pizza news

Veteran Houston chefs fire up new pizzas at Rice Village cocktail bar

One of Houston’s foremost pizza experts is once again slinging pies. Lee’s, the companion cocktail bar to Rice Village restaurant Milton’s, is now serving pizzas created by chef Seth Siegel-Gardner.

The chef, who serves as creative and culinary director for Local Foods Group, earned acclaim for his precisely executed pies as chef and co-owner of The Pass & Provisions. After it closed in 2019, Siegel-Gardner launched Marfa Para Llevar, a to-go only pizza window that thrived during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Working with Milton’s executive chef Kent Domas, Siegel-Gardner created six pies for Lee’s. They are:

Margherita ($13)
Pepperoni ($16)
Mushroom: Bechamel, maitake, toasted yeast, sage, parsley, chives, and pickled mushrooms ($18)
Pesto Saltimbocca: Chicken and prosciutto, sage, pickled peppers ($17)
Leeks Vinaigrette: Brown butter roasted hazelnuts, celeriac, aged balsamic, fontina, celery leaves ($24)
Truffle: Black trumpet and king trumpet mushrooms, freshly shaved white and black truffles ($34)

In press materials, the chef describes the pizzas as a hybrid between New York and Neapolitan styles, due to a light crust that uses prosecco in its dough recipe. At 10 inches, they’re sized to be a light meal for one person or shared with other dishes by two or more people.

The rest of the Lee’s food menu follows the lead of the Italian-American fare served at Milton’s. It includes mozzarella sticks, fried calamari, steak tartare, fried ravioli, a chicken parm sandwich, and more. All of the dishes pair well with the bar’s cocktails such as a negroni, Garibaldi (campari and orange juice), Gibson (martini made with gin, vermouth, and pickle brine), a blood orange margarita, and more.

“We’re seeing couples come in and share snacks and a bottle of wine, groups of friends come and order across the list of cocktails and have a few rounds of food and ultimately, just a whole lot of good times being shared at Lee’s. Chef Kent and I thought it’d be fun to add pizza to the mix,” Siegel-Gardner said in a statement. “The vision is that pizza will add to the already playful atmosphere with food and friends.”

Local Foods Group opened Lee’s last year. Since then, it earned a nomination for Bar of the Year in the 2025 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards and landed a spot on Bon Appètit’s list of the 9 Best New Bars of 2025.

Photo by Carla Gomez

Lee's is now serving 10-inch pizzas.

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NYT best dishes

Houston Mediterranean restaurant makes NY Times' best desserts list

Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen/Facebook

Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen is the only Houston restaurant on either list.

The New York Times included four Texas restaurants among its favorite dishes of 2025. Divided into two lists — The 23 Best Restaurant Dishes We Ate Across the U.S. in 2025 and The 14 Best Restaurant Desserts We Ate Across the U.S. in 2025 — the dishes are:

Bad Honey Bunny at Mercado Sin Nombre (Austin)
Ketan Hitam at Yeni’s Fusion (Austin)
Konafa Naama at Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen (Houston)
Picadillo Macaroni and Cheese at 2M Smokehouse (San Antonio)

Times food writer Priya Krishna, who authors the entries for all four Texas dishes, traveled to far west Houston to visit Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen. “The konafa, a signature here, arrives with a molten layer of cheese under a sticky-sweet layer of golden, nutty semolina. The craft is evident, the konafa gone in a few bites,” she writes.

Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen Konafa Naama Don't skip dessert at Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen.KSayad Mediterranean Kitchen/Facebook

In Austin, Krishna praises the rice pudding at Yeni’s Fusion. “This barely sweet version, lush with coconut milk, aromatic with pandan and as soothing as warm porridge, is the gentlest way to end a meal,” she states.

Already hailed as one of America’s best breakfast spots by Bon Appetit, Krishna singles out a honeybun at Mercado Sin Nombre. “The coiled honey bun at this semi-clandestine cafe looks almost cartoonishly perfect, and the heady scent of cardamom and honey hits you before you even take a bite. Somehow, it tastes every bit as plush and elegant as it appears,” she writes.

The picadillo mac and cheese at 2M Smokehouse showcases how the San Antonio restaurant incorporates Mexican flavors into traditional Texas barbecue. “Imagine Hamburger Helper, but spicier, punchier and even more luxuriously creamy. It’s not easy to one-up the singular, thickly spiced brisket here, but the picadillo mac and cheese — which runs as an occasional special — holds its own and then some,” Krishna writes.

The New York Times regularly shines its spotlight on Texas restaurants, In September, it named four establishments — ChòpnBlọk (Houston), Isidore (San Antonio), Lao’d Bar (Austin), and P Thai’s Khao Man Gai & Noodles (Austin) — to its list of America’s 50 Best Restaurants.

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