Must-try Restaurants

Where to eat right now: 10 cool, must-try restaurants for May

Hard to believe it, but May is here. Need a lunch or dinner recommendation? Here’s where you should eat right now in Houston.

Eleven XI
Eleven XI officially opened on May 7 (in the former Bibas space on W. Gray), and the team here puts forth an impressive resume. The “Southern coastal” menu focuses on seafood, but it’s the tea-brined game hen that’s earned top marks so far. Eleven XI has taken the “restaurant within a restaurant” idea and multiplied it; in addition to the standard restaurant and bar, there’s a chef’s table, patio, raw bar, private wine room, and tasting menu.

Federal Grill
Branch Water Tavern has up and left us, and in its place is the new Federal Grill. The menu is an updated version of the previous iteration, full of “New American” classics: steaks, roast chicken, fried oysters, and fish. You’ll recognize some of the old favorites, too — like the duckfat popcorn, wedge salad, and Akaushi burger — and the bar offerings are as nice as ever. The Federal Grill is open for lunch and dinner.

Pizzeria Solario
Houston’s got a new Neapolitan pizza shop in Pizzeria Solario. The small shop on Weslayan (near Richmond) offers 10 or so pizzas, plus a smattering of other items. With an impressive list of coffees and wines, it’s also a great place to relax. While Solario is usually open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, B4-U-EAT recently reported that they’ve temporarily gone to dinner service only due to staffing concerns.

The Goodie Box
The hot season is nigh, so cool off with a gourmet popsicle from The Goodie Box on wheels. Owner Candice Quino is a former mixologist, who now uses her mad flava’ skills on these all-natural frozen treats (sans booze). They’ve got classic popsicles (like lemon and lime) or modern twists (like pineapple-basil and pomegranate-prickly-pear). Follow the Goodie Box on Facebook or Twitter for a location.

Ruggles Green
The latest outpost of Ruggles Green — on 11th at Studewood in the Heights — opened at the end of April. The newly remodeled space (which is completely unrecognizable if you knew it as the old 11th Street Café) and health-conscious menu are already luring in neighborhood diners like a siren song. We were unimpressed with the burger, but the salads and fish dishes have proven top notch.

Miso Yummy
It’s never a bad time for noodle soup, and that’s exactly why it’s a great idea to stop by the Miso Yummy food truck for a big ol’ bowl of their kimchi ramen. It’s a rich and s-s-s-spicy broth, packed with all kinds of goodness: excellent noodles, spinach, egg, breaded chicken, jalapenos, and kimchi. The rest of the menu is small, but quality. If ramen’s not your thing, try the potstickers. Follow Miso Yummy on Twitter for a location.

Pizza L’Vino
Who has the better pizza: New York or Chicago? Pizza lovers can now get both varieties from the same shop at Pizza L’Vino on Waugh. Dine-in seating is available, though limited, and you can also check their delivery zone via the website. Perhaps best of all, Pizza L’Vino delivers wine and beer right alongside your pizza pie (know before you go: permits specify that alcohol options are for delivery only). We give a thumbs-up to the Spinach Pie and the “Most Ordered.”

The Cajun Stop
Have you been to Calliope's (in EaDo) for a po’ boy lately? They changed their name to The Cajun Stop a few months ago — and that’s not all that’s different. Recently they’ve added breakfast service to their repertoire of good eats. There are some tried-and-true’s, but opt for the Cajun-style dishes: crawfish omelets, hot beignets, shrimp-n-grits, and more. (Breakfast is served 5-10 a.m. on weekdays.)

Batanga
A holdover from last month, Batanga is still earning praise from all directions. Why? It’s got all the makings of a perfect meal out with friends: tasty and sharable dishes, live music, and a patio that’s already earned much praise. The menu features plenty of things that “oink, moo, fly, or swim,” but we especially love the long list of veggie items — like the marinated beets, Swiss chard, and eggplant fries.

Goro & Gun
Another holdover from last month, the new Goro & Gun has had a polarizing effect on Houston’s food community. But even if their signature ramen isn’t your thing, the rest of the small menu is fun for a try. Recently they’ve added some new options — some seriously rave-able hot wings — and lunch service. Follow Goro & Gun on Twitter to hear about their happy hour deals and steals.

Need more recs? Try our where to eat right now lists from previous months:

November – December – January – February – March – April

Eleven XI has a nice patio.

Eleven XI bar Houston April 2013 diners patio

Photo courtesy of MP Photography

Eleven XI has a nice patio.

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Chris Cusack explains

Houston bar owner speaks out about surprise arrest for health code violations

Photo by Sergio Trevino

Chris Cusack owns two locations of Betelgeuse Betelgeuse.

Certainly one of the most unusual interactions between a restaurant and City of Houston officials took place on Wednesday, May 6 when Betelgeuse Betelgeuse owner Chris Cusack was arrested for health code violations at his location on Washington Avenue.

News of the arrest spread quickly across social media over the weekend. Now, Cusack is ready to tell his side of the story.

Cusack, whose time operating restaurants in Houston goes back more than 15 years to Down House and its affiliated restaurants such as Hunky Dory and D&T Drive Inn, tells CultureMap the problem began on Monday, May 4 when a health department inspector came to Betelgeuse Betelgeuse and asked to see the restaurant’s grease trap.

The only problem is that location has never had a grease trap. Prior to becoming Betelgeuse Betelgeuse, it was Liberty Station, a pioneering bar in Houston’s craft beer and craft cocktail scenes. In the early days, Betelgeuse served food from a food truck. More recently, it prepares its food next door at The Bell and Crane. Cusack acknowledges he didn’t share this information with the inspector.

“Usually I’m a charmer with the health department, but I was a little defensive. She kept asking me. I said, ‘ma’am, we don’t make food here,’” he explains. “The tone wasn’t my finest moment, but there was no name calling or anything like that. She said, ‘where does the food come from?’ I said, ‘it doesn’t matter where it comes from. It’s produced in a commercial kitchen.’”

Cusack says he knew there would be a follow up, but he was shocked when the inspector returned two days later with more colleagues from the health department, TABC inspectors, and Houston Police Department officers.

“I got somewhere between 21 and 25 citations,” Cusack says about the return visit. He got dinged for everything from graffiti in the bathroom to a missing Harris County tax stamp on the photo booth he leases from a vendor (it has both State of Texas and City of Houston stamps, Cusack says).

One inspector told Cusack he needed a food dealer’s permit. He showed the inspector that a food dealer’s permit had been issued for the restaurant's address under the former food truck’s LLC but not to the LLC that operates Betelgeuse Betelgeuse. Cusack says he had renewed the food truck’s permit in March, but that wasn’t good enough for the inspector. In Cusack’s telling, he was arrested for not having the permit, since it was also flagged as missing in an inspection from October 2025. He's the only person he knows who has ever been arrested for a misdemeanor violation of the health code.

Cusack says he spent 21 hours in the Harris County Jail. When he got out, he says he was contacted by a more senior official within the Health Department. Once Cusack confirmed he owned both LLCs, he was told he could reopen. Both locations of Betelgeuse Betelgeuse have been operating normally since Friday, May 8.

Cusack maintains he never knew about the October 2025 inspection, which is why he renewed the food dealer’s permit for the food truck’s LLC rather than applying for one under Betelgeuse Betelgeuse’s LLC. “There’s no paper trail that shows I was given this information,” he says. “I did not get the email [from the Health Department].”

As for why things got so out of hand, Cusack theorizes he was a victim of Houston Mayor John Whitemire’s crack down on “reckless behavior” on Washington Avenue and stepped up enforcement on bars generally that led to the temporary closure of near northside cocktail bar Rabbit’s Got the Gun.

Cusack says he’s a “huge supporter” of efforts to reduce crimes like street racing, drug dealing, and sex trafficking along Washington and in its surrounding neighborhoods. Still, he feels targeting by the city for being impolite to a health inspector.

He plans to fight both the arrest and the citations in court. “I want the charges dropped, and I want it expunged completely from my record. That’s the first thing, and I’m going to try very hard to do it,” he says.

“That’s going to end up costing thousands of dollars just to deal with the sheer volume,” he adds.

CultureMap contacted Mayor Whitmire’s office. A representative said the mayor was not aware of the situation and has no comment on an open investigation.

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