When considering the best restaurants in Houston, Texas, hotel restaurants usually do not come to mind. But Houston is home to several hotel restaurants that can compete with the best the city has to offer. They provide breakfast, lunch, dinner and brunch on weekends. They all offer catering and private dinning rooms for group functions.
The Noe Restaurant offers progressive American cuisine in an elegant setting. The menu includes baked organic chicken breast stuffed with jumbo lump crab covered in saffron chipotle sauce. Signature dishes include the Rocky Mountain Colorado grilled lamb chops with poblano guanaja sauce and 12-hour braised bison short ribs. There is a multi-course tasting menu that ranges in price from $75 to $85 as of October 2010. Noe has an extensive wine list and offers wine pairings with their tasting menu. Catering is available for special events. Casual attire is welcome, but no shorts or tennis shoes. Reservations are recommended.
Quattro, meaning four in Italian, offers four levels of dinning, breakfast, lunch, dinner and an antipasto bar that features more than 20 different choices daily during lunch, including pizza and made-to-order pasta. The dinner menu is a combination of Italian and American cuisines, highlighted by a seafood tower stacked with fresh lobster, shrimp, oysters and mussels. Wines are available by the glass and in three-ounce samplers. Quattro also offers a Sunday brunch buffet and a children's buffet. The kitchen closes from 2:30 to p.m. and at 10 p.m. A unique feature of Quattro is a take-out service that is available by calling ahead. There are four private dinning rooms, one that opens directly onto the kitchen. Dress is smart casual and reservations are recommended.
The Lancaster Hotel is the recipient of the Mobil Guide Four Star Award and is included in the Conde Nast Traveler Gold List. The Bistro restaurant of the Lancaster serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and specializes in regional American food which includes grilled quail salad, grilled leg of south Texas antelope, blue crab cakes, and grilled pork loin. They provide service for corporate events and weddings from 10 to 150 guests. Brunch is offered on Saturdays and Sundays. Reservations are recommended.
*17 is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and specializes in seasonal locally produced ingredients such as Houston's Pola Artisan cheeses, crispy gulf coast snapper with roasted poblana risotto and citrus haricot, and Texas spice rub bone-in cowboy rib-eye steak with Sam Houston Bourbon sauce. Other featured dishes include spring pea and buttermilk soup, duck foie gras, and pan-seared ahi tuna. Their diverse wine list includes Bordeauxs with vintages dating back to 1966. A Private dining room features flat-screens TVs with built in AV capabilities, and complimentary Wi-Fi internet service. Reservations are suggested.
