Downtown dining: Our guide to Houston’s top food halls, from the Post to Lyric Market
Food halls capture the wealth of culinary options Houstonians love about their city.
In one visit diners might feel like they’re crisscrossing the world, sans passport: as a vendor slices into fresh slices of sashimi, another could be serving up cheese-covered smashburgers with crispy fries. Tacos, pho, lobster rolls, brisket, Detroit-style pizza and jollof rice are options, too.
These establishments are also often incubators for first-time business owners and pop-ups steeling for a brick-and-mortar debut — such as the stellar Xeo Yum at the Conservatory in Midtown.
Houston’s food halls are mostly concentrated downtown since the former Railway Heights Market recently pushed out all its vendors. Here are the Chronicle’s downtown favorites in descending order.
The Post
This space — a former post office with soaring ceilings and a rooftop with sweeping cityline views — is by far Houston’s nicest food hall. It also happens to be home to the Chronicle’s top restaurant in 2022: seafood star Golfstrommen. The West African fare at ChopnBlok has received national attention, too, and there are options for Mexican, Indian, Filipino, Japanese, Thai and even Viet-Cajun cuisine. The popular 713 Music Hall is also next door. 401 Franklin; posthtx.com
Lyric Market
Finding parking downtown can be enough reason to avoid coming to this part of Houston, but it’s complimentary at this nearly year-old food hall. The curated lineup of vendors includes Samurai Noodle, one of the top ramen joints in town. At 1929 PoBoy Kitchen, chef Monica Landry cooks up creative Cajun dishes such as gumbo yakamein; New York’s Ivy Stark offers a menu of healthy spins on Mexican cuisine. If you’re not sure about those restaurants, there’s also sushi, waffles, and Indian street food — plus a handsome bar with happy hour during the week between 2 and 6 p.m. 411 Smith; lyricmarket.com
Finn Hall
Vendors inside the landmark Jones on Main offer twists on familiar dishes. Papalo Taqueria whips up housemade tortillas teeming with confit heirloom carrots. Craft Burger sells chicken fried cheese curds, which sounds fairly pedestrian compared to the Smoke’s Memphis Nachos (chips topped with shredded cheese, cheese sauce, ranch and barbecue sauce). If you need more time to make a decision, belly up to the bar at Swallow’s Nest for a view of all the options. 712 Main; finnhallhou. com
Bravery Chef Hall
This food hall sets itself apart with a decent amount of outdoor seating and a number of bar options, including cocktails at Soho Garden and another bar with wine on tap. The options are more limited but there’s quality sushi to be found at Kokoro, which is from Uchi alums Patrick Pham and Daniel Lee. Drunken Pho, which used to be at the Railway Heights food hall, serves excellent bowls of the traditional Vietnamese beef noodle soup. Seafood at Margaux’s Oyster Bar and pizzas from Figo Sugo are also popular. 409 Travis, Suite A; braverychefhall.com
Understory
Common Bond Bakery and its brasserie recently closed, but vendors including the Filipino spot Flip N’ Patties and coffee shop Boomtown are good reasons to visit the Bank of America tower, where the food hall sits just below street level. The office crowd goes for poke bowls, salads and tacos at lunch, but the Silver Lining bar is also hopping after work hours. 800 Capitol; understoryhouston.com
Underground
A good late-night destination, many of the vendors here are open until 11 during the week and 1 a.m. on the weekends. The street food options range from chimichurri-topped pizzas and birria tacos to brisket egg rolls and piña colada-flavored tres leches cake. The bar offers a selection of craft beers, classic cocktails and $1 champagne shots. 1010 Prairie; undergroundhall.com