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Where to Eat during This Year’s Houston Restaurant Weeks

The beloved event is back for its 21st year supporting the Houston Food Bank.

By Sofia Gonzalez July 29, 2024

Enjoy a black sesame lava cake on Traveler's Table's Houston Restaurant Weeks menu.

Note: Houston Restaurant Weeks has been extended to September 30.

It’s almost time to celebrate the ones who keep us fed when we don’t feel like cooking: local restaurants. Houston Restaurant Weeks is back with its 21st annual fundraiser to help support the Houston Food Bank. Houstonians have from August 1 to September 2 to visit around 400 participating restaurants and enjoy special menus.

The initiative was founded in 2003 by the late Cleverley Stone, who made it her mission to beat hunger in Houston. Originally a weeklong event, HRW was able to donate more than $5,000 to the End Hunger Network in its first year. It became a monthlong event in 2012, generating a $1.2 million donation to the Houston Food Bank. After Hurricane Harvey devastated the city in 2017, HRW was extended into September to help further support local restaurants and the food bank. To date, HRW has helped raise $21 million, which translates to 60 million meals created to support those in need within the region.

According to HRW, August is also historically the worst month of the year for Houston restaurants, so it’s a win-win. And given the extended power outages and loss of business many suffered due to the derecho and Hurricane Beryl, this year’s HRW comes at a good time.

With so many options, we’ve compiled a list of the best deals. To check out the full list, visit Houston Restaurant Weeks’ website.


Be More Pacific

heights

For this year’s HRW, Be More Pacific will be offering a four-course menu for $39 per person, with a $5 donation from each dinner given to the food bank. The first course includes your choice of a Filipino eggroll or a baby repolyo, which is fried brussels sprouts made with sweet chiles and cotija cheese.

For the second course, menu items include a kilawin (Filipino ceviche); sisig pork, which comes with crispy pork or tofu, mayonnaise, red onion, and raw egg; or sisig-tuna, which comes with yellowfin tuna, red and green bell pepper, and mayonnaise.

As for the third course, you can choose from one of four items: S.C.C.L.B.F.R., which is spicy curry coconut lime bacon fried rice, carrot, green onion, and fried egg; kare kare—brisket or lechon kawali, bok choy, green bean, and eggplant in a peanut sauce with a side of housemade shrimp paste and white rice; tapsilog, or marinated beef rib eye on top of garlic rice with a fried egg; and finally, a daing na bangus marinated milk fish with garlic rice and a fried egg.

For dessert, choose between turon (banana and jackfruit in a crispy egg roll with syrup), halo halo, Filipino ice cream, or leche flan.

The braised chicken cacciatore is one of Coltivare's menu items you can enjoy during Houston Restaurant Weeks.

Coltivare

Heights

This acclaimed Heights restaurant will be offering a three-course dinner menu at $39 per person for this year’s HRW. For each dinner sold, $5 will be donated.

The first course includes options for cauliflower with pine nuts and raisins; a ricotta dip; chicory salad; or a grilled portabella mushroom with wild rice, crescenza, and porcini aioli. For the second course, you can choose from the restaurant’s black pepper spaghetti, campanelle pasta, local squash pizza, braised chicken cacciatore, or pan-roasted trout. For the last course, you can choose from three dessert items: the caramel panna cotta, a lemon pound cake, or a seasonal sorbet.

If handrolls are your thing, head over to one of Hando's locations during Houston Restaurant Weeks.

Hando

heights, spring branch

Both locations of Hando will be participating in this year’s HRW with a lunch and dinner menu. The two-course lunch menu is $25 per person, and with each lunch sold, a donation of $3 will be made. The three-course dinner menu is $39 per person, and the donation is $5 for each dinner sold.

For the dinner menu’s first course, you can choose from three menu items: a spiced chicken tsukune, which comes with ground chicken meatballs, yuzu pepper, scallions, and sesame seeds; a curry croquette, which is a katsu potato mash with caramelized onion curry; and a vegetable bao with mushroom, bamboo shoot, onion, and crispy garlic chile oil. For the second course, it’s your choice of skewers, such as rib eye, baby octopus, or green mussels.

Lastly, for the third course, choose from a spicy tuna handroll made with yellowtail, salmon, and snapper; a blue crab mix with scallop, fried oyster, and shrimp katsu; or a braised daikon with mushroom, yasai, and tsukemono—which is a dish of pickled carrots, daikon, takuan, shiso, serrano, and guacamole.

For the lunch menu, the options for the first course are the same as the dinner menu, while the second course is similar to the third course of the dinner menu, with slightly different variations. Items include a spicy tuna handroll made with yellowtail and salmon, a blue crab mix with fried oyster and shrimp katsu, and a braised daikon with mushroom and yasai.

Dine at La Lucha for a three-course dinner menu of Southern cuisine for Houston Restaurant Weeks.

La Lucha

heights

This year, chef Ford Fry’s Heights restaurant will be offering a three-course dinner menu for HRW for $39 per person, with a $5 donation from each dinner sold.

For the first course, choose from the restaurant’s shrimp and pork dumplings, Creole seafood cheesecake, what La Lucha calls “the greens of the moment,” a Texas peach salad, or a tuna tostada. Menu items for the second course include fried chicken, which is served on butter biscuits with house pickles and a choice of sauce and seasonal jam; baby back pork ribs; kimchi collard greens birria tacos; or a choice of an eight-ounce rib eye heart or spinalis. Lastly, for the third course, you can choose the chocolate bread pudding, frosty and fries (a Nutella soft serve), or the buttermilk panna cotta.

Le Jardinier is offering brunch, lunch, and dinner menus during Houston Restaurant Weeks.

Le Jardinier

museum district

This HRW participant is offering three different menus: a two-course brunch, a two-course lunch, and a three-course dinner. The brunch and lunch menu are both $25 per person, while the dinner menu is $55 per person.

For brunch, the first course comes with options for a fried chicken with cheese polenta, pepper coulis, and charred corn; a salmon benedict on brioche with summer squash and miso hollandaise; or Tunisian eggs with merguez and crispy garlic. As for the second course, you can choose from roasted peaches, a chocolate sabayon, or a plant-based ice cream trio (chocolate, pistachio, and coffee).

The lunch menu’s first course includes items such as a salmon with courgettes and a saffron tomato coulis; heritage roasted chicken with corn espuma, berries, and roasted mushrooms; or a roasted red pepper Carolina gold rice risotto with maitake, mimolette cheese, and charred peppers. Options for the second course are the same as the brunch menu.

Finally, the fun: dinner. The first course includes four options: a burrata made with marinated cherry tomatoes, stone fruits, and pine nuts; a citrus cured Pacific bass made with buttermilk, cucumber, mango, poppy seeds, and Fresno peppers; a chilled corn velouté with shrimp, corn crumbs, and curry oil; or a summer garden salad with calamansi vinaigrette, fennel, and melon yogurt.

Meanwhile, the second course is the same as the first course from the lunch menu, and the third course also offers the same dessert options as the lunch and brunch menu.

Diners can enjoy chicken and beef satay skewers at Phat Eatery during Houston Restaurant Weeks.

Phat Eatery

katy

Phat Eatery is offering a $39 three-course dinner menu for this year’s HRW, with a $5 donation from each dinner sold.

For the first course, choose from an Indian-style flatbread with either a chicken or beef curry dip, or you can opt for a Kerabu chopped salad instead. For the second course, the options are Kerabu prawns, salt and pepper calamari, or satay skewers half-and-half with chicken and beef. The third course consists of either a Malaysian chicken curry, sweet basil beef, or chile prawn.

The HRW menu is dine-in only. The restaurant recommends reservations, which are available 14 days in advance, but walk-ins are welcome.

Order a plate of mussels from Riel during Houston Restaurant Weeks.

Riel

montrose

This Montrose restaurant is offering a four-course dinner menu for $55 per person, with a donation of $7 for each dinner sold.

For the first course, you can choose between tempura cauliflower with kimchi hot sauce; oysters with coconut lime granita; or a pea shoot salad, which comes with fennel, mint, sugar snap peas, hot mustard dressing, parmesan, and fried onions. The second course includes mushroom empanadas, fried deviled eggs, and mussels. Options for the third course are a pork schnitzel; a market fish of the day with onion soubise, collard green dumplings, and dashi poached cipollini; or butter burgers with American cheese and caramelized onions.

And finally, the fourth course—dessert, of course. You can choose from three sweet treats: bee’s knee’s, which is a brown butter cake with lemon curd and juniper berries; a sticky toffee pudding; or a fruity sorbet with mint.

Indulge in Traveler's Table's pani puri during Houston Restaurant Weeks.

Traveler's Table

Montrose

Traveler’s Table will also be offering a dinner menu for $55 per person, but with a to-go option.

For the first course, you can choose from a plate of pani puri, which comes with potatoes, chickpeas, date-tamarind chutney, mint chutney, crispy lentils, pomegranate seeds, and cilantro; mochiko chicken, which is a Hawaiian-style crispy chicken; snapper ceviche; crispy pork belly in pasilla sauce; or seared wagyu beef tataki. For the second course, choose from a yellow crab curry, Northern Thai jungle ribs, Nigerian suya skewers, Norwegian salmon, chiles en nogada, or jerk chicken.

And for dessert, menu options include passion fruit and mango mousse, blood orange panna cotta, black sesame lava cake, or a New Orleans bourbon bread pudding.

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