Restaurants in Bellaire

You can tell a good barbecue joint when one of its menu sections is titled simply "Meat." These meats slay the bland and defend the savory. Smoked for hours in a solid brick pit (originally built in 1934), Pizzitola's beef brisket melts into your plate, while the chicken turns buttery soft beneath skin cracked and crisped. The rough-textured sausage, made as it has been for years by two Czech brothers in Cistern, sidles up well against pinto beans and mustardy potato salad. The family-style meal includes a full pound of sliced (or chopped) beef brisket, half pound of sausage, half pound of sliced pork, half of a chicken, a side of barbecue sauce, and one pint each of pinto beans, potato salad, and coleslaw.

Trios Downunder's fresh wraps successfully pile on the best parts of the food pyramid in one holdable package. Choose from four tasty, fiberful flatbreads for the Laffe-wrap base (white flaxseed, wholemeal, thin, or thick), and select from a menu including classic, grilled, breakfast, and panini-style options. With neatly folded falafel patties, cucumber, and hummus, the vegetarian falafel wrap ($5.99) is a smart choice for herbivores. Meat eaters can try the ragin' Cajun chicken wrap with seasoned rice, hot chicken, sautéed red onions and bell peppers, and aioli dressing; or the chicken schnitzel wrap loaded with cheddar, coleslaw and sweet chili sauce ($6.49 for each). Trios also serves salads, such as the walnut chicken ($7.49) and the Mediterranean feta ($5.99), and decorated spuds like the barbecue brisket ($6.99) and the spicy Mexicana ($5.49). You can complement your wrap with potato wedges or a fruit cup for $2.29.

Before dinner, peruse tempting antipasti options like the goat-cheese flan with roasted beets and watercress salad resting in a refreshing reservoir of balsamic syrup ($14), or the hickory-smoked quails nestled between warm asparagus under the pour of fig-grape-must dressing ($16). The bold spaghetti and sea bass, dressed in garlic oil, gray-mullet roe, and arugula ($16), harnesses the power of spoon, fork, and slurp, while pasta purses stuffed with steamy lobster and heightened by a spicy vodka sauce can be scooped up with ease ($20). Heartier plates include buffalo-tenderloin medallions amidst a vincotto and onion medley ($40), or roasted duck breast accompanied by butternut squash in a fig demi ($37). Like the temperament of an unlicensed clown, menu pricing and availability may change without notice.

Both Crapitto's lunch and dinner menus were constructed from Old World Crapitto family recipes for the best Italian fish, meat, antipasti, and propastas. Appetizers include jumbo lump crab cakes drizzled with lemon wine sauce ($15) and sautéed shrimp Nellie coated in a garlic cream sauce ($12). The eatery's signature dish, a succulent 16-ounce grilled veal chop, comes with parmesan-dusted asparagus and garlic mashed potatoes, and is topped with Roquefort butter ($34). Other favorites include the grilled snapper Red Griffin served with artichoke hearts and capers in a lemon-white-wine sauce alongside linguine marinara ($27), chicken grilled in a rosemary-Dijon cream sauce ($17), and the caliente Pasta Diablo, with grilled chicken, linguine, tomatoes, onions, and jalapeños ($18). Seal in flavors with one of Crapitto's signature desserts, or a goblet or carafe from its extensive wine menu.

Chefs inside the Daily Review Cafe's kitchen artfully mold American cuisine into elegant, contemporary renditions of traditional comfort food. The low-carb and standard dinner menus flaunt that culinary marriage in a spread that includes southern fried chicken as well as filet mignon. At brunch on Saturday and Sunday, the chefs give diners sweet and savory options for starting the day by stuffing french toast with cream cheese and nestling crab cakes beside eggs. Chefs pass off the entrées to servers who ferry them to the spacious dining room or to the porch, which overlooks a brick patio surrounded by colorful garden foliage. The patio holds 20 to 100 guests and hosts events including private parties, where Daily Review's food shines alongside expertly mixed drinks from the bar.

Whether they're busy hand-battering pickles and freshly cut zucchini or slathering wings in one of three succulent sauces, Crazy Frogs’ kitchen staffers craft each of their appetizers and bar snacks fresh daily. An extensive stock of beers, cocktails, wines, and imported liquors helps wash down meals as customers lounge on Crazy Frogs' roomy outdoor patio or inside its spacious bar. There, abundant televisions broadcast sports matchups while a shuffleboard table, dartboards, and pool tables bring out patrons’ own competitive spirits. Pool sharks and confused shark hunters take over the tables for eight-ball tournaments every Friday and Saturday evening, which begin alongside melodious rounds of karaoke.