Houston in July 2006
 

to my dear fodorites!

My boyfriend and I will be staying in Space Center in July. Yeah, I know it will be really HOT and HUMID!!!! :-(

We're planning to book our hotel in the Space Center Area (Webster).

We're planning to get to Houston by Friday afternoon (we'll be driving from Abilene, TX--We are long-driving people).. we're wondering what or we can do and see on Friday afternoon and evening. Is it do-able to go to Downtown Houston (or places of interest) from our hotel?

We're planning about spending the whole afternoon at Space Center, taking the tour on Saturday...

We'd like to get some ideas of where we could have a nice dinner... on Saturday night (my b-day).

Thanks!

yeah.... please suggest some places for us to go to..

i'm thinking about going to Galveston to see the coast.

Merci!

I would suggest spending Friday evening at the Kemah Boardwalk. There should be some fun concerts or other events going on in the summer, plus there are some good restaurants and other things located there to keep you busy. That might also be an option for Saturday if you don't go on Friday.

http://kemahboardwalk.com/flash_cont...h_content.html

As far as a special birthday dinner, I would suggest Mark's Place on Westheimer, but I'm sure you will get a lot of other ideas here. There are many great restaurants in Houston, so it's really hard to just choose one.

Do a text search for "houston restaurants" and there are some recent threads with a lot of suggestions.

Galveston is also an idea for some sight seeing, just as long as you know it is not the most attractive Gulf Coast area as far as beaches and the ocean go.

Good luck. :)

I would not drive into downtown Houston on a Friday afternoon due to traffic. Galveston sounds like a much better idea to me. There are zillions of good restaurants in Galveston. I don't know if Gaido's is still open or not, but that's an old fave from way back. There are a lot of good places near the Strand as well.

Another place I like very much is Kemah. They have a big boardwalk on the water with tons of good food and nice shops.

I see on the boardwalk's calendar that they have fireworks every Friday night in July at 9:30 p.m. That would be pretty over the water on the bay. You could also do dinner on the boardwalk.

Rock the Dock is also a lot of fun, but that is on Thursday nights.

BTW - Downtown is "doable" from your hotel. It would probably be about a thirty minute or so drive depending on traffic and time of day.

Traffic from downtown Houston going down towards Clear Lake on I-45 can be pretty bad in the afternoon rush hour. Try to get to your hotel a little early, or late.

You can go around Houston - see museums, Astro game if there's a home game - etc, before going to the hotel later Friday evening.

you guys are great! i'll do more research about Houston and nearby areas. But nothing beats the ideas of the locals and fellow travellers (not tourists lol!). Thanks for your help!

blinkygurl, I grew up in Webster/Friendswood and my family still lives there, so I am very familiar with the area. I live out of the country now, and only get to town about once a year, but I can certainly try to answer any questions you have about the Clear Lake area, as well as ask my family anything you are wanting to know. My sister is especially up on what's going on in the immediate area. :)

I'd be happy to help, so ask away. :)

You don't mention how old you are or what 'nice' might mean. I'll list some of my favorite restaurants in the Clearlake Webster area.

*Tommy's Seafood Steakhouse for a special dinner
*Perry's Steakhouse and Grille for Sunday brunch
*Tokyo Bowl for sushi
*Tookie's for burgers
*Star Cinema for dinner, alcoholic drinks, and a movie. Food is only ok though
*Mediterranian Market & Cafe for Greek food and great humus
*Angelos for Margherita Pizza
*Italian Cafe for tiramisu and cappucino
*Kemah Boardwalk for people watching and we'll sometimes eat at Cadillac Bar
*T-Bone Tom's for live music on friday and saturday nights. Food's good too.

If there's a specific type of food atmosphere you're looking for just let us know.

tlegray, you brought back some nice memories for me in your post. Not to mention some places we've been planning to make it to, but have yet to visit. :) Thanks.

And I didn't even put Pappadeaux's Seafood, the Classic Cafe, or Morning Kolache's. More of my favorites.

I could go on and on. As you can tell I don't cook much. (Really wish I could add a little bashful face right here)

in response to tlegray, i'm 24 yrs. old and a "nice" dinner to me for my b-day is a place where's it's of different ambience (cultural, i guess)... last year, i had dinner at a Polynesian restaurant where it had a show of polynesian and hawaiian dances in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

I've got some questions.. How is the beach in the Clearlake and Galveston area? I live in SoCal and I'm a big beach bum! It doesn't really matter to me if a coastal area doesn't have the most attractive beach. I just love the water (as long as it's decent clean)!

Statia, I think we're going to take your suggestion and we'll go to Kemah Boardwalk on that Friday evening. Thanks muchos!

There's no beaches in the Clear Lake area. Well, at least nothing I'd go to.

You need to get down to Galveston. The beaches are pretty nice, but the water is usually brown in color in this part of the Gulf Coast.

blinkygurl, I think you will like Kemah Boardwalk. When I talked to my sister last night she said there is always a lot going on there on Friday nights during the summer.

I think Galveston would also be a nice outing, but I think you will find the beaches/water don't offer as much as SoCal. I could have a biased opinion, however, with having lived in the Caribbean for 13 years now. :) There is still The Strand, Moody Gardens and various other things to see and do there. And, of course, you may still very much enjoy a stroll on the beach. :)

Enjoy your trip and please post back on how things go! :)

I use to live in the Torrance/Redondo Beach, CA area and now I live in Clear Lake, TX. I was terribly disappointed about the beaches in Galveston. To me they are dirty, but that's my opinion. Just don't get your hopes up.

My favorite Galveston restaurants;
*Sky Bar-sushi and martini bar
*Saltwater Grille-Seafood/Asian fusion
*Rudy and Paco's-South/Central American food (reservations suggested;dress code)
*Mosquito Cafe-ecletic american (more health oriented)
first 3 are upscale. last one is casual

The problem w/ Galveston beach water is the amount of sand that is stirred up. I don't find it to be especially nice water.

I thought I'd also put in my vote for Kemah for a fun evening out. I especially like the Aquarium's menu.

If you are going to venture into Houston, you might want to check out Body World at the Science museum. I've chickened out of going based on the subject, but several friends have highly recommended it. http://www.hmns.org/

i'm back! i'm leaving to see Houston in 2 weeks!!! i'm very excited because I'm going to take a tour of the NASA Space Center :-) . My boyfriend and I both like aerospace and planes stuff.

He and I will be travelling overnight so we can get to Houston by 10 am... just on time to take the tour. Tour gets done by 4pm.

I know for sure that we will have little sleep.. We will try to see Kemah Boardwalk in the evening. I'm excited to see this place, too.

Saturday, we're just planning to have dinner in downtown Houston or surrounding areas.

Sunday (daytime), we might go to one of those nice parks I saw on Houston tourism website... So if you guys have any suggestions for us to go.. let me know. I also want to check out that candy store in the mall... i heard it's a big candy store. We don't have one of those in LA, as far as i know!

Sunday evening, we travel back to Abilene.

I'm excited!!! I cannot wait!

Thanks for the upate, blinkygurl. Let us know how the trip goes! :)

Hi Blinkygurl
We live in ClearLake & involved with JSC. Glad you are making a trip down there & hope you enjoy the Space Center.

I recommend Hermann Park. Hermann has the Natural Science Museum (which is very nice with the Butterfly area & IMAX). It also has the Houston zoo, but it is not that great. The park usually has alot of things going on. Great for people watching.

For dining downtown, I recommend Ruggles Grill for something in a pricier range. We also enjoy Osaka's Japanese Restaurant on Westheimer. It is inexpensive for the quality of the food. Here are some reviews:
http://www.b4-u-eat.com/houston/rest...ws/rsv2091.asp

Also, since you will be staying in Webster (I assume near Bay Area Blvd.) & if you just need a quick but fun (& large) lunch, Freebirds is a fun place to go. It is similar to Chipotle.

I hope you have a great time.

When you are downtown, if you make it before, say, 6pm, check out the JPMorgan Chase tower at 600 Travis St. They have an observation deck on the 60th floor that's free to go up to. Nice views. Very cool at night - worth checking into if you happen to be there -- security guard may let you go up if it's not too busy -- but not a guarantee.

There are some very good restaurants downtown and around. I highly second the www.b4-u-eat.com -- lots of ways to search on what you like -- by area or food type and see recent reviews.

I live near JSC for 30+ years. Happy to answer any questions on the area.

Kevin.

once i get back from my trip, i'll post some pics on my yahoo album! but if you guys want to check out some pics on my recent euro trip, here's my link:

http://photos.yahoo.com/blinkygurl22

thanks for all the responses. it's really nice to see/read how travelers can help each other out by sharing their experiences, suggestions, etc..

I am going to do my homework of searching for a restaurant for Saturday night. my boyfriend's co-worker suggest this restaurant that spins at the top.. i think it's called spindletop? i kind of want to try it because he and i have not done a dinner on top of a tower. but i will still research. artlover, i'll try to find an info on ruggle's grill online.

i love sushi.. unfortunately, my bf is allergic to seafood... if Osaka has teriyaki or any meat entrée stuff, we will try to go there.

now, i'm very interested to see "moody gardens", can anyone tell me if it's worth going there?

i really want to go to a beach in Galveston... how's the water? i want to swim, too! i'm a beach bum....

have a good week to all!

in case you're wondering who blinkygurl is on my album, it's the one who's named is Clara!!! lol

Spindletop is on top of the Hyatt Regency in downtown Houston.

http://houstonregency.hyatt.com

It has good views, but also keep in mind that it's not the tallest building in Houston, so what you see is mostly the other highrises.

Moody Garden is pretty nice. Its main attractions are an aquarium and a rain forest. Plus an IMAX theater. You get the idea.

The beaches in Galveston are okay, but the water is never the clear blue/green you see in other parts of the Gulf Coast. Many people find it kind of disappointing.

Blinkygurl,

I live in Houston and I have to say DO NOT go to the spindletop. It's neat that the restaruant spins but that is all there is. The food is terrible, not to mention overpriced. If you want to check that out, then go for a drink then head out to dinner. That way you get to see most of Houston.

I have a question. Can you do one night in the hotel in Webster and another in Houston proper? There are many hotels in downtown houston that would be economical (compared to other big cities). The thing is, Friday would be good for the Space center and the evenign at Kemah but besides that, there's not much. You're young and the hip crowd goes to an area in Houston that is almost at downtown so if you get a hotel in downtown, you can park your car and walk. Midtown is the place to be (gray and baby area) have alot of cool bars and restaurants withing walking distance. You can also take the metro rail to go back and forth, depending where you are staying. For the newest "cool" and great restaurant, try gravitas ( http://www.gravitasrestaurant.com/hours.htm ) or one of my favorites tafias, one of Monica Pope's restaurants. I second Mark's also but that is mostly an older crowd but the food is excellent. All these three are pretty pricey but worth it for food. My honey took me to Mark's last year for my birthday so I do love that place. What price range where you looking for? I may be able to recommend a better place for your birthday.

I would really look at doing your second night hotel in downtown houston if I were you.

A few words about Galveston: It'll do since that's the closest beach to us - there are beach pockets you can go to and pay $8 to park for the day on the west side of the island (when you hit the seawall, take a right and go all the way until you are drving inland and you will see the beach pocket parks on the left hand side). I wouldn't go left (or east) to stewart beach or anything like that. The water is brown, and uninviting and when you do go in, be prepared to feel sticky until you shower. Very different from southern california (which I love). Gaidos is good food but is always packed but their sister restaurant next door casey's is less packed and cheaper but serves mostly the same quality food.

Hope that was of some help.

oh Maria, you're right! i think my bf and i should book our 2nd night in downtown Houston or surrounding areas.

Best Western is our favorite. I'll try to see if Downtown Houston has Best Western. i love taking Metro subs! i enjoyed it a lot on my trip to Europe. So it will be really nice to do it in Houston, too.

Gravitas looks like an artsy restaurant.. which I like (from what i've seen on the website)!!! do you know any more artsy restaurants? our price range will be $20-$30 each, max $40.

thanks about the spindletop comment!

Ooooops. I meant to say Gray and Bagby, not baby. Here'sa link to the midtown area with virtual tours. That Ibiza restaurant in one of the virtual tours is also a good restaurant and great food. (http://www.houstonmidtown.com/midtown.cfm?a=cms,c,15,4 )

You mentioned doing something different for your birthday. There's a small restaurant in the midtown area called Charivari and it's mainly european bistro food but the neat thing is, they have belly dancers on certain nights. Call them to find out a bit more about it. It's been some time since I've gone but it's pretty neat. ( http://www.charivarirest.com/ ).


Here's a link to Tafia. It's a neat restaurant beause it serves organic products and that the items used to make the dishes are mostly made in texas. She's an excellent chef and the restaurant it just wonderful.

You can't go wrong in the midtown area. You will find mostly early 20's to mid and late 30's that hang out in these spots. It'll be good for you to have your birthday dinner in any of these restaurants then maybe catch a show? In downtown, there is also a movie theater there (Angelika theater) or if you time it, you can watch a musical and have dinner or dinner and a musical and drinks in midtown. Just a few suggestions.

I like Kemah and go visit it as often as I can however, most of the restaurants there are sea food restaurtants but I'm sure you can order steaks and such and I believe there is a mexican restaurant there.

I don't mean to offend those who like the galveston area but this is just my opinion. Moody gardens is nice for a couple of hours then I'm hard pressed to find anything else fun to do but that is just me.

Anyway, whatever you decide, enjoy your time here and let us know how it turned out!

Sorry, I missed your response! First, here's that link to tafia's ( http://www.tafia.com/ ). Tafia's and Gravitas are doable with your budget if you don't do appetisers. My honey and I are not huge meal eaters so sometimes, we share the appetizer and a couple of entres. It allows us to try more of the menu. I think $40 each is doable on any of these restaurants (minus Mark's) with no wine or with wine and one entre each, no appetizers and depending on which entre. Budget $30 more to the total and you should be set. We usually get away with a nice meal at $120 but that is with wine and an appetizer to share.

Regarding Charivari, I think it is on Saturdays that they have the belly dancers.

For lesser prices: Julia's bistro is right on the metro rail line and is more reasonably priced. I've taken 3 of my team leads there for lunc (with no alcohol) for a grand total of $136 and that is with appetizers and entre each (4 people total). Also right at the heart of midtown is farragos - which is mostly known for their popular sunday brunch with bottomless mimosas where you can find the "it" crowd of Houston on a Suncay mid morning. Link for Julia's is ( www.juliasbistro.com/) and for farragos is ( http://www.farrago.tv/ )

Let me know what address you find the best western in downtown is and I'll let you know if that's a good spot. Another option is to book at hyatt downtown, doubletree, or hilton. The last one may be the more expensive of the bunch but doubletree should have good deals.

blinkygurl,

for best western, looks like the west dallas one in downtown is the closest to the midtown area and is technically in the area but it's sort of in the bad part of midtown. It's walking distance to the cool places but you won't find me walking around there at night. The one at the medical center on main is also a good one since it's conveniently located on the rail track (it runs on main street) and it's a safe area to walk in but be prepared to share the hotel with patients or relatives of patients. However, just checked the doubletree in downtown (dalls st) and for July 22, it has it for $89/night. I'm assuming that's the weekend you guys are coming? It's a much better hotel, safer, and several blocks (I think 6 or 7) from the midtown area. Just some thoughts.

Ooops, I meant 81.25 not 89. Best western was more than that for those 2 locations for the same date.

Use Priceline 4* for Houston downtown. You can easily get the Hyatt or the Hilton America for ~<$50 + tax, especially on the weekends.

good point rkkwan...

Maria- I wanted to say thanks for all the Houston information you posted. I live in Kingwood and the majority of what you posted is new to me. I'm looking forward to trying some new places! :D

No problem, moldyhotelsaregross. That's what it's there for. Goes to show you that others besides the poster can benefit from recommendations too! Glad you bumped into this thread.

thanks maria!

my bf is out of the country and i haven't told him about staying saturday night in houston... i'll remind myself to ask when i talk to him tonight!

yyyaaaaaayyy i'm excited to go on another trip! hehe sorry.. i just get really ecstatic whenever i'm close to my traventures!

Can anyone suggest good nightclubs (dance) in houston area? if it would help, we like to dance to 70s,80s,90s, latin genres (not so much to hiphop)

Maria, you mentioned "midtown" area..do you have recommendations of night clubs there?

grazie

anyone familiar with "Opus" night club in downtown Houston?

I dislike downtown proper nightclubs - it's very cheesy and I dont' really go clubbing anymore. Just not my cup of tea. However, friends go to Escobar in midtown (http://www.escobarhouston.com/space.htm ) . They do a mix. It will be packed though with a line but the crowd is "cool(er)" and less cheesy. Also, stop by the Red Door (no entrance fee) and have a drink up at the terrace where you can see a beautiful evening skyline of Houston. They make nice strong drinks and if I do go out on the town, I still make sure to stop by here. No dancing area but it's a nice crowd - not to mention it's about a block away from where we live so it's a no brainer for us. http://www.reddoorhouston.com/flash.asp

I haven't been out clubbing in a while but I can ask my good friends that still do and will post back. It will be midtown area though. It's just my taste but I think that the downtown crowd has become really cheesy - well actually, clubbing will always have a cheese factor to it but at least the crowd is alot better at midtown area than downtown.

Oh, and there was one other place we noticed last weekend coming home from mountain biking in Smithville (we were dropping off our Swedish friend that lives across the street from this place, also in midtown, that was really "hopping" and looked like fun. It's called the Tipsy Clover (2416 Brazos Street). Don't think there is dancing (place looked too tiny for there to be room) but it looked like fun and we did say we would go check it out one of these weekends. It's close to the largest Spec's liquor store in Houston and sort of across from the thirsty cactus (mexican restaurant).

these are the places that we plan to go for food:

Ruggles Grill
Morning Kolaches or Kolache Factory
Angelo's Pizza & Pasta


i love food..

any good thai places in webster and clearlake area?

any nit noi place is good thai food. i odn't know if they have any in clearlake/webster.