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Galveston Restaurant Week returns with local favorites and seafood staples

Gaido's and more than 30 other Galveston restaurants are participating.

Courtesy photo

Not that people need an excuse to visit Galveston, but an annual dining event does provide an opportunity. Galveston Restaurant Week has returned for its 11th year.

Held now through February 13, Galveston Restaurant Week features more than 30 of the island's most popular dining destinations serving prix-fixe menus at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Each participating restaurant sets its own prices, which range from $10-20 for breakfast, lunch, and brunch and $20-45 at dinner.

For example, Gaido's, the 100-plus-year-old seafood restaurant on Seawall Boulevard, is serving a two-course, $22 lunch and a three-course, $42 dinner. Options include choice of salad or gumbo to start; entree selections of blackened mahi mahi, bacon-wrapped shrimp, or a selection of oysters; and pecan pie or cheesecake for dessert.

Similarly, local favorite Shimp 'N Stuff's three-course, $32 dinner menu includes options such as shrimp cocktail, calamari, broiled whole flounder, blackened salmon, and key lime pie. A two-course, $14 lunch menu is also available.

Find eclectic, globally inspired comfort food on Mosquito Cafe's two-course, $20 lunch and three-course, $30 dinner menus. Loaded corn cake and Grandma's Meatloaf seem like the right choices at dinner, but that's really up to each person to decide for themselves.

Even the Galveston location of Houston burger favorite Hubcap Grill has lunch and dinner menus that include the option of its signature Philly Cheesesteak burger and fresh cut, twice fried, salty-in-a-good way french fries.

Each restaurant will also make a donation of between $1 and $5 per menu sold to one of three charities devoted to feeding and providing health care to Galveston children and families: Galveston Urban Ministries, Access Care of Coastal Texas and St. Vincent’s House.

“This year marks the 11th annual for Galveston Restaurant Week,” Galveston Chapter of the Texas Restaurant Association, president James Clark said in a statement. “The event is a great opportunity for residents and visitors to get out and try new spots to add to their list of favorite restaurants.”

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look up

Houston airport's massive new art installation celebrates Texas flowers

A field of glass flowers above the new terminal at IAH

Photo provided by Houston Airports

Dale Chihuly's beautiful new art installation at IAH

Holiday travel in Houston just got brighter. A gargantuan new art installation will welcome flyers at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH).

The piece is called Coastal Prairie Fiori. Inspired by the famous wildflowers of the Texas coastal plains, the construction is made up of 537 colorful, hand-blown glass elements and stretches nearly a third of a football field over the 17-lane TSA screening area in the new International Central Processor (ICP). Suspended on five custom armatures, the piece adds both color and a sense of adventure to flying to and from the city.

Coastal Prairie Fiori is the work of Dale Chihuly, arguably America’s best-known glass artist. He started working with the material in the 1960s during a weaving class, working shards into tapestries. Chihuly then moved into glassblowing, growing in expertise in the art even after being blinded in the left eye in a 1973 car crash. In the last several years, he has been specializing in airport installations, including Denver International Airport (DEN) and Will Rogers Airport (WRWA) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

“The way an installation interacts with a space — its light, dimensions, energy — is important to me as an artist,” Chihuly said in a statement. “The relationship between art and its environment is key. Coastal Prairie Fiori embodies that relationship; it’s hundreds of elements, when combined with the natural light that pours in through Bush Airport’s atrium, transforms the space. The way this shifting light interacts with the glass is incredibly dynamic.”

The ICP checkpoint will be fully operational by summer 2025.

Chihuly’s installation is the latest in Houston Airports’ commitment to enriching the travel hubs with various art. In February, Houston Airports installed two art cars in IAH and William P. Hobby Airport (HOU). These cars honored famous Texas musician Stevie Ray Vaughan and the legendary late singer of Queen, Freddie Mercury. The airports have increasingly become a space to display the work of artist both local and international as travelers pass through.

“The installation of Coastal Prairie Fiori represents our commitment to enhancing the international passenger experience through art that captures Houston’s natural beauty and cultural vibrancy,” says Jim Szczesniak, Director of Aviation for Houston Airports. “As a key part of our larger IAH Terminal Redevelopment Program, the new International Central Processor provides an ideal space to showcase this impressive installation, which we hope will inspire and captivate travelers from around the world.”

The Houston Airport System is renowned for its art, winning World's Best Art in the Airport from Airport by Skytrax in 2023 and 2024. Both Bush and Hobby were highlighted in the award for having exceptional art displays that celebrated Texas culture.