3 Best Restaurants in The Museum District, Rice University, and the Texas Medical Center, Houston and Galveston

The self-designated "modern American cuisine" continues to evolve, but the cool factor and the quality remain the same at this Rice Village mainstay. Owners Benjy and Erica Levit deliver satisfying lunch, brunch, and dinner offerings, including warm pistachio-crusted goat-cheese cakes, seared sashimi-tuna pizza, and a standout grilled beef fillet with roasted-garlic mashed potatoes. If you're in the mood to stay late or arrive early, you can head upstairs to the lounge for beautiful people, generous-sized cocktails, and mid-century glam.

Down-home Texas barbecue is prepared ranch-style—mesquite-smoked and served with tasty red sauce. Patrons young and old line up on the sidewalk to eat at picnic tables on the covered patio. A standard order is the chopped-beef brisket sandwich on jalapeño-cheese bread. Don't skip the celebrated pecan pie for dessert. Goode Company Hamburgers and Taqueria across the street serves—no surprise here—hamburgers and tacos, as well as great weekend breakfasts. And for some honky-tonk atmosphere, shuffleboard, dominoes, pool, and lots of cold beer, check out Goode's Armadillo Palace next door. You can't miss the place: it's the building with the giant stainless-steel armadillo standing guard out front.

If you're looking for modern cuisine from the French Riviera with a Texas twist, Restaurant CINQ is the place. Dripping with luxe touches, this restaurant occupies the first floor of a turn-of-the-20th-century mansion whose upper floors have been converted into a small luxury hotel by longtime owner Steve Zimmerman. Forget about budgets and calories, and succumb to classic preparations of lobster, lamb, prime cuts of beef, and vegetables. Expect the elaborate desserts to be—what else?—rich.