Hey guys! I’m so excited to be sharing this What I Ate In Houston post… it’s really long overdue. Like 3 months overdue. These photos have been sitting in my drafts folder for the longest time, and it’s seriously about time that I write something and share these delicious restaurants with you guys!
After stopping by Waco (see my last post for what we ate there), we headed down to Houston to visit Rice University and explore the downtown area a little bit. I actually enjoyed the city a lot! We toured the Rice campus, which I absolutely fell in love with, saw a Houston Symphony Orchestra concert (featuring Joshua Bell!), and obviously ate a lot of food. Even though I had a couple more stops planned, the places we went to were pretty great. Be sure to stop by a couple of these places if you’re ever in the Houston area :)
Chengdu Taste
Houston has the second biggest Chinese population in the country (or something like that), so you’d expect the food to be really delicious and authentic. We decided to give one of the restaurants near our hotel a try, and it was pretty good! We ordered some spicy rice noodles (I don’t know what they’re called in English, but I order them all the time when I go back to China), sautéed green beans, a chicken/pepper dish, and this bowl of a variety of vegetables and noodles. Oh, and, you can’t forget to have a nice cup of tea with your dinner! Honestly, I think you could have a nice, delicious meal at virtually any of the Chinese restaurants in the area – not just this one. The Chinese food scene in Houston is so great: you can’t go wrong with any of them!
Local Foods
Local Foods is in the Rice University college town, and it’s among a whole cluster of other cafes and small restaurants. It’s one of those trendy, health-oriented-but-still-delicious restaurants that are kind of rare to spot; naturally, I really enjoyed the selection of yummy foods on the menu! My mom and I split the crunchy chicken pretzel sandwich with a side of kale salad and fresh strawberries. The food is delicious and really fresh; it was a perfect light lunch before we headed to our college tour. I can honestly see myself as a Rice student, regularly eating a quick lunch here a couple times a week before an afternoon class!
Blacksmith Coffee
If you’re ever in need of a quick caffeine kick to start your morning, Blacksmith Coffee is the place to visit! They made my latte in just a couple minutes, and I was enjoying my yogurt parfait shortly after. The food there is simple, and the coffee was pretty good but nothing too fancy. I’m going to have to say, though, the granola in my yogurt was really good – comparable to my favorite, Purely Elizabeth (PE is still the best though… I still have yet to find a granola that tastes better!) Everything there is pretty aesthetically pleasing & great if you want a cute picture for the gram :)
Hugo’s
Before heading to our Houston Symphony Orchestra concert, we made a reservation at Hugo’s restaurant for a nice dinner. WOW, we were completely blown away! I ordered the duck with rice and beans, which came smothered with a rich, earthy mole sauce. My duck was perfectly prepared; the meat was soft, delicate, and flavorful. It was my first time trying mole sauce, and I swear I could have drank it by the gallon. So good.
For dessert, we ordered the churros. I’ve never had churros made this fancy before, but let me just say: this is literally the definition of dessert heaven!! Each churro was stuffed with the most decadent dulce de leche (a sauce closely resembling caramel) filling, drizzled with fudge sauce, and topped with chocolate ice cream and chocolate chips. It also came with a cup of hot chocolate for dipping. The hot chocolate was warm, not too sweet, and the perfect complement to the sweet churros.
Tiny Boxwoods
Before we headed back to Dallas, my family and I made one last stop for brunch at Tiny Boxwoods. I’ve heard that their separate chocolate chip cookie shop is to die for, but this cute little breakfast place was so good! We ordered a giant chocolate croissant to share along with our lattes. Probably the best chocolate croissant I’ve ever had. I also ordered their giant avocado toast, seasoned with a light dusting of salt, pepper and chili flakes.
The entire place was just the cutest! The seating outside is, in my opinion, the best; it’s basically a little garden, with grass, wood, and plants everywhere. There was also a basket filled with thick blankets to keep us warm in the cold Houston weather.
For those of y’all who are still reading my blog posts despite my ever inconsistent uploads, I’m so so grateful! I have been pretty busy (I’m probably going to do a life update in a bit), but most of it has been lack of motivation to do much blog work.
As always, if you’re ever in the Houston area, make sure to give a few of these stops a try! I wouldn’t recommend them if I didn’t love them, and I’m sure you will too :)
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