Sensational, spicy soul food is easy to find in Midtown Houston restaurants, when your exotic taste buds began to crave down-home African American dishes like grits, smothered oxtails and/or barbecue.
You don’t have to settle for a bland cafeteria version of these delightful Southern specialties. Houston is where you can find the real McCoy served in cordial, clean and comfortable restaurant's throughout the city.
Southern Dining In Houston
We have personally visited all of the restaurants on this list and can tell you that our desire for eating African American cuisine in warm, welcoming, and wonderful atmospheres was met beyond our expectations.
One of the traditions of Southern African American cooking is heaping helpings of hospitality and food, all of these places have got that part down pat. Their menu items are a reflection of a variety of the other cultures that have influenced generations of African American cooks.
Soul Food Specialties
Yams
We found the yams served at “This Is It” to be the sweetest things this side of heaven. They were cooked with just enough cinnamon and sugar to flavor the dish and still allow the earthy taste of the yams natural sugar to seep through.
Fried Chicken
Fried foods have taken a beating in the quest for healthier dining choices, but the wings that we were served at Sparkle Hamburgers with a waffles and wings breakfast were as close to grease-less as you can hope to find anywhere.
Fried Catfish
If you have been avoiding fish at restaurants because they only serve the well known ocean varieties of Cod and Trout and you prefer that down-home taste of Catfish, Thelma’s got you covered. Although she is widely recognized for the way she almost magically infuses smoke into a piece of beef, the lady can work wonders with fried Catfish too.
Oxtails
This cut of meat has taken a beating from health eating advocates, because it is so high in fat and protein. But it’s a part of the cow that is considered a delicacy in soul food. As their name implies “Just Ox Tails” is the best place in Houston to find them on the menu any day of the week. They have no qualms serving them for either lunch or dinner.
Houston Soul Food Restaurant List
(abbreviated menu on Sparkle Burger Building)
Breakfast Club
Bobby Cues
This Is It
Thelma's Barbecue
Midtown Smokehouse
Sparkle Hamburger
Zydeco Diner
At most soul food restaurants in Houston and those in other cities around the country you can expect to find delicious corn bread and thick, biscuit sopping gravy on just about any menu.
If you know of any place in Houston with scrumptious Creole and African American cooking that deserves a place on this hastily compiled list of restaurants, we would like to know about them. You are welcome to add their address in the comment section below or by contacting us through the email link in the column on the right.