Burns Original BBQ
Barbecue restaurant · Hidden Valley
Tony had not been back in 15 years. He ordered "the torpedo-sized baked potato filled with cheddar cheese and chopped barbecue beef, homemade link sausage, slow cooked pork ribs, big ass beef ribs, and brisket." Lunch dates: local rapper Slim Thug and his friends David Stunts and Roderick Dearborne (aka “Red Bone”)
Sardar Patel Stadium
Permanently Closed
Bourdain ate: tandoori chicken, curried goat, and potato masala dosas Dinner dates: Kuldeep Patel, league president of the Houston Indian Cricket Club, and other local cricket players
Houston
Tony visited this high school when it was called Robert E. Lee Senior High School. It is the most ethnically diverse school in Houston, with 80% of students speaking a language other than English as their first language. Bourdain ate: chicken sandwich, fries, fruit salad, and milk Lunch dates: Jonathan Nguyen Trinh, the school’s principal, and a group of students
Tony went to Principal Jonathan Nguyen Trinh's home to have lunch. They had tamales de gallina; fresh pupusas on the grill; a jellyfish, shrimp, and pork dish tossed with mint, peanuts, carrots, red onion, and dressed with fish sauce; mi quang: a Vietnamese noodle dish made with pork ribs, shrimp, and chilies; and “Viet-bayou style” crawdads steamed with sriracha, orange juice, and beer
Bourdain ate: goat biryani, “Texas-Desi style” green curry chicken, steak tikka, and hunter’s beef (an “Indian-inflected pastrami” unique to Houston) Lunch date: local radio host Sunil Thakkar
Tony had not been back in 15 years. He ordered "the torpedo-sized baked potato filled with cheddar cheese and chopped barbecue beef, homemade link sausage, slow cooked pork ribs, big ass beef ribs, and brisket." Lunch dates: local rapper Slim Thug and his friends David Stunts and Roderick Dearborne (aka “Red Bone”)
The Vietnamese owners fulfill a niche of the community, serving Vietnamese and Mexican food. Pho (brisket, eye round, meatball, tripe, and tendon); shrimp ceviche; tacos with eggs, jalapenos, tomatoes.
A traditional Mexican and Tex-Mex restaurant. Tony ate Machaca Nortena ("marinated beef that's been pounded, rubbed with spices, then dried and shredded") and Migas (eggs mixed with fried and chopped corn tortillas).
Plant It Forward farmers Gertrude and Albert Lombo and Gimoule and Constant Ngouala hosted a meal with Tony and other friends. They had "slow-cooked stew of sausage, shrimp, dried mackerel, and Malabar spinach over fufu; then Texas beef brochettes marinated in chilies and cilantro and Maggi bouillon with a ratatouille made from produce grown right here."
Bourdain ate: tandoori chicken, curried goat, and potato masala dosas Dinner dates: Kuldeep Patel, league president of the Houston Indian Cricket Club, and other local cricket players