Houston Restaurant Weeks Are An Opportunity To Give Back

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, TX — Montgomery County residents will have the opportunity to eat great food for a better cause during the month of August as part of Houston Restaurant Weeks.

The event, founded by the late Houston journalist and foodie icon Cleverley Stone, is a fundraiser for Houston Food Bank and its partner distribution organizations, including Montgomery County Food Bank. The fundraiser will run from Aug. 1 to Sept. 6 and feature restaurants from all over Greater Houston. Participating restaurants and promotional menus were revealed starting on July 15, and more will be added before the event starts.

So far, 15 Montgomery County restaurants are listed as participants.

Participating restaurants offer Restaurant Weeks menus for different meals that allow customers to choose between various options for multiple courses, such as appetizers, entrees and desserts. On Houston Restaurant Weeks menus, lunch and brunch will cost $20, while dinner will cost either $35 or $49, depending on the restaurant’s offerings.

For every lunch or brunch ordered, $1 will be donated to Houston Food Bank. The less expensive dinner option will mean a $3 donation; the more expensive option will see $5 go to the local food bank network.

The annual fundraiser has raised more than $16.6 million for Houston Food Bank and its partners since 2003, helping to distribute approximately 49.8 million meals to food insecure people in Greater Houston, according to the Houston Restaurant Weeks website.

Related: Food Bank Distribution Skyrockets In, Near Houston

That need is more important than ever as the COVID-19 pandemic reversed long-declining food insecurity rates throughout the United States, according to data from Feeding America. An estimated 15.3 percent of Montgomery County residents were food insecure in 2021, which is up from 12.3 percent in 2019. In Harris County, the estimated 2021 food insecurity rate is 17 percent, up from 13.9 percent in 2019.

Montgomery County residents can help people dealing with food insecurity in their own back yard during Houston Restaurant Weeks. Donations from participating Montgomery County restaurants will go to the Montgomery County Food Bank, according to MCFB spokesperson Tyler Odom.

"We are sure this month-long fundraiser will make a huge impact in our community,” Odom said in a statement. “Every dollar donated to MCFB provides five meals to children, senior citizens and families in need in Montgomery County.”

Montgomery County Food Bank quantifies one meal as 1.2 pounds of nutritious food distributed, Odom said.

Two Montgomery County restaurants were among the first to reveal their participation on the Houston Restaurant Weeks website, Fielding’s Wood Grill and Fielding’s Local Kitchen & Bar in The Woodlands. Both restaurants, which are owned by Fielding’s Culinary Group, have participated in Restaurant Weeks since it started: Wood Grill in 2013 and Local Kitchen & Bar in 2015.

Fielding’s Culinary Group co-founder and CEO Cary Attar said the two eateries survived the hardest year for restaurants in his 44 years in the business. “I’ve never seen anything like what happened with COVID,” he added. Attar is seeing a steady rebound in 2021 and expected Restaurant Weeks to help continue that, he said.

The biggest benefit of participating for the restaurants themselves is marketing and goodwill from the community as rising expenses and food bank donations shrink or even erase profit margins on Restaurant Weeks purchases, Attar said.

“We’re a small business in The Woodlands. We want to be a part of and help the community,” he said. “People want to help other people. I’ve been across the country, and I haven’t met more supportive, kind and caring people [than in Houston and The Woodlands]. When they see us helping others, they want to come in and support us. I’d say it’s a significant impact.”

This year’s menus, curated by co-founder and Executive Chef Edel Goncalves, are dinner only, with Fielding’s Wood Grill at the $35 price point and Local Kitchen & Bar at $49. Takeout options are available for Houston Restaurant Weeks orders, Attar said.

In 2020, Restaurant Weeks put a heavy emphasis on takeout and curbside delivery, with many restaurant lobbies closed or open only with limited capacity because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many restaurants opted to keep those options available to customers this year, with some even creating additional takeout-specific menus for customers.

Katie Stone, volunteer chair of Houston Restaurant Weeks and daughter of Cleverley Stone, said that takeout opened doors for restaurants that would normally not be involved in the event, which was previously geared primarily toward high-end dining. She heard from participating restaurant owners in 2020 that the decision to pivot toward takeout and curbside for Houston Restaurant Weeks contributed to more people going to restaurants last fall, she added.

“I think it was a pretty obvious move to go to curbside,” Katie Stone said. “It’s a permanent way of life now for all restaurants.

“I think this experience showed everybody how important it is to stick together and keep everybody moving forward," she added. "I think everyone appreciated last year’s HRW, and the excitement for this year is off the charts.”

As of Friday, more than 150 restaurants in Greater Houston — ranging from Conroe to Galveston — are participating in Houston Restaurant Weeks. The full list of restaurants and menus, with options to filter for location and cuisine, is available at the Houston Restaurant Weeks website.

Here are the participating restaurants in Montgomery County.

*reservation required

Conroe

• Saltgrass — 810 Interstate 45 North.
• Thai Cottage — 3105 College Park Drive.

Shenandoah

• Avenida Brazil Churrascaria Steakhouse* — 1400 Research Forest Drive.
• Johnny’s Italian Steakhouse — 19333 David Memorial Drive.
• Saltgrass — 19533 Interstate 45 South.

Spring

• Common Bond Bistro & Bakery — 1700 City Plaza Drive.

The Woodlands

• Amerigo’s Grille — 25250 Grogan's Park Drive.
• Cyclone Anaya’s Tex-Mex Kitchen — 20 Waterway Ave., Suite 120.
• Del Frisco’s Grille — 1900 Hughes Landing Blvd., Suite 500.
• Fielding’s Local Kitchen & Bar — 26400 Kuykendahl Road.
• Fielding’s Wood Grill — 1699 Research Forest Drive.
• Landry’s Seafood House — 1212 Lake Robbins Drive.
• Morton’s Grille — 25 Waterway Ave.
• Peli Peli South African Kitchen — 1201 Lake Woodlands Drive.
• TRIS — 24 Waterway Ave., Suite 125.

Patch has partnered with Feeding America to help raise awareness on behalf of the millions of Americans facing hunger. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks across the country, estimates that in 2021 about 42 million Americans may not have enough nutritious food to eat due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations. Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.