Belly of the Beast
Mexican restaurant · Harris County
5200 Farm to Market 2920 #180, Spring, TX 77388
Highlights
Inventive Mexican cuisine with unique dishes like potato empanadas
Inventive Mexican cuisine with unique dishes like potato empanadas
"An intimate, family-run Spring, Texas counter-service restaurant where chef Thomas Bille and his wife Elizabeth translate his Mexican American upbringing, French culinary training, and Los Angeles experience into personal, playful, genre-defying dishes. Operating as a 24-seat spot when it first opened in a converted house in 2020, the project began as a 2018 pop-up, survived a pandemic pivot and a temporary closure, and was relaunched on the couple’s own terms in a humble strip-mall space in November 2023. The concise menu reads like a love letter to memory and technique: silky potato empanadas filled with a Comté-enriched mashed potato and finished with crème fraîche, caviar, and chives; a cult-favorite summer street-corn agnolotti glazed in a corn-broth butter and dusted with a Tajín-inspired seasoning; signature birria tacos built from an adobo–guajillo paste and slowly braised beef, stuffed with Oaxaca and Chihuahua cheeses and fried to create cheesy, crisped edges, served with onions, cilantro, salsa rojo and a dipping broth; a seasonal “That’s My Yam” taco that channels Mexican-Thanksgiving flavors with piloncillo, maple, lime, almond salsa macha and chicken cracklings; and a charred, passion-fruit–topped tres leches. The food balances fine-dining technique and home-cooked comfort, a philosophy that has earned a Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand and a James Beard Foundation Award (received June 16), while emphasizing seasonal ingredients, cultural hybridity, and deeply personal storytelling on the plate." - Brittany Britto Garley
"A Spring, Texas restaurant whose chef, Thomas Bille, won the Best Chef: Texas award at the 2025 James Beard Awards." - Nicole Adlman
"Spring chef Thomas Bille pays homage to his upbringing in California at this newest rendition of his restaurant, which he says serves New American cuisine through a first-generation Mexican American’s lens. This translates into dishes that likely can’t be found elsewhere — potato empanadas made with comte and served with creme fraiche and caviar; a sought-after seasonal street corn agnolotti; and a yam dish made with warming spices that’s devoured with tortillas. Bille puts his special spin on the more familiar dishes: Birria tacos are served with salsa roja and consomé, and the tres leches is topped with a torched passion fruit meringue." - Brittany Britto Garley
"Chef Thomas Bille impresses diners with his ability to enthrall them from the beginning of the dining experience to the end. The moist tres leches, made with a milk-soaked sponge cake topped with torched passionfruit meringue, often precedes itself and is best enjoyed with a cup of coffee. But be sure to try Bille’s seasonal desserts, which most recently included his mascarpone cheesecake, which features a crust made from Maria Camesa cookies, a popular Mexican brand of sweets, and a luxurious blueberry compote. You’ll want to lick the plate clean." - Marcy de Luna
"Led by chef Thomas Bille, a James Beard Award finalist, this Spring destination draws Houston diners from far afield for inventive, comfort-forward Mexican fare anchored by standout moles. Mainstays include birria quesatacos with crispy, cheese-laced edges, pork belly and shrimp lettuce wraps with tom yum notes, and fried empanadas de papas y queso filled with velvety Comté and served with crema and caviar. Seasonal highlights (like the anticipated street corn agnolotti) supplement playful dishes such as a spinach-artichoke–inspired cavatelli and a multi-preparation Rohan duck—seared breast and braised leg confit—finished with an everything-bagel–like seasoning and a silky strawberry mole with pickled fennel and salsa seca. Diners are encouraged to use the side of tortillas, nixtamalized in-house, to assemble mole-drenched tacos; the duck and mole also reheat exceptionally well and can be repurposed into other dishes. Finish with Bille’s mascarpone cheesecake on a Maria Camesa cookie crust topped with a luxurious blueberry compote. Additional inventive plates have included a spinach mole verde saag paneer, braised short rib with mole negro and fig, a rich tagliatelle with roasted mushrooms and Spanish chorizo, and a passion-fruit–mounded tres leches." - Brittany Britto Garley
