The Restaurants You Need To Try For Hispanic Heritage Month

Hey everyone, Hispanic Heritage Month is here, and you guessed it, we're celebrating with food. I'm chatting with Houston Chronicle Taco columnist Marco Torres to get his list of the best Hispanic restaurants you need to hit up. It's Wednesday, September 20, 2023, I'm Rio Ramzanoli and here's what Houston's talking about. Oh man, Marco, you are back on CityCast Houston, how you doing, man? I'm back, the king gave me away from you, man. Hey, I like that. I like that. I'm glad that you're back. So let's start with this. It is Hispanic Heritage Month. How do you celebrate? I mean, it's funny because, like, remember last time you told me, like, when it's Taco Tuesday for you, I was like, well, for me, every day is Taco Tuesday. Same thing about, you know, Hispanic Heritage Month or Latino Heritage. Every day is Latino Heritage Month for me, but it is nice to, you know, celebrate the independence of a lot of our countries and, you know, what better way to do it than with food. Absolutely. Food's the best. So give me your all-time favorite Hispanic dish. Ooh, I mean, I'm definitely the Taco Guy. People know me as a Taco Guy, so a good Taco de Fajita or, you know, even some like brisket, you know, really, if you get a tortilla and you get some leftover brisket, you have a taco. So really just, you know, carne with some green salsa, maybe even similar in the morning, mix your brisket with some eggs, and that's a killer breakfast taco right there. That is good right there. So let's give our listeners a guide for Hispanic Heritage Month, right? We have some of the best Hispanic food here in H town, and we're known for having some of the best Mexican food in the U.S. so let's start off with something easy. What Mexican restaurants are you recommending for Hispanic Heritage Month, and what do they try at those restaurants? All right. So I recently started my column back again for the Chronicle, or for Chron.com, and the first thing that I'm running about is about a Bidia Tacos. There's a place downtown off of Myland Street. It's called Space City, Bidia Tacos, and more. So their Bidia Tacos are excellent. They have street tacos. They have tortas. You know, it's cool. So if you're in the area, if you work downtown, if you're hanging out over by Market Square, just anywhere in downtown, I would suggest probably going over to Space City, Bidia Tacos. I've been really, really enjoying their stuff recently. A lot of restaurants here in Houston have gotten nominated for like James Beard Awards. We had Tatemu, which is chef in Manuel Chavez, Tatemu's on Tacoma. He was just named as one of the best Hispanic chefs in the country. So that's pretty dope. I didn't know there recently, and it was pretty amazing. It was pretty amazing. There's a new spot in the woodlands called Halisco. Halisco is usually spelled with a J. Halisco is a state in Mexico, but this is a chef Beatriz Martinez. They spell it with an X, X-A-L-I-C-O, and the food that she's making over there is delicious. I haven't had a chance to go to the location in the woodland yet, but I went to an event at the Mexican consul in recently, and she was catering the event. And her food is amazing. She made a tamale out of masa, but she made it look like a corn on the cob. So when you got it, you thought you were eating an elote, but when you dug into it, it was a tamale, innovative stuff, delicious. When I say it's delicious, it's amazing. So Halisco is another one of those muskows, must try right now. So I think when people hear the term Hispanic, they automatically think of Mexico, right? But there's so many other countries that have people of Hispanic descent that we should be celebrating this month. So let's get to some other recommendations, and Miami, look, Miami has the best Cuban food in it. I know we're not in Miami, but give me a recommendation here for some Cuban food. So I love Miami. I go to Miami every year for art, basil, and man, I mean, to find some of that food here in Houston, I would go to Florida, Cuba, which is a restaurant off of Clay Road, 16233 Clay Road. I was recommended this restaurant by a friend of mine, his name is DJ Data, he's part of the cracker nuts. Oh, nice. Yeah, he recommended this restaurant to me. He's a huge foodie, by the way, and I've been dying to go with him one day. He'll get some, you know, some maduros, some marros, con Fijoles, and everything that they, all the Cuban stuff that you can dream about, just like I was in Miami. So Florida, Cuba is probably my go-to right now on my top of my to-do list. Oh, man, I got to hit that up too. That sounds so good. All right, let's move to Puerto Rico. So the OG Puerto Rican spot in Houston is in Montrose, it's on Fairview, it's called Text Chick Restaurant, and I used to live in Montrose, and I would walk to this place a couple of times, you know, over the years that I lived there, get some of Fongo, with some seafood, with some camadón in there, you know, of course you have to get the tuletas and the pollo, and I mean, everything that they do there is delicious, and it has its own Puerto Rican flavor, Puerto Rican spiciness, well, not too spicy, but it does have really good, amazing tropical vibes over there, Text Chick Restaurant. It's more tropical than spicy there, right? Right, Caribbean food, it can't be, it can't have like some habaneros or some other type of actually, you know, heat to it, but more so you're going to get the platanos, the maduros, the arroz, the habituelas, all that kind of good stuff that is still going to be good, and of course, you know, who can go wrong with tuletas and all that good stuff. Man, that sounds good. All right, how about a Dominican food spot? Is there a good recommendation for us? So the Dominican food is a little bit different. I was recently up in Inwood, north of, well, North Manhattan, before you get up to the Bronx, I was up there in New York City, and I was hanging out with some friends up there, and my flight got canceled, so they took me up there, and we were eating, you know, Chicharrón and all kinds of empanadas and all that kind of stuff, I've been trying to find a good Dominican place here in town, and I haven't gone yet, but I think I found it. There's a place on Richmond Avenue called Dominican Grocery and Delhi. Second, a little strip center. They sell, obviously, they sell, but I see it in the beer there, and a bunch of like Dominican spices and grocery items, but they have their own little lunch counter where you can go and pick up a lunch, pick up a dinner, take it home. I think they're on Grubhub as well, so if you're in the area, check them out. But yeah, the Dominican Grocery and Delhi, 93-92 Richmond Avenue, that's also on my go-to list. Man, those lunch counters just hit different, right? Man, I mean, it's basically like you have like a family member making lunch for you, you know? Yeah. There's one thing going to, you know, a major chain getting your sandwich or anything, but when you go to these little mom and pop shops, and they're making food back there, and giving it to you in a little styrofoam container, you take it home, you open it, you're in heaven, right? Oh, man. That sounds so delicious. Hey, let's move to Central America, right? Guatemala, Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rico, Nicaragua, Honduras, and at least, I mean, you've got so many vibes there. What are some staple dishes that represent that side of the culture, and what do we need to try at which restaurant? So when you're talking about it, Salvador, you have to talk about the bubbusas, bubbusas, outside of tacos and burritos and everything, bubbusas are probably another one of my favorite Latin American foods. It's just so, like, it's made with mosa, they have all kinds of different fillings, and the gesso. That Salvadorian gesso is amazing. I mean, you get a good, you know, bubbusas, and you take a bite out of it, and it's hot, and the gesso, you know, that cheese pull just makes it so appetizing. This is a place that I like going for bubbusas, it's on telephone road, antojito salvaloreños is what it's called, it's basically like, you know, Salvadorian goodness right there, but man, if you go there, you get your bubbusas, you get your cortillo on top, you get the little salsa, and yeah, as far as the rest of Central America, I have seen a lot of different food trucks pop up, maybe in the Antoine Tidwell area, and a lot of them off of, like, Gulf Bank, and they're like on Nureño food trucks. So I've been meaning to stop by one of those, I always see that there's a line, there are a lot of on Nureño's that live here in Houston, so I would suspect that one of those food trucks with the blue and white flags on the outside, on Nurenda flags are going to be pretty good. You know, I'm surprised that bubbusas didn't take off more, like, yes, they're popular, don't get me wrong, but there's not a bubbusas truck everywhere, right? Like we have taco trucks everywhere, I feel like it should be a bigger deal here in the city of Houston. Um, I mean, we do have a lot of salvaloreños that live here in Houston, which is, which is pretty amazing, but it's not a little such a small country, so I think that the representation here and elsewhere in the United States isn't as big as it really could be, but man, what they lack in like population, they make it for in flavor, like, yes, they do. You know, so, all right, let's go to South America. Of course, you got Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, and so many other more countries, right? What do we have from that side of the culture that we need to try? I'll give you a two for one, one address, two restaurants, the address is a 10,001 West Timer. So between Getzner and the Beltway, if you go down West Timer, keep going down West Timer and Pestic Alleria, and you kind of be in the West Chase area, 10,001 West Timer, you have two spots. The first spot is an Argentinian restaurant called the original Marinis in Banada House. Yes. I used to work down the street. I used to work on Richmond Avenue near the Beltway, and I would go to Manini's a lot, maybe a couple of times a month, because I mean, it's such a simple dish, you know, an empanada, but it can be so difficult to get it right, to get the right flavors and to get the right consistency of the empanada. You don't want it too hard, you know, too fried, but you don't want it mushy either. You kind of want something in the middle, and Manini's, they do it right. And if you stay in the same little parking lot, there's a place that sells, it's called Pacha Nique. So Nique Food is a food that's Japanese food, but in Peru. So there's a Peruvian Japanese restaurant. Chef Masao Fukoda has this restaurant, man, I've had their lobster ceviche, their cocktails are good, made with pisco, I mean, all kinds of seafood, all kinds of lomo saltado. If you've never had lomo saltado, I would suggest you try lomo saltado, and their lobster ceviche at Pacha Nique, it's, it's pretty amazing. What is that? Lomo saltado is like a ton of filet mignon, and it's made in, it's like the sauce, and they put it on top of rice, it's like their version of just like steak with rice, and it's freaking delicious. Do you think I get a red card if I go to a Brazilian steakhouse to celebrate? I don't think so, man, I mean, at this point, it's okay. At this point, you're like, hey, and you're not going to go there every day, it's not like you're going to, you know, go to fogo every day, every chance you get, but it's, it's good to go there, and you're still eating, you're still celebrating the culture. And I mean, it's delicious. I mean, you turn that little card around, they bring the food out, you turn it back around, eat a little bit, turn it around, eat some more, and then that Brazilian lemonade that they make. Oh my gosh. And so yeah, and there are many options for Brazilian steak houses in the Houston area. So if you find one, you know, go celebrate a birthday, go celebrate a date night. Okay. Okay. Yeah. I like that. This is a no, no judgment zone over here. Okay. I'm glad. Because I was like, man, I want to get judged on my own show here, and you know what? It's cool. Judgment free. I love it. Yeah. Okay. You know me. I love sweets, man. I have a sweet tooth that's beyond anything that I can control. Now give me a good dessert that I need to celebrate with, and don't give me the mainstream stuff. I know you won't, but give me something good to try. So there's a brand new Mexican bakery off of golf bank, 806 golf bank up here in the north side, over by my side at town. The name of the place is called Sopelli. Now it's bill with the T, T S O P E L L I. Sopelli, and I still need to go find out exactly what the meaning is. But at Sopelli bakery, actually, it's a mother and a daughter team, and they used to sell something called gorditas de nata. Nata is like, if you boil the milk and like the cream or the stuff that's on top, once it, once you cool the milk down after you boil it, you get the cream on top of the milk, and you make, they make like little, almost like hotcakes, like pancakes or, well, it looks almost like an English muffin. And it's sweet, and it's just the right consistency, and it's actually very delicious. So what they're doing, they sell these gorditas de nata, and you can either eat them as they are, eat them by themselves. They come in little bags, you're three, four, five little cakes in a bag, or you can have them prepared, preparados, where they heat them up, they cut them in half, and they could put like Nutella, and platanos, and fresas, and crema, and all kinds of really good things in there. So they're also, like I said, they just opened up. I think their grand opening was either earlier this month, gorditas de nata at Sopelli bakery. I would definitely put that on your list. Okay, I've never had that, so definitely going on my list. That sounds so good. I mean, I am smiling ear to ear right now because that sounds amazing. Man, Marco, you're the best. Thank you so much. I can't wait to try out all of your recommendations, and highly encourage our listeners to try them out as well. Thank you for joining us, man. Hey, thank you. Just tell your people to go to your side where your podcast is on, I'll send them a list of all my recommendations, and they can go and check them out for yourself. That was Marco Torres, and yes, he really is a taco columnist. You can read all of his work on cron.com. Before we go, we're about a week away from asking a stupid question day, and I want to hear your stupid questions you have about Houston for our episode on September 28th. Send them via the phone number or feedback link in our show notes. Remember, no question is too stupid. That will do it for today. Thank you for listening. I hope you learned something new.