Eat, Drink, and Be Merry

Leave the cooking to Houston icon Tony's this Christmas and New Year's eves

Perhaps the greatest gift of all this holiday season is not having to cook. And why would you want to, when Tony's is offering delectable menus for Christmas Eve — both in-restaurant and to-go — and New Year's Eve?

Christmas Eve
The Houston mainstay will be open on Christmas Eve for dinner service with both the traditional menu and tasting menu, or you can pick up an array of entrees, sides, and desserts curbside on December 24 from 11 am-3 pm.

Select such tasty items as braised lamb shank, whole Prime tenderloin, Italian sausage and peppers, baked ziti, whole cheesecake, tuxedo cake, and more. You can view the entire Christmas Eve To-Go menu here, and place your order online here.

New Year's Eve
Ring in 2022 with Tony's and the ultimate New Year’s Eve celebration. Enjoy special selections on the exclusive, multi-course dinner menu and Tony's award-winning wine list, which includes some of the finest selections of Champagne in Houston.

The first seating is from 6-8:45 pm and is $115 per person (not including tax and gratuity). The second is from 9:15 pm into 2022 and is $195 person (also not including tax and gratuity). Guests who reserve a table during the second seating will also enjoy live music by Nick & The Hits, the countdown to midnight, a shower of confetti, and plenty of dancing.

Tony’s elegant New Year's Eve dinner menu features classic dishes as well as innovative new additions featuring the finest seasonal ingredients. After all, Tony's is renowned for only using the finest quality ingredients, imported from all over the world to create its one-of-a-kind dishes.

Spend your final night of 2021 sampling white Alba truffles and a 55-day dry-aged New York strip loin, just to name a few of the exclusive menu items.

Seating is limited, so reserve your table today at 713-622-6778 to make the first moments of 2022 unforgettable.

Order your Christmas Eve meal to-go.

Photo by Heirloom Interactive

Order your Christmas Eve meal to-go.

promoted dinner holidays

head east

Eagerly-anticipated Houston barbecue joint hosts weekend preview pop-ups

Courtesy of Eastbound Barbecue

Get a first taste of Eastbound Barbecue this weekend.

One of Houston’s most eagerly anticipated new barbecue joints is giving diners a preview of what’s to come. Eastbound Barbecue will host “Sneak Peak Weekends” every Saturday and Sunday beginning this Saturday, December 20, until the restaurant opens in early 2026.

Held at the restaurant’s location in the East End (1105 Sampson Street) from 12-4 pm (or sold out), the weekend service gives diners their first chance to try Eastbound Barbecue’s smoked meats, sides, and desserts. That includes, smoked brisket, baby back ribs, jalapeno & cheese sausage, hatch chili lasagna mac & cheese, herbed potato salad, and more. Save room for the two dessert offerings, salted caramel banana pudding and cookie butter cake.

To distinguish Eastbound’s barbecue, chefs Lopez and Granville use different seasonings than other restaurants, such as rosemary salt in the brisket rub and a miso-caramel sauce that gives its ribs a sweet and savory bite. During the preview, Eastbound’s prices are noticeably lower than many other Houston barbecue joints, with brisket priced at $29 per pound, ribs at $26 per pound, and pulled pork at $22 per pound.

As CultureMap reported in August, Eastbound unites four friends, Ryan Penn, Ryan Powell, Luis Lopez, and Jake Granville, who also held senior roles at various restaurants owned by prominent Houston chef Ronnie Killen. Since then, the four partners have finished many of the improvements they needed to make prior to opening, including closing in the patio and installing offset smokers on the property.

For Penn, leaving the Killen’s organization after almost 20 years was a difficult decision, but one he felt he had to make. “I could have worked for [Killen] forever and been happy. It was more along the lines of, if I don’t do this now, I don’t want to be 70 and wish that I had,” he said at the time.

Courtesy of Eastbound Barbecue

Get a first taste of Eastbound Barbecue this weekend.

news-you-can-eat barbecue openings