Eater Houston’s Best Dishes of the Week: March 25
Three dishes from Houston restaurants that blew us away
There are more than 12,000 restaurants in Houston. With at least 145 languages spoken across town and communities bringing compelling fare from regions like south Louisiana and the West Coast, and countries such as Mexico, Syria, and the Philippines, there’s no shortage of outstanding food in the Bayou City. Check back weekly to see the best things Eater Houston’s editor ate this week.
March 25
Nasi campur at Warung Indo
After living in Indonesia for a year during my twenties, I fell headfirst into an obsession with the Southeast Asian nation’s vibrant, colorful, and almost always crunchy cuisine. The Indonesian population in the United States, while not large, is no less significant than many other Asian communities that have imparted significant contributions to American dining. Still, it can be tough to find Indonesian restaurants in the South, particularly those that solely serve traditional fare. Warung Indo delivered in both taste and atmosphere, and I was thrilled to see nasi campur ($15) on the menu. The dish usually features a scoop of white rice surrounded by an array of vegetables and protein. In the case of this Sugar Land strip mall gem, tempeh — fermented soybeans traditional in Indonesian cuisine — was flavored with a spiced bath of kecap manis, Indonesia’s distinctive sweet soy sauce. Plated atop the white rice, it was served alongside a marinated egg, and rendang, a slow-cooked meat dish especially popular in Indonesia and Malaysia. Chopped peppers brightened a stellar interpretation of the Javanese mainstay. 4555 Hwy 6 STE G, Sugar Land, TX 77478
Eater Houston
Slow-roasted belly of pork at Augustine’s
At a dinner series in the Riverside Terrace neighborhood, Chef Dominick Lee has been showcasing a range of inventive plates ahead of opening his newest venture, Augustine’s. The chef has been previewing what’s to come this fall at Hotel King David, a forthcoming boutique hotel in the heart of Riverside Terrace, through experimental plates that reflect the chef’s contemporary approach to Creole cooking. Along with rhubarb beignets, which were divine, I enjoyed Lee’s deconstructed muffuletta, a fine example of his “progressive Creole” perspective. The muffuletta-style Italian salad complete with a generous amount of olives, provolone, Mornay sauce, and sesame croutons, was a playful, albeit technically-driven demonstration of the chef’s reverence to his roots, and an ambitious desire to move the needle forward.
Eater Houston
Bull Run burger at Crypto Burger
Across the world, an estimated 1.8 billion Muslims are celebrating Ramadan, a holy month of fasting and spirituality. When those observing aren’t fasting, they enjoy halal food, which remains central to the celebration, and Middle Eastern dining. I’ve been lucky to experience some excellent halal food within Houston’s incredible landscape of Middle Eastern restaurants, many of which are featured in our map of terrific halal-friendly restaurants in Houston. After a night out with friends, I decided to cap the evening with a mammoth burger from Crypto Burgers, one of the few spots in town that offers halal-friendly cheeseburgers and beef bacon. At the Galleria location, I grabbed the Bull Run burger ($12), which featured serrano peppers, fried onions, cayenne pepper hot sauce, shredded Colby Jack cheese, halal beef bacon, and the food truck’s beef patty and spicy FOMO sauce — both made in-house. The FOMO sauce is as sharp as it is spicy, and, with satisfying piquancy, cuts through the juicy patty and crunchy, sweet onions. 2829 Chimney Rock Rd, Houston, TX 77056
Eater Houston
