HTX Bib Gourmand Michelin Award Winning Restaurants

Once housed in a squat room connected to a gas station at the foot of a highway, this knockout Thai restaurant has moved just down the street. Still, you’ll probably need reservations. Chef Benchawan Jabthong Painter and her husband have rightfully won over the hearts and appetites of the city with fearless, fiery cooking. Start with the papaya salad, but be warned: This opening act, even at medium spice level, takes no prisoners. There must also be pad see ew, which is a masterclass in charred noodle excellence. The house-made curries are deeply flavored; the green one is notable. All the while, the spacious room bounces along to Thai hip hop blaring overhead.

Who had the brilliant idea to use brisket trimmings to make tortillas? The credit might possibly belong to this Montrose smokehouse, which delivers prime USDA brisket and beef rib excellence. With a side order of warm tortillas and a lashing of sweet sauce, the combination is spot-on. Speaking of sides, the refreshing marinated tomato salad or the surprisingly spicy charred beans pack a lot more flavor than expected. Early risers can drop in for a quick breakfast taco. As a bonus, the wait to order is rarely long, and the amount of seating indoor and outdoor is bountiful. In a region where eating barbecue can require considerable advanced planning, such accommodations are a welcome change of pace. 

In an unassuming dining room in Spring, Chef Thomas Bille is putting it all on the plate. Unafraid to mix and match the cuisines that inspire him, he cooks largely with Mexico in mind. Think saag paneer with spinach mole verde and a stack of warm, sumptuous tortillas made with half corn and half flour. Other possible starters—all of which are portioned to share— include tuna tostadas with nori or street corn agnolotti. Such twists and turns make for immensely satisfying courses that feel bold and balanced. The smartest twist of all might be the finely spiced cherry mole with Rohan duck breast. It’s unlikely you’ll make it to dessert with much spare room, but do consider the tres leches, cleverly prepared with passionfruit and torched meringue.

Few smokehouses celebrate the city’s diverse cultural footprint quite like this one, where Texas barbecue traditions merge with Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean flavors. Where else will you find a fried bao soaked in honey, layered with pork belly and topped with hot mustard and water spinach? How many pitmasters glaze their ribs in gochujang? Classic offerings of brisket and ribs satisfy, but the restaurant’s heart lives in the daily specials, which change with great frequency. Take a look around: A nearby table will always have a dish you wish you had ordered. How’s the brisket fried rice? What about that smoked char siu banh mi? Do you have room for the watermelon salad? These are questions for the next visit – and the visits after that.

From popular bakery pop-up to a brick and mortar in the Houston Heights, this daytime restaurant can do no wrong. Celebrating Mexican traditions and quality coffee, the menu is finely curated and endlessly tempting. We suggest working backwards to make the most of your appetite: Flaky, guava-queso empanadas and the famous horchata cream doughnut are essential desserts that sell out early. Chilaquiles built on superb tortilla chips and tender chunks of brisket is one of many worthy entrees. Heirloom corn is a point of pride here, exemplified by one very large tetela stuffed with mushroom-carrot tinga and set in a zippy salsa verde. There’s more, like the hoja santa French toast or the occasional mole special but save them for next time.

Ronnie Killen’s Heights hit is the wrong place to count calories or dabble with salads. Quite the opposite, this Southern standout is an all-or-nothing celebration honoring his grandmother. Deviled eggs are crowned with brilliantly smoky bits of pulled pork – a clever nod to his barbecue accolades. Biscuits are warm and flaky. Fried chicken is listed on the menu at least five different times. A favorite is the classic buttermilk version, which is cooked to order and arrives golden-brown and juicy. For sure, this is comfort food that rings familiar, satisfies with ease and all but demands for a nap once you’ve cleared the last crumb. Those who bravely walk in hoping to go meatless can take refuge in the sizeable selection of vegetables.

In the quiet city of Pearland, native Texan Ronnie Killen barbecues like few others in the Lone Star state. Everyone waits patiently before doors open at 11 a.m., when the crowd moves fast through, what used to be, the city’s first school cafeteria. Sourcing from Snake River Farms, Killen offers a first-class beef rib smoked just out back that is a silken delight and sings of smoke, salt, fat, and pepper. You could cut it with a spoon. And regardless of what your doctor says, order those melting cubes of pork belly burnt ends tossed in a pepper jelly sauce. Brussels sprouts and collards sopping in potlikker offer some reprieve from the meat. First timers won’t have room for dessert, but veterans never lose sight of the crème brûlée bread pudding.

From Katy to Sugarland to Montrose, this Sichuan restaurant has spread its wings across the Houston area and beyond. The story begins at the original location, which opened in 2011 in Bellaire’s Chinatown. Whereas many Sichuan restaurants submerge everything in pools of chili oil, this kitchen takes a more measured approach. And true to its name, dishes boast a distinct thread of tangy bitterness and tongue-numbing heat but never so much that you’ll sweat. Highlights include silky cubes of tofu sitting in a mala bean curd sauce, firm filets of white fish blanketed in garlic, ginger and red chili powder, and chewy, house-made wheat noodles tossed in a peanut-based vinaigrette. A particularly descriptive menu helps decode dishes to first timers.

You could make an entire meal out of the appetizers at this beloved restaurant in Little Saigon, where the elegant cuisine of Hue in central Vietnam is front and center. Everyone starts with those little steamed rice cakes topped with fried pork rinds and chives, and some are content to order these until they’re full. But then you’d miss out on the pork and shrimp crystal cakes steamed in banana leaves or that thrilling banh khoai, a crispy rice pancake layered with beansprouts, shrimp and a riot of fresh herbs. Leave room on the table for the grilled flank steak, which arrives wrapped in vine leaves and is served with spongy bundles of vermicelli. The server will say that you’ve ordered too much, which is how you know you’ve ordered just enough.

There are no wrong choices at this welcoming EaDo hangout that has dazzled the city since opening in 2017. If anything, there are perhaps too many choices. How could one possibly decide between the spicy beef and butter dumplings with sauerkraut and the fluffy Nancy cakes with smoked trout roe? Should chilled carrots with buttermilk ricotta be your entrée or is it finally time to take down the cheeseburger stacked on a housemade English muffin? But then there’s the grilled wagyu tri-tip with beef fat sticky rice. Whatever you decide, expect lively, bold, heart-warming cooking that keeps a close eye on the seasons and never once feels fussy. Dessert is a given, but good luck picking between the corn crepe cake and the parmesan cheesecake.

A home away from home, this Montrose favorite is impossible to resist. Set in a charming 1930s bungalow and decorated with vinyl records, the restaurant is as cozy as they come with a staff that treats you like a regular. The food impresses, at once creative and familiar. You could fill up entirely on the superb dilly milk bread with “everything butter” but then you’d miss any one of the creative vegetable offerings like grilled carrots with a coconut curry and peanut sesame crunch. Nori egg noodles with garlic beef and chili butter or fried quail stuffed with German potato salad? Tough decision, but know that there must be pie, all of which are baked daily. A recent slice of banana bread pie with whipped honey mousse made for a stunning finale.

Barbecue competition is steep in these parts, but in just a few short years, pitmaster Grant Pinkerton, who lives above the restaurant, has made a name for himself. The number of deer heads mounted on the walls of this low-slung joint makes you wonder whether beef is really on the menu, but indeed it is. Everyone starts with the hulking beef rib, which often sells out before midday, and thick, melting slabs of prime-grade brisket cooked over mesquite and oak. Like all good barbecue, neither piece wants for sauce. Not to be outdone are the brilliantly tender St. Louis-style ribs, which are glazed to order in a sweet sauce made with dehydrated vegetables. Keep an eye on the back wall where daily specials are written in small print.

The name and the flavors alike are punchy at this inviting Montrose favorite, with stylish design and cool, laid-back charm. As an opening volley in a barrage of hospitality, guests are welcomed with a splash of bubbles when they sit, perhaps as an enticement to explore the rest of the impressive wine list. All this is icing on the cake for a crowd-pleasing menu that focuses on a wood-fired oven, from a zingy salad of charred beans to a crisp, gooey focaccia di recco filled with robiola cheese and mortadella—not to mention praiseworthy pizzas and pastas. Speaking of dessert, a meal here is scarcely complete without a wedge of their honey cake with crème fraîche gelato.

Imagine: a single trailer in Spring parked on the side of the highway next door to a gas station with a sign out front. The setup is as classic as the trailer’s origins. Childhood friends Jordan Rosemeyer and Ben Maxwell started out cooking for fun on weekends, but before long found themselves running this humble operation. There’s no dining room in sight but there are picnic tables. Most importantly, there is great barbecue – and a lot of it. Beautifully smoked brisket takes top billing, but tender pork ribs and snappy, jalapeno-cheese sausages are must-orders as well. Daily specials are another point of pride so keep a close eye on the restaurant’s social media.

North of Houston in the city of Tomball, Scott Moore Jr. might be the only chocolatier to become a pitmaster. This wasn’t his plan when he launched a bean-to-bar operation in 2015, but now it is the main reason why customers from all over line up on the porch of this quirky house before doors open. Flintstone-sized beef ribs with salt and pepper barks and melting threads of fat are a notable daily special (Friday only). Other highlights include snappy chile relleno sausages and lovely slices of USDA prime beef brisket, all of which emerge from barbecue pits parked under a shed next to a mountain of chopped wood. Sides are fairly standard, except for the excellent carrot soufflé, which straddles a fine, delicious line between sweet and savory.

In the shadow of downtown Houston right off Highway 10 is Justin Yu’s wedge of a restaurant. There’s little else in the area, but the red stop sign at the intersection is, poignantly enough, also at the front door. Counter seating is practically shoulder to shoulder, knee to knee, but it is a prime perch for taking in all that this welcoming restaurant has to offer. The cuisine is hard to pin down but know that everything looks simpler than it really is and seasoned far better than you could have imagined. Highlights include fried bread with tomato fondant, cured carrots blanketed in a savory onion emulsion, and a roast chicken leg coated in vadouvan. Don’t leave without trying the warm brûléed butter cake smeared with strawberry jam.

Although the acclaimed original location in Brenham is little more than a roadside shack, this Houston Heights sequel from owner and pitmaster Leonard Botello IV is a gleaming model of modern efficiency. Fortunately, the cooking still has plenty of soul: the brisket is expectedly solid, while smoked pork ribs and house-made sausages are a cut above. Surprisingly, sides like collards, beans and corn pudding—or even the more rarified tater tot casserole with crisp fried onions— might even be the highlight, offering the flavorful, rib-sticking quality of lovingly homemade dishes. If, somehow, you manage not to fill up on the tantalizing savory options, those with an implacable sweet tooth can tip the scales with hefty slices of house-made cake.