• Home
  • popular
  • EVENTS
  • submit-new-event
  • CHARITY GUIDE
  • Children
  • Education
  • Health
  • Veterans
  • Social Services
  • Arts + Culture
  • Animals
  • LGBTQ
  • New Charity
  • TRENDING NEWS
  • News
  • City Life
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Home + Design
  • Travel
  • Real Estate
  • Restaurants + Bars
  • Arts
  • Society
  • Innovation
  • Fashion + Beauty
  • subscribe
  • about
  • series
  • Embracing Your Inner Cowboy
  • Green Living
  • Summer Fun
  • Real Estate Confidential
  • RX In the City
  • State of the Arts
  • Fall For Fashion
  • Cai's Odyssey
  • Comforts of Home
  • Good Eats
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2010
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2
  • Good Eats 2
  • HMNS Pirates
  • The Future of Houston
  • We Heart Hou 2
  • Music Inspires
  • True Grit
  • Hoops City
  • Green Living 2011
  • Cruizin for a Cure
  • Summer Fun 2011
  • Just Beat It
  • Real Estate 2011
  • Shelby on the Seine
  • Rx in the City 2011
  • Entrepreneur Video Series
  • Going Wild Zoo
  • State of the Arts 2011
  • Fall for Fashion 2011
  • Elaine Turner 2011
  • Comforts of Home 2011
  • King Tut
  • Chevy Girls
  • Good Eats 2011
  • Ready to Jingle
  • Houston at 175
  • The Love Month
  • Clifford on The Catwalk Htx
  • Let's Go Rodeo 2012
  • King's Harbor
  • FotoFest 2012
  • City Centre
  • Hidden Houston
  • Green Living 2012
  • Summer Fun 2012
  • Bookmark
  • 1987: The year that changed Houston
  • Best of Everything 2012
  • Real Estate 2012
  • Rx in the City 2012
  • Lost Pines Road Trip Houston
  • London Dreams
  • State of the Arts 2012
  • HTX Fall For Fashion 2012
  • HTX Good Eats 2012
  • HTX Contemporary Arts 2012
  • HCC 2012
  • Dine to Donate
  • Tasting Room
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2012
  • Charming Charlie
  • Asia Society
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2012
  • HTX Mistletoe on the go
  • HTX Sun and Ski
  • HTX Cars in Lifestyle
  • HTX New Beginnings
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013
  • Zadok Sparkle into Spring
  • HTX Let's Go Rodeo 2013
  • HCC Passion for Fashion
  • BCAF 2013
  • HTX Best of 2013
  • HTX City Centre 2013
  • HTX Real Estate 2013
  • HTX France 2013
  • Driving in Style
  • HTX Island Time
  • HTX Super Season 2013
  • HTX Music Scene 2013
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013 2
  • HTX Baker Institute
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2013
  • Mothers Day Gift Guide 2021 Houston
  • Staying Ahead of the Game
  • Wrangler Houston
  • First-time Homebuyers Guide Houston 2021
  • Visit Frisco Houston
  • promoted
  • eventdetail
  • Greystar Novel River Oaks
  • Thirdhome Go Houston
  • Dogfish Head Houston
  • LovBe Houston
  • Claire St Amant podcast Houston
  • The Listing Firm Houston
  • South Padre Houston
  • NextGen Real Estate Houston
  • Pioneer Houston
  • Collaborative for Children
  • Decorum
  • Bold Rock Cider
  • Nasher Houston
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2021
  • CityNorth
  • Urban Office
  • Villa Cotton
  • Luck Springs Houston
  • EightyTwo
  • Rectanglo.com
  • Silver Eagle Karbach
  • Mirador Group
  • Nirmanz
  • Bandera Houston
  • Milan Laser
  • Lafayette Travel
  • Highland Park Village Houston
  • Proximo Spirits
  • Douglas Elliman Harris Benson
  • Original ChopShop
  • Bordeaux Houston
  • Strike Marketing
  • Rice Village Gift Guide 2021
  • Downtown District
  • Broadstone Memorial Park
  • Gift Guide
  • Music Lane
  • Blue Circle Foods
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2022
  • True Rest
  • Lone Star Sports
  • Silver Eagle Hard Soda
  • Modelo recipes
  • Modelo Fighting Spirit
  • Athletic Brewing
  • Rodeo Houston
  • Silver Eagle Bud Light Next
  • Waco CVB
  • EnerGenie
  • HLSR Wine Committee
  • All Hands
  • El Paso
  • Avenida Houston
  • Visit Lubbock Houston
  • JW Marriott San Antonio
  • Silver Eagle Tupps
  • Space Center Houston
  • Central Market Houston
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Travel Texas Houston
  • Alliantgroup
  • Golf Live
  • DC Partners
  • Under the Influencer
  • Blossom Hotel
  • San Marcos Houston
  • Photo Essay: Holiday Gift Guide 2009
  • We Heart Hou
  • Walker House
  • HTX Good Eats 2013
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2013
  • HTX Culture Motive
  • HTX Auto Awards
  • HTX Ski Magic
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2014
  • HTX Texas Traveler
  • HTX Cifford on the Catwalk 2014
  • HTX United Way 2014
  • HTX Up to Speed
  • HTX Rodeo 2014
  • HTX City Centre 2014
  • HTX Dos Equis
  • HTX Tastemakers 2014
  • HTX Reliant
  • HTX Houston Symphony
  • HTX Trailblazers
  • HTX_RealEstateConfidential_2014
  • HTX_IW_Marks_FashionSeries
  • HTX_Green_Street
  • Dating 101
  • HTX_Clifford_on_the_Catwalk_2014
  • FIVE CultureMap 5th Birthday Bash
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2014 TEST
  • HTX Texans
  • Bergner and Johnson
  • HTX Good Eats 2014
  • United Way 2014-15_Single Promoted Articles
  • Holiday Pop Up Shop Houston
  • Where to Eat Houston
  • Copious Row Single Promoted Articles
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2014
  • htx woodford reserve manhattans
  • Zadok Swiss Watches
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2015
  • HTX Charity Challenge 2015
  • United Way Helpline Promoted Article
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Fusion Academy Promoted Article
  • Clifford on the Catwalk Fall 2015
  • United Way Book Power Promoted Article
  • Jameson HTX
  • Primavera 2015
  • Promenade Place
  • Hotel Galvez
  • Tremont House
  • HTX Tastemakers 2015
  • HTX Digital Graffiti/Alys Beach
  • MD Anderson Breast Cancer Promoted Article
  • HTX RealEstateConfidential 2015
  • HTX Vargos on the Lake
  • Omni Hotel HTX
  • Undies for Everyone
  • Reliant Bright Ideas Houston
  • 2015 Houston Stylemaker
  • HTX Renewable You
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • HTX New York Fashion Week spring 2016
  • Kyrie Massage
  • Red Bull Flying Bach
  • Hotze Health and Wellness
  • ReadFest 2015
  • Alzheimer's Promoted Article
  • Formula 1 Giveaway
  • Professional Skin Treatments by NuMe Express

    2022 HRW first timers

    Houston Restaurant Weeks debuts 14 sizzling newcomers from award-winners to buzzy hot spots

    Eric Sandler
    Jul 18, 2022 | 10:56 am
    A selection of appetizers.
    A selection of appetizers.
    Photo by Becca Wright

    For Houston restaurant obsessives, July 15 is a red letter day, because that’s when Houston Restaurant Weeks reveals its initial list of participants. Held from August 1 through Labor Day, September 5, the charity dining event raises money for the Houston Food Bank via the Cleverley Stone Foundation, the nonprofit that produces the event.

    As noted in CultureMap last week, this year’s event features four pre-fixe menu options: $39 and $55 dinner menus of three or four courses alongside two-course, $25 lunch and brunch menus. Restaurants donate $2, $4, or $6 for every meal sold. Ultimately, as many as 250 individual locations will participate, a list that includes everything from some of the city's best independent restaurants to multiple outposts of chain restaurants such as Saltgrass Steakhouse, BB's Tex-Orleans, and Thai Cottage.

    Although many people use the event as an opportunity to revisit old favorites such as Traveler’s Table, Brennan’s, and Hugo’s, others see it as the chance to try a new restaurant or two. In that spirit, consider this list of 14 restaurants that are participating in HRW for the first time. To be considered, each restaurant had to offer dinner, which is the way most people will participate in the event.

    We’ve included multiple nominees for Best New Restaurant in the 2022 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards, including the winner, d’Alba Craft Kitchen & Cocktails in Garden Oaks. The list also includes six options for modern Mexican fare, two establishments at downtown’s Bravery Chef Hall, and a celebrity chef’s Houston outpost.

    Calavera Mexican Kitchen
    This restaurant inside Bravery offers a three-course, $39 dinner menu. Appetizer options include queso fondido, chicken tostada, and seafood cocktail. The four entree choices feature tacos al pastor, carne asada, and shrimp tacos. Conclude with tres leches, flan, or cookies.

    Chivos
    This restaurant in the Heights has been earning raves for its modern approach to Mexican cuisine. The three-course, $39 dinner menu features some of the menu’s most popular dishes, including burrata with stone fruit, ceviche tostada, Peruvian-style half chicken, and pork belly tacos. You could order the peach tres leches for dessert, but that would mean missing out on the signature xocolatl tamal.

    d’Alba Kitchen & Cocktails
    This winner of Best New Restaurant in the 2022 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards will serve a three-course, $39 dinner menu of savory selections. Start with tomato and watermelon gazpacho, balloon bread, or corn and ricotta choice. Continue with one of three salads, including a Vietnamese-inspired mix of heirloom tomatoes and pickled cucumbers in a fish sauce vinaigrette. Entree choices include lamb meatballs, bone marrow pasta, or peach and bacon pizza. Add a dessert for $6.

    Daily Gather
    Dish Society’s sister concept in CityCentre will offer a four-course, $55 dinner menu and a two-course, $25 lunch menu. Highlights from dinner include deviled eggs, chilled coconut shrimp, cacio e pepe frites, citrus avocado salad, rotisserie chicken, and bananas Foster bread pudding. At lunch, look for options such as Caesar salad, tomato bisque, a twin-patty cheeseburger, or quinoa and farro with vegetables.

    El Topo
    Chef Tony Luhrman’s three-course, $55 menu begins with mushroom salad with field greens, sweet corn with epazote aioli and pepitas, or the papa costra, roasted new potatoes inside a wrapper of crispy cheese. Entree choices include rack of lamb with roasted summer squash and beans, flap steak with refried black beans, and a vegetarian-friendly masa dumplings with roasted vegetables. Chocolate tres leches leads the three dessert options.

    Figo Sugo
    Recently opened in Bravery Chef Hall, this restaurant is serving a four-course, $39 dinner and a two-course lunch. Both meals feature appetizers such as baked goat cheese and cheese sticks as well as entrees such as Parmesan-crusted chicken and spaghetti and meatballs. The dinner menu adds the option of three salads and a choice of dessert.

    Flora
    Grant Cooper’s buzzy Mexican restaurant on Buffalo Bayou will offer a three-course, $55 dinner menu. Started choices include red snapper ceviche, sopes, or beef nachos. Entree choices include skirt steak, grilled fish with vegetables, chicken in green mole, or charred octopus with chorizo and potatoes. Key lime pie, flan, and or tres leches end the meal on a sweet note.

    Gratify Neighborhood Bistro
    Rice Village’s stylish, French-inspired bistro will serve a three-course $55 dinner menu. Begin with heirloom tomato gazpacho, grilled broccolini and lentils, or a daily chef’s salad. Entree choices include pasta with truffles, pistachio-crusted rainbow trout, and the signature filet au poivre with mashed potatoes. Key lime pie, bread pudding, and flourless chocolate cake round out the menu.

    III by Wolfgang Puck
    The celebrity chef-backed restaurant in the Medical Center will offer both a four-course, $55 dinner menu and a two-course lunch. Dinner features options such as tuna tartare or mini cheeseburger to start, choice of salad, and entrees that include grilled Gulf snapper with fennel salad and flat iron steak with eggplant and snow peas. At lunch, the entree choices consist of gnocchi, grilled salmon with corn puree, and an Asian-inspired chicken salad.

    Maize
    Chef Fabian Saldana has been earning raves for his Energy Corridor Mexican restaurant. The three-course, $39 dinner menu features options such as stuffed corn pasta with grilled shrimp, pork ribs with adobo, red snapper with mussels, prosciutto-wrapped quail with green tomatillo sauce, and choice of dessert. At lunch, diners will find a two-course menu that features choices the ability to choose an entree with either an appetizer or dessert; options include ceviche, brisket quesadilla, pumpkin seed-crusted chicken breast, pork pastor, and banana pudding.

    Southern Yankee Crafthouse
    This brewpub near St. Thomas University will serve a three-course, $39 dinner menu. Start with smoked pork belly, Viet-Cajun wood-fired wings, or fried green tomatoes. Entree options include a cheeseburger with jalapeño-bacon jam, chicken cordon bleu, or spicy goat cheese pizza. Finish with bread pudding, lemon parfait, or cobbler.

    Toro Toro
    This Latin-inspired steakhouse at downtown’s luxurious Four Seasons hotel will serve a three-course, $55 dinner and a two-course lunch. At dinner, start with shareable appetizers such as swordfish dip and ceviche before choosing from entrees such as achiote-marinated salmon, roast chicken, or Peruvian favorite lomo saltado. Lunch features choices that include a sushi roll with spicy tuna and crab, wedge salad, steak and fries, and a Cuban sandwich.

    Trattoria Sofia
    This Italian restaurant in the Heights is offering a three-course, $39 dinner menu as well as two courses at lunch and brunch. Dinner consists of three savory courses with choices that include crispy shrimp in spicy tomato sauce, fried risotto croquettes, cacio e pepe, margherita pizza, chicken parmesan, and veal milanese ($12 supplement). At lunch, the menu features wood-roasted beets with labneh, green salad with apples and fennel, mozzarella panini, and pan-seared flounder. Items unique to the brunch menu include blueberry focaccia French toast, potato and sausage hash, and polenta with seared shrimp and spicy tomato sauce ($12 supplement).

    Urbe
    James Beard Award winner Hugo Ortega’s casual Mexican restaurant in Uptown Park will serve both a three-course, $39 menu and a two-course lunch. Choose from seven lunch entrees including a huarache topped with carnitas, chicken or vegetable enchiladas, tacos al pastor, and shrimp tostadas. Dinner features seven starters — ranging from roasted oysters and elote to shrimp aguachile — along with three entrees options and three dessert choices.

    Get a marghertia pizza at Trattoria Sofia.

    Trattoria Sofia marghertia pizza
      
    Photo by Jenn Duncan
    Get a marghertia pizza at Trattoria Sofia.
    news-you-can-eatfundraisers
    news/restaurants-bars

    most read posts

    2 Houston suburbs rank among fastest-growing affordable cities in U.S.

    Intimate Houston cocktail lounge adds European-inspired outdoor patio

    Award-winning Houston cocktail bar diverts to new home in Montrose

    Drop it like it's hot

    Houston farmers market adds new indoor pickleball court with food and cocktails

    Brianna Griff
    Jun 18, 2025 | 1:00 pm
    Drop Shots HTX indoor pickleball courts
    Photo by Abante Photography
    Drop Shots HTX celebrates its grand opening this Saturday, June 21.

    Pickleball isn’t going anywhere — the racquet sport continues to score with Houstonians. The newest player on the city’s crowded court, Drop Shots HTX, stands out for one big reason: it’s entirely indoors.

    Drop Shots HTX indoor pickleball courts
      

    Photo by Abante Photography

    Drop Shots HTX celebrates its grand opening this Saturday, June 21.

    Opening June 21, Drop Shots HTX is the brainchild of hospitality veterans Roveen Abante (Conservatory Galleria, Duchess), Chase Lovullo (Conservatory Galleria), and Shawn Outlaw.

    “We didn’t just want to open a bar,” co-founder Roveen Abante said in a statement. “We built a space where people connect, whether they’re playing or not. There’s something for everyone here.”

    Drop Shots HTX is marking its grand opening on June 21 from 12-11 pm, offering all-day open play for $5 along with $5 food and drink specials. Live DJs and giveaways will add to the experience.

    Patrons can soak up the A/C while slapping balls across one of the six professional-grade indoor courts. Off the court, guests can engage in friendly competitions of skee-ball, ping pong, arcade basketball, and cornhole in the second-floor lounge. Nine screens make up one wall in the mezzanine, ideal for catching the latest game, or can be expanded into one 195-inch television.

    Clutch City Kitchen will keep the players' appetite at bay with pizzas, sandwiches, and acai bowls. For hydration, an indoor/outdoor full bar will have 10 signature pickleball-themed cocktails, mocktails, and fresh juices crafted from local fruits and veggies.

    “Some venues lean into serious competition, we lean into fun,” added co-founder Shawn Outlaw. “We’re the only indoor pickleball facility inside the Loop with a full bar, kitchen, lounge, and patio. But more than that, we’re the only one that feels like your new favorite neighborhood hangout, even if you never touch a paddle.”

    Events like Glow-in-the-Dark Fridays, Tacos and Tequila Saturdays, and Pancakes and Pickball mornings add a twist to the typical pickleball match. Bring the kids—the venue is family-friendly until 10pm.

    “We created Drop Shots HTX because we fell in love with a game that brings generations together,” Outlaw said. “From our 10-year-olds to our 65-year-old parents, pickleball is for everyone. And so is this space.”

    Drop Shots HTX is located at 2520 Airline Drive, Building A, Suite 100. It’s open Monday through Thursday from 12-11pm, Friday from 12 pm-12 am, and Saturday and Sunday from 11 am-11 pm.

    nightlifeopeningspickleballdrop shots htxthe-heights
    news/restaurants-bars

    most read posts

    2 Houston suburbs rank among fastest-growing affordable cities in U.S.

    Intimate Houston cocktail lounge adds European-inspired outdoor patio

    Award-winning Houston cocktail bar diverts to new home in Montrose

    Loading...