This week in dining

These are the 6 best food and drink events in Houston this week

Chicken parm tastes so good, especially when its free.

Courtesy of B.B. Italia

Summer may be unofficially over with the Labor Day holiday, but Houston's celebrating rolls on. This week features a slew of Labor Day dining and drinking deals, as well as a special tribute to first responders. A beloved Houston institution throws itself a series of anniversary parties, and there's s killer cookoff that our very own Eric Sandler helps judge.

Monday, September 2 - Friday, September 6

First Responders Appreciation Week
All Berg Hospitality Group restaurants (B&B Butchers and Restaurant, B.B.Lemon, and B.B. Italia Kitchen and Bar) offer on-duty first responders a free, three-course meal during lunch and dinner service from a special menu. Each concept has different offerings, including a choice of appetizer, entree, and dessert. First responders' guests can get the same for $25 per person.

Monday, September 2

Labor Day Dining Deals Around Town
Both BCK and Bosscat Kitchen & Libations extend their brunch menus into Monday. At BCK, brunch is available from 10 am to 3 pm; brunch runs from 11 am to 3 pm at Bosscat Kitchen. Brasserie 19 has special bottle pricing on Veuve Clicquot Brut Rosé, Ruinart, Smoke Tree, and Cape Mentelle rose; every bottle sold gets entered to win swag from the featured vineyards and producers.

Get half-price mimosa carafes and enjoy the brunch menu at lunchtime at all Hungry's spots. Buy one entree at any Jax Grill location and get one free from open to close, as does its sister restaurant The Union Kitchen. Le Colonial and Toulouse in the River Oaks District are offering 50-percent off select bottles of wine.

King's BierHaus' Heights and League City locations offer a massive crispy ham hock served with sauerkraut, potato salad, and apple horseradish for just $15 today. The Heights and Upper Kirby outposts of Local Kitchen are serving brunch from 10 am to 3 pm. Get $6.50 Molina's margaritas at all Molina's locations. Peli Peli serves brunch from 11 am to 4 pm. Dressing up like Lady Gaga or Madonna is encouraged at Postino today; the Madonna versus Lady Gaga brunch from 11 am to 4 pm features $5 mimosas and a DJ spinning the dueling divas' music.

Tuesday, September 3

6th Annual Banh Mi Cookoff at Warehouse Live
Featuring chefs from around Houston, this party with a purpose features a silent auction, food vendors, bubble tea, music by DJ Phil Good, and entertainment from the Aloha Polynesian Dancers — not to mention plenty of banh mi. Among those competing are Evelyn Garcia of Decatur Bar & Pop-up Factory, Robert Linn from The Artist's Cuisine, Kristen Powell from The Barking Pig, Marcus Powell of Hoot's Smokehouse, and more. Judges include our own Eric Sandler, Masterchef winner Christine Ha, and Houstonia's Timothy Malcolm. Regular admission tickets are $35 and include unlimited samples of the chef's creations, as well as samples from the other food and drink vendors on site. The fun kicks off at 6:30 pm.

Back-to-School Kickoff Night at El Patio
From 5 to 8 pm, kids eat free with the purchase of an adult entree. The popular, family-friendly deal will be available on Tuesdays throughout the school year.

Wednesday, September 4

Epic Dinner at State Fare Kitchen and Bar
Chef Justin Yoakum offers a four-course dinner paired with selections from Karbach Brewing Co. Looks for menu items such as coastal crab fingers paired with Karbach style Blueberry Mule, pork belly and watermelon salad paired with Day Maker Brut Rose IPA, and 44 Farms double smoked brisket paired with Crawford Bock. Dinner starts at 6 pm and tickets are $50 per person, plus tax and gratuity.

Thursday, September 5

41st Anniversary Drunk Dinner at Rudyard's
This five-course dinner is part feast, part stroll down memory lane, as Rudyard's rolls out some of its favorite dishes and drink pairings over the decades. Look for a 1970s-inspired smoked oysters partnered with whiskey; the 1980s styling of "Miami Vice Tartare," steak tartare with horseradish cream, fish sauce caramel brittle, and trout roe with a housemade wine cooler; and "Fusion Sliders That Don't Suck," a 2000s-era offering of lamb, short rib, and quail paired with a surprise. Tickets are $65 each, and dinner starts at 7 pm.

Sunday, September 8

Pizza Magic at Rudyard's
Because when a place has been in business for 41 years, one anniversary celebration doesn't quite cut it. Starting at 1 pm till it's gone, chef Anthony Calleo returns to his Pi Pizza roots by baking up pies in a homemade "Southern engineered" brick oven. Diners will dig his Macgyverian skills — and the pizza. No word on ifs the infamous 420 slice will make a return.

news-you-can-eat

In A Pickle

Texas-based Smoothie King spins up puckery new pickle smoothie

Photo courtesy of Smoothie King

Pickle flavored smoothie from Smoothie King.

The ever upwardly trending pickle flavor is surfacing in the unlikeliest of places: Smoothie King, the Dallas-based smoothie chain, is releasing a new limited-edition Pickle Smoothie — for those who love pickles so much they could drink them.

Smoothie King is partnering with Grillo's Pickles, a Boston-based pickle company, on a beverage that combines Grillo’s Pickles with bananas, kale, and coconut water for what they describe as a refreshingly tangy drink infused with electrolytes designed to support hydration.

The drink is $5.99 for a 20-ounce serving, and will be available through the summer. They'll be giving out free 4-ounce samples on May 16, while supplies last. A Today writer who ran out and tried it found that the banana and pickles both had an equally strong presence, and that it was "not bad." That's some reporting.

Grillo's Pickles was founded in 2008 by Travis Grillo, who launched the business as a small wooden pushcart in Boston Common, using his family's 100-year-old recipe. It has since grown into a nationwide brand, with their bottles topped with kelly-green lids sold in the refrigerator section of major grocery chains such as Walmart, Target, Whole Foods, Kroger, and Aldi.

Smoothie King is based in Dallas and is owned by Wan Kim, who opened the first Smoothie King franchise in Korea before eventually acquiring the national chain. He's also a major presence in Dallas' restaurant scene, opening the acclaimed Asian-themed Nuri Steakhouse in Uptown Dallas in 2024, and more recently debuting a chicken tenders concept on Dallas' Greenville Avenue called Flock & Fresh on May 2.

Pickles have emerged in recent years as one of the buzziest flavors, including Fort Worth's own craft beer brewer Martin House Brewing Co., a pickle pioneer that has released a number of pickle-flavored beers. H-E-B just joined the pickle party with a new Pickle Chamoy Sherbet, and national boutique grocery chain Trader Joe's is about to reprise its annual Pickle Season onslaught of pickle-flavored products such as Dill Pickle Mustard and Pickle-Flavored Potato Chips.

Beyond their flavor, pickles are a fermented item which can offer nutritional/probiotic benefits, although Smoothie King VP of R&D and Product Marketing Lori Primavera focuses primarily on the hydration aspect.

"At Smoothie King, every recipe starts with delicious nutrition in mind," Primavera says in a statement. "Pickles are not only delicious and having a cultural moment, they also offer real nutritional benefits, especially known for their enhanced hydration. That combination gave us an opportunity to explore them in a new format and push our innovation into new territory, reimagining how a beloved flavor can deliver both function and taste."

Grillo's Pickles Chief Commercial Officer Mark Luker calls them "functional benefits."

"We love to do unhinged collabs at Grillo's," Luker says. "With that, we don't always get to talk about the functional benefits of pickles. When we partnered with Smoothie King for a hydration smoothie, we knew this was a great opportunity to do both. Those who are willing to try will be pleasantly surprised (and hydrated)."

And if pickles are not your thing, Smoothie King is also simultaneously unveiling five watermelon smoothies including fan-favorite Watermelon Hydration, Watermelon X-Treme, Gut Health, The Activator Recovery Watermelon, and Power Meal Slim Watermelon.

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