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11 eateries participating in Houston Restaurant Weeks for the first time

July 15 is always a special day for Houstonians who love a dining deal, because it’s the day when Houston Restaurant Weeks reveals the first group of participating establishments for its annual charity dining event, which takes places from August 1 through Labor Day (Monday, September 7).

For those unfamiliar with the event, over 300 individual restaurant locations — ranging from Michelin-recognized establishments such as BCN, Le Jardinier, and Bludorn to 21 locations of Saltgrass Steak House — serve prix fixe menus, divided into two- or three-course lunch and brunches ($25) and three- or four-course dinner menus ($39 or $55). For each menu sold, the participating restaurants make a donation of $1, $3, or $5 to the Cleverley Stone Foundation, which makes a corresponding donation to the Houston Food Bank — more than $1.6 million in 2025.

Prior to her death in 2020, HRW founder Cleverley Stone described the event as a “win-win-win.” That is, a win for the restaurants who turned the traditionally slow month of August into a busy time. A win for diners who got good deals on meals at some of the city’s top restaurants. And a win for the Houston Food Bank, which turns every dollar raised into three meals for Houstonians in need.

Part of the event’s appeal is that it gives diners the ability to explore new restaurants at a fixed cost. Towards that end, CultureMap has compiled a list of several of the first-time participants to help guide people’s selections. Diners are encouraged to keep checking the HRW website, because more establishments will be added between now and August 1.

Anthony’s New York Italian
Russo’s New York Pizzeria chef-owner Anthony Russo showcases his love for Italian-American cuisine at this recently-opened River Oaks restaurant that’s serving both a three-course lunch and a three-course, $55 dinner. The menus offer many of the restaurants signature items, including truffle mushroom arancini, beef carpaccio, wagyu lasagna, chicken parmesan, and the essential pistachio tiramisu.

Bar Xolo
The Mexico City-inspired dining bar in Montrose is serving both brunch and a three-course, $39 dinner, which leaves diners with a little extra money to sample the bar’s innovative cocktails. At dinner, look for dishes such as house made pickles, fries with cucumber aioli, octopus with mole blanco, and a Texas wagyu steak taco. Those looking to splurge should consider supplements such as a mole flight ($15) or adding caviar to the Pan de Merienda dessert ($25).

Chardon
This French restaurant in the Thompson Hotel is offering two-course lunch and brunch menus as well as a three-course, $55 dinner. Chef E.J. Miller and team go beyond the required three choices per course, offering five appetizer and entree options, including caramelized onion soup, chicken live mousse, escargot, beef cheek bourguignon, steak frites, and salted caramel profiteroles.

Eculent
Chef David Skinner’s wildly creative cocktail bar and restaurant in Kemah is serving a four-course, $55 dinner menu. Choices include many of the chef’s most popular creations, including his “picnic basket” with mini takes on the BLT, onion soup, and Caesar salad; smoking mushroom soup; shrimp in corn butter; and wild mushroom risotto.

Johnny Ritas Cocina y Cantina
The recently-opened Mexican restaurant in Lindale Park is serving a two-course lunch and a three-course, $39 dinner that offers five appetizers and five entrees. Choices include queso flameado, ceviche, tlayuda with barbacoa, enchiladas verde, chile rellenos, and slow cooked short ribs with mole pasilla.

Kirkwood
Houston businessman Mac Haik’s stylish Energy Corridor restaurant is serving a two-course lunch and a three-course, $55 dinner menu. Appetizer choices include shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad, beef tartare, and French onion soup. Continue with entrees such as steak frites, beef short rib, short rib ragu, or, for an extra $15 the signature duroc pork chop. We suggest the key lime coupe for dessert.

Lazy Lane
Located in Garden Oaks, the restaurant is serving a three-course brunch and a three-course, $55 dinner menu, both of which include a complimentary welcome cocktail. Choices include summer salad, Mediterranean hummus, cast iron brie, smoked bucatini pasta, dry-aged beef burger, and margarita pizza. Diners can also upgrade their dinner entree to scallops, filet mignon, snapper, or lamb rack for an additional fee. Diners may also add either a cheese and charcuterie platter or raw oysters to either brunch or dinner.

Mayahuel
The modern Mexican restaurant from star chef Luis Robledo Richards is a three-course, $55 dinner menu. Start with cantaloupe and burrata, avocado and sikil p’aak, or chilled tomato soup. Entree choices consist of bavette steak with mole, pan-seared redfish, and pibil pork tacos. Three dessert choices conclude the meal.

The Chef’s Table River Oaks
Chef Paul Friedman recently debuted this South African-inspired restaurant in the former Churrascos space at Westheimer and Shepherd. It is serving two-course lunch and brunch menus as well as a three-course, $55 dinner. Featured dishes include St. Louis-style ribs with guava barbecue sauce, South African kingclip with crab and lobster, steak Diane, and the chef’s signature sticky toffee pudding.

Toca Madera
The lively Mexican steakhouse is serving a three-course, $55 dinner menu and a two-course brunch. Starter choices at dinner include queso fundido, guacamole, and either a chopped or Caesar salad. Tacos, enchiladas, or a Mexican riff on chicken parm are available for an entree. Finish with churros, strawberry tres leches, sorbet, or chocolate mousse. Add an optional wine pairing for $45.

Zaranda
Hugo Ortega’s California-inspired restaurant is serving two-course lunch and bunch menus (dessert available for $10 more) as well as a three-course, $55 dinner. As with all of the chef’s restaurants, choices are extensive, with dinner offering diners their pic of seven appetizers and six entrees. Highlights include braised lamb empanadas, tuna crudo, a six-ounce serving of pichanha, and two seafood options — branzino or octopus — prepared in the restaurant’s namesake wire basket.

Photo by Leonid Furmansky

Kirkwood will offer HRW menus for lunch and dinner.

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6 questions with Mark Black

Terry Black's co-founder dishes on Houston opening and future hotel plans

Courtesy of Terry Black's Barbecue

Diners walk past the restaurant's six smokers.

Houston barbecue fans are buzzing about the arrival of Terry Black’s Barbecue, which opens in the Heights (1329 N. Shepherd) this Tuesday, August 18.

Touted by Texas Monthly as “the most impressive barbecue chain in Texas,” the restaurant is known for serving its full menu seven days a week for lunch and dinner. Six, 1,000-gallon offset smokers — the first thing diners see once they walk in from the parking lot — help ensure that diners will never have to pass on brisket, beef ribs, pork ribs, turkey, and two kinds of house made sausage. They’re paired with sides, desserts, and the restaurant’s signature black frozen margarita.

Houston comes in the middle of a growth spurt for Terry Black’s and its parent company, Black Family Hospitality. It’s already preparing to open a Terry Black’s in New Braunfels. By years end, the company will add a San Antonio location that will also include a boutique hotel and a bathhouse that may be called The Depths.

Eventually, Black Family Hospitality will add a hotel, bathhouse, and steakhouse to its Houston property. Eager to learn more about the company’s perspective on Houston and its future plans, CultureMap spoke to Terry Black's co-founder Mark Black. Read on for details about the other Houston neighborhood he and his brother Mike considered for Terry Black’s, a few details on the hotel (coming in 2028), and what he recommends first time visitors order.

CultureMap: How did you decide on the Heights as the right location for Terry Black’s?
Mark Black: We looked all over Houston for the perfect location. I really liked a lot of things about EaDo, but unfortunately they were doing a big highway expansion project. So we found this property in the Heights and we just kind of fell in love with it, fell in love with the area, too.

CM: Houston has a well-established barbecue scene. How do you see Terry Black’s fitting in?
MB: When we opened in Austin, there was a ton of good barbecue restaurant. Same thing with Dallas, Fort Worth, even the smaller areas. My hometown of Lockhart is known as the barbecue capital of Texas.

I think we can be very successful here. And of course, there's a ton of other successful barbecue restaurants and really, really good barbecue in Houston. So we're excited to come join the market.

CM: Tell me about Terry Black’s commitment to being open for lunch and dinner every day, because I think of that as a big part of your identity.
MB: Absolutely. It's definitely part of our brand identity. Being open seven days a week for lunch and dinner. When we first went into Austin, everyone was kind of following that Franklin's model. And what I refer to as the Franklin model was, I'm going to be open limited days for lunch. I'm gonna sell out and we're gonna shut down for the day.

We said, we've got to do something different. We want to separate ourselves. Not only that, there's two of us. So we're young, we're hungry, we're gonna grind. My brother and I would split shifts. The first year, year-and-a-half we were open, we worked about 400 days straight. We're putting anywhere from 12 to 16 hour days and we would split shifts.

We would just grind it out, and there was 2 of us, and we could do that. We knew we needed to separate ourselves and be different than some of the other barbecue restaurants there. That's how we would find our nature. It worked out really well for us.

CM: For people who've heard about Terry Black’s but haven’t tried it yet, what do you have to get on your first visit?
MB: When you come to Terry Black’s, it's traditional Central Texas barbecue. You've got to get the Texas trinity — brisket, pork ribs, and sausage. With that being said, what we've started to become known for is what we refer to as the Cadillac of barbecue, the beef ribs.

Personally, my favorite side, shockingly enough, is green beans. It's our second biggest seller. It's a fresh green bean that we actually go direct to the farm. It's a high quality green bean as opposed to something that may come out of a can

CM: We're focused on the restaurant, but I've read that there's a hotel component. Can you tell me anything about that?
MB: There is gonna be a boutique hotel here. It'll have 14 rooms, give or take, and it'll have a steakhouse that we've already branded. Can't release that quite yet, but it has been branded. And there's other elements. We'll have a members aspect of it. We’ll have a bathhouse, a gym, things of that nature. That's still in the in the planning stages.

CM: What's it been like kind of diversifying Black Family Hospitality beyond barbecue?
MB: Growing Black Family Hospitality has been fun. The barbecue's something that we've done all of our lives. So when we jumped into Opal's Oysters [in Waco] and the bowling alley and Glory Roll Sushi [in Lockhart], it was a challenge, but they've been fun and I really enjoy those now at this stage of our career.

The project that most excites me is the bathhouse. We're at a point where we want to do fun concepts that we enjoy going to. Of course, we enjoy going to the barbecue restaurants and the other restaurants that we have, but more experiential type stuff like the bathhouse and jumping into the hotels and things of that nature are what I'm really excited about. It's going to be a challenge, but we've got a really good team.

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This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Courtesy of Terry Black's Barbecue

Diners walk past the restaurant's six smokers.

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