Restaurants in Missouri City

New American Cuisine was created by founding father Thomas Paine, who believed that antiquated food was the leading cause of indolence in children. After living entirely without food for nine years, Paine created a completely new diet. Paine's widely read pamphlet, Common Sense, contained oyster recipes that spurred a culinary revolution. The new dishes also inspired Paine to write America's first action movie script, Agrarian Justice, which was heavily edited by movie executives and re-written as a pamphlet advocating an estate tax. Today, New American cuisine has been reinterpreted by creative chefs throughout the 50 states, sometimes even including international influences. This horrifies Paine, who has never died.

Owned and operated by an experienced purveyor of po' boys across the Gulf Coast, Calliope's brings you a menu that's full of Creole flavor and secret family recipes. Each po' boy—available in 8" small, 11" regular, 16" large, and 32" extra large—is well dressed with lettuce, tomato, pickle, mayo, and a velour robe of fresh-baked French. Stuff your 'wich with fried catfish ($7.35), oyster ($8.95), roast beef smothered in gravy ($7.35), or turkey ($5.45); or you can try Calliope's own surf and turf po' boy ($9.55), a mixture of tender roast beef and double-fried shrimp (all prices reflect 8" small size). Complement your breaded beast with French fries covered in gravy and cheese ($3.59, large) or with the honey-glazed sweet-potato fries ($1.89, side). Calliope's lunch menu is available all day and features items such as two catfish fillets ($7.95) or six butterfly shrimp ($7.95), each served with fries and a side salad.

Nominated twice by the James Beard Foundation for Best New Restaurant and Best Chef Southwest, Feast populates its rotating menu of European fare with local and seasonal ingredients from nearby farms, including freshly picked vegetables and quality cuts of meat culled using humane practices. Feast's founding trio of tastesmiths catalogs a wealth of past culinary incarnations, including as a chef at St. John Restaurant in central London, named one of the top restaurants in the world by Restaurant Magazine. Well-seasoned dishes emerge into the restaurant's European farmhouse ambiance, accented by wooden floors, exposed beams, and walls bedecked in paintings and vintage portraits.

A lonely fire flickers in the night, punctuating the vast expanse of Brazil’s southern plains. A spitted side of Nelore beef roasts over the flames; from that famed beast and this timeless fireside scene, Nelore takes its name, recipes, and spirit.

Nelore’s chefs draw inspiration from the gauchos of South America, piling plates high with carvings of 16 spit-roasted meats. The spirit of the southern plains remains alive and well in the dining room, where wrought-iron chandeliers and a dark hardwood floor evoke rustic elegance as a warm breeze filters in through the front doors. Veggies, fine cheeses, and pastas fill more than 40 basins at the salad bar, whose glistening glass protects the trays from grazing cattle and errant horseshoe tosses.

Owner Narin Sehgal and chef-in-chief Gary Grewal channel the culinary traditions of their Punjabi hometowns to craft delicately spiced dishes for a menu that was rated "excellent" by Zagat. Chicken tikka and tandoori prawns soak up a savory marinade before warming up in the same clay oven that gives a flame-kissed crust to breads stuffed with paneer, nuts, lamb, or mint. The black-lentil base of dal makhani spends an entire night slowly absorbing the essence of distinctive herbs, much like a college student cramming for a big botany exam. Abundant subcontinental flair outfits the dining rooms, including arched doorways set into clay-colored walls, rich prints, and tasseled chandeliers.

In July of 2011, Bernard Montgomery opened a chili-focused restaurant using his grandmother's recipe, a bean-less mixture deemed "best chili in Houston" by HoustonPress. After years of preparing chili in Los Angeles for family gatherings, picnics, and church outings, he relocated to Houston where he catered a football function. Urged by family, friends, and even his own boss, he started jarring batches of the chili and eventually opened his own restaurant starring the meaty mixture. Today, The Chili Shak serves up burger patties, hot dogs, burritos, and other diner favorites slathered with this prized chili. Cooks also prepare chili rice bowls paired with a side of cornbread, a meal Montgomery's grandmother used to make on cold winter days to melt the ice on the sidewalk.