Spring Forward In Uptown Houston | Listen

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In a city as diverse as Houston, whatever you crave is on the plate—sometimes in the most surprising places.

When you think food diversity in Space City, spots both funky and polished come to mind in neighborhoods from boho Montrose to the walkable Heights and urban cool of Uptown. But Spring Branch west of downtown? The word “hotspot” doesn’t exactly spring to mind.

Founded as a religious German farming community in 1830, Spring Branch is now a crosshatch of highways lined with strip shopping centers, bodegas, tire shops, and apartments. There are modest brick ranchers in mature leafy neighborhoods, some eclipsed by huge McMansions as the neighborhood gentrifies.

But don’t be discouraged. Beyond the highway chain restaurants there are brilliant gems, sweet spots of family-owned authenticity and tasting menus curated by award-winning chefs. On the cocktail side, bars both trendy and dive impress. Consider a culinary tour through the neighborhood a never-ending treasure hunt.

Tacos Doña Lena is chef Lena Cabrera’s dream, one she realized with her son Angel and his husband, Brian Ponce. In a city bursting with Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine, this taqueria stands out, a neat, colorful eatery powered by one family’s grit and hard work. A street taco vendor in her Mexican hometown, Cabrera moved her family to Houston in 1992 and started selling tacos out of her kitchen. Almost 30 years later, even the pandemic couldn’t derail her strip mall opening. Try all of the tacos, but the overstuffed beef birria is epic, bright with cilantro, and served with a cup of clarified housemade consommé for dipping.

Tatemó chef Emmanuel Chavez, known for his creative homage to heirloom corn, earned one of Houston’s 11 semifinalist James Beard Award nominations in 2024. The Mexico City native and his partner, Megan Maul, opened their 13-seat space in a generic industrial strip in 2022. Enter the spare, candlelit room and prepare to be mesmerized by each of the seven courses. The $125 BYO maíz-fueled tasting menu avoids fuss and pretense. Instead, each dish is deceptively simple, from aromatic blue corn Oaxacan quesadillas topped with huitlacoche crema to a plantain enmolada studded with fried morels. The vibe is chill, making Tatemó feel like a neighborhood spot that, by the way, just happens to offer astonishing cuisine.

Wild Oats is a family-friendly, casual restaurant from the local Underbelly Hospitality group, a love letter to the diversity of Texas cuisine, from Mexican and Tex-Mex to barbecue and German. Try the armadillo eggs, which doesn’t involve eggs at all but rather a sliced grilled sausage stuffed with cheese and jalapeño. The chili is another winner, bold with smoke and spice, a theme that two-steps over the rest of the menu.

Celebrity chef Christine Hà was the first blind contestant of MasterChef and the winner of its third season in 2012. She and her husband and partner, John Suh, opened a Viet-Tex gastropub called The Blind Goat in Spring Branch in 2023. Expect an intriguing subtropical cocktail list and Houston-accented Vietnamese dishes like crawfish noodles and brisket fried rice. One of her signature dishes, offered seasonally, is the green papaya salad, juicy with cherry tomatoes and the crunch of roasted peanuts and sweet nibs of beef jerky, and dressed in a honey-and-shrimp-paste vinaigrette. It’s just one of the menu’s showstoppers, clearly the creation of a chef with amazing vision.

Two cocktail experiences should bookend any Spring Brand treasure hunt. Loose Cannon is a dive bar with a seafaring theme complete with cheesy sea captain paintings and sea shanties piped into the loo. But this is no shot-and-a-beer place (not that there’s anything wrong with them). Instead, to tunes emanating from a most righteous soul-powered juke box, there are potent, rum-laced libations, excellent wine, and craft beer. This is a friendly place, with drinks so delicious you’ll be dancing a jig. On the other end of the vibe spectrum, don’t let the glowing menu’s $30-plus prices deter you from Diversión. It’s not just a bar; it’s an immersive experience that landed on Esquire’s best bars in America list in 2022. The lounge hides in a low-slung building behind Degust, yet another chef-driven tasting menu experience in Spring Branch. Bar chefs sling drinks with fire and flash, often dazzling with ingredients sourced from Diversion’s farm. The Pho Cup’d is a warm, star anise-kissed cocktail made from bone broth, gin, orange liqueur, and spices. The Luau is tiki on steroids, fruit forward with prosciutto in the mix. Fat washing is a thing here, and flavors abound. Diversion is a date night for the ages. And proof that Spring Branch is more than meets the eye.