Houstonians who enjoy dining at restaurants circle July 15 on their calendar. That’s when the menus for Houston Restaurant Weeks go live on the event’s website.
For its 21st year, the charity dining event is following a familiar format. Participating restaurants — touted by organizers as more than 400 locations citywide — serve pre-fixe menus of two, three, or four courses at set price points. For 2024, they are $25 for lunch and brunch (typically two courses) and $39 and $55 for dinner (typically three or four courses). In turn, restaurants will donate $3, $5, or $7 for every meal sold to the Cleverley Stone Foundation, which will make a donation to the Houston Food Bank. In 2023, the foundation donated more than $1.8 million to the Food Bank.
The event includes many of the city’s top restaurants. In addition to staple participants such as B&B Butchers, Brennan’s, Hugo’s, and Vic & Anthony’s, a number of restaurants have joined the event for the first time. We’ve rounded up more than a dozen of these newcomers, along with a returning restaurant that has undergone an almost total transformation since last year.
Read on for our picks of the best new restaurants participating in Houston Restaurant Weeks for the first time.
1891 American Eatery & Bar
Located in the Heights, this restaurant from the team behind Common Bond is leaving two-course lunch and brunch menus as well as a three-course, $39 dinner menu. At dinner, look for customers favorites such as chili shrimp, hot honey ribs, grilled flat iron steak, and lemon pepper salmon. Lunch features several salad, sandwich, and burgers options. In addition to an appetizer and an entree, brunch includes a mimosa.
Auden
The globally-inspired restaurant in Autry Park will serve both a two-course brunch and four-course, $55 dinner menu. Dinner starts with dishes such as ricotta toast, grilled asparagus, and a second course with three pasta choices. Entree choices include a cauliflower with romesco, masala-spiced shrimp, and beef short rib. Finish with tres leches, creme duo, or peach crumb bake.
BCN
The Spanish fine dining restaurant will serve a three-course, $55 dinner menu. Starter options include cherry gazpacho, burrata salad with watermelon, and the restaurant’s signature patas bravas. Entree options include bomba rice with seafood, grilled salmon, filet mignon, and grilled duck breast. Those willing to splurge will find supplements such as Spanish Iberico ham, grilled lamb chops, and suckling pig.
Belly of the Beast
Chef Thomas Bille’s $39 dinner features three savory courses. Starts with tuna tostada, little gem “wedge” salad, or peach and burrata toast. Continue with birria tacos, pork belly tacos, or the chef’s Mexican-inspired take on saag paneer. Carne asada, the chef’s take on tagliatelle carbonara, and roasted chicken round out the meal.
Bludorn
The Montrose-area fine dining restaurant is serving a three-course, $55 dinner menu. Start with chilled corn soup, arugula salad, or duck terrine. The three entree choices are potato gnocchi with basil pesto, Scottish salmon with eggplant puree, and roasted pork loin with polenta. Finish with pavlova, chocolate cake, or ice cream.
Blue Tuba
At this restaurant in the Heights, diners will find a mix of Eastern European and Texan flavors. The three-course, $39 dinner menu and two-course brunch menu feature many of the restaurant’s most popular dishes, including Slovak mac & cheese, pork schnitzel, Hungarian goulash, salmon Benedict, and apple foster French toast.
Duchess
The Uptown Park restaurant is serving two-course lunch and brunch menus as well as a three-course, $55 dinner. Diners will find seven appetizer choices at dinner, including peach and pistachio burrata, strawberry balsamic salad, gougeres with caviar ($22 supplement). Entree choices include a cheeseburger, campanelle pasta with peas and prosciutto, lamb chops, and steak frites. Brunch features options such as spicy chicken and waffles, roasted beet and citrus salad, two different Benedicts, and shakshuka.
HiWay Cantina
This Tex-Mex restaurant in EaDo is serving both a two-course lunch and a three-course, $39 dinner. Both menus feature plenty of Tex-Mex favorites such as queso, guacamole, enchiladas, and tacos. Dinner adds three dessert choices.
Late August
James Beard finalist Chris Williams recently opened this new restaurant at the Ion mixed-use development in Midtown. The two-course lunch and three-course, $55 dinner menu both includes many of the restaurant’s most popular dishes, including a salad made with ingredients grown at local farms operated by Williams’ Lucille’s 1913 nonprofit, gumbo, chile relleno, a smash burger (lunch only), and dinner specials such as strip steak and half rack of ribs.
Le Jardinier
Widely considered one of Houston’s best fine dining experiences, this French restaurant at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston will serve lunch, brunch, and a $55, three-course dinner menu. At dinner, look for options such as whipped burrata with stone fruit, corn veloute, roast chicken, roasted red pepper risotto with mushrooms, and strawberry mousse. Highlights from the bunch menu include salmon Benedict, fried chicken with cheese polenta, and peach cobbler.
MaKiin
Located in Upper Kirby, the fine dining Thai restaurant is serving a three-course, $55 dinner menu. Starter choices include a sampler platter with three different curries, minced prawn and chicken with coconut dip, and watermelon larb salad. Diners may choose a pork rib, salmon in panang curry, or curry jackfruit for an entree.
Navy Blue
The Rice Village seafood restaurant is both lunch and a three-course, $55 dinner menu. At dinner, the choices include Caesar salad, tomato gazpacho, grouper sandwich, and branzino. Don’t miss the carrot cake for dessert.
Norigami
West U’s recently-opened hand roll restaurant will serve a three-course, $39 dinner menu. Begin with one of three flavors of edamame and a choice of three crudos — madai, salmon, or himachi. The third course offers a choice of hand roll — spicy salmon, bluefin tuna, or spicy scallop.
Thirteen by James Harden
Admittedly, the restaurant isn’t new, but it has undergone an extensive interior reservation and is now led by chef Sidd Cadena, who replaced the upscale Southern comfort food with an Asian fusion menu. The restaurant’s three-course, $55 dinner menu begins with a choice of Thai-glazed wings, lobster and prawn dumplings, avocado salad. Entree choices consist of a teriyaki salmon bowl, 6-ounce filet mignon with bok choy, and herb-crusted lamb chops. The meal ends with each diner choosing from one of three desserts.
Late August is serving both lunch and dinner menus.
