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Thanks to Rudy’s Bar-B-Q

Closed Published by mikemcguff January 8th, 2012 on mikemcguff.com blog

I want to send out my thanks to Rudy’s Bar-B-Q. After I won the CBS Blogging contest, a Rudy’s representative sent me a gift card.

Well I finally took the family to the Rudy’s on 290 during the Houston Texans playoff game with the air of a high roller.

I might of well said, “Babe, order whatever you want.” I should have also worn a track suit with a lot of rings and necklaces while chewing gum.

It was a great meal. We really enjoyed it and the Texans made it even more exciting. Thanks to Rudy’s and Joe Vasquez.

Texas Watchdog party with Mike McGuff

Closed Published by mikemcguff December 1st, 2011 on mikemcguff.com blog

I’ve been in TexasWatchdog.org’s corner since the early days. Must have paid off because the Texas investigative website has invited me to be its featured guest at its third birthday bash this Saturday:

When: Saturday, December 3 at 2 pm

Where: The Stag’s Head Pub, 2128 Portsmouth, Houston, TX 77098 (near HWY-59 and Shepherd)

Featured guest: Houston newshound Mike McGuff, who writes about media goings-on in the Houston market and beyond at mikemcguff.com.

We’ve got so much to be thankful for during this holiday season. Namely, you, the readers, partners and funders of Texas Watchdog.

Thanks to your support we’ve been able to dig into contract steering and cronyism at the Houston school district, unearth problems at the Texas Windstorm Insurance Agency and spotlight efforts to reform health care in Texas. We’ve also taken hard looks at stimulus spending, probed elected officials’ conflicts of interest and we continue the fight for better transparency in local and state government.

Since our founding in August of 2008, Texas Watchdog’s impact has grown. We now have a staff of six. We get nearly 1 million hits on our website and our numerous social networks each month. And that doesn’t include the millions more who see us via our partnerships with other media such as television stations, radio and newspapers. Our reporting has been highlighted by national news outlets like ProPublica, the National Review and the Center for Public Integrity, as well as local media such as the Houston Community Newspapers, the Houston Chronicle, KHOU 11 and KTRK 13.

We believe our work is fundamental to our democracy — and fundamental to keeping our local and state officials on the straight and narrow.

If you do, too, please join keep reading and responding to our stories, telling your friends and donating to Texas Watchdog.

Even better, join us on December 3 and raise a glass with us to toast even more watchdogging in the future.

Mike McGuff on ‘Blogging, Here and Now in Houston’ panel

Closed Published by mikemcguff November 29th, 2011 on mikemcguff.com blog

Come join me Thursday December 1st at 6:30pm at the Houston Public Library in downtown for Blogging, Here and Now in Houston. I will be on the The Houston Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists panel with some big time folks. Will I be able to hold my own? You’ll have to show up and find out.

Blogging, Here and Now in Houston

What: The Houston Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists invites you to join us for an evening discussion of blogging.
When: Thursday, December 1, 6:30-7:30 p.m. CST
Where: Houston Public Library — Central Library downtown*, 500 McKinney St., Houston, 77002. Parking available for a modest fee in the parking garage underneath the library building.
Who:
• Tom Fowler, business reporter and blogger for the Houston Chronicle and FuelFix.com, soon to be with the Wall Street Journal

• Ruth Nasrullah, SPJ Houston chapter vice president, freelance journalist and the Straight Path blogger on the Houston Chronicle website, which reflects on the experience of being an American Muslim

• Mike McGuff: Veteran Houston TV newsman and blogger on all things media-related at McGuff Blog

• Starr Spencer, prolific blogger and senior writer for Platts, the energy news and information division of The McGraw-Hill Companies

How: How has blogging progressed from its early days outside the journalism mainstream to a yet another medium in digital delivery for all journalists? How do pros use blogging to break news, run analysis, engage readers/sources, or express a personal point of view? We’ll hear from the panelists and then ask them questions, including how do you handle writer’s block, what to do with hostile comments or even spam, and what leads to inspiration?

*This program is not sponsored or endorsed by Houston Public Library. Also, if you have a special physical or communications need that could impact your participation in this event, please contact the event organizer, Katharine Fraser of the Houston SPJ at 713-828-0569 or hikatharine@gmail.com, at least 72 hours ahead of the program to discuss how to best accommodate your needs.

KTRK 13’s Ed Brandon on 24 hour news radio in Houston

Closed Published by mikemcguff November 18th, 2011 on mikemcguff.com blog

Former KTRK 13 weathercaster Ed Brandon (now fill-in weatherman) wrote a nice historical piece on Houston’s news radio landscape through the years. Brandon arrived to work at channel 13 in 1972 and has seen the news radio stations come and go. Nice to have Ed back as a mikemcguff.com guest blogger once again.

Here is more from Ed Brandon:

“The Bayou City will join the nation’s other major cities where you can hear a local, live all-news-radio station. It’s KROI, 92.1FM. News 92 FM.

New York has had 1010 WINS, and others, for years. There’s KCBS in San Francisco, WBBM in Chicago and Los Angeles’ KNX. In all of the nation’s other major cities, there has always been the opportunity to listen on the road or at home to a local radio station which provides constant news, weather and sports, some of it from networks but most of it live and local.

Houston has been without such a station since the very early 1980s. In 1975, KLYX-FM (formerly K”MSC” for Manned Spacecraft Center) was the local affiliate for an NBC radio experiment called the News and Information Service. Among its voices was Don Armstrong, later on KPRC radio and television. The NBC effort lasted until early 1977. (The KLYX frequency, 102.1 FM, became, and remains, home to the phenomenally successful music station KMJQ. That’s Majic 102 to the average listener).

For a brief period, KEYH provided news during daylight hours at 850AM. That frequency is now home to a Spanish language music station.

KTRH 740 AM and KPRC 950 AM came closest to the all news model over the years. When they were separately owned by local companies, each programmed lengthy drive-time news blocks. Since each station broadcast talk programs during non drive-time hours, however, neither was an ALL news radio station. Each has been absorbed by the Clear Channel conglomerate and has gradually shed most of its news broadcasts. KPRC even proudly promoted itself as a station where you WOULD NOT hear news or traffic reports. (Traffic reports are now appearing occasionally at 950 AM.)

That all changes… The new station promises continuous news broadcasts. Equally encouraging is the station’s hiring of some of Houston’s most prominent broadcast journalists, many of them shoved out of the Clear Channel [and other Houston] stations. The premiere attraction is the morning news block to be presented by J.P Pritchard and Lana Hughes. The team is a long-time fixture of Houston morning radio. J.P. and Lana have both been inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame.

For most broadcast journalists in the city and for news junkies, too, News 92 FM should fill a big hole in the radio dial. The owner, Radio One, is a newcomer to the all-news format, but with that staff and their experience, it’s hard to see how they could screw it up. The website went up on Wednesday. NEWS92FM.COM. The site will provide a live stream of the station.”

- Ed Brandon

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This is Mike McGuff again. As I mentioned Thursday, News 92 KROI debuts Monday 11/21/2011 at 5am.

I would like to add my two cents as well. Over the years of my talking to Houston radio professionals, I’ve learned it has been thought by radio companies that an all news format would not work here. The companies believed this town was too blue collar and not receptive to 24 hour news radio. They said it might work in New York, Chicago and other major cities where there was more of a white collar audience. Frankly, I don’t buy into that belief. I think there is a hunger here for news. The only issue now is that the public is shifting away from broadcasting and using the Internet/mobile apps for news more and more. What a great experiment News 92 will be.

How to give a great media interview: 5 tips

Closed Published by mikemcguff August 30th, 2011 on mikemcguff.com blog

The following mikemcguff.com entry is a guest blog post by PR whiz Marsha Friedman. It’s about how to be a good interview for a media story. This article is geared towards print, but it works for TV and radio news too.:

Sometimes I cringe when I hear people talk about “the media.” It sounds as if everyone in TV, radio, print and online press is a member of one fraternity that thinks and acts the same. There is a vast gulf between the daily life of a print journalist and the daily life of a radio show host. And there are many differences between radio hosts and TV producers.

They really shouldn’t be treated the same. That’s why I’ve written a booklet called 50 Tips to Make You A Great Radio Guest and a similar piece for TV. Now I am compiling interview tips for working with print and online journalists (which in many cases can be the same thing).

Here are the first five tips:

· Be Responsive – In TV and radio, interview times are pre-arranged (Mike McGuff note: TV and radio people need you fast too…like in an hour). However, print and online journalists typically have daily and weekly deadlines. When they call you, they need you right then! In many cases, journalists will reach out to several experts on a news item and then choose the one who is the better interview or whoever responded quickest (or a combination of the two). The more reliably you respond, the more likely they will call on you again.

· It’s Not About You – Most journalists are not interested in you, but rather the expert commentary you can provide. The more you use the words “I” and “my” the less likely they will use you as a source. When speaking to a reporter, keep in mind you are speaking to their audience, so keep your remarks centered on what their audience cares about and you’ll be quoted early and often.

· Read Before You Talk – If you get a call from a publication, take five minutes to go online and read a few of their stories. Look for their tone and approach, so your tone and approach will match. Also look for articles they wrote on your topic, so you can avoid duplicating what someone else said. Finally, read articles written by the journalist you’ll be speaking with. There is no better way to prepare for a print or online interview than to read the writings of the reporter interviewing you. You can discover his or her focus, audience and philosophy. The reporter can tell if you’ve read his or her articles through your comments and will respect you for having made the effort to prepare for them.

· Don’t Empty Your Notebook – Beat reporters – journalists who cover a particular topic or industry – tend to be experts in that field from their time covering it for their respective publications. They don’t need, nor do they want, your soup-to-nuts take on that topic. They need only a few quotes and opinions to round out their stories. Answer direct questions with direct answers, and get to the point quickly. There’s no need to tell the reporter everything you know, emptying your notebook of all your collected knowledge, in order to have a good interview. Allowing an interview to devolve into you talking about your total philosophy on a particular topic or business will result in your interview landing in the discard pile, and the reporter will likely seek a comment from your competitor instead.

· Be Professional – Reporters don’t call you to talk about the weather, last night’s TV, your kids, etc. You’d be surprised how many times I’ve come across people who think a little friendly chit chat can “grease the wheels.” If they engage you, that’s one thing. It’s entirely another if you waste their time with unwanted “schmoozing.” Most have deadlines to meet and their time is valuable. Many outlets are working with significantly smaller writing staff than a year ago. Respect their time and they’ll respect you.

There’s more to a good print interview and in the next two weeks I will share more tips. If you follow this advice, you’ll discover your interviewers will respond better to you, use more of the interview in their actual articles and maybe even call you back for more quotes when they work on other stories. At the end of the day, these tips will help you be prepared so that when your name is mentioned in the media, readers will know they are getting advice from someone who truly knows what he or she is talking about.

Marsha Friedman is a 21-year veteran of the public relations industry and a sought after national public speaker on the power of publicity. She is the founder and CEO of EMSI Public Relations (www.GuaranteedNationalPR.com), a national firm that provides PR strategy, promotion and publicity services to corporations, entertainers, authors and professional firms. Marsha is also the author of the book, Celebritize Yourself: The 3-Step Method to Increase Your Visibility and Explode Your Business. When she is not running her business, she has Cherish the Children, a non-profit foundation that helps under-privileged local foster children.

Former KTRK 13 staffer becomes Houston Chronicle blogger

Closed Published by mikemcguff November 22nd, 2010 on mikemcguff.com blog

I’ve been blogging about David Yarbrough since 2008 when he gave me a makeover with the pictured poncho (we met as colleagues at KTRK 13). His popular Style Points blog has landed him as a guest blogger on mikemcguff.com and now a more permanent home on the Houston Chronicle’s website.

Style Profile - Rise to the occasion with men’s fashion expert David Yarbrough - is one of the newest blogs on chron.com. Make sure to check it out. You might actually learn something that can help you unlike the junk my blog.

http://blogs.chron.com/styleprofile/

Top 10 fashion mistakes men make - and how to avoid them

Closed Published by mikemcguff November 5th, 2010 on mikemcguff.com blog

Houston blogger David Yarbrough (a former KTRK 13 colleague) of Style Points blogs about the ten mental errors concerning menswear for the mikemcguff.com blog:

Freedom of expression is indeed one of the fundamentals of American life, and many a fashion statement has been made in public and private circles for generations. Some are poignant (like the tuxedo), while others, quite frankly, should not be tried at home (MC Hammer’s “diaper pants”).

For the everyday man who dresses for success, an important goal that goes without saying is to not look out of place. Here is my “top 10” list of mistakes that can turn the most savvy of men into social deviants in a hurry:

10. Not knowing how to tie a bow tie. I rated this at No. 10 only because men can use pre-tied bow ties (or perhaps rely on women) to avoid having to do it manually. For starters, the bow tie is an important part of wearing a tuxedo. Tying a bow tie, like anything else that is worth being good at, requires practice. Here’s a head’s up: If you know how to tie your shoe, you already know how to tie a bow tie. Now, prove it to yourself in the mirror.

9. Socks that expose the leg while seated. Over-the-calf socks are a surefire way to ensure full coverage when a man crosses his legs in a sitting position. Anything less is uncivilized. Who wants to see a hairy leg?

8. A lack of coordination. Not coordinating the color of your shoes with your belt. This probably is no big deal when you’re in grade school. But it counts when you reach adulthood. Same goes for the color of a pocket square matching up with the tie and/or shirt.

7. Unpolished shoes. People will quickly notice two things about you: Your head and your toes.
When it comes to the latter, your footwear conveys whether you mean business or are in casual mode. Polished shoes are the finishing touch to a professional presentation; unpolished shoes suggest that you care less than the guy who does.

6. Wearing cap-toe shoes with a tuxedo. There’s very much a regimen in place when it comes to formal wear. Patent leather shoes are the first choice, in either a plain-toe lace-up or a pump with grosgrain bow. Plan B is a polished black calfskin shoe or pump. Cap-toe shoes are more appropriate with business attire, not formal attire.

5. Excessive jewelry. Only winning sports franchises such as the New York Yankees, Montreal Canadiens, Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys can lay claim to the “bling” dynasty, where over-the-top-looking rings are definitely for show-n-tell. Unless you’re a member of a championship team, wearing such baubles in public can distort your look. Thick necklaces also send a message of ostentatiousness. Simple, elegant pieces such as a sterling silver signet ring or a titanium watch can go a long way for men.

4. Underestimating the power of a manicure. A firm handshake says something about an individual, man or woman. A woman once commented that my hands were soft but that my nails were unusually long. I immediately went to CVS and got nail clippers. Long nails not only are not cool for a man, but dirt can get underneath more easily. Investing in a manicure (and a pedicure, while you’re at it) is money well spent.

3. Wearing patterns that compete. Guys wanting to look smart can outsmart themselves sometimes. For example, a plaid jacket may work well with a striped shirt and a paisley tie. But a plaid shirt risks clashing with a plaid jacket, or a striped tie may get lost in front of a striped shirt. Integrating solids with patterns removes clutter. In other words, less is more when it comes to wearing patterns.

2. Ill-fitting clothing. Even if you got a great deal on a Kiton suit off the rack, you will have wasted your money if you bought the wrong size. Any reputable tailor will tell you upfront whether radical alterations would work. Also, wearing trousers that are too short will result in automatic membership to the Pee Wee Herman fan club.

1. Taking “casual Friday” too far. In work environments where suits are worn every day (law firms, accounting firms, banks, to name a few), blazers and khakis for men might be considered an option. The “casual Friday” concept, however, has encountered a rather slippery slope. Jeans and T shirts, shorts and sneakers can test the sartorial sensibilities of the workplace. In the words of some dapper-looking ESPN talking head: “C’mon, man!” Common sense has to kick in sometime, where a man doesn’t have to look like a grunged-out skateboarder in his cubicle. If your take your image seriously, others will treat you accordingly.

David Yarbrough has served as a fashion consultant on various Houston television stations.

MARK GARAY: Is this TV news or promotion gone wild?

Closed Published by mikemcguff March 23rd, 2010 on mikemcguff.com blog

Former KTRK abc13 anchor Mark Garay guest blogs this post on the mikemcguff.com blog:

I recently returned from a trip to Austin. I caught the late news on KEYE 42. What at first glance seemed like nothing more than a common local news promotional technique, turned quickly into a classic case of “enough already.” The news anchor introduces the story by telling her audience that an upcoming episode of the news magazine program 48 Hours will be focusing on a local murder case.

Apparently, some 20 year old or so douche bag had killed some poor girl in a bathtub and dismembered her head and fingers. Then allegations arose that another girl had helped cut up the corpse too. Now, a new development. After the guy got 55 years, the woman alleged to have helped him is soon to be sentenced.

The anchor tosses to the “story” of the upcoming “story.” AND the story is not produced by KEYE, but rather by 48 Hours. Apparently, not only does this CBS network show get to saturate the KEYE audience, but feels also compelled to do the job itself, lest some KEYE reporter get in the way.

I wouldn’t have noticed anything had it ended with the 48 Hours “correspondent” signing off after this thinly veiled promotional effort disguised as a news story designed to get people to watch.

But then the anchor says that one of her reporters has an INTERVIEW with the 48 Hours correspondent. Now, another two minutes of a taped interview between a KEYE on-air hottie and whoever this 48 Hours correspondent is.

What did they talk about? What kind of sentence butcher girl might get. That’s wonderful speculation, but how in the world could ANYONE know what the sentence will be? They also discuss how “people have found this to be such a disturbing case.”

Really? No shit.

Finally, the only redeeming element to the entire four minute segments: The range of punishment the girl could receive, which was up to five years, I believe. That information could have been conveyed in a 10 second anchor read.

I’ve always felt that television self promotion was a bit like actor Alec Baldwin: Effective as a performer and communicator, but capable of being annoyingly shallow and self absorbed off the set. Yes, every television news operation has the right to call itself the best. But the weird thing about promotions is that no one knows if what they’re hearing is true. Odd, isn’t it? That such a thing could be said about the people charged with promoting local NEWS operations?

I submit the following:

Let’s say that two competing television stations want to call themselves the “first to broadcast in HD.” Station A dumps a lot of money into going a cheaper route. They equip their news chopper camera to broadcast in HD, but ONLY the helicopter camera can broadcast high def. Station A keeps all other forms of production and news broadcast at current production standard.

Across the Street, Station B hears that Station A is bragging about being the first to broadcast in HD. Station B, only weeks away from launching all of its local news programming in HD, and sensing that Station A purposely undercut the timing and stole Station B’s thunder, feels justified to similarly claim that in fact, THEY- STATION B, were the FIRST to broadcast in HD.

“All Station A did was HD their chopper cam,” Station B would argue. “That’s not going HD, at least not like WE did!”

And at the end of the day, honestly. Who gives a shit?

Humor aside, cross promotion can be a dangerous thing. Promoting station sponsored events, products or services during newscasts can be perceived as very self serving unless they are done correctly. When weather folks say to you “and we’ll have a closer look at tomorrow’s chances for rain, later in this newscast”, it just might piss you off. “Tell me now”, you might say. “I can take it”.

Here’s the point. What I saw in Austin was a ugly boil on top of an less ugly boil. Not only do they burn newscast minutes by PROMOTING an entirely different program, but they promoted it again, by talking to the promoters.

An through it all, you might ask yourself, “I thought I was watching the news.”

- Mark Garay

Find out more about Garay’s latest work at CodeMark Poductions LLC.

MARK GARAY: TV interview going away as we know it?

Closed Published by mikemcguff March 8th, 2010 on mikemcguff.com blog

Former KTRK 13 anchor Mark Garay guest blogs this post on the mikemcguff.com blog:

The Changing Interview

Without question, a major part of news gathering has always been the interview. You really can’t tell a story without talking to the people upon whom any given story is based or at the very least, related. There are also advantages, actual golden moments which happen off camera during interview settings. Often, as the crew was setting up, I used to talk to interview subjects to make them feel comfortable and discuss the questions I planned to ask. These moments produced GOLD more often than I can count. Knowing they were off camera, interview subjects would open up a bit. Sometimes more than a bit. Much more. I’ve gotten details off camera I never could have with the tape rolling. Sometimes, an interview subject would lean forward to reach my ear, and whisper some wonderful nugget of information or gossip. Other times, my interviewee might mention something he or she felt was completely irrelevant, but was actually a fascinating direction for my story to go. Producing a news story without interviews is like playing baseball without bases. You can still participate in the game, but there’s no structure.

INTERVIEWS ARE CHANGING

Increasingly, we are seeing Network Correspondents interviewing people through live internet video connection services. I saw one such interview recently, with the correspondent actually saying, “We interviewed (Mr. Johnson) over the (name) web service.”

The reasons here are fairly obvious.

-Costs

TV News Networks are handcuffed in many areas, because of… well… the areas. Networks aren’t covering one town or one country. They are trying to cover the world. And as such, it’s very expensive to properly tell the stories network audiences have come to expect. Network News Bureaus used to help by covering national regions or foreign beats. But with the bulldozing emergence of cable and internet technologies, Network Bureaus have had to close down due to cost saving efforts by tower “officed” executives who may know as little about news as they do about priorities. It’s very expensive to staff network bureaus. You have on air “talent”, videographers, editors, assignment managers, producers and administrators to pay, equipment to maintain, and office space to lease or buy. And that’s just the beginning. As a result, networks have had to compromise the product upon which they relied so heavily to pay the bills. They can’t compete with audience segmentation and the inexpensive resources employed by their media competitors. To loosely quote a line from the movie Cinderella Man, “it is a sad death to a once flourishing success, with the body still breathing.”

-Immediacy

Even if the networks still had the resources they’ve been forced to sacrifice, getting news crews to the interviews takes time. Here’s an example: It’s a Tuesday. In Washington, there are Senate hearings unfolding about the fatal gas pedal problems with Toyota. A high ranking company official is telling our elected officials that the problem has been taken care of, and that the American public should continue buying Toyotas with full confidence in safety and reliability. At the same time, in Pocatello Idaho, a woman and her 9 year old child are killed in a Toyota on their way home from school. Obviously, these two stories might be connected. And if it turns out they are, getting a network crew to Idaho in time for that day’s broadcast would likely be impossible. Used to be they could fly a crew post haste from the Denver bureau, or maybe the Seattle bureau. Not anymore. Instead, the stories are told through the blinding speed of the internet. No one is making a whole lot of money by covering this story on the web, but who cares? The story is being told and the public is getting what it wants. Who cares if the network isn’t the messenger, aside from the network?

My friends, reality is a bitch. Information is constantly finding ways to reach people quicker and cheaper. The networks are battling Abrams tanks with spears and swords. They cannot compete. It is this former news reporter’s opinion that instead of seeing news professionals sitting next to their interview subjects, you will start seeing more of them looking at their interview subjects through a monitor.

And remember all those “golden moments” I discussed earlier in this piece? You can’t find gold without searching for it in person. And it simply won’t land in your lap through a computer monitor.

- Mark Garay

Find out more about Garay’s latest work at CodeMark Poductions LLC.

Houston restaurants to impress the out-of-town guests

Closed Published by mikemcguff December 15th, 2008 on mikemcguff.com blog

Guest blogger Mike Riccetti is author of the Houston Dining on the Cheap and the Zagat Survey for 2008 Texas Restaurants for Houston. I welcome him to the MikeMcGuff.com Blog.

A trip to the Chicago area and a visit with relatives who enjoy dining out spurred this idea that I thought might be useful for Mike’s blog, especially with the advent of the Christmas holidays and people traveling to Houston.

Those relatives enjoyed past trips to Houston, and the hope that they would make it back to Houston within the year made me think of which restaurants I would recommend for their next visit. Regardless of level of connoisseurship, dining out is a great way to show off one of the city’s best attributes. Out-of-towners might just think of Tex-Mex and barbecue here, and requests for these can easily be satisfied, but there is much, much more in what is one of the very best restaurant cities in the country.

Below are listed twenty restaurants of varying price ranges to impress or just successfully entertain out-of-town guests. I believe that these are emblematic of the Houston restaurant scene, either exhibiting some of the popular local flavors and dishes, or places that are just very good.

§ Beavers - Innovative barbecue and other tasty dishes in a friendly, casual setting that also offers a good selection of wines, a great beer list, and an incredible array of spirits and cocktails. www.beavershouston.com
§ Café Red Onion - Central American-tinged Tex-Mex that’s a great deal for the attractive, flavorful fare in three locations around town. www.caferedonion.com
§ Carrabba’s - The Kirby location of the long-popular Houston take on Southern Italian-American cooking is still boisterous and crowded after twenty years for a reason. The Voss address is also still worth visiting though the others are not nearly in the same class; these first two that are still owned by the Carrabba clan. www.carrabbas.com
§ Catalan - Interesting and top-notch New American with Spanish influences with a fantastic wine list (and excellent prices to match) in a fun, loud setting. www.catalanfoodandwine.com
§ Churrascos - Moist and delicious steaks, zesty Latin fare and vibrant settings make for enjoyable fine dining at the restaurants that introduced tres leches to Houstonians, and which remain favorites after two decades. www.cordua.com
§ Danton’s - Houston-style seafood including what is probably the area’s best seafood gumbo. www.dantonsseafood.com
§ Dolce Vita - Excellent, casual pan-Italian fare including Italian-style pizzas that are better than the vast majority of pizzas outside of Naples, and a number in Naples, too. www.dolcevitahouston.com
§ El Tiempo - Top-notch Tex-Mex with prices to match, but quality is worth the tariff including the fajitas with filet mignon. www.eltiempocantina.com
§ Feast - Modern British food (don’t let that phrase discourage you) that’s interesting, hearty and a great value for the quality and size of the entrées, plus the focused, food-friendly wine list also has some excellent values. The cuts might be strange, but the flavors are great, and usually quite relatable. www.feasthouston.com
§ Goode Co. Barbeque - Now in three locations, these prove that very good barbecue can be cooked at more than tiny pits in out-of-the-way neighborhoods; also, there are great sides and some of the best pecan pie around. www.goodecompany.com
§ Goode Co. Seafood - Houston-style seafood prepared several ways including uniquely mesquite-grilled; the Campechana is one of this city’s signature starters. www.goodecompany.com
§ Goode Co. Taqueria - Yes, I do like the Goode Co. restaurants. Come on the weekends for some of the best breakfasts in the universe, Texas-style. www.goodecompany.com
§ Hugo’s - Upscale regional Mexican food that is probably the best Mexican restaurant in town, and a great and fine value Sunday brunch. www.hugosrestaurant.net
§ Indika - Excellent modern Indian food from one of the top restaurants in the city. www.indikausa.com
§ Lupe Tortilla - These kitschy, sprawling Tex-Mex joints with several area outposts are family friendly and serve delicious fajitas with some of the thinnest and freshest flour tortillas you’ll have at an area restaurant. www.lupetortillas.com
§ Ninfa’s on Navigation - Houston’s favorite Tex-Mex that never fails to impress; only at the original Navigation location, of course. www.mamaninfas.com
§ Otilia’s - Excellent regional Mexican food that is easily affordable. www.otilias.com
§ Reef - Modern Gulf Coast seafood with wide-ranging global influences that was recently named the best seafood restaurant in the country by Bon Appetit magazine. www.reefhouston.com
§ Shade - Also globally influenced, and managing to be a proper version of modern Houston comfort food; a good brunch spot, too. www.shadeheights.com
§ Tony Mandola’s Gulf Coast Kitchen - Houston-style seafood that has pleased for years. www.tonymandolas.com

If these are not expensive enough, there is always Da Marco, Mark’s and Tony’s; and if not new enough, you can check out recently opened spots from acclaimed chefs, Scott Tycer and Robert Gadsby, at Textile and Bedford, respectively, both in the Heights. These five might be better choices if your guests are offering to treat.

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For what it’s worth, I am the author of three editions of Houston Dining on the Cheap and the current local editor for the Zagat Survey.

See Mike Riccetti’s other guest post:
Best sandwiches in Houston