3 Houston Restaurants to Try This Weekend: May 1
Start the weekend with tapas in Montrose, and spend Saturday at this Mexican cafe and restaurant. Sweeten up the weekend with ube treats
Each week, we’ll provide a trusty list of recommendations to answer the most pressing of questions: “Where should I eat?“ Here are four places to check out this weekend in Houston. And if you need ideas on where to drink, here’s our list of the hottest places to get cocktails in town.
For tapas: Mi Luna
888 Westheimer Road, Suite 126, Montrose
Initially located in Rice Village, this Spanish restaurant made its grand return in 2024, reviving some of local diners’ best memories — tapas, house sangria, and live music. All of that is still available at Mi Luna’s new location in the Montrose Collective, which features an acoustic guitar brunch on Sundays, flamenco dancers on occasion, and a menu full of plates made to share. Aside from some of the more well-known dishes, like croquettes, paella, gambas al ajillo (shrimp in lemon garlic olive oil with red chili peppers), and patatas bravas, Mi Luna’s owner, Youssef Nafaa, also taps into his Moroccan heritage, offering a selection of Moorish plates that are particularly rare in Houston. The B’Stilla Moroccan chicken pie, a Mi Luna staple since its inception, consists of scrambled eggs cooked in flavored chicken broth that gets combined with cinnamon almonds, wrapped in phyllo dough, and baked for a crispy, sweet, and savory bite that has become a bestseller. The Jarrete De Cordero Glaseado, lamb slow-cooked in a tagine with quince, ginger, and honey, is another Moorish standout.
For an early Saturday (or any day) hang: Ema
5307 North Main Street, Suite 100, Heights
This James Beard Award finalist still feels like a secret. The cafe, open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the week (8 a.m. on weekends), combines some of Houston’s best features, offering a coffee shop, bakery, and Mexican brunch spot all in one. The conchas and caffeinated drinks are common gateways for first-timers: The horchata latte makes for a creamy sip with condensed rice milk, a choice of whole or oat milk, cinnamon, and a base of either espresso or matcha, each delivering a different flavor experience. The matcha delivers notes of white chocolate, while the espresso version, best served cold, offers a more roasted flavor that pairs well with the cinnamon. The pastry case offers an enticing new display each day, featuring first-come, first-served items such as blueberry scones, blue corn conchas, buttery elote cornbread, and cinnamon-sugar-coated berlinas — a brioche doughnut with horchata pastry cream, cinnamon, anise, and citrus zest that has garnered national acclaim.
Don’t make the mistake of skipping dishes from the kitchen: Ema slings Mexican favorites like enchiladas, huaraches, and chilaquiles with inventive touches. The taco de zanahoria, the only taco on the menu, comes with a toasty blue corn tortilla, confit carrot, pumpkin seed salsa, and queso fresca made in-house. The hoja santa French toast, a single thick slice of brioche soaked in a hoja santa custard, offers a sweet bite with strawberry compote, whipped cream, and fresh strawberry slices. The papaya salad is a vibrant assembly of yogurt, homemade granola, fresh cuts of sweet papaya, and vibrant blood orange, accompanied by an agave-lime dressing that you’ll want to drink. The fact that Ema doesn’t have WiFi, an inconvenience to some, feels intentional — it encourages diners to be wholly present in the experience. Ema is precisely where you want to be.
For the best ube treats: The Baker’s Son
8025 Main Street, Suite A, Astrodome Area; 15235 Southwest Freeway, Sugar Land
Ube is seemingly popping up all around town, particularly at restaurants known for displaying Asian diasporic flavors, including Traveler’s Table and Japanese restaurant Haii Keii. Baker’s Son offers an impressive selection of treats infused with the sweet purple yam. A visit to the Filipino bakery’s Sugar Land location, which is connected to Seafood City, the state’s only location of the massive Filipino grocery store, proved that the limit on how ube can be used does not exist. Deep purple-colored pastries lined the shelves on nearly every wall. Shoppers can find pan de ube, ube cheese rolls, ube doughnuts, ube pandesal (a fluffy Filipino bread roll), milky ube cheese bread, ube pastillas, and more. The ube coffee cake hits just right — a combination of an American pastry favorite with Filipino flavors. The cake, moist all the way through and topped with a layer of cream cheese frosting, makes an ideal companion to a cup of hot barako coffee sourced from the Philippines.
