For the golfers following this blog we did not play golf in Houston. Houston is where we flew to from Auckland and we planned to spend two days adjusting to the new time zone and resting after the flight.
For the food enthusiasts we found easy, good food without having to hunt it down and Houston prides itself on having no food identity as such. They claim this allows them to do all foods very very well.
Houston itself is sprawling and flat. Absolutely flat, no hills or vantage points so you never really get a sense of the size until you are in the air. It’s the largest populous of Texas and the fourth most populous in the united states. Defined as the centre of Oil and Healthcare industries.
It’s clay coloured. I cannot add to this. We felt after 2 days slightly flat in mood and we think possibly the lack of colour in the landscape caused this. Even the locals we spoke too described Houston as slow and colourless.
We stayed in Downtown Houston which is an easy 20 to 30minute taxi ride from George Bush Intercontinental Airport. I suggest if your plans are to visit Nasa or as far out as Galveston you might want to locate yourself in those areas. The metro transport is very limited and this is evidenced in the stats that say over 77% of all Houston residents drive in single passenger cars. We felt a certain kinship coming from Auckland. There are billboards and advertising frequently promising improved commuter options in the future. To get from Downtown Houston to Nasa for example is either an hour’s drive, uber or taxi or via a series of buses close to two hours. We forego that pleasure and decided to just explore downtown on foot as the temperature was between 23C & 27C, overcast with high humidity.
We found navigating very easy and of course flat. The areas are very defined so we knew when we were in the theatre district, or the river district.
We initially wondered where all the people were and this combined with the clay colour gives Houston a post apolcalyptic feel until we found an entrance to the tunnels. https://www.downtownhouston.org/district/downtown-tunnels/ this subterranean Downtown Houston was busy with office workers moving between buildings and eateries. The tunnels are easily followed using the colour coded maps and are well lit and very clean. It felt suddenly like a vibrant city. We followed the tunnels to the Convention district and re-entered the outside world 12 blocks from where we entered.
From there it’s a very pleasant walk along the river to Bayou Park which has a beautifully developed park and slightly raised viewing area of the city skyline, from there it’s another wander along the river through the theatre district to the Downtown Aquarium which we found to be really fun with lot’s of fish we hadn’t seen before. https://www.aquariumrestaurants.com/downtownaquariumhouston/
There is a shopping district which has closed down and turned into food halls. All retail is in the suburbs away from Downtown so if you want to shop Downtown is not for you.
If you want to eat however it’s got a lot on offer from high end to easy and cheap. We can recommend Finn Hall if you can’t make up your mind on what you want to eat. In the centre is a bar and then you can choose from a number of different kitchens and sit anywhere. For us it was great to try the Southern Fried chicken from one and an Oyster Po Boy from another. This was my first experience of Wine on Tap (including 2 New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs). It was affordable and fresh. Everything was being cooked from scratch in front of us.
We also had a great night at The District Bar & Grill, we had a dozen of the local oysters, shucked in front of us and served raw with a squeeze of lemon and extraordinarily with a bowl of crackers. We obviously looked quite confused and Emily our waitress explained that Americans like to put the Oyster on the cracker and top with hot sauce. We did in fact witness this the next night.
We tried crawfish hush puppies but were not convinced, finding them dry and solid. The Fried Kale served with was great though. But the Octopus and Calamari was outstanding. Fresh flavours, perfectly cooked, the Octopus tentacle came whole and grilled atop a bed of perfectly cooked calamari rings with a pepper and tomato sauce. The sauce was just enough to add flavour without drowning the dish.
For Cocktails we recommend The District Lounge, just next to The District Bar & Grill. Great selection and great service.
We didn’t really try breakfast in Houston but for that late morning or mid afternoon fix we discovered Shake Shack for luxuriously creamy shakes.