Photography by Daniel Ortiz
Styling by Todd Ramos
Models Brock Knighten and Samara Zuckerbod for Page Parkes Agency
Hair and makeup by Edward Sanchez for Arched Beauty
Special thanks to Chapman & Kirby
Position Wine Cafe
Lemon Tartlet
Make a day of it at The Menil Collection and Bistro Menil. From its three-course menu ($55), choose jumbo lump crab cake and then segue to grilled shrimp skewers or 12-hour beef short rib. Don’t miss the lemon tart for dessert.
Deviled Eggs
Dine divinely on three courses ($55), including deviled eggs with caviar and pickled onions, homemade gravlax tartine, trout almondine, grilled hangar steak and chocolate mousse cake.
Shrimp & Grits
A veteran participant and routinely one of the annual charity’s highest fundraisers, Brennan’s offers elegant Texas-Creole dishes served with flair. This year’s menus include strawberry salad, a Creole fried chicken sandwich, Texas shrimp and grits, and legendary turtle soup, plus classic desserts like Creole bread pudding and praline parfait. Lunch ($25), weekend brunch ($25) and dinner ($55). Full HRW menus here.Reservations here.
Spaghetti & Meatballs
Lunch ($39) on classics like meatballs in pomodoro; Mama Mandola’s Sicilian chicken soup; house salad, and baked rigatoni with Italian sausage. Both the Voss and Kirby originals will honor the HRW menu offer.
Butcher Burger
This CityCentre favorite is offering a four-course dinner menu ($55) featuring fan favorites such as steak frites, rotisserie chicken and chocolate chip skillet cookie, plus a two-course lunch menu ($25) featuring truffle cacio e pepe frites, butcher burger, and seasonal grain salad. Full HRW menu here.Reservations here.
At the River Oaks and Woodlands outposts of this steakhouse, grab a luxe three-course steak dinner ($55) that includes a crisp Caesar salad, petite filet mignon (or choose fish or chicken), plus dessert. The New York cheesecake is delightful with fresh strawberries, mint and red wine sauce.
The robust dinner menu ($39) features signature dishes such as chicken satays with peanut sauce and fresh cucumber relish; slow-cooked duck breast noodle soup; and the crowd favorite premium tiger cry — a Thai-style marinated N.Y. strip steak with Northeastern sauce and side of steamed vegetables. Choose desserts like mango sticky rice, Thai tea crème brulee and homemade coconut ice cream.
This Rice Village hidden-gem by Benjy Levit offers delectable options like Vietnamese beef tartare, red miso cod, decadent lava cake and a cheese plate for the three-course lunch ($39). Come for the delicious deals, stay for the fun ambiance.
Craving Tex-Mex? Mandito’s is the casual, cantina-style version of Houston's famed locale, Armandos. Its two-course lunch ($25) or three-course dinner ($39) includes all the classics and new homemade authentic flavors as well. Highlights include the iconic Burrito Bowl; the El Palacios Plate with one picadillo tostada, one crispy picadillo taco and one chicken enchilada; and Tres Hombres Enchiladas with one cheese enchilada with chili gravy, one chicken enchilada with salsa verde and one picadillo enchilada draped in chili con queso.
Chutoro Toast
This chic Japanese locale makes its HRW debut for 2023, with a three-course dinner ($55) including the popular Chutoro toast, Summertime Taraba (king crab), 72-hour sous vide short rib, miso-cured Kari sea bass, Valrhona Cocoa Brownie, and the Insta-worthy Summer Bonsai, a dark chocolate tree forest shrouded in wisps of dry ice fog.
Here’s your ticket to trying a hot new restaurant at a cool price. Underbelly Hospitality’s three-course dinner ($55) offers choices like the panzanella salad; Gulf shrimp with XO sauce; pan-seared snapper and polenta; and short-rib risotto. Try something unique for dessert — think olive oil cupcake with goat cheese frosting and honey-roasted-peach filling.
Chef Alex Au-Yeung dishes up signature high-flavor favorites and new goodies, too. Soak up his Malaysian specialties during a four-course lunch or dinner ($55) in Katy, including three styles of Roti Canai, Lobster Dumplings, Phat Curry Osso Buco, Sayuran Campur (vegetarian selection with assorted mushrooms, vegetables and tofu in a sweet basil or curry sauce), and three Southeast Asian flavors of ice cream. Full HRW menu here.Reservations here.
The Uptown Park location is offering a bountiful dinner menu ($39) with fresh light bites such as Brussels sprouts salad or Hannah’s Field with kale and grains plus a choice of chicken or a petite filet skewer. Mains include four hearty panini choices or opt for the signature Bruschetta Board. Don’t forget the wine! For pairings, upgrade to the $49 menu.
Cucumber Wrapped Sashimi
Expect many options at this showy inner-loop hotspot. The dinner menu ($55) features Korean fried chicken, halibut carpaccio, Chef’s Cut New York strip steak and a spicy wasabi Toro roll, plus dessert.
Crab Tostados
This affordable three-course lunch menu ($25) or dinner ($55) tempts with options like The Annie tortilla soup or ahi tuna ceviche, Scottish salmon, chicken paillard, or filet mignon and fries for entrees, and lemon cake with blueberry compote for dessert.
Chef Richard Sandoval’s award-winning Pan-Latin steakhouse Toro Toro is offering a two-course lunch ($25) or a three-course dinner menu ($55). You can’t go wrong with the Angry Scorpion Roll or the Toro Toro burger. For dinner, consider the Amarillo ceviche, Lomo Saltado (beef tenderloin with crispy potato), and delicate crepe layer cake for dessert.
The dinner menu ($55) offers many exotic items to sample. Start with the so-summery watermelon avocado salad or Kaki fry oysters. For mains, choose from Jungle Curry, Adobe snapper, Nigerian Suya skewers and more.
Walter Bering with Martha Turner’s Sotheby’s sold this property at 3920 Inverness for more than $10 million this spring.
Walter Bering with Martha Turner’s Sotheby’s sold this property at 3920 Inverness for more than $10 million this spring.
At first glance, home prices in River Oaks appear to remain rather flat: The average sales price of homes closed during the first five months of 2023 was just over $3 million, pretty much a carbon-copy of the stats from the first five months of 2022. But looking at the latest data might provide a clue as to where the neighborhood is heading next: The average price of homes sold in June 2023 was $3.2 million, up 15 percent from the June prior. Interestingly, the months inventory — how long it would take to sell all of the homes on the market if sales continued at the current pace, and no more were listed — has climbed to 4.8. The months inventory in all of Houston is just 3.1.
Listed by Kellie Geitner with Martha Turner Sotheby’s, a funky townhome at 1101 Missouri St. is asking $575K.
Once upon a time, Montrose was considered rough around the edges, even gritty. But, the slew of tattoo parlors, funky thrift stores, gay bars and semi-edgy coffeeshops that remain in the well located district — roughly halfway between the Galleria and Downtown, and a stone’s throw from Rice — can’t hide the truth: Montrose is a stable, solid bet for buyers seeking a dependably appreciating neighborhood for the long haul.
After a season of less showy growth than other areas during the Covid years, the quirky queen of the inner-Loop — unabashedly eclectic with its mix of classic bungalows, townhomes and mod new builds — is back! The average sales price for the first five months of ’23, $853,000, is up nearly 13 percent over the same period last year. This occurs as other inner-Loopers like the Galleria area, Midtown and the Washington Corridor are flat.
And Montrose homes are, at the moment anyway, selling a week faster than last June, just 44 days on average.
Morad Fiki’s listing at 11103 Memorial Dr. is under contract for around $4 mil.
As Memorial winds and weaves through West Houston, homes on idyllic cul-de-sacs and with big, rolling yards beckon buyers. During the pandemic, homes in Memorial were coveted for amenities like resort-style pools and plenty of room for guests. Prices rose rapidly, and inventory dwindled. And as the Covid-supercharged market cools off citywide, the Memorial Villages ’hood reflects many of the same patterns: The average sales price so far this year is down around 6 percent, and homes are taking about 7 percent longer to sell, compared to the first part of 2022. But real estate experts say that a return to a balanced market, especially in the pricier parts of town, coupled with falling mortgage rates, will actually provide ongoing momentum.
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Memorial Park is a popular ’hood thanks to its walking and biking trails.
Memorial Park and its surrounding streets have changed dramatically over the last year or so, from the completion of the golf-course reno to the neighborhood-defining land bridges. Perhaps that might help explain the equally dramatic increase — 17 percent! — in average sales price of homes in this area in January through May compared to the same timeframe last year. They’re selling more quickly, too. The average number of days on the market was down 7 percent year-over-year.
Bill Baldwin of Boulevard Realty is listing this Garden Oaks property at 847 Lamonte Ln. for $1.8 mil.
For years, the Heights has been one of the most popular hubs for young professionals, couples and families alike. Heights-adjacent neighborhoods like Timbergrove, Cottage Grove, Shepherd Park Plaza, Garden Oaks and Oak Forest have been steadily rising in popularity — and cost — over the past decade, too; in fact, Garden Oaks will soon become the latest area to hit the milestone of a $1 million average sales price. Over the first five months of 2023, homes here sold for an average of $996K, up by more than 23 percent year-over-year — the highest rate of growth in all of Houston. And while the number of transactions is down in Garden Oaks, as is the case in most H-Town neighborhoods so far this year, homes are selling just as quickly as they did in 2022.
This home at 51 Grand Regency Circle in The Woodlands is one of the area’s most expensive listings.
In The Woodlands, homes are selling at one of the fastest rates in the region. On average, a home listed in January through May of this year sold in just over three weeks. (Homes in Upper Kirby or Spring Branch, by comparison, sat for about two months.)
But homes flying off the shelves isn’t new for the master-planned community. Last year, the same five-month timeframe produced an average days-on-market value of 15 — also a region-topping figure! All the while, home prices have remained steady, at around $700,000, over the past year.
The demand for higher-end, suburban homes with access to great amenities and public schools is unlikely to waver any time soon. The Woodlands landed at No. 3 on this year’s list of Best Cities to Live in America, per Niche.com.
