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    Foodie News

    Where to eat right now: 10 hot, must-try restaurants for September

    Ruthie Miller
    Sep 5, 2012 | 12:02 pm
    • Dolce Vita has returned to top form post fire, serving those exceptional pizzaswith flair.
      Photo by Ruthie Johnson Miller
    • T'afia received a facelift. It's now called Sparrow.
      Photo by Ruthie Johnson Miller
    • A grilled cheese and a smile? Get 'em both at the new Golden Grill food truck.
      Photo by Ruthie Johnson Miller
    • A blackened shrimp poboy from NOLA's Creole 2 Geaux makes a worthy lunch.
      Photo by Ruthie Johnson Miller
    • Pie in the Sky is gone, but you can still find their awesome pies at Table 19.
      Photo by Ruthie Johnson Miller
    • Try the Kimcheese at the Golden Grill, a grilled Cheddar cheese with kimchi,onion and a fried egg.
      Photo by Ruthie Johnson Miller
    • NOLA's Creole 2 Geaux looks like Mardi Gras on wheels. (Beads not included.)
      Photo by Ruthie Johnson Miller

    September is upon us! The air’s still hot, and so is our culinary landscape. Need a lunch or dinner recommendation?

    Here’s where you should eat right now in Houston.

     Sparrow Bar + Cookshop
    T’afia has been rebranded and is now masquerading as Sparrow Bar + Cookshop. The interior has received a quick facelift, including new tables and light fixtures, plus curious chemistry tie-ins like Erlenmeyer flasks as water vessels and test tubes of salt and pepper.

    Monica Pope devotees will recognize a similar menu style (small, shareable plates, proteins a la carte) and even many of the same dishes.

     1252 Tapas Bar
    Thanks to the success of its first two locations, 1252 Tapas Bar has opened a third, this one in Uptown Park. The menu of Spanish-style tapas is well executed, though pretty standard.

    An authentic tapas place will always be judged on its paella, and this version is worthy. We like to stop by the lovely space for a $3 sangria at Happy Hour.

     Golden Grill
    Comfort food abounds at the Golden Grill, a new food truck offering gourmet grilled cheeses. I loved my deliciously messy “Kimcheese,” whole wheat bread filled with Cheddar cheese, truck-made kimchi, grilled onions and a fried egg.

    And yes, you most certainly can get your grilled cheese with tomato soup: Chipotle tomato soup with goat cheese crumbles, to be exact.

     Cuchara
    Brightening up Taft and Fairview across from Boheme is Cuchara, a new restaurant offering “Mexico City food.” That plays out in a beautiful menu of moles, nopales, barbacoa and shrimp . . . Think Hugo’s, not Ninfa’s.

    Stop by the lovely light-filled restaurant, currently in its soft opening, for dinner or Sunday brunch.

     NOLA’s Creole 2 Geaux
    I’m picky when it comes to po'boys, but recently enjoyed the ones at the Creole 2 Geaux food truck. Mardi Gras for your mouth? Maybe.

    Mine featured blackened shrimp, fresh lettuce and tomato, and just the right amount of spicy sauce, all on lightly grilled French bread. Each po'boy comes with a pretty big side — a nice perk, even if the sides are middling.

     Lucille’s
    The museum district is finally getting some fresh meat with Lucille’s. The new spot is a “Southern cuisine restaurant with European influences,” marrying the chef’s own upbringing with his training at Austin’s Le Cordon Bleu school.

    I’m hoping Lucille’s is the answer to Houston’s woeful lack of good biscuits.

     Jade Stone Café
    And there’s even more good news for the Museum District with the new Jade Stone Café, right inside the Asia Society Texas Center. Jade Stone offers a basic café menu — sandwiches, soups, salads — all kicked up with subtle Asian touches (think wasabi spreads, ginger dressings and the like).

    And the space? It’s as serenely beautiful as you might imagine.

     Table 19
    19th Street’s homey little Pie in the Sky is now Table 19. The menu of breakfast items and café fare has received only slight updates. We like the salads (though you’d be wise to ask for the dressing on the side).

    And good news: You can still find the former resident’s fabulous pies at Table 19, in addition to other outlets including Buc-ee’s and several Urban Harvest farmers markets.

     Dolce Vita
    News of the fire last May at Dolce Vita hit us like a prize fighter: It was painful and jarring, and it left us agog with heads spinning. Fortunately the prognosis was good, and the effervescent eatery is back in top form once again.

    You’re now welcome to make your way back for the addicting pizzas, pastas and salads. Beat the crowds by heading over at lunch.

     Juice Girl
    It’s nice to see a lighter food truck on the scene these days. Juice Girl offers creative juice mixes and smoothies, all of which taste especially nice in the Houston heat. All juices are made fresh with organic produce (local when possible). More good news: Juice girl often sets up near another food truck, so you can support two local businesses in one stop.
     

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

     January – March – May – June – July – August

    unspecified
    news/restaurants-bars

    roll out

    Self-taught chef slices into Houston with high-quality sushi to go

    Eric Sandler
    Jul 17, 2025 | 5:57 pm
    Kaisen Sushi Houston nigiri
    Courtesy of Kaisen Sushi Houston
    Each order of nigiri comes with a house made sushi sauce.

    The ghost kitchen phenomenon may have diminished somewhat since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the idea of a delivery and to-go-only restaurant still draws talented chefs who want to focus on food at a lower overhead than a traditional brick-and-mortar. One of those chefs is Sunny Bertsch, whose restaurant Kaisen Sushi Houston is already drawing buzz from inner loopers looking for a more affordable, at-home sushi experience.

    Located at the Blodgett Food Hall in Third Ward, Kaisen Sushi serves typical nigiri, maki, and temaki (hand rolls), along with a steak bowl. Prices are a little lower than what someone would find at a typical sushi restaurant, with an eight-piece nigiri set priced at $18.99 when ordered through the Blodgett Food Hall website (expect to pay more if ordering via a third-party delivery service such as Uber Eats or DoorDash).

    While Bertsch’s food may be familiar, his story is not. The diners who’ve rated Kaisen with 4.9 stars on Google may be surprised to learn that he’s only been cooking professionally for two years. As Bertsch tells CultureMap, prior to becoming a professional chef, he worked in fields as varied as aerospace and dog walking.

    “I’d always been interested in cooking,” he says. “I was blessed to be born into a great Korean American family. My dad and my grandparents always cooked great food. I learned by osmosis.”

    Bertsch began his career as a private chef by working for friends. He built his business by catering lunches to powerhouse law firm Vinson & Elkins. Eventually, his clients asked for private sushi dinners, and he had to figure things out.

    “I got an opportunity to do a sushi omakase. It was brutal. It was messy. But I knew once I did that, I wanted to dedicate my life to sushi,” he says. “Since then, I have studied and practiced. I threw a lot of money and time and fish at it.”

    Bertsch improved his speed and knife skills by taking a $13-per-hour job at Japanese grocery store Seiwa Market. While there, he says he made thousands of pieces of nigiri, rolls, and sushi bowls. That experience, along with meals from similar to-go-only concepts in New York and San Francisco, convinced him to open Kaisen as a ghost kitchen.

    “So far, I’ve spent $90,000. That’s more than the average investment for a food hall kitchen,” Bertsch explains. “I’m a clean freak. I’m a technology freak. I’m an authenticity freak. I outfitted my kitchen in the way I thought was necessary for long-term success.”

    Just as he spared no expense in specing out his kitchen, Bertsch puts thoughtful touches into his food, too. For example, every order of nigiri comes with a dipping sauce Bertsch makes himself from low sodium soy sauce, kombu, vinegar, and sake.

    “It’s a complex sauce that’s less salty and tastes good,” he says. “You know when you don’t have it and you’re given cheap soy sauce.”

    Similarly, his California rolls use imitation crab (as do most restaurants), but it’s seasoned with a housemade, Japanese-style kewpie mayo, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and sesame oil for more umami and less sweetness. Since the chef uses more crab mix than other restaurants do in their rolls, Kaisen’s California roll not only tastes better — at $11.99, it’s a better value, too.

    The chef showcases Japanese techniques and Korean influences with his $25 steak bowl. A USDA Choice ribeye or strip is cooked sous vide with a marinade made from garlic, tamari, and seasoning salt. Once a diner orders the entree, the steak is seared in a pan, basted with Kerrygold butter, seasoned with furikake and sesame oil, and served with short-grain sushi rice and microgreens from local farm Zero Point Organics.

    Word of mouth has been building. Even though it’s only been open for a month, Kaisen already has over 2,000 followers on Instagram. Once he’s able to hire a full roster of cooks, Bertsch plans to expand the menu and offer lunch service. Despite some challenges, he’s pleased with the restaurant’s progress.

    “The support I've gotten on social media has blown me away,” he says. “It’s been amazing. I could not have done it without Instagram. It blows my mind.”

    Kaisen Sushi Houston nigiri
      

    Courtesy of Kaisen Sushi Houston

    Each order of nigiri comes with a house made sushi sauce.

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