This week in eating

These are the 8 best food events happening in Houston this week

Winnie's Craft Pita Habibi Night 3.0 Sloppy Joseph

Winnie's and Craft Pita remind us how delicious Lebanese food is with Habibi Night 3.0 on Saturday, February 28.

Photo by Michael Ma

There are plenty of opportunities to rustle delicious food this week in Houston, with or without a wristband to one of the private tents at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo's World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. The weekend starts early with a ChòpnBlọk and The Breakfast Klub collab, and finishes strong at Truth BBQ with bourbon and smoked meat.

Thursday, February 26

ChòpnBlọk x The Breakfast Klub “Brunch After Dark Parlay”
James Beard-nominated chef Ope Amosu of ChòpnBlọk and The Breakfast Klub owner Marcus Davis are merging their talents for “Brunch after Dark Parlay.” The event is at ChòpnBlọk's Montrose location from 8-11 pm. No reservations are required, but we suggest getting there early, as we expect a crowd.

Tuna Breakdown Feast
Six chefs across the city — including Burger-Chan founder Willet Feng, former Shun chef-owner Naoki Yoshida, and MaKiin chef-owner Lukkaew Srasrisuwan — are gathering together for an unlimited omakase tasting at Kim Son in Chinatown. In addition to food, the night includes both a bluefin tuna cutting and a samurai performance. Tickets are available at Eventbrite and range from $213, with taxes and fees, for general admission to $293 for the addition of unlimited sake. The event begins at 6 pm.

Goode Co. Cook-Off Weekend with Lone Star Beer
This three-day event at Goode Co.'s Armadillo Palace serves as an unofficial afterparty for the barbecue contest happening down the street. Each night features live music, food, and cocktails from 10 pm until close. Vinyl Ranch will perform Thursday, with Silverada playing Friday, and Joshua Ray Walker appearing Saturday. Get tickets and more information at the Armadillo Place website.

Friday, February 27

Boos at Night with Dominick Lee and Greg Gatlin
The burger stand’s Boos at Night event is back with chef Dominick Lee of the future Augustine’s and pitmaster Greg Gatlin of Gatlin’s BBQ and Gatlin's Fins & Feathers. Promised bites include smoked ribs, snapper, yellow rice, potato salad, and collards. The event runs from 7 pm until sellout.

Underground Creamery & Brasil for PX Project
Dig into cheeseburgers and sundaes in support of PX Project, a food service-based nonprofit that provides career and employment training for local youth. Proceeds from Brasil’s Cheeseburger in Paradise (a bacon cheeseburger with jalapeño sauce) and two Underground Creamery sundaes — one with butter pecans and dark chocolate fudge, the other with pickled strawberries, preserved lemons, and birthday crumb — will benefit the nonprofit. The event is 5-9 pm at Brasil.

Saturday, February 28

Craft Pita X Winnie's Habibi Night 3.0
Chef Rafael Nasr of Craft Pita and Winnie’s co-owners Graham Laborde and Benjy Mason are hosting the third annual Habibi Night to showcase Lebanese culture, food, and music. Expect flavorful combinations like the Sloppy Joseph with ground beef, braised lamb shoulder, chili cheese Fritos, and pimiento queso. Hookah, cocktails featuring arak, and house music by Dr. House rounds out the experience. The event kicks off at 6:30 pm at Winnie’s.

Rodeo Smoke Show at Truth BBQ
Garden and Gun magazine is kicking off rodeo season at Truth BBQ with live music, shopping, bourbon cocktails, and Texas-inspired dishes by Truth pitmasster-owner Leonard Botello, State of Grace’s Ryan Lachaine, La Lucha’s Bobby Matos, and Seth Siegel Gardner of Local Foods Group. Tickets are $85 for general admission and $115 for VIP, with the event beginning at 6 pm.

Sunday, March 1

Rodeo BBQ & Brews
Held at The Pit Room in Memorial, this fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Houston includes a smoked prime rib dinner, beers from Saint Arnold, dessert from Cosmic Ice Cream, and music by J.B. Barnett. A limited number of tickets are available for $100 per person. The fun starts at 4:30 pm.

news-you-can-eat

bring on the Bacalhau

Michelin-starred Houston restaurant heads to Portugal for new season

Photo by Zach Horst

No conversation about Houston’s best restaurants would be complete without mentioning March, Goodnight Hospitality’s Mediterranean-inspired, fine dining, tasting menu restaurant in Montrose.

For its 12th season, which begins this Friday, August 7, March will take a broad look at Portugal. Over the course of pre-dinner snacks in its lounge, seven courses in its dining room, and take away desserts, chef-partner Felipe Riccio and his team will guide diners through all aspects of Portuguese cuisine, including its trade routes with China, India, and North Africa.

Riccio tells CultureMap that Portugal was the logical follow up to March’s 11th season, which examined northern Spain. He began the research process a few months ago, drawing upon published literature, cookbooks, and his own experiences as a stage at a restaurant in Lisbon. More than a menu update, seasons at March also include changes to the beverage offerings and creating service touches that enhance the experience.

Photo by Zach Horst

Rabbit cozido.

“Portugal is so close geographically to the north of Spain, and there’s a lot of similarities,” he says. “The menu really explores a lot of places outside of the Mediterranean where the Portuguese had influence and were influenced by. It’s all these trade routes.”

Priced at $230 plus drinks, tax, and gratuity, a meal at March begins in the lounge with four snacks, including a peri peri-spiced duck rillette, a delicate tart with lobster and caviar, a tempura-fried fish (peixinhos da horta) and the Macau-inspired porcho balichao made with manilla clams.

As always, March brings premium ingredients to its take on classic dishes. For example, it sources Japanese Almaco Jack for a crudo that’s inspired by Portuguese salt cod (bacalahua). Cozido, a slow-cooked stew that’s a staple of Portuguese cooking, gets reinterpreted as a house made rabbit sauce with foie gras. Riccio acknowledges that diners expect a certain level of luxury at this price point, but diners may not always realize how valuable properly-sourced ingredients are.

“I don’t think it always has to be so overt. I think the majority of people, the experience as a whole delivers that value,” Riccio says.

Similarly, the Portugal menu continues March’s move to a set, seven-course menu instead of giving diners the choice of either six or nine courses. Riccio see that as another sign of the restaurant’s maturity.

“A tasting menu is restrictive. We needed to earn that trust and give people options. I felt like people trust us and we’ve proved we can create an experience,” he says.

Since part of the criteria for a Michelin star is consistency across visits, March’s ability to hold its star while still changing its menu twice a year is a testament to the kitchen’s skill. Add in the server’s deep knowledge of every dish on the menu, its comprehensive beverage offerings, and a dining room that features museum- quality art, and it’s reasonable to think that March might become Texas’ first restaurant to earn a two-star rating. For his part, Riccio would welcome the recognition.

“I think March as an entire experience, as a restaurant day-in and day-out, we can be at that level. We strive to give people that experience to where they have that menu and feel it’s well worth it,” he says. “That recognition. I’ve seen what it means for the team, for the guests, and for the validation of the experience, and, obviously, for my career and the restaurant as a business.”

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