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    Alison Cook's Top 100

    Breaking down Alison Cook's latest list of Houston's 100 top restaurants: Has Chron critic gotten bored?

    Eric Sandler
    Sep 15, 2017 | 10:07 am

    As I read over Alison Cook’s latest list of Houston’s 100 best restaurants, published Thursday night by the Houston Chronicle, one thought kept popping up.

     

    Is Alison Cook bored? The Chronicle touts her 45 years of experience writing about food, but I sincerely wonder whether she’s over it.

     

    The first reason I asked that question is that, once again, she didn’t rank the entire list. This year, the first 30 come in numeric order (up from 25 last year) and the rest are listed alphabetically. While I suppose it might be tricky to weigh the relative merits of 68 versus 72, Jonathan Gold, the Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic for the Los Angeles Times, manages to parse those distinctions when he ranks that city’s restaurants. It isn’t unreasonable for Cook’s readers to expect the same from her.

     

    The list that once caused controversy has become pretty staid, in my opinion, and most of the choices seem pretty obvious. That the critic would anoint Xochi as Houston’s new best restaurant — Oxheart’s closure ensured a new No. 1— seemed so obvious to me that I predicted in on my podcast back in August (listen at about the 8:30 mark).

     

    I mean no disrespect to Xochi’s owners chef Hugo Ortega and Tracy Vaught with that opinion. Opening a Oaxacan restaurant in a luxurious downtown hotel took courage, and the restaurant has to walk a tricky balancing act of representing its region well while serving dishes in a form that will appeal to mainstream tastes. My most recent meal at Xochi a few weeks ago has been one of my favorite dining experiences of the year.

     

    Count Ronnie Killen as one of the list’s other big winners. He’s the only chef with three restaurants in the ranked section of the list: Killen’s Barbecue (8), Killen’s STQ (15), and Killen’s Steakhouse (27). After being snubbed by Texas Monthly, which elevated Tejas Chocolates and CorkScrew BBQ over Killen’s Barbecue in its ranking of Texas’s 50 best barbecue joints, Killen comes out on top here with the only barbecue restaurant in the ranked section of the list.

     

    Congratulations are also due to places like Brasserie 1895, Riel, Nobie's, and Roost. Houston can always benefit from more independently-owned, one-off establishments that reflect a chef's unique vision. Hopefully, Cook's attention fills their dining rooms.

     

     Hard to parse

     

    As always, Cook’s criteria are hard to parse. “Ambition matters, whether it is broad-based or tightly focused,” she writes. “A sense of Houston place, however, is one of those intangibles that can make a difference.”

     

    “Can make a difference,” but won’t necessarily, even at the top of the list. BCN, which is ranked No. 2, offers a delicious, luxurious, and expensive way to spend an evening, but chef Luis Roger’s Spanish cuisine is deliberately designed to transport diners to another part of the world. Realistically, it could be located in just about any city in America.

     

    I wonder about the restaurants that fell off the list entirely. What could have happened at Cafe Annie to drop it from 19 last year — when Cook hailed chef Robert del Grande’s decision to revive the restaurant’s name and Southwestern dishes as “a stroke of genius” — to completely off the list? Additionally, it’s hard to fathom having a take on Houston’s restaurant world in which neither Brennan’s nor Paulie’s are among the city’s best, yet neither one makes this year’s list.

     

    Another reason I think Cook might be tired of this exercise is that she’s included relatively few new restaurants. The list touts 16 new additions, but by my count, only eight opened since last year’s list: Xochi, Maba Pan-Asian Diner, Killen’s STQ, Riel, Nobie’s, Pi Pizza, Pinkerton’s Barbecue, and Yauatcha. Two restaurants that relocated and broadened their menus, Kitchen 713 and Kiran’s, could be considered new-ish, but that’s still only 10. One Fifth probably would have found a spot on the list, but the decision to close in August and reopen in September with a new concept makes it almost impossible for the critic to evaluate each new version in time to include it.

     

     Left out

     

    Where are some of the other leading lights of the last year like The Pit Room or Star Fish? Why not find a spot for at least one of the new breed of bars that serve carefully prepared food like Presidio, Edison & Patton, Heights Bier Garten, or even Better Luck Tomorrow, which comes with the status of being owned by Bobby Heugel and Justin Yu? Jonathan Jones and Matt Wommack deserve more credit for bringing a new culinary perspective to the Houston locations of Cane Rosso that have transformed it from a solid pizza option into a sophisticated, locally-inspired take on casual Italian cuisine.

     

    How about mixing up the Chinatown picks by making room for the hand-pulled noodles at Let’s Noodle, the Sichuan spices at Chengdu Taste, or creative spin on Korean food at Ohn?

     

    If Cook gives Maba so much credit for its updated take on (mostly) Vietnamese food that it’s Houston’s 11th best restaurant, then shouldn’t Les Baget have a spot for its own creative preparations and inventive twists on Vietnamese flavors? And if Bernie’s Burger Bus, Hubcap Grill, and burger-chan are on the list, then shouldn’t The Burger Joint be, too?

     

    Restaurants evolve, but Cook doesn’t seem to notice. She cites Shepard Ross as a "co-owner" of Pax Americana who shapes the wine list and cocktails, but Ross departed from Pax this summer to work as a restaurant consultant on projects like the upcoming Maison Pucha Bistro. In her blurb for Riel, she touts the borscht that’s been off the menu all summer. In the passage for Weights + Measures, she mentions Mike Sammons’ influence on the wine list and cocktails, but it’s general manager Isaac Johnson, not Sammons, who has been responsible for them the last two years. Did she revisit these restaurant this summer during the almost three month gap between her last review (Tejas Chocolates on June 19) and the list's publication to ensure she experience their most current versions?

     

    Still doubt that the critic is out of touch? She tweeted Thursday night that she had never had queso at Pappasito's before that day. Pardon me for stealing a bit from Seth Meyers and Tina Fey, but, really, Alison Cook? Houston's most prominent food writer has never had a basic appetizer at the city's most popular Tex-Mex restaurant (at least by number of locations)? Really?!?

     

    Ultimately, the list reflects one critic's opinion. Cook can write what she wants. Let’s just stop pretending her list is anything more than that.

    Xochi is Houston's new top restaurant, according to Alison Cook.

    Xochi entrance Hugo Ortega Tracy Vaught
      
    Courtesy photo
    Xochi is Houston's new top restaurant, according to Alison Cook.
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    hola, mayahuel

    Netflix chef's modern Mexican restaurant opens in Houston this month

    Eric Sandler
    Jul 7, 2025 | 6:45 pm
    Mayahuel restaurant
    Photo by Bethany Ochs
    Mayahuel's menu combines seasonal ingredients and heirloom corn.

    The countdown is on to Houston’s newest modern Mexican restaurant. Mayahuel will officially open for dinner on Friday, July 18.

    Located in the Autry Park mixed-use development, Mayahuel united Culinary Khancepts — the hospitality group behind Liberty Kitchen, State Fare, and Leo’s River Oaks (among others) — with star chef Luis Robledo Richards. Known locally for his short-lived taqueria Comalito, Richards is the pastry chef behind Mexico City’s celebrated Tout Chocolat. His resume includes serving as a judge on the Netflix series Sugar Rush: The Baking Point and being named the Best Pastry Chef in Latin America by the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

    At Mayahuel, Richards will feature dishes made with seasonal ingredients and heirloom corn that’s imported from Mexico. At opening, it will be a tidy group of 16 savory dishes — divided into starters, “Tacos y Masa,” and entrees, as well as a separate tasting menu. The restaurant takes its name from the Mexica goddess of the maguey plant, which only blooms once, to emphasize its connection to Mexico’s land and culture.

    “At Mayahuel, we’re not just preparing food — we’re honoring time, place, and process,” Richards said in a statement. “Our ingredients are chosen only when they’re at their best. We don’t force nature to fit our schedule — we follow its lead.”

    Dinner at Mayahuel could begin with dishes such as bread and tortillas served with miso and salsa matcha butters, a bluefin tuna tostada with uni cream and yuzu aioli, salmon aguachile, or a beef carnitas croquette. The “Tacos y Masa” section includes beef cheek and shrimp tacos, a duck confit tamal, and a squash blossom tetela. Entree choices include filet mignon with mole negro, cochinita with black bean puree and tortillas, and sea bass with potatoes and salsa Veracruzana.

    Brunch is a more casual affair built around items such as chilaquiles, French toast, enfrijoladas, and a Mexican take on eggs Benedict topped with salsa roja hollandaise.

    Large format desserts each take inspiration from one of three ingredients — vanilla, coffee, or cacao. Priced at $28 each, the menu describes them as “a thoughtful, interactive finale that honors tradition through technique, seasonality, and imagination.”

    Pairings include cocktails made with agave spirits, fresh juices, and house made syrups. Notably, all tequilas will be additive-free, which means some prominent brands may not be featured behind Mayahuel’s bar.

    The restaurant occupies an approximately 5,100-square-foot space that’s divided into a 16-seat bar, a 40-seat dining room, an eight-seat chef’s table, a 36-seat, second floor dining room, and a 34-seat patio. It joins other concepts in Autry Park such as French restaurant Annabelle Brasserie, sushi spot Doko, fine dining steakhouse Turner’s Cut, Vietnamese restaurant Annam, and a still-unnamed concept from Austin’s Emmer & Rye Hospitality.

    “Mayahuel is about creating a sense of place and story,” Culinary Khancepts founder Omar Khan said. “It’s a natural evolution for our group — rooted in culture, crafted with care, and designed to be as memorable as it is welcoming.”

    Mayahuel will be open for happy hour and dinner Monday-Saturday and brunch on Saturday and Sunday. Reservations are available on OpenTable.

    Mayahuel restaurant
      

    Photo by Bethany Ochs

    Mayahuel's menu combines seasonal ingredients and heirloom corn.

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