Foodie News

Where to eat right now: 10 must-try restaurants for August

Sorrel panna cotta
Photo by Kimberly Park
A few of the healthy take-away options at Relish: Roasted cauliflower withgrapes and pumpkin seeds and roasted carrots with fennel seeds
Photo by Ruthie Johnson Miller
The Albondigas at Majorca: Spiced meatballs served with a poached egg
Photo by Ruthie Johnson Miller
Don't miss the fried mac-and-cheese balls at the It's a Wrap food truck.
Photo by Ruthie Johnson Miller
A roast beef panini topped with crispy onion from the new food truck, GrillMarks
Photo by Ruthie Johnson Miller
Sorrel
Photo by Sarah Rufca

The heat is on, and Houston restaurants are sizzling with summer specials and culinary fireworks. Need a lunch or dinner recommendation? Here are 10 hot places to try in August. Some are new restaurants entirely, while others are seasoned venues with new offerings, but all are well worth a visit.

Sorrel
Brightening up the former Ziggy’s space on West Alabama at Green briar is Sorrel, a new farm-to-table restaurant that boasts local ingredients and a menu that changes daily. Dishes sing with interesting flavor and texture combinations.

We especially love the fish dishes and rack of lamb — and the 11 by-the-glass wine options available via tap.

Relish Fine Foods
Great news — There’s a new local market in town! Relish Fine Foods recently opened last month next to Ouisie’s on San Felipe. Stop by to pick up an array of locally sourced products — like Nisha’s Indian food, Slow Dough breads, and coffees and pastries galore.

The best part is the counter of healthy take-away foods and full menu of sandwiches and entrees.

Grill Marks
Grill Marks is a new food truck offering warm panini sandwiches, plus delicacies like homemade chocolate-covered bacon and fresh Italian sodas. The sandwiches are named after Italian artists; I tried the delicious Da Vinci: thin-sliced roast beef, topped with crispy onions, melty Swiss cheese, and a creamy Espresso sauce.

Follow Grill Marks on Twitter for a daily location.

Coal Burger
From the owners of Grimaldi’s Pizza comes Coal Burger, which calls itself a “burgeria with a conscience.” Why? Because Coal Burger offers organic, grass-fed beef burgers, cooked in a coal-fired oven and topped with quality produce and condiments. Even the milkshakes are all-natural.

Burgers are large, and most are $6.95, making it worth a try. Coal Burger is located next to Grimaldi’s in the Woodlands.

Tiny’s No. 5
Listen up, lunching ladies. Tiny Boxwood’s has taken its simple-menu, gorgeous-space concept and expanded to West University with Tiny’s No. 5.

You’ll find a similar lineup of pizzas, salads and casual fare as at the original location — and we sure hope the pastries are as tasty, too. And no, that’s not an August heat-driven mirage; the space really is that lovely.

It’s a Wrap
It’s not a food truck, they say — it’s a mobile bistro. Sounds a little fancy for me, but the eating’s good.

The small wraps ($4) are really more like fancy tacos, but the large ones ($6.50) are just right. Try “The Jerk,” a lover filled with grilled chicken, jerk sauce, lettuce, tomato and mango. Hearty, healthy, delicious. Follow It’s a Wrap on Twitter for a daily location.

Hubcap Grill
After *much* anticipation, the second location of Hubcap Grill finally opened in late July, spreading the meaty love from downtown into the Heights. In addition to incomprehensibly fantastic burgers and new “hangover fries” (topped with chili and a fried egg), the space features picnic table seating and a strong lineup of beers.

The new spot has been open for dinner and it plans to expand to lunch this week.

Ruggles 11th Street Café
After years of inexplicable service, the 11th Street Café has been put out of its misery, reincarnated with only a slight name change into the new Ruggles 11th Street Café. The new iteration offers typical Ruggles fare — burgers, sandwiches, salads — and draws a moderate crowd. Renovations (to both the space and the menu) are ongoing.

Majorca
Turns out, they’re still putting restaurants in Midtown. Who knew?

Majorca is the latest, a flashy Spanish place turning out traditional tapas in an oddly interesting space. The menu is littered with hits and misses, but we enjoyed the oxtail empanadillas and the papas bravas.

Somewhere for Houston Restaurant Weeks
This annual meal deal is a nice opportunity to try restaurants that might be too spendy for your usual budget. This year’s list features outstanding names from all over town (like Indika, Tony’s, Brennan’s, plus scores of others).

Each restaurant offers a special menu — $20 for a two-course lunch, or $35 for a three-course dinner — with a portion of each meal’s cost going to the Houston Food Bank.

Need more recs? Try our lists from the previous six months:

February – March – April – May – June – July

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service switcheroo

Street food-inspired Houston restaurant swaps counter service for servers

Photo by Andrew Hemingway

Traveler's Cart is add new dishes to its menu, including steak frites and chicken parm.

A globally-inspired Houston restaurant is making a big change to its service model. Traveler’s Cart will switch from counter service to full service beginning this Monday, November 17.

When owners Thy and Matthew Mitchell opened Traveler’s Cart last year as a more casual sister concept to Traveler’s Table, their globally-inspired Montrose restaurant, they decided counter service would match the restaurant’s street food-inspired menu and lower price point. With a year of experience, they’ve decided full service — where diners sit down and order from a server — will improve the customer experience in a number of ways.

First, they noticed that some of their online reviews go to great lengths to explain the ordering process. Moving to traditional table service will elimination that confusion.

“We want to be like a great brasserie or izakaya where people come and enjoy food and drinks at a reasonable price,” Matthew Mitchell tells CultureMap. “There’s a lack of intuitiveness about the process right now. Almost a year in, we’re still having to explain where you go and how you order. That tells you we probably missed the mark.”

He also recognizes that the inherent uncertainty of counter service — people are concerned about how long they’ll have to wait to order and whether a table will be available once they do — limits the restaurant’s appeal as a date night option or for larger groups who want the certainty of having a place to sit.

Even though the restaurant has been a financial success, according to Mitchell, he thinks Traveler’s Cart is missing out on revenue with its counter service model. “I think people order less at the counter. You may not order a cocktail, and you certainly won’t get back up and order more drinks,” he says.

Switching to full service will also help the restaurant’s perceived value. With entrees mostly priced between $15 and $25, the restaurant may feel expensive relative to other fast casual restaurants. Once servers are added, Mitchell thinks diners will appreciate the value, particularly since its prices are about half of sister concept Traveler’s Table.

“I feel like the food quality is outstanding for the price, but when it crosses that $20 or $30 threshold, people perceive it as pricey,” he says.

Traveler’s Cart has other ways to enhance the value of its offering, such as its $18, three-course lunch that includes iced tea or a fountain drink. Happy hour, available Monday through Friday from 3-6 pm, includes $8 cocktails, $3 drafts, $8 small plates, and more.

Along with the new service model, Travelers Cart is updating its menu with a number of new dishes. They include Thai chili queso, Baja shrimp tacos, salmon donburi bowl, chicken parmesan, and steak frites. The cocktail menu has also been refreshed with a Mexican espresso martini and a Tuk Tuk Old Fashioned, named for the vehicle that now sits in front of the restaurant’s entrance.

Recently recognized by the Texas Restaurant Association as Restaurateurs of the Year for the Houston region, the Mitchells hope that these changes will lead to even more success. With the service style refined and the menu dialed in, they’re already looking for another location.

Photo by Andrew Hemingway

Traveler's Cart is add new dishes to its menu, including steak frites and chicken parm.

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