One of the most eagerly anticipated days of the year for people who love Houston restaurants has arrived. Houston Restaurant Weeks has released the first wave of menus for its 2025 event.
Held from August 1 until Labor Day (Monday, September 1), the charity dining event recruits as many as 400 Houston restaurants to serve two, three, or four-course, prix-fixe menus at set prices — $25 for lunch and brunch and $39 or $55 for dinner. HRW organizer The Cleverley Stone Foundation collects a $1 donation for every $25 menu sold, $3 for every $39 menu sold, and $5 for every $55 menu sold. It uses that money to make a substantial donation to the Houston Food Bank — just over $2 million from the 2024 event alone and over $22 million in the event’s 22-year history.
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.
Now under the direction of her daughter, Katie Stone Cappuccio, Houston Restaurant Weeks maintains its status as the city’s premier charity dining event. Participating restaurants include all four restaurants in Bludorn Hospitality — Bludorn, Navy Blue, Bar Bludorn, and Perseid — all four of James Beard Award winner Hugo Ortega’s restaurants — Hugo’s, Caracol, Xochi, and Urbe — and two of the five Houston restaurants that hold one Michelin star — BCN and Le Jardinier.
For diners, one of the most exciting aspects of the event is the opportunity to try a new restaurant with the certainty of a fixed price (plus beverages, tax, and tip). Towards that end, CultureMap has compiled a list of many 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.
Bar Bludorn
Aaron Bludorn’s Memorial-area tavern is serving a three-course, $55 dinner menu. Starter choices consist of shrimp tartine, chilled corn soup, or arugula salad with watermelon. For an entree, select ricotta gnocchi, branzino, or pork loin. Finish with blueberry cake, chocolate mousse, or ice cream.
Barbacana
Chef Christian Hernandez’s downtown restaurant that celebrates Houston’s diversity will serve both a two-course lunch and a three-course, $55 dinner. Choices include jicama salad, wagyu carpaccio, mushroom donburi, and grilled vermillion snapper. Supplements include octopus with mole poblano and a Texas wagyu Denver cut steak.
Derby
Located at a storage facility for collector cars, this restaurant is serving a three-course, $39 dinner menu. Choices include bacon with maple glaze and cayenne, apple walnut salad, fried green tomatoes, blackened chicken pasta, and a wagyu burger.
Doko
Part of Duckstache Hospitality (Handies Douzo, Aiko, etc.), this sushi restaurant in Autry Park is serving a four-course, $55 menu. Start with scallop aquachile, scallop ceviche, or a tomato salad. Choices for the second and third course include yakitori-style skewers with proteins such as short rib, chicken meatball, and wagyu ribeye as well as one of three sushi rolls — wagyu beef, avocado, or fried shrimp. Finish with one of three desserts.
Kitchen Rumors
This inventive, Indian-inspired restaurant from the team behind acclaimed Woodlands restaurants Amrina is serving a three-course, $55 menu. The first course offers five regular choices and two supplements, including lamb keema infladita, blue cheese chicken kebabs, scallop ceviche, and lobster dumplings. Choose from seven different entrees such as pan fried paneer, goat biryani, prawn curry, and bison short rib nihari.
Maven Coffee & Cocktails
This neighborhood restaurant that touts Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr as one of its owners will serve a four-course, $55 menu. Choices include a gazpacho shooter, bread and butter, “Caesar cups,” deviled eggs, steak au poivre, spicy rigatoni pasta, and a cheeseburger.
Okto
Part of Sof Hospitality (Doris Metropolitan, Hamsa), this Mediterranean restaurant in the Montrose Collective mixed-use development is serving a two-course brunch and a three-course, $55 dinner. At brunch, look for dishes such as ricotta toast, frena bread with pistacchio butter, beet-cured lox, and shakshuka. At dinner, the choices include hamachi tartare, octopus carpaccio, squid ink linguini with crab, and steak frites.
Perseid
Bludorn Hospitality’s French restaurant at the Hotel Saint Augustine is serving both a two-course lunch and a three-course, $55 dinner. Both menus include options such as white gazpacho, smoked salmon dip, tomato risotto, and the signature chicken paillard with fingerling potatoes and arugula salad. Dinner adds three desserts, including a chocolate entremet with salted caramel and coffee ice cream.
Pizzana
The Los Angeles-based, neo-Neopolitan pizzeria is serving a three-course, $39 menu that includes one of three pizzas — margherita, pepperoni, or the signature cacio e pepe — paired with a choice of three salads and three desserts. We recommend the little gem Caesar and the tiramisu, but that’s entirely up to you.
Solarium
Lance McCullers’ pickle ball bar in Midtown is also participating in HRW with a two-course brunch and a three-course, $39 dinner. Both meals include choices such as a chicken skewer with jalapeno-dill yogurt, Caesar salad, and cheeseburger. Brunch adds breakfast options such as pancakes or an egg sandwich, while dinner adds chicken tenders, a pulled pork sandwich, and choice of dessert.
Photo by Chris Furia
These lobster dumplings are available as a supplement at Kitchen Rumors.
