Top 10 Restaurants in Midtown

Since I work in the bigger midtown area, I appreciate the list, it gives me some additional ideas. Also that Majorca is not really in the boundaries was obvious to me, but that whole stretch of Gray almost till taft still sees itself as part of Midtown. Junction bar for example.

Reef is indeed one of the big ones in Midtown and so is Sparrow.

On Charivari i have a comment i had posted a long time ago in a Chronicle article. What makes a restaurant German?

a) The fact that they serve German food?

b) that the owners are German?

c)Or that a restaurant calls itself German?

d)Or the general perception of the people?

If a) what is really german food. Hamburgers supposedly came from a dish prepared by immigrants from Hamburg, Germany. So are hamburgers German food? The same is to say about CFS which is a bastardized version of Wiener Schnitzel, which itself is not a German but an Austrian dish

b) The owner of Le Peep is I believe german, as the owners of Charivari, and so is Michaels Burger Place in Galveston and I am sure a lot more places. Are those German restaurants?

c) Olive Garden calls itself the Italian Restaurants. If you would ask an Italian he would never let them qualify as the first. For some people they do not even qualify as the second.

d) probably the most important of characterizations. To continue beating on OG: When I came to the US OG was seen by my hosts as an Italian Restaurant. I believe in the last seven years the perception of what Italian restaurant is may have improved a tad. But the same is valid for Le Madeleine which due to its name is seen as french by many, but having lived many years in France I do not find anything French in it.

To me a restaurant should mostly be qualified according to a combination of 35% of c) and 30% of d) and a) and 5% b).

Nationality should not matter almost at all, since I would never deny even a Chinese to be able to cook German food if he assimilated the cooking culture, techniques, ingredients knowledge and a lot of practice.

Perception is important but sometimes the mass errs. Specially if the mass is confronted to a new concept. I remember when "Feast" opened to hear and read it defined as "British", "pork", etc. Nowadays the definition of "from nose to tail" has gained hold and is generally accepted and used.

The kind of food served is important, but how many Americans can define exactly what New-American means? And what happens with all the fusion confusion trends. I recently saw a Venezuelan who cooks Italian and since he lives in Houston calls his restaurant Gulf Coast-Italian-Continental.

The way how a restaurant sees itself seems hence to be the most defining factor. That's why Arturo defines his restaurant this way, and I believe most people should be able to get an idea of what he serves in a Gulf Coast-Italian-Continental as difficult as that name may come off one's tongue.

That's two votes for Farrago! Browse through all the Houston Press articles and member reviews about Farrago here: http://www.voiceplaces.com/farrago-houston-2940803-l/

Farragos and Cyclone Anaya's.

Tacos a go go?  Really?  Sigh.

You've been such a stickler on the other lists about restaurants being in the boundaries. Majorca doesn't quite fit the definition of Midtown you've given. It's a block and a half west of Bagby.

Natachees is so uneven. They do some stuff ok, but I had to give up after about half a dozen bad meals there (I was in denial). I've had the meatloaf pictured and it was inedibly salty, and their CFS is chewy and stringy. No thanks. Good call on Sparrow Bar though. Those shiitake dumplings are astonishingly delicious.

I'd pick Cali over Les Givral's myself, but otherwise, good list.