The Top 100 Restaurants Near Tejas Chocolate + Barbecue
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Rank 1. Tejas Chocolate + Barbecue
Barbecue
In a converted house north of Houston, a former chocolatier tends barbecue pits that yield salt-crusted beef ribs with ribbons of rendered fat and a carrot soufflé that tilts toward dessert. Scott Moore Jr.'s unlikely pivot from bean-to-bar chocolate to smoking meat has created something genuinely strange and worth the porch wait.
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Rank 2. Belly of the Beast
Mexican
In a modest Spring storefront, Chef Thomas Bille merges Mexican cooking with global technique—saag paneer arrives under spinach mole verde, duck breast swims in cherry mole—without sacrificing balance for novelty. The corn-and-flour tortillas and shared plates encourage wandering; the tres leches with passionfruit and torched meringue suggest he knows when to stop playing.
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Texas · Thomas Bille
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Winner · Best Chef: Texas · Thomas Bille
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
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Rank 3. CorkScrew BBQ
Barbecue
In a modest Spring outpost north of Houston, Will and Nichole Buckman smoke red oak–kissed brisket and beef ribs that sell out daily, drawing lines of devotees who arrive before eleven. The beef ribs are succulent and flavorful, the pinto beans memorable, the operation unadorned and devoted entirely to meat.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Texas Monthly 2025 · The 50 Best BBQ Joints in Texas
- Houstonia Houston’s Best Restaurants
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- Wine Enthusiast 2024 · Forward 50 Restaurants
- Eater The 38 Essential Houston Restaurants
- Houstonia Houston’s Best Restaurants
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Rank 5. Rosemeyer Bar-B-Q
Barbecue
A highway-side trailer where childhood friends Jordan Rosemeyer and Ben Maxwell turn out ambitious barbecue: brisket smoked to mahogany-dark perfection, ribs that fall from the bone, jalapeño-cheese sausages with real snap. Picnic tables and daily specials—check social media—elevate what could be a convenience-store pit stop into something worth the detour.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Texas Monthly 2025 · The 50 Best BBQ Joints in Texas
- Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants
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- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Texas · Beatriz Martines
- Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants
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- Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Texas · Alex Au-Yeung
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Rank 10. Brisket & Rice
Vietnamese Barbecue
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Rank 11. Tatemó
Mexican
A tortilleria in a strip mall conceals Chef Emmanuel Chavez's precise tasting menu, where heirloom corn from across Mexico becomes the architecture—crisp tostadas crowned with caviar, tlacoyos dressed in layered Mexican XO, mole negro dark as slate beneath plantain tortillas. Bring your own wine to an experience that finds beauty in restraint.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Food & Wine 2023 · Best New Chefs · Emmanuel Chavez
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant
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Rank 12. Brisket & Rice
Barbecue
Chef Hong Tran's backyard brisket obsession became a family operation where long lines move with assembly-line efficiency. Jasmine fried rice with fried egg and Chinese sausage gets proper wok char, arriving alongside melting brisket slabs or beautifully smoked pork ribs—the sides are beside the point. Lone Star barbecue filtered through Vietnamese sensibility, executed without fuss.
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Rank 13. Credence
Contemporary American
Chef Levi Goode's first restaurant trades rustic ranch aesthetics for Houston sophistication, anchored by an open kitchen where live fire transforms dry-aged beef and whole duck into centerpieces. Deviled crab in smoky tomato butter and a shared brown butter Bundt cake justify the airy dining room's Michelin selection.
- Texas Monthly 2025 · Honorable Mentions · Texas’s Best New Restaurants
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Houston Chronicle #7 · Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants
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Rank 17. Hong Kong Food Street
Hong Kong Chinese
In a Katy shopping center, this family-owned kitchen executes Hong Kong classics with unhurried precision: silky congee with abalone, delicate wonton soup, crisp shrimp with candied walnuts. The curated menu avoids excess, the modern dining room gleams with lazy susans, and everything arrives molten and considered.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Houston Chronicle #19 · Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants
- Houstonia Houston’s Best Restaurants
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Rank 18. Agnes and Sherman
Asian Contemporary
The Heights diner where Wong and Lee channel their third-culture childhoods into a playful comfort-food menu: shrimp toast and scallion waffles with sambal honey butter give way to chilled noodles with yuba and a crawfish egg foo young swimming in gumbo gravy. Casual enough for solo dining, assured enough to matter.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant
- Eater 2025 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- The Infatuation 2025 · #12 · The Top-Rated New Restaurants
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Rank 19. Bar-A-BBQ
Texas-Style Barbecue
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Rank 20. Jennings & Co. BBQ
Texas-Style Barbecue
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Rank 21. Baso
Live-Fire American
A concrete bunker in the Heights pulses with heavy bass and the glow of an open hearth where live-fire cooking commands the menu. Grilled oysters arrive slicked with 'nduja; striped bass and pork chop emerge charred and meant for passing around. The crunchy endive salad and Basque cheesecake—caviar optional—suggest a kitchen operating at the intersection of restraint and excess.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Emerging Chef · Max Lappé and Jacques Varon
- Eater Best Live-Fire Experience
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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- Houstonia 2025 · The 10 Best Restaurants That Opened in Houston
- Houstonia Houston’s Best Restaurants
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- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best New Restaurant
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best Chef: Texas · Evelyn Garcia and Henry Lu
- Texas Monthly 2024 · Honorable Mentions · Texas’s Best New Restaurants
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- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker · Susan Bae
- Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants
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- Houstonia Houston’s Best Restaurants
- Eater The 38 Essential Houston Restaurants
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Texas · Alex Au-Yeung
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Rank 33. Casaema
Mexican
A daytime spot in the Heights where a popular bakery's evolution into brick-and-mortar finds its footing through Mexican tradition and precise coffee craft. Chilaquiles built on superlative tortilla chips and guava-queso empanadas that vanish by mid-morning suggest a kitchen that understands restraint as discipline.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Texas Monthly 2025 · #6 · Texas’s Best New Restaurants
- Houston Chronicle #3 · Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants
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- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Texas · Mark Clayton
- Houston Chronicle #2 · Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants
- Eater The 38 Essential Houston Restaurants
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Rank 36. Ema
Indigenous
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker · Stephanie Velasquez
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant
- The New York Times 2024 · Horchata Berlinesa · The Best Restaurant Dishes We Ate Across the U.S.
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- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Texas · Shawn Gawle
- Houstonia 2025 · The 10 Best Restaurants That Opened in Houston
- Houston Chronicle #13 · Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants
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Rank 38. Pinkerton's Barbecue
Barbecue
Grant Pinkerton's low-slung smokehouse trades in beef ribs that vanish by noon and brisket so yielding it needs nothing beyond its own rendered fat, though the sweet-vegetable glaze on the St. Louis ribs suggests he disagrees. The mounted deer heads lining the walls are a hunter's trophy room aesthetic; the meat is the real prize.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Texas Monthly 2025 · The 50 Best BBQ Joints in Texas
- Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants
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- The New York Times 2023 · The Restaurant List
- Texas Monthly 2023 · Honorable Mentions · Texas’s Best New Restaurants
- Eater The 38 Essential Houston Restaurants
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Rank 44. Musaafer
Indian
A shopping mall conceals this palace of arches and towering windows, where the chef traces India's geography across the menu. Achappam gives way to scallop ceviche and Malabari fish curry with paratha—each dish marked by precise spicing and the kind of restraint that reads as confidence. High style meets substance here, without pretense.
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- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurateur · Hugo Ortega and Tracy Vaught - H-Town Restaurant Group
- Houston Chronicle #23 · Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants
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- The New York Times 2025 · Konafa Naama · The 14 Best Restaurant Desserts We Ate Across the U.S.
- Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants
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Rank 49. Truth Barbeque
Barbecue
A gleaming warehouse in the Heights where pitmaster Leonard Botello IV applies meticulous technique to smoke and meat: brisket and turkey arrive succulent, house-made sausage justifies an early arrival, and sides like tater tot casserole with fried onions rival the proteins themselves. Soul survives the polish.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Texas Monthly 2025 · #9 · The 50 Best BBQ Joints in Texas
- Houston Chronicle #10 · Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants
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Rank 51. da Gama Canteen
Indian
In the Heights, a narrow dining room dedicated to the collision of Portuguese and Indian cooking, filtered through the prism of Goa and East Africa. Chana masala arrives as braised chickpeas and potatoes over basmati; beef mishkaki comes marinated, trussed with fried yuca and cooling raita. The pastéis de nata—flaky, custardy—suggest that fusion here isn't novelty but historical fact.
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Rank 52. Pappas Bros. Steakhouse
Steakhouse
A steakhouse that has refined rather than softened with age: prime cuts dry-aged in-house arrive seasoned and seared with discipline, flanked by sides like creamed spinach with ham and outsized onion rings. The room—white cloths, glossy wood, a wine list of genuine depth—feels built for ceremony, yet the service moves with such ease you hardly notice the machinery.
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Rank 56. Hidden Omakase
Sushi
Behind a strip mall door, an 18-seat counter where Chef Marcos Juarez ages fish in-house and works nigiri into a sequence of premium seafood that deliberately departs from convention. The chefs narrate each course with the ease of people who genuinely enjoy the task. Bring your own bottle and patience for something both familiar and strange.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Eater The 38 Essential Houston Restaurants
- Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants
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Rank 57. March
Mediterranean
March sequences you through Mediterranean regions with studied precision, opening in a lounge for cocktails before the striking dining room unveils each course as a small act of culinary theater. The hospitality disarms any pretension; what emerges is refinement without smugness, each plate a document of regional obsession that rewards your attention.
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · World's Best Mediterranean Cuisine Restaurant
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service · June Rodil
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- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Chef · Manabu Horiuchi
- Texas Monthly 2024 · #1 · Texas’s Best New Restaurants
- Houston Chronicle #15 · Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants
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Rank 62. Bludorn
American
Aaron and Victoria Bludorn's dining room glows with royal blue booths and an open kitchen where oysters get their moment at the counter. The menu roams widely—seafood towers, cioppino studded with branzino and crab—but closes with ceremony: a tableside baked Alaska, meringue torched and studded with pistachio and gianduja, that arrives as much for the show as the taste.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service · Kristine Nguyen
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Outsdanding Hospitality
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 63. Annam
Contemporary Vietnamese
An elegant Vietnamese restaurant in Autry Park balances refinement with approachability through French-inflected cooking and generous portions. Whole branzino over vegetables with nuanced nước chấm sauce exemplifies the kitchen's restraint and precision.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Houstonia 2025 · Honorable Mention · The 10 Best Restaurants That Opened in Houston
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- Houstonia 2025 · The 10 Best Restaurants That Opened in Houston
- Houstonia Houston’s Best Restaurants
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Rank 69. Killen's
Southern
Ronnie Killen's Heights shrine to his grandmother's cooking makes no apologies for its excess: cornbread skillet, grilled oysters with harissa, buttermilk fried chicken swimming in creamy potatoes, and all the barbecue you can handle. It's the kind of place where vegetables exist as a courtesy, and dessert—bread pudding—arrives as a moral imperative.
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- AAA Four Diamonds
- Wine Enthusiast The Wine Restaurant Hall of Fame
- Eater The 38 Essential Houston Restaurants
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Rank 73. ChopnBlok
West African
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Emerging Chef · Ope Amosu
- The New York Times 2025 · The Restaurant List
- Esquire 2025 · The Best New Restaurants in America
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Rank 74. ChòpnBlọk
African
Inside The Post's food hall, ChòpnBlọk channels Chef Ope Amosu's Nigerian heritage through jollof rice, coconut curry bowls, and grilled suya skewers dusted with yaji spice. The casual counter—dressed in African textbooks and vinyl—treats West African comfort food with understated style and genuine care.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best Chef: Texas · Ope Amosu
- The New York Times 2025 · The Restaurant List
- Esquire 2025 · The Best New Restaurants in America
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Rank 76. Mala Sichuan Bistro
Sichuan Chinese
The original Bellaire location of this expanding Sichuan chain opens a measured hand with chili oil, letting numbing heat and tangy bitterness define dishes rather than drown them. Kung pao arrives balanced and restrained, pork belly glistens beside broccoli, and the sweet-and-sour lotus root tastes genuinely considered. Portions arrive generous enough to require planning.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Houstonia Houston’s Best Restaurants
- Eater The 38 Essential Houston Restaurants
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- Houstonia 2025 · The 10 Best Restaurants That Opened in Houston
- Houstonia Houston’s Best Restaurants
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Rank 81. Theodore Rex
Contemporary
Justin Yu's narrow storefront sits isolated near the freeway, its counter packed tight as a concert pit—the ideal vantage to watch the kitchen work. Each dish arrives deceptively plain but layered with technique: fried bread beneath tomato fondant, Gulf redfish wearing a toast crust with fermented green garlic and pea puree. Relaxed and unpretentious, it rewards those who come hungry to share.
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Hospitality
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Eater The 38 Essential Houston Restaurants
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Rank 82. Nobie's
New American
A cozy 1930s bungalow in Montrose serves creative vegetable dishes and daily-baked pies in a vinyl-lined room where the staff treats strangers like regulars. The dilly milk bread alone justifies a visit, though the raspberry cheesecake pie demands you stay for dessert.
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Sara Stayer and Martin Stayer
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Eater The 38 Essential Houston Restaurants
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Rank 83. BCN Taste & Tradition
Spanish
A 1920s bungalow near Richmond holds a kitchen that moves fluently between the sea and Spanish countryside: razor clams and charred octopus arrive with the same assurance as suckling pig with its crackling skin and wine-dark sauce. The staff tends to you with genuine warmth, the gin list runs deep, and Picasso owls watch from the walls.
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- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Itai Ben Eli and Itamar Levy - Sof Hospitality Group
- Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants
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- Texas Monthly 2025 · #4 · Texas’s Best New Restaurants
- Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants
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Rank 88. Little’s Oyster Bar
Gulf Coast Seafood
- Esquire 2023 · Golden Martini · The Best Martinis in America
- Esquire 2024 · The Best Bars in America
- Texas Monthly 2024 · Honorable Mentions · Texas’s Best New Restaurants
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Rank 89. Perseid
French
Chef Aaron Bludorn's French bistro bathes in sunflower yellow and natural light, turning hotel dining into something genuinely refined. Smoked salmon dip and roast duck breast arrive with the ease of a room designed to put you at rest.
- Bon Appétit 2025 · America's Best New Restaurants
- Wine Enthusiast 2025 · Top 50 New Restaurants
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 90. The Marigold Club
British French
A Montrose dining room where British understatement meets French technique, anchored by a player piano and chef Austin Waiter's restrained luxury. Veal chops stuffed with prosciutto and Comté, oyster towers, and a baba-misu dessert signal decadence without pretension.
- Esquire 2024 · Mayfair Martini · The Best Martinis in America
- Eater Most Beautiful Restaurant
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 91. Neo
Japanese
A sushi counter hidden in a Montrose clothing boutique where chefs honor omakase traditions while introducing playful flourishes like uni risotto and black garlic. The seafood, flown from Japan and dry-aged in-house, arrives with focused precision and unhurried care.
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- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurateur · Hugo Ortega and Tracy Vaught - H-Town Restaurant Group
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Outstanding Hospitality
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- Esquire 2024 · The Best Bars in America
- Eater The Best Coffee Shops in Houston
- Houstonia The Official 50 Hottest Bars in Houston
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Rank 95. Josephine's Gulf Coast Tradition
Southern Seafood
Midtown's Josephine's catches the Gulf Coast spirit in a laidback dining room where oysters, po'boys, and a Mississippi hot catfish sandwich share space with shrimp and grits. The daily redfish over creamy corn and blue crab rice bowl showcase Chef Lucas's unfussy command of seafood, while warm biscuits with seasonal jam arrive as a quiet insistence on doing one thing well.
- Texas Monthly 2024 · #5 · Texas’s Best New Restaurants
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Eater The 38 Essential Houston Restaurants
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Rank 96. Nam Giao
Vietnamese
At this Little Saigon spot, Hue's refined cooking announces itself through rice cakes crowned with fried pork rinds and chives—a dish so compelling it could commandeer an entire meal. The banh khoai, a shattering rice pancake layered with shrimp and herbs, and grilled flank steak swaddled in vine leaves and vermicelli reveal a kitchen that understands restraint and generosity in equal measure.
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Texas · Ai Le
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Houston Chronicle #22 · Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants
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Rank 97. Xochi
Oaxacan Mexican
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurateur · Hugo Ortega and Tracy Vaught - H-Town Restaurant Group
- Eater The 38 Essential Houston Restaurants
- Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants
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- Houstonia 2025 · The 10 Best Restaurants That Opened in Houston
- Houstonia Houston’s Best Restaurants
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