I don't write restaurant reviews often, if at all, but I had an amazing lunch today.
My sister, who has been a chef for nearly three decades, is very plugged into the Houston food scene. (And if you know anything about Houston, we have a serious food scene here.) Whenever we have a need for a special occasion (this was for my mom and sister's birthdays), my sister generally picks the place. Over the years, the food has generally been quite good at the places she picks, albeit often a bit too eclectic for me, and always expensive. (Plus the usual complaint about small portions at fancy places.)
For today's lunch, she picked an amazing place: Urbe Houston (https://www.urbehouston.com/) They serve Mexican Street Food. In fact, that is all they serve. On Sundays, they do a large buffet of street food, including desserts. At $42 a person it is a bit pricey, and I was skeptical, but it is very good.
It is located in a very upscale part of Houston. It's right north of the Post Oak Hotel ($7,000/night rooms), the Galleria, and is technically in Uptown. In the parking lot I saw no less than eight late-model Corvettes (I want the red one), two Lamborghinis, and a Ferrari. My little RAV4 felt a bit out of place.
I tried to sample a bit of everything. There was just so much. The Pozole Verde was excellent. I loved the brirra tacos and tamales (yes, brirra tamales). The shrimp enchiladas were delicious. The chicken taquitos were perfectly fried and seasoned (so much flavor in each bite!)
They had some "Mexican-adjacent" stuff too, including brisket, pork belly, and Mexican chicken and waffles (complete with a little Mexican flag on a toothpick holding them together). All were very good and had a Mexican flair to them, usually cumin. The pork belly was delicious with cumin and honey.
The most interesting thing I had were the gorditas. These were small lightly-fried masa "bowls" in which were stuffed carnitas, fried pork belly, pickled red onion, and salsa verde. Delicious.
The best savory thing I had was the chicken tacos al pastor. I had three servings of them. I had no idea that chicken could be that flavorful. Stupidly, stupidly good.
I only got two photos, but here's the first:
Clockwise from upper left is sausage & brisket queso flameado, Mexican rice, smoked brisket, pork belly, a gordita, and the tacos al pastor.
They are also known for there desserts, which are divine:
On the left is one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten....their tres leches cake. It is just perfection. On the right side of their plate is Mexican tiramisu (dusted with Mexican coffee and cinnamon), which was very good. The little brownish square due north is caramel flan and was as perfect as the tres leches cake. (I would have gone back for seconds on the desserts, but I am really sensitive to sugar and I was feeling it was not a good idea to do so, alas.)
It was just all so really good. My only complaint about the place was that while they had live music (the musicians were quite talented), the music was just too loud. We were having to shout and repeat ourselves a lot. But the food made that a minor quibble.
Kinda hoping we go back next year.
My sister, who has been a chef for nearly three decades, is very plugged into the Houston food scene. (And if you know anything about Houston, we have a serious food scene here.) Whenever we have a need for a special occasion (this was for my mom and sister's birthdays), my sister generally picks the place. Over the years, the food has generally been quite good at the places she picks, albeit often a bit too eclectic for me, and always expensive. (Plus the usual complaint about small portions at fancy places.)
For today's lunch, she picked an amazing place: Urbe Houston (https://www.urbehouston.com/) They serve Mexican Street Food. In fact, that is all they serve. On Sundays, they do a large buffet of street food, including desserts. At $42 a person it is a bit pricey, and I was skeptical, but it is very good.
It is located in a very upscale part of Houston. It's right north of the Post Oak Hotel ($7,000/night rooms), the Galleria, and is technically in Uptown. In the parking lot I saw no less than eight late-model Corvettes (I want the red one), two Lamborghinis, and a Ferrari. My little RAV4 felt a bit out of place.
I tried to sample a bit of everything. There was just so much. The Pozole Verde was excellent. I loved the brirra tacos and tamales (yes, brirra tamales). The shrimp enchiladas were delicious. The chicken taquitos were perfectly fried and seasoned (so much flavor in each bite!)
They had some "Mexican-adjacent" stuff too, including brisket, pork belly, and Mexican chicken and waffles (complete with a little Mexican flag on a toothpick holding them together).
All were very good and had a Mexican flair to them, usually cumin. The pork belly was delicious with cumin and honey.The most interesting thing I had were the gorditas. These were small lightly-fried masa "bowls" in which were stuffed carnitas, fried pork belly, pickled red onion, and salsa verde. Delicious.
The best savory thing I had was the chicken tacos al pastor. I had three servings of them. I had no idea that chicken could be that flavorful. Stupidly, stupidly good.
I only got two photos, but here's the first:
Clockwise from upper left is sausage & brisket queso flameado, Mexican rice, smoked brisket, pork belly, a gordita, and the tacos al pastor.
They are also known for there desserts, which are divine:
On the left is one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten....their tres leches cake. It is just perfection. On the right side of their plate is Mexican tiramisu (dusted with Mexican coffee and cinnamon), which was very good. The little brownish square due north is caramel flan and was as perfect as the tres leches cake. (I would have gone back for seconds on the desserts, but I am really sensitive to sugar and I was feeling it was not a good idea to do so, alas.)
It was just all so really good. My only complaint about the place was that while they had live music (the musicians were quite talented), the music was just too loud. We were having to shout and repeat ourselves a lot. But the food made that a minor quibble.
Kinda hoping we go back next year.
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