia’s Mexican Food, a Tex-Mex diner in San Antonio
Hugo’s, an interior Mexican restaurant in Houston
Nixta Taqueria, a creative taco concept in Austin

Mostly written by James Beard Award-winning food writers Brett Anderson and Bill Esparza, the duo “visited dozens of Mexicans restaurants across the country over the course of a year” to compile the list, the Times explains.

“This list is not an attempt to rank the best Mexican restaurants,” the duo write. “It is, rather, a mosaic of great places to eat, from food trucks to corner restaurants to tasting-menu counters. We hope it tells an expansive story about Mexican cooking in America today — a dynamic cuisine all its own, and as American as any food.”

As Texas Monthly’s No. 1 ranked barbecue joint, Burnt Bean Co. is already well known for its smoked meats, but the Times also hails its Mexican cuisine, which includes its signature Sunday morning menu with menudo, barbacoa tacos, and brisket huevos rancheros.

“You could call it Tex-Mex barbecue, but it’s just how barbecue is eaten in a state whose Mexican border is more than 1,200 miles long,” Anderson writes

Founded in 1962, Anderson hails Garcia’s for its consistency, affordability, and pioneering combination of smoked brisket tacos. “Garcia’s is what an idealized American diner looks like in this part of the country: housemade salsas, tortillas instead of toast and plates of nourishing food at prices that explain why some customers visit multiple times a day,” he writes.

The article credits Hugo’s for introducing the city’s diners to a deeper understanding of the breadth of Mexican cuisine. “Aged into a fine-dining lion in the cradle of Tex-Mex, Hugo’s still features longtime staples like banana leaf-wrapped cabrito, grilled octopus and sautéed chapulines, not to mention mezcals and Mexican wine,” Anderson writes.

“I’m so glad I took a risk taking that train to Houston and, eventually, opening Hugo’s,” Ortega said in response to CultureMap’s request for comment about being included on the list. “I had no idea how it would turn out, I just knew was it was the food that I grew up eating and it was different than what I was seeing in Houston at the time. It was – and is – the food of my heart, my family, my ancestors. The foundation of Mexican cuisine is making everything from scratch which is what we continue to do every day at Hugo’s, and at our other concepts, too. I am humbled and thankful.”

Operated by Edgar Rico and Sara Mardanbigi, Nixta has drawn lines of Austinites eager for its creative spin on tacos, which includes Asian ingredients such as fish sauce and furikake, as well as a dessert that nods to Mardanbigi’s Persian heritage.

“The reservations-only tasting menu, served Thursday through Saturday, further showcases the couple’s stunning creativity and ambition,” writer Priya Krishna notes. “But most of the time Nixta remains what it always has been: a counter taquería of the utmost excellence.”

Of course, knowing that the list isn’t a ranking makes it easier to understand the decision to pick Hugo’s as Houston’s representative — both for its historical significance and continued excellence. If Anderson and Esparza had decided to seek out a newer option, they could have considered restaurants such as, Michelin-starred Mexican tasting menu concept Tatemó; Modern Mexican-American restaurant Belly of the Beast, which is led by James Beard Award-winning chef Thomas Bille; Maximo, which is led by James Beard Award-winning chef Adrian Torres; or Casaema, the breakfast and lunch concept that earned a spot on the Times’ list of its favorite dishes of 2024.

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