3 nights in Houston-Where to eat?

We are going there in February. We know nothing about restaurants there. We will be staying near the Galleria.
What’s really good there? All categories of restaurants are welcome. Thanks

I’ve eaten in the Pit Room, and Truth. Both BBQ. Both tasty.

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Houston food is excellent these days. This recent thread may be helpful: Houston restaurants - Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes - WineBerserkers

There are loads of great places across categories, but here are many of my favorites across various categories:

Xochi: Excellent (upscale), interesting, and refined Oaxacan cuisine in downtown. Lively setting.

Hugo’s: Excellent (upscale) traditional Mexican in Montrose. Lively setting. Owned by the same people as Xochi. They are equally good.

Theodore Rex: Fun, hip, bustling, progressive, and innovative restaurant with interesting New American-ish cuisine. The type of restaurant that would be right at home in SF/Portland.

Nancy’s Hustle: Similar description to Theodore Rex, but with a higher focus on deliciousness and less focus on innovation/progressive cuisine.

BCN: Superb high-end traditional Spanish food in an upscale, refined setting. Great cocktails.

MAD: BCN’s more casual, see-and-be-seen, sibling with more inventive Spanish tapas.

Coltivare: Best farm-to-table type casual restaurant. Kind of like Houston’s less high-end Zuni Cafe (without Zuni’s excellent list).

Uchi, MF Sushi, or Kata Robata: Best Japanese in town. My favorite is Kata, but the other two are slightly more upscale.

Truth, Killen’s, Pit Room, Gatlin’s, Pinkerton’s, Corkscrew: These are the best BBQ.

Pappas Steakhouse: Best steakhouse in town if you want traditional steakhouse with excellent wine list.

Georgia James: Best steakhouse in town if you want a more interesting/modern steakhouse with particularly tasty sides.

Himalaya: Best Indian/Pakistani in town and it’s superb indeed. Super-casual BYO setting. An institution.

UB Preserve: Eclectic, well-executed cuisine in casual setting.

Crawfish & Noodles: This restaurant is Houston. It serves a Cajun/Vietnamese fusion cuisine that’s totally unique, with Vietnamese crawfish, salt & pepper crab, and cold beer. Extremely casual with plastic table cloths.

Caracol: Upscale Mexican coastal cuisine. Owned by the same people as Xochi/Hugo’s.

Tony’s or Da Marco: The classic upscale/old school Houston restaurants. Both Italian.

This is obviously a partial list. What’s mostly missing is the wealth of casual but excellent Chinese/Thai/Vietnamese/etc food in Chinatown and nearby neighborhoods.

Ryan has provided an excellent list…close your eyes and pick one, go there and you will be happy.

Ryan–Thanks. That’s a great list to pick from.

Himalaya, Doris, UB Preserve.

Had lunch at Xochi. Was solid. Killen’s BBQ is great

Killen’s STQ — read about it and look at the menu. Very close to the Galleria
Mexican — Hugo’s (also not far)
Pure steakhouse: B & B Butcher
If I had only one to choose, it would be Killen’s STQ. They have a decent wine list, by the way

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Ryan covered everything well. I’d second Caracol since you’re staying in the Galleria area. Having dinner there tomorrow night coincidentally. Great spot.

If you want some good Tex Mex, they just opened another Original Ninfa’s on Post Oak (Galleria area) whereas previously the only location was on the east side, a decent trek away. Another Houston institution.

I’d also skip the urge to eat BBQ here. Houston has so much more to offer. Save that for an Austin trip at some point. If you really want to go this route though, STQ is your best bet.