Food & Drink in Houston

A waterfront amusement park on Galveston Bay: a wooden coaster, a Ferris wheel, seafood restaurants with bay views, and boat rides. Pairs perfectly with Space Center Houston, 15 minutes away.

Clear Lake & Kemah · Kids

Part aquarium, part amusement park: a 500,000-gallon tank, white tigers, a Ferris wheel, and a restaurant surrounded by fish. Touristy, and kids love it.

Downtown · Indoor · Kids

A former postal sorting facility turned food hall, concert venue, and 5-acre rooftop park with the city's best free skyline view. 25+ vendors downstairs; Skylawn upstairs.

Downtown · Indoor

Where fajitas were popularized in 1973. Still the benchmark Tex-Mex in a city that takes Tex-Mex seriously. Expect a wait; the patio is worth it.

EaDo

Central Texas-style brisket that has put Houston on the national barbecue map. The line forms before 11am and the brisket sells out; the cakes are as good as the meat.

The Heights

Dim sum at Ocean Palace, pho on Bellaire, Taiwanese shaved ice, Malaysian roti, and the crawfish-and-garlic-butter fusion that only exists here. Houston's most underrated food day.

Asiatown (Chinatown)

Walking and van tours through Montrose, the Heights, EaDo, and Asiatown, typically five or six tastings in three hours. The fastest way to understand why Houston is a food city.

Montrose

EaDo's anchor brewery with a huge outdoor yard, a distillery, a giant Beatles sculpture, and an easy walk to Shell Energy Stadium. Local beer, local art, big crowds on game days.

EaDo

Sixteen walkable blocks of boutiques, bookstores, and restaurants next to Rice University. The most pleasant strolling-and-shopping afternoon in a city built for cars.

Rice Village & West U

A four-block strip of antiques, vintage clothes, a classic soda fountain, and bakeries in the middle of the Heights' Victorian streets. Small-town Texas inside the loop.

The Heights