If you haven’t eaten out at one of our city’s fabulous eateries as part of this year’s Houston Restaurant Weeks, you still have a few days to “dine out and do good.”
In the Spring Branch Management District, eight popular restaurants are offering Houston Restaurant Weeks (HRW) menus this year. They are tantalizing tastebuds while raising much-needed funds for the Houston Food Bank.
My friends and I recently hit Mambo Seafood, which has a location at 10002 Long Point Rd., for their $25, three-course HRW lunch, and we walked away with enough leftovers for dinner, too.
With our server’s expert help, we chose each course based on individual preferences but then ate family style because everyone’s plate looked too delicious to pass up. For example, the light and fresh trio of Empanadas Costeñas didn’t stand a chance at our table of three.
For $39, you can feast on a four-course dinner at Mambo Seafood as part of the special foodie and charity event. I suggest bringing your appetite and friends.
Check out these other locations in the Spring Branch District for Houston Restaurants Weeks:
Fratelli’s, 1330 Wirt Rd.
As at other restaurants, $3 from each lunch and $5 from each dinner at Fratelli’s will go to the Houston Food Bank if you order from the HRW menu, providing nine meals for each lunch and 15 meals for each dinner donation to those in need.
Choose from artichoke or mushroom soup, pasta, pizza, salmon and more. Save room for Panna Cotta!
Hando, 8211 Long Point Rd.
At Hando Spring Branch, dine on Spiced Chicken Tsukune (Japanese meatballs), Vegetable Bao or Curry Croquettes for either lunch or dinner. Also, enjoy a medley of hand rolls and, on the dinner menu, enjoy ribeye, baby octopus or green mussel skewers.
Salt & Sugar, 1073 Silber Rd.
You can start your Houston Restaurant Weeks dinner at Salt & Sugar with their Savory Rosemary Garlic Monkey Bread. That was enough to draw us in. There’s a Bourbon Maple Pork Chop that’s not to miss, too.
This Spring Branch District restaurant and bakery provided a beautiful cake for this year’s HRW Kickoff Party, and there are a variety of decadent treats on the lunch and dinner menus as well. It’s hard to pick one but we can’t stop thinking about the Pecan Praline Bread Pudding — creamy custard-soaked croissant, buttermilk pecan praline and crème anglaise.
Warehouse 72, 7620 Katy Freeway
In the Marq’E Entertainment Center, Warehouse 72 is offering brunch, lunch and dinner as part of their HRW offerings. Dive into decadent bone marrow with chimichurri or toast the weekend with broiled Gulf oysters. We are salivating over the restaurant’s 15-layer lasagna available on the restaurant weeks lunch menu.
NoPo Cafe, Market & Bar, 1244 North Post Oak Rd.
NoPo’s $25 HRW lunch menu features classic lunch favorites including their tomato basil soup and NoPo’s Cobb Salad. Stop back by for dinner and enjoy a $39 three-course menu with highlights like chicken street tacos and steak frites. (If those don’t strike your fancy, NoPo offers a long list of alternatives.)
Wild Oats, 1222 Witte Rd.
The HRW menu has something for everyone at Wild Oats but we’re going straight for the Dr. Pepper chocolate cake with Dr. Pepper ganache, dried cherries and candied peanuts (and served with ice cream), available on the limited-time dinner menu.
Also striking our Texas fancy is the Walkin’ Taco — loaded up Frito pie with “no beans, no ‘maters chili” topped with fresh onions, jalapeños, tomatoes, sour cream and cheese.
The Blind Goat, 8145 Long Point Rd.
Twenty-one meals from the Houston Food Bank are paid for by the $7 from each $55 three-course dinner at The Blind Goat.
Don’t miss the Shaking Beef (BÒ LÚC LẮC) on the second course — cubes of seared hanger steak, garlic, sesame, onion, bell pepper, lemon and jasmine rice.
The dessert selection includes a collaboration with neighbor Cosmic Ice Cream featuring pea sticky rice, Cosmic’s coconut sorbet, house-made toasted coconut granola, jackfruit and roasted peanuts.
Houston Restaurant Weeks is happening now through Sept. 2.
— Dorothy Puch Lillig
