Restaurants in Sugar Land

The Russo family moved from Italy to New York in 1964, and from New York to Texas in 1978, carrying with them time-honored culinary techniques imported straight from the old country. Anthony Russo has worked side by side with family members and Italian chefs since the age of 12, learning to prepares salads, pastas, and pizzas from only the freshest of ingredients. Anthony's love for his family's cooking grew into a lucrative business, with Russo's Coal Fired Italian Kitchen restaurants and Russo's New York Pizzerias popping up all over the American South.

Like a cookie decorated with Lady Liberty's Social Security Number, Russo's pizza is an edible souvenir of the Big Apple, introducing palates to the thin, crispy brick-oven pies that helped make New York cuisine world famous. In between bites of basil-, anchovy-, and meatball-crowned pizzas, diners feast on baked ziti, lobster ravioli, and tortellini carbonara, as well as oven-cooked flatbread sandwiches and toasted calzones.

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.

Nikoz Fusion Grill's cooks fill their kitchen with aromas from sizzling mediterranean kabobs, Indian spices from the baking samosas, and the subtle peanut scent from the drizzle of sauce over the asian salads. Blending flavors and dishes from the Mediterranean, Greece, and Asia, the chefs craft savory gyro sandwiches alongside beef short ribs with special spices and fresh hummus. In addition to dine-in meals, they also fill trays with fusion cuisine for catered events such as birthday parties, retirement lunches, and retiring from the birthday-party circuit.

Those who say things aren't the way they were back in the good old days certainly haven't had a burger and fries from The Burger Shack. The welcoming spot echoes the low-key, homey feel of those iconic burger joints past. The walkup counter and pennant-strewn dining room act as a backdrop for a deliciously nostalgic menu of juicy Angus burgers and Blue Bell shakes. The cooks lovingly shape each third-pound grilled-to-order burger using beef that’s never seen a freezer or even received Valentines from a snowflake. Toppings for the juicy sizzlers can include Wisconsin cheddar, Hass avocados, or crispy bacon. The shack's staff members also hand make addictive sides such as curly fries and hand-dipped shakes.

An outline of the state of Texas brands each page of Cattleguard Restaurant & Bar’s menu, paying homage to the eatery’s more than 20 years of business in the hospitable state. Chefs fire the hand-cut steaks that are Cattleguard’s specialty, but can adeptly handle a game bag's worth of meats, including buffalo, ostrich, quail, chicken, and seafood. The friendly wait staff escorts plates from the kitchen to a dining room that's decorated to resemble a saloon—although, to keep with the restaurant’s welcoming environment, the swinging doors will never hit you on the way out.

Tucked away under a flight of stairs lies a family-owned eatery where meaty sandwiches and wraps reign supreme. Yorktown Deli's chefs layer grilled chicken, fresh avocado, lettuce, tomato, and pesto in the italian chicken sandwich, which arrives fresh from the kitchen in the shape of Italy. Other sandwiches include tuna melts and the Avocado Heaven, a colorful portrait of avocado, lettuce, tomato, red pepper, and cheese. To create each of the deli's eight wraps, chefs roll meats such as grilled chicken, turkey, and salami with veggies, condiments, and cheese, and diners can wash down meals with iced coffee, lattes, and espresso.