Houston - The Best of the Rest

Houston is a city with so much to do that, no matter what your interests, you should be able to find plenty of things to do. There are great museums, a world-class theater district, some of the country's best shopping, grand parks, and waterfront resort areas all within the metro area's boundaries. Whether you're in town for just a couple of days or a full week, there's probably more to do than you'll have time for.

This journal is one of a set of four I've done on Houston, and is only intended to hold entries on attractions that do not fit in any of the other three. The links below will take you to my other Houston journals (links will open in new browser windows).

• Tour Houston by MetroRail — A guide to seeing the city on the new light rail system, and navigating without a car.
• Cheap Eats in Houston, TX — A guide to eating well on a tight budget.
• A Gay Man's Guide to Houston, TX — Bars, night clubs, restaurants, and shops that cater to the gay and lesbian community.

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

This is Houston, and the city occupies more square miles than some New England states. You probably will need a car, especially if you plan on visiting areas like Clear Lake, home of NASA's Johnson Space Center and the Kemah Boardwalk. If your trip is short, and you plan on staying in a hotel downtown and mainly seeing attractions in the central part of the city, you can get by without a car, espcially now that the new light rail system is open. Even if you have a rental car, MetroRail (and if you're adventurous, Metro's bus system) can make getting around the inner-loop area (the area inside the 610 loop) easier. My journal on touring Houston on MetroRail (link above) explains how to use the system. I've tried to include Metro route numbers on each journal entry whenever possible. The Metro website should be consulted for current route maps and schedules.

Houston’s largest hotel, the Hilton Americas-Houston, was built primarily to serve the convention crowd at the George R. Brown Convention Center next door. In addition to being conveniently located next door to the convention center, the hotel’s downtown location places it close to many other attractions, including the Toyota Center, home of the Rockets and Aeros, and the Astros games at Minute Maid Park.

This hotel was built to serve as Houston’s new flagship hotel, and it does that task very well. Arriving guests are greeted by a sweeping lobby; marble floors; custom, Venetian-glass chandeliers; and an incredible, gold and blue map of the world behind the lobby bar. Every piece of the hotel is a work of art, including the elevator doors, which feature a braided stainless steel motif. Above the main lobby on the second floor is the long convention lobby, which runs the full length of the building past the ballrooms and meeting spaces, and connects to skywalks to the George R. Brown Convention Center and hotel parking garage.

Guest rooms are located in two towers above the rest of the hotel. The large rooms feature large televisions, extremely comfortable arm chairs (my mother fell asleep and took an hour-long nap in hers on a recent visit), an ottoman, and large desks for business travelers. High-speed internet access is available. The beds are some of the best in the Hilton family, with pillow-top mattresses, plenty of down-filled pillows, and down-filled duvets. I did not actually sleep in the bed in my parent’s room when they stayed at the Hilton, but I tested it out. The bed was very comfortable and felt like the ones I’ve experienced at several other new, high-end Hilton locations. Guestroom bathrooms are large, very nicely decorated, and feature amenities like a marble vanity with stool, antique brass fixtures, curved shower rod, and handheld shower heads. Executive level Towers rooms add additional amenities, including bathrobes and access to the concierge lounge for complimentary evening hors d’oeuvres and a continental breakfast. As with other Hilton locations, these rooms are available for complimentary space-available upgrades for Hilton HHonors Gold and Diamond VIP members.

Other amenities that round out this first-class hotel include three restaurants, a large bar in the lobby, an espresso counter, a comprehensive business center, and the Skyline Spa and Health club and pool. The spa, along with one of the hotel’s restaurants, is located on the facility’s 24th floor, and offer sweeping views of the downtown skyline.

• Click here to visit the Hilton Americas-Houston website.
• Metro Routes: The hotel is several blocks east of the MetroRail Main St. Square Station. Nearby bus routes include the 82 Westheimer, 53 Westheimer Limited, 18 Kirby Limited, 20 Canal/Long Point Limited, 48 Navigation/West Dallas, and 50 Harrisburg/Heights.

As the TV commercials for this Austin institution brought to Houston in 2000 say, "I can’t help it, I gotta tell ya — Katz’s never closes!" This always open, New York style Jewish deli serves up huge sandwiches and burgers, good dinner entrees, great breakfasts, and if you have room, wonderful desserts. For New York lovers, the restaurant’s décor offers you a small slice of the Big Apple right here in H-Town, with subway signs, skyline photos, and other New York paraphernalia covering the walls. Katz’s is usually crowded, but rarely have I had to wait more than 20 minutes for a table, as service tends to be pretty fast and the restaurant seats a lot of people. The biggest crowds frequently are not at mealtime, but between midnight and 2:00 a.m. on weekends, as the restaurant is a very popular place to stop for a meal after visiting the clubs and bars in Montrose and downtown.

Katz’s food tends to run from good to very good, with a few outstanding options. My personal favorites are the deli burger with cheddar cheese and grilled onions, meatball sub, fried chicken, and kosher style foot long hot dog with sauerkraut. When ordering, be sure to pay close attention to the menu, as some sandwiches come with sides and others do not. As for side orders, if the cheese stuffed potato is an option with your sandwich or entrée, order it!. This is a true delicacy that I have not seen anywhere else. Think potato latke only thicker and more solid, stuffed with a gooey blend of melted cheeses, served with sour cream on the side. While not on any diet plan, this is one of those foods that is definitely worth spending a little extra time on the treadmill for. And, speaking of fattening foods, Katz’s offers a cheesecake milkshake that’s made with an entire slice of their New York style cheesecake blended with milk and ice cream. Katz’s is also well known for its breakfasts, which are available 24 hours a day. Keep in mind that this is a Jewish deli, so there are no pork products on the menu. Bacon, ham, and hot dogs contain no pork.

My only real complaint with Katz’s Deli would be the service. While generally good, on several occasions my friends and I have encountered a waiter who was less than attentive, and on one occasion, very abrupt and rude. Fortunately more often than not service is prompt and the staff is very friendly. Often owner Barry Katz is seen bringing out orders from the kitchen to tables and meandering through the dining room asking diners about their food and service. I have not had any service problems on visits where I saw Barry working the dining room, but with a restaurant that never closes, he obviously cannot be there all of the time.

• Hours: Open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
• Website: www.ilovekatzs.com
• Metro Routes: 82 Westheimer, 34 Montrose Crosstown.

As several other IgoUgo guides have attested in their journals, Niko Niko’s is a great little Greek café located in the heart of Houston’s Montrose neighborhood. The restaurant started life over 20 years ago as a humble little gyro stand in a converted gas station with a couple of picnic tables out front for seating. It didn’t take long for the place to catch on, as Houstonians lined up for Niko Niko’s tender gyros meat served up hot in fresh pita bread with cool tomatoes and onions and a generous topping Tzatziki sauce. As the restaurant expanded so did the menu. Several expansions to the old gas station resulted in increased seating and the restaurant taking on somewhat of a ramshackle appearance, complete with a slanted floor that was installed incorrectly. No longer was Niko Niko’s simply a gyro stand, but a full-fledged restaurant with a full menu of Greek favorites. And the crowds kept coming for the great food and lively atmosphere. When I first moved to Houston and discovered this great place in 2000, I quickly learned to go early if I was in a hurry because of the lines and lack of parking. I also learned that the middle of the summer, it wasn’t a great place to go for lunch due to the summer heat overwhelming the restaurant’s few window, air-conditioning units.

A recent expansion of Niko Niko’s has transformed it from an old gas station with a couple of expansions to a new, large restaurant. While much of the old atmosphere and charm is gone, the new larger kitchen, two cash registers, expanded seating areas, and new parking lot handle the crowds much more efficiently. Even with the new building, owner Dimitrios Fetokaki did his best to ensure that much of the restaurant’s charm remained unchanged. The original wooden tables and benches, with rolls of paper towels on each one, were kept in the dining room, as was the old slanted floor (the new building was built surrounding the old one). Food is still served on Styrofoam plates with plastic utensils. And the food is just as wonderful as it’s always been.

As for the food, it’s kind of hard to go wrong with any of the traditional Greek plates or sandwiches. I’m a big fan of the gyros sandwich and gyros plate, as well as any of the combination plates (gyros/souvlaki, souvlaki/chicken kebob, and gyros/chicken kebob). All plates and sandwiches are served with a choice of oven-roasted potatoes, rice, or French fries. I’ve never tried the rice, but the oven-roasted potatoes are quite good, and the homemade seasoned French fries are almost sinfully delicious. Other good choices I have tried are the large Greek salad, spinach and feta cheese sandwich, and the spanakopita and tiropita. And if Greek food isn’t your thing, several fried and broiled seafood options and hamburgers are also on the menu.

• Niko Niko’s website.
• Metro Routes: 34 Montrose Crosstown, 82 Westheimer, 35 Fairview/Leeland.

(713) 525-9400

Hours: Wed-Sun, 11am-7pm, closed Mon-Tues
Website:www.menil.org
Admission: FREE!
Metro Routes: 25 Richmond. Exit the bus at Mandell St. Walk two blocks north on Mandell. The museum will be on your right, fronting Sul Ross St.

Tucked into Houston’s Montrose neighborhood in a building designed by renowned Italian architect Renzo Piano is The Menil Collection, one of Houston’s greatest treasures. The Menil, a gift of Schlumberger heiress Dominique de Menil and husband John, serves as the primary depository of the de Menil’s extensive private art collection of over 15,000 pieces. The collection dates from the Paleolithic era to the 20th century, and primarily concentrates on four areas: antiquity, Byzantine and medieval, tribal, and 20th century. In addition to the permanent collection, a series of exhibitions rotates several times a year, featuring additional pieces from the Menil’s collection, as well as exhibitions by modern photographers and artists. In addition to the main gallery, there are several nearby satellite galleries and locations worth visiting. These are either operated directly by the Menil Collection or are other independent museums that were also created by Dominique de Menil and are associated with the museum. All are within an easy walking distance of the main collection. I think that the Menil is one of Houston’s greatest cultural assets, especially since Dominique de Menil was pressured by a number of leading museums in other cities that were seeking this collection after her death. Instead, she chose to leave it in the city she called home for much of her life, as a gift to its citizens. There is no collection quite like this one, and the fact that it's free of charge makes it even better. For architecture buffs, the collection’s Renzo Piano building is worth the trip alone.

While visiting the Menil, expect to see modern art works by artists like Andy Warhol, Mark Rothko, Henri Matisse, Salvador Dali, and Pablo Picasso. Other galleries exhibit antiquities, including a piece dated from 22,000 to 15,000 BC, Byzantine and medieval religious works, and tribal art from Asia, Oceania, and the Pacific Northwest. The sheer size of the collection is absolutely breathtaking, especially when you consider that all of this was collected by one couple, and how many pieces are not displayed at any one time due to lack of space. Sure, there are much larger art museums, but I challenge you to find one that exclusively exhibits such a large collection from one source.

Other Nearby Exhibits:

• Cy Twombly Gallery, 1501 Branard. Houses a permanent collection of Twombly’s work.
• Richmond Hall, 1500 Richmond Ave. Houses an installation by Dan Flavin.
• Rothko Chapel, 3900 Yupon at Sul Ross. An intimate sanctuary housing several works by Mark Rothko, surrounded by several pieces of outdoor sculpture. Open daily, 10am-6pm
• Byzantine Fresco Chapel Museum, 4011 Yupon at Branard. See separate journal entry.
• Outdoor Sculpture, various locations; maps with exact locations are available on the Menil website and at the museum..

Sure New York has Broadway, but do you know where the second largest theater district is? It’s not Chicago, or LA, or even London. Nope, it’s Houston! Yes, Houston. The city is far from a cultural wasteland, and the city’s Theater District, a 17-block area in Downtown’s northwest quadrant, features nearly 13,000 theater seats and over 1,400 movie seats in a collection of world-class performing arts centers.

The city is home to a variety of professional ballet, opera, orchestra and musical and dramatic theater companies. Several of these groups have premiered new operas, plays, and musicals, with such hits as Jekyll & Hyde making their world premiere performances on the stages of Houston’s Theater District. In addition to the local arts community, organizations such as Broadway in Houston arrange for nationally-touring shows to appear here as well.

For information on each of the theater companies and venues, see the links and descriptions below.

Alley Theatre. One of the nation’s most famous theater companies, the Alley presents a variety of classic plays and new works in one of the district’s most interesting facilities. Tickets and schedules are available by phone at (713) 228-8421 or online at www.alleytheatre.org.

Houston Ballet. The ballet performs at the district’s Wortham Theater Center’s Brown Theater. Each season features eight-ten ballets, including the Christmas favorite The Nutcracker. For tickets, call (713) 227-ARTS or see the ballet’s website at www.houstonballet.org.

Broadway in Houston. Broadway in Houston brings some of Broadway’s best shows to the Bayou City. Performances are held at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Jones Hall, and Wortham Theater Center. More information is available by phone at (713) 622-SHOW or online at www.broadwayacrossamerica.com.

Houston Grand Opera. Houston’s outstanding professional opera company, the Houston Grand Opera, presents eight operas each season in the Wortham Theater Center’s Brown and Cullen Theaters. Now in its 50th year, HGO is famous for both its modern productions of classics as well as its development of new operas. For more information, call (713) 228-OPERA or see the HGO website at www.houstongrandopera.org.

Houston Symphony. The symphony performs in Jones Hall downtown, as well as at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands and Miller Outdoor Theater in Hermann Park during the summer. Tickets are available at (713) 224-7575 or online at www.houstonsymphony.org.

Theatre Under the Stars. The largest non-profit producer of musical theater in the country, TUTS presents over 200 performances a year in the Hobby Center for the Performing Art’s Sarofim Hall. A free summer musical is also produced annually at Hermann Park’s Miller Outdoor Theater. TUTS is my personal favorite of the local theater companies (I can’t help it, I like musicals), and their productions rival the best in New York and London. Tickets available at (713) 558-TUTS and www.tuts.com.

Other groups. Because of space limitations, some groups have been left off this list. For more information, see the Theater District website.

Houston’s famous Galleria is the city’s largest mall and one of its biggest tourist attractions. This behemoth of a mall features six major department stores (Neiman Marcus, Lord & Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s, Nordstrom, and Foley’s), and hundreds of smaller stores, with famous names like Tiffany & Co., Ralph Lauren, Cartier, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Bailey Banks & Biddle, Kenneth Cole, and Versace. There are also several office towers, two hotels, and an ice rink in the mall.

After being sold to a new owner several years ago, the Galleria has undergone a major renovation and expansion. In March 2003, a new wing across West Alabama Street from the older parts of the mall was opened. This expansion is anchored by Houston’s first Nordstrom store, and Foley’s, a long-time Houston retailer that surprisingly had never expanded into the Galleria. The new section is linked to the rest of the mall by a skywalk on the second level. Renovations to the rest of the mall have given the older sections the same style as the 2003 expansion, replacing the previous decades-old atmosphere with new sleek, modern architecture. The result is that the entire mall once again lives up to its atmosphere as the premiere fashion center in the southwestern United States.

The one drawback of the Galleria is its size and popularity. The area around the mall is known for its traffic jams, and for those who are unfamiliar with the mall, navigating your way into the many parking garages, parking, and finding the mall entrance can be a daunting task. My advice as a local who is frequently in the Uptown/Galleria area: avoid Westheimer Rd., especially the Westheimer and Post Oak Blvd. intersection, as much as possible. Given that the mall fronts on Westheimer, this isn’t always possible, but the traffic jams that exist on Westheimer and to a lesser extent on Post Oak can easily be avoided by using other streets to access the mall. If you’re coming from the west, this can be accomplished by approaching the mall on Westheimer and taking the exit to the right onto West Alabama as Westheimer curves to the left a few blocks before you reach the mall. From West Alabama you’ll have easy access to several free parking garages on the back side of Gallerias I, II, and III (the numbers refer to different expansion stages of the mall). If approaching from east (inside the 610 loop), take Richmond to Sage Rd. Turn north on Sage, then turn right onto West Alabama. If coming from the north, exit 610 at Hildago, and take the sharp right-turn onto Hildago from the ramp. Follow Hildago to Sage, turn right, and go one block north to West Alabama, turning right again. Alternatively, from Hildago you can also access the new garages in Galleria IV near Foley’s and Nordstrom.

You can also take Metro. The mall is served by the 53 Westheimer Limited, 82 Westheimer, 33 Post Oak, 49 Chimney Rock, and 73 Bellfort routes.

The IAH Airport Festival is an annual event sponsored by the Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce. The event is held annually on a Saturday in early October at Houston's Intercontinental Airport, located north of the city. The event celebrates the airport's contributions to the local economy and is highly attended by airport and airline employees and their families, as well as others in the metro area who are interested in aviation.

I have attended this festival in 2001 and 2004. Typically it is held at either the Continental Express hangars off JFK Boulevard or the larger Continental Airlines hangars off Wright Road and Will Clayton Parkway. Parking is always free, but you'll need to follow the yellow "Event Parking" signs to the proper lot. Because this year's event was held at the Continental Airlines hangars across the street from the old rental car facilities, we were allowed to park in the old rental car lots. This was a big improvement over my previous trip to the festival, when we had to park in the City Economy Parking lot and take a special shuttle to the Continental Express hangar.

The festival costs $10 to attend if tickets are purchased in advance, or $15 at the door. With your admission you'll be entered into a series of drawings for free trips for two from several airlines (this year on Continental, Southwest, America West, US Airways, and Aeromexico), and coupons for a free lunch (hot dog or hamburger and chips). Nonalcoholic beverages are free, and beer is sold for about $3 a cup. In addition to the drawings for free trips, they also give away a variety of gift certificates to local businesses. The catch is you must be present to win, and drawings are held every 30 minutes. Your chances of winning are best if you arrive early and stay for the entire afternoon.

The festival usually has a variety of aircraft on display. This is a great opportunity to walk up to the planes and see how big some of them really are. Usually Continental Airlines and Continental Express will have a few planes out on the ramp (this year there was a 737-300 and ERJ-145), as our hometown airline is always one of the event’s sponsors. Unfortunately, Continental never has their planes open; I’ve always hoped they’d have one of the larger jets like a 767 or 777 open for visitors to walk through the plane, but that hasn’t happened in the years I’ve been to the festival. However, FedEx frequently has one of their cargo jets open for visitors to walk through. Cockpit visits on the FedEx trip are always popular for the kids in attendance. There are also usually some military and general aviation aircraft on display.

The IAH Festival is a fun event; however, I think the $15 ticket price is a little steep for what it is. If you’re going, definitely purchase tickets in advance because you’ll get a lot more for your money.

Lights in the Heights is an annual holiday celebration sponsored by the Woodland Heights Civic Association. This event is typically held on the second Saturday evening in December from 6 to 9pm. The host neighborhood, Woodland Heights, was developed during the first two decades of the twentieth century and is one of Houston’s designated historic districts. The neighborhood’s beautiful and quiet streets, covered in a canopy of mature live oak trees and lined with a plethora of restored craftsman-style bungalows, seem more fit for a small town than a dense urban neighborhood bounded by two major freeways and less than two miles from the city’s modern downtown district. Woodland Heights is also adjacent to Houston’s more famous Houston Heights, the city’s earliest suburb and home to many restored Victorian mansions and a shopping district well-known for its antiques stores and eclectic art galleries.

The festival features 14 blocks of two parallel neighborhood streets closed to all motor vehicles. The streets are lined with luminaries, and the majority of the houses are decorated with garlands, wreaths, and thousands, if not millions, of Christmas lights. Many houses also feature live entertainment, ranging from handbell choirs (I play in handbell choirs at two different churches that both perform at the same house for LIH each year) to small brass-and-string ensembles to vocalists. Other homes greet visitors with tables set up on their lawns offering complimentary hot chocolate, hot apple cider, cookies, and other treats. And for the kids, Santa usually makes an appearance early in the evening by riding through the neighborhood to the Norhill Street esplanade, where he’s available to meet children the rest of the night. Additionally, horse-drawn carriage rides are usually available.

The streets for Lights in the Heights vary from year to year, so that the same homeowners do not participate every year. Generally, the streets alternate between Highland and Bayland, Bayland and Woodland, and Woodland and Euclid. A map on the Lights in the Heights website details the streets for the event each year. Visitors to the event are advised to arrive fairly early, as traffic in the area can be intense during the festival. Because streets near the event are closed to vehicle traffic, parking is limited to residential streets a few blocks away from the festival streets and the parking lots of several neighborhood schools, churches, and parks. My advice is to plan on arriving in the neighborhood by 6pm. This will give you plenty of time to park, walk to the festival, see all the decorated houses on both streets, and enjoy some of the excellent musical entertainment without having to rush. And, because the event changes from year to year, I suggest visiting the Woodland Heights Civic Association website when planning your visit for the most current information.

If your visit to Houston overlaps with the weekend of this event, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s truly unique, free, and great fun for all ages.