Foodie News

Houston Chef's Table: Food snob Craig Mallinson unearths the best steak inHouston

Chef Craig Mallinson of Red Lion Pub
Craig Mallinson with Guy Fieri.

No one knows Houston restaurants better than the people who run them, own them, and work in the kitchens. In this continuing series, CultureMap is asking our favorite foodie personalities around town where they go for great eats when they're not working.

Craig Mallinson's Red Lion has walked the line between restaurant and bar for years — like a gastropub, without the fancy moniker or matching pretension. The Food Network's Guy Fieri is a fan — Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives made a stop at Red Lion in 2009. But as for Mallinson, his Houston favorites are decidedly diner-free.

Restaurant to take out-of-towners to: I'm a bit of a snob ... one of them would would be Tony's and another would be Mark's. For pizza I like Pink's Pizza and for Asian food my favorite is Qin Dynasty.

Restaurant for a special occasion: I just took my family to Tony's before The Nutcracker last Saturday. The service is probably the best service in the city.

I like what they do with the menu, and I'm generally a big fan of Tony Vallone, I like what he's done for the city. He's produced so many good chefs because he gives people a shot.

Favorite meal: I like to say Carrabba's on Kirby. They are always very hospitable, I like the way that Johnny runs it, but the best kept secret is that they have the best steak.

I believe it's Australian, it's the best steak in the city, bar none.

Breakfast/Brunch favorite: Without a doubt Backstreet Cafe. I don't know what it is about their brunches, but they have a chicken hash or pork hash they conjure up — I'm always like, "One day I'm going to steal this idea," but I haven't yet.

I like the feel when the weather is nice and it's a good place for the whole family.

Dessert: Dessert Gallery — I don't go for desserts often but when we do we go there, they've got some lovely ideas.

Other articles in the Houston Chef's Table series:

Lee Ellis loves Les Givral

Sugar hooker Rebecca Masson can't get enough of Catalan's Cake

Beachy L.J. Wiley digs the special occasion simple flavors at Dos Brisas

David Grossman goes for Vic & Anthony's crab cake, Yelapa late nights & some Bootsie

Jeramie Robison appreciates Kata Robata's sushi, Beaver's bangin' meatloaf & foodie chicks

Tony Mandola finds breakfast magic at Sunrise Taquitos

Philippe Schmit craves a Picnic romance & Stella Sola's French toast

Benjy Levit is torn between Indika's salads and Hank's Ice Cream

Flora & Muse's David Luna likes to hang with his fishing buddy and hit the Blue Nile

Asian Bistro's Gigi Huang seeks out spicy fried chicken at a Dive

Hugo Ortega believes in a Goode tradition

Soma Sushi's Jason Hauck is anti-brunch, pro-Feast

Jenni Tran-Weaver can't get enough hot pot

Bistro Alex's Juan Carlos Gonzalez finds a great $1.50 meal & giant key lime pie

Mockingbird Bistro's John Sheely treasures homemade Mexican & cool Connie's Seafood

Elizabeth Abraham dishes on her secret Royal Restaurant

Fleming's Jason Cole finds Texas' best barbecue, surf secrets

Kraftsmen Cafe's Scott Tycer hungers for the Taco Nazi's tortillas

Robert Del Grande reveals his IHOP regular past & his Baskin beginning

Ristorante Cavour's Renato De Pirro finds hidden food gems

Chip Hight adores Queen Vic, but he's still a Le Peep kind of guy

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New York Times critic awards Houston restaurant 2 stars in glowing review

Courtesy of ChòpnBlọk

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Let’s just call 2025 the year of ChòpnBlọk. In a review published Tuesday, December 16, the New York Times has awarded the Houston restaurant two stars (“very good”).

Written by chief restaurant critic Tejal Rao, the review touts many of the same qualities that the Times already praised when it included ChòpnBlọk on its list of America’s 50 best restaurants.

Rao writes that she usually avoids restaurants that serve food in bowls, but she’s impressed by the way that chef-owner Ope Amosu has put a West African spin on the concept.

“For inspiration, Ope Amosu looked to the kind of chain restaurants that were built to scale, where flavors are often subdued to appeal to the broadest possible audience, focus-grouped to death. But the delight of ChòpnBlok is in its sure sense of self, its lively, multidimensional cooking and clear, delicious vision for modern food from the Black diaspora,” Rao writes.

She singles out specific dishes, including the Nigerian red stew with short rib, the Black Star bowl with shrimp, and the signature Motherland, made with chicken, greens, and plantains. “It’s utterly simple, but draws you in for more with the mouthwatering twang of not-too-much MSG — an international shortcut to building umami that tends to be used carefully, and layered with other forms,” she writes.

The review also touches on the way Amosu switched the restaurant from counter service to full service — described as “warm, informal, and quick with the jokes” — and his time working at Chipotle to learn the basics of the restaurant operations.

A two-star review is only the latest instance of ChòpnBlọk receiving national attention. In addition to the Times 50 best list, Esquire recently named it one of America’s best new restaurants. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand designation for 2025. Amosu earned a semifinalist nomination for Best Chef: Texas in the 2025 James Beard Awards.

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