Lorretta Ruggiero

Levi Goode is a well-known James Beard Award-nominated restaurateur in Houston primarily due to his success owning and operating the Goode Company group of restaurants which includes Goode Co. BBQ, Goode Co. Kitchen & Cantina, Goode Co. Fish Camp, and Armadillo Palace. While all of these operate under the Goode...

Houston Restaurant Weeks is almost over. The yearly month-long food and charity event began August 1 and runs through September 2. The city-wide (and further out) restaurant celebration allows local eateries to lure in customers during August's typically slow time while raising funds for Houston Food Bank in collaboration with The Cleverley Stone Foundation. Gourmands across the city eagerly await the list of participants and their multi-course menus each year. As this month wanes, many Houstonians have checked off their HRW restaurants for the year but I, sadly, had not even made it to one until last week.

While September may not seem like autumn for Houstonians, it is the month that leads into many of our fall festivities. While there are numerous ways to enjoy different cuisines around the city, the next couple of months offer opportunities to not only eat, drink and be merry but also to help raise money for non-profits that benefit our fellow Houstonians and Americans in need. The following list of food events helps those suffering from food insecurity, natural and financial disasters and lack of access to mental health, reproductive and medical care.

Buttermilk Baby, 600 N. Shepherd, opened September 4 at M-K-T Heights. Berg Hospitality Group seems to be opening a new concept every other month in Houston and this newest venture is unique to its portfolio. It's a family-friendly, retro-inspired restaurant that offers a modern interpretation of a vintage soda fountain...

Over the past sixteen years that my family and I have lived in our present neighborhood on the east end of Cypress with a Houston address, we've seen a number of restaurants come and go, from our favorite pizza joint owned by a fellow from New Jersey to a space that has been a Chinese restaurant, barbecue joint and now a Japanese buffet. However, no place has had more turn over than the corner restaurant spot in the Lakewood Forest Shopping Center. When we moved in, it was a Chinese restaurant. Then, it became a Filipino eatery, which we reviewed here in the

When Houstonians learned of Chef Alex Au-Yeung's death from cancer this past March at the age of 52, it came as quite a shock since many people, even those in the restaurant industry, were unaware he was battling the disease. Determined to fulfill his dream of opening his second Phat...

Houstonians have a lot of things to be thankful for, though heat, hurricanes and humidity can make us feel a bit sorry for ourselves at times. However, we always pick ourselves up by our bootstraps, or flip flops, and have a drink, eat some barbecue and help each other to...

It seems like happy hour deals these days are far less happy and far less common. Whereas the norm in the 1990s and early 2000s seemed to be weekday specials from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., current happy hours tend to run earlier and for fewer hours. Unless you take off work two hours early, you won't make it in time. And, of course, there are no longer happy hour buffets.

Lately, we've been in search of great happy hour deals and dining bargains that can stretch the worth of a dollar a little further. While Houston teems with luxury eateries that cater to corporate types wielding platinum company credit cards, we simple folk sometimes need options that offer less costly cocktails and cheaper eats.

Mexican Sugar, 3505 Dallas, is opening this December at Regent Square. Part of the FB Society portfolio, it already has Texas locations in Plano, Las Colinas and Uptown Dallas. The upcoming Houston location will be a two-story restaurant as is FB Society's most recent Houston foray, Haywire. It will span...