Top Houston Fine Dining

A few months ago I was at a promotional event and met a well known Houston TV Foodie.  I had mentioned to her that I had a couple restaurant clients that were willing to participate in the promotion and her first, initial reply was that they only deal with fine dining but, corrected herself quickly in saying that Spring restaurants never participate in their promotions.  If her reaction is A typical of Houstonians in that Houstonians believe that good restaurants can only be found in Houston, is that a fallacy in thinking?  I was actually stunned at hercomment and is the motivation between writing this article.  My goal is not to prove that better restaurants exist in Houston or that Houstonians should drive out of the city to find fine dining or for special occasions but, to prove that fine dining does exist in Spring, The Woodlands and south of Houston in Clear Lake. 

Fine Dining can be interpreted many ways and is most often dependent on how affluent one is, their pallet, ambiance and some just simply believe that spending money makes them feel like they are indulging in finedining.  Some of the best food I have dined of is not necessarily fine dining per say.  Occasionally, Houstonians want a nice dinner and in Houston and or Texas, that can mean barbecue.  The best barbecue buffet we have found that is available all week is Larry's Barbeque in the Cypress/ Fairbanks area off of Hwy 290 at Fairbanks-North Houston RD.  So, 100.00 a plate restaurants may not be of plenty in Spring but, some restaurants you can get rather close to a $100.00 bill per guest without beverages such as at Perry’s Steakhouse.  Is if the cost though that defines fine dining in the mind of Houstonians?  I am not sure but, I have always said that Houstonians are more interested in ambiance and service than in good food.  Looking for some kind of definition, I found a blog on FobBoh, The Restaurant Network, www.fohboh.com, where Harry Constantinescu asked the very question.  An answer by Michael L. Atkinson states, “I think fine dining is something special...a rare gift delivered by some of the most talented and professional FOH and BOH staff. It's expensive. It's fantastic and it's elegant. You feel regal and well fed. You feel pampered and special. You have an opportunity to relish in a world of tribute to food...and wine...and superior customer service. I define fine dining as a 5 course meal and a wine paring.”  Do restaurants in Spring and or The Woodlands not fit that definition?  The real question is, who in Houston is defining “fine dining,” is it defined by the consumers or by the media marketing companies?  Which ever the case, 1 Touch Reservations plans on fixing the problem with our new website, FineDining.ws.

The Woodlands just within in the last five or six years has been gaining recognition for fine dining and is the only location outside of Houston listed on Google for fine dining although that is different with Yahoo. Clear Lake and Kemah have massive listings on Google and considering that Google corners the market a bit at around 58% usage, Google and the restaurant marketing companies are defining Fine Dining.  OpenTable.com does not even list Spring in the their Texas cities.  The leading Houston restaurant reviews site lists one restaurant in Spring under fine dining and that is the White Flamingo.  They have listed an Asian Grill restaurant, the Waza Sushi & Robata Grill on FM 1960, which I consider close enough to Spring to call it a Spring listing.  Having access to the profile page of Raoul’s Italian Grill, since we handle much of their Internet marketing, I noticed that the category fine dining is not a choice for the restaurants to pick on this reviews site, thus they must be defining fine dining themselves.  Myself, I am a food lover, not an ambiance lover so the first sign of fine dining to me is the experience and staff of a restaurant.  Lets take Gratzi’s for example, which is the photo to the left for this article, owner Richard White has had an incredible career, “As a graduate of the Cambridge Institute of Culinary Arts in Massachusetts and a former intern of the world renowned chef and restaurateur Todd English, Richard had the strong educational background to vault him into a successful career as a chef at some of Houston’s finest dining establishments. After working in the kitchens of such well-regarded restaurants as Nino’s and Stables, Richard moved on to become the co-owner of Campioni Italian Restaurant, where he worked to further hone his culinary flair for ten years.”  www.gratziitalian.com  Last month, good friends of mine from high school visited Raoul’s Italian Grill for 

the first time and said the food was the best Italian food they have ever had dining out.  I personally shot two videos at Raoul’s Italian Grill of their table side flaming Greek salad and one of their piano players, both posted at www.allhouston.net.  You can be the judge yourself on their ambiance.  The Yellow Pages is the only company I found on Google listing Spring fine dining.  Lets take Babin’s, in Willowbrook, which is close enough to Spring for me to call a Spring restaurant has an incredible ambiance and some of the best seafood in Houston in my mind.  They are owned by Landry’s, and if Landry’s restaurants are not defined as fine dining, I am not sure what the world is going to.  Spring does have fine dining restaurants even worthy of Houstonians taking the drive and we hope to assist in listing those restaurants soon. 2012 will bring new light to Spring restaurants if we have anything to do with it but, Spring restaurants will need to put their two cents in as well.  Through the grapevine, some Houston marketing companies have told me that Spring restaurants do not want to participate in raising money for causes.  Many Spring area residents need help just as much as Houstonians do.  1 Touch Reservations is discussing with severalrestaurants and a couple churches to organize such a method.  Continuing on with the subject of fine dining, Valentine’s Day is not too far away, which is one of most sought after fine dining days of the year.  Mother’sDay is definitely next in line as we all like to take our mothers to the best of restaurants or fine dining.  So those reading this who live in Spring, we encourage you to go to www.houstonrestaurants.ws and send us an email of any restaurant(s) in Spring that you believe should be classified as fine dining.  We will research each restaurant and will try to create a criteria to define fine dining.  Those restaurants who may not fit our criteria will be listed in the same location under the category of something along the line of “Top Spring Restaurants” or “Worthy of Mentioning.”  Let those of us in Spring start to make a name for Spring as a city of good restaurants and fine dining and for the restaurants, lets say how much we care about Spring, Texas, for it is a city.