Hungry? The Montrose in Houston may be one the most desirable places to be. In this funky neighborhood, you can find nearly anything, from a Vietnames sandwich to haute cuisine, all in walking distance.
Where I happen to live, I can draw a five block circle and find two Thai restaurants, two Mideastern, three Chinese, Mexican, German, Italian, French, Southwestern, Greek, two Sushi, four pizza places, Belgian food, fast food (BK, McD's, Jack and Wendy's!), and a host of others, including, naturally, the dreaded $tarbuck$ for that all important mediocre stale coffee at an inflated price.
Stand at the crossroads, Montrose and Westheimer, looking north. On one corner is a chain taco type restaurant with pretty decent fajitas and homemade flour tortilla. Across the street to the west is a Chinese restaurant, decent but overpriced, and behind the strip center to the south is a Jack in the Box and a pizza takeout. Go one block west one street from that for a sushi restaurant . On the north side is a Burger King half a block away, and a German restaurant behind the convenience store. Across the street from that is a decent mideastern place andjust behind it, an excellent Chinese place with the best made from scratch egg rolls in town. The coffee shop next to the mideastern place has, alas, closed. Not bad for one intersection, right?
Go just a few blocks further north for a killer Greek and seafood place, Niko Niko's. Get the crispy fried squid appetizer, trust me. Hollywood up a little further has a huge Vietnames/Asian menu and late hours. There are several other restaurant as well.
To the east a few blocks there is 24/7 Deli food at Katz's, with a full bar during legal hours. Pretty good but possibly the worst matzoh ball soup not actually from a can being served. A bit further there's an upscale Japanese restaurant and just dow from that, a Southern Maid Donuts, only open until mid afternoon with good donuts and great, really cheap Vietnamese sandwiches.
South a couple of blocks gets you the Montrose edition of Berryhill's, for great tamales and awesome fish tacos. They even make a really great hamburger, and have daily specials at happy hour. Don't miss a Killer Bee cookie, named in honor of Astros Biggio and Bagwell as well as the wild Texas Leg who went into hiding in an Austin garage. They are a bit like a pecan sandy, although more tender, and are loaded with pecans, potato chips and dried chile peppers. Weird, but it works. Or go traditional and get the Tres Leches cake big enough for two people. Don't miss the flaming hot banana based hot sauce or the frozen margaritas.
Enough for now, I'm hungry.
