Midtown Article In Executive Travel

[ricco67]

concur. it's hard to believe that people would recommend mission burritos, chuy's, etc. i sure wouldn't take anyone i liked to either of these establishments.

Why? Do you eat upscale exclusively?

I agree with MM on that, if I were to take friends to good food, I'd take them to mom and pop places.

The point is, as I have mentioned on the "promote east side" thread, no one HAS to have a reason to go to any particular place as long they have enough to do in their own section of town.

Midtown, Montrose, River Oaks, W.ave, heights, etc all have great eats.

If I'm in one part of town, I go to a certain place for food.

Someone living in the galleria wouldn't go all the way to "La Mexicana" for Mexican in Montrose, when they can "settle" on whatever mexican joint is in their area.

[samagon]

Good article.

A lot of people here love to hate on Midtown, and I never understand why. This city needs neighborhoods like this. These douchebag bars and clubs actually attract college graduates and other young professionals that make up the future of this city. This is one of the few "fun" neighborhoods in what is considered by many as an "unfun" city. If you don't like it there are a ton of other neighborhoods and suburbs that you can live in, so let Midtown be what it is.

No doubt, I guess I was just saying that while the variety of tastes you can get in midtown is pretty wide, the type of establishment is pretty narrow, when the feel I got from the article was that it is diverse.

As far as places to eat go, I guess we've all got our own tastes that we cater to, and I will agree that Chuy's has gone down in quality from what I remember, but their creamy jalapeno sauce is still worth suffering through the main course. Mission Burrito though? Is it one of the best places overall to eat in town? No. Is it the best place to grab a Burrito? In my opinion, yes, better than Chipotle and Freebirds by an order of magnitude.

[brian0123]

I think our discussion has veered too far into the food aspect of the article. I posted it because, as Roadrunner states above, "A lot of people here love to hate on Midtown, and I never understand why."

To me, the more interesting aspect of it is how he touches on the history of Midtown... and where we are now. As the author states... "It’s not an artificial tourist trap". To me, that's what is so great about Midtown. It is probably one of the most "real" places in this city... and is a testament to the past and future of Houston.

From being the River Oaks of Houston at the very beginning, to degrading to run down buildings, to becoming isolated by the construction of the freeways, to the exodus of people for suburbia from those freeways, to tearing down a lot of the former mansions and selling sewage rights for development of downtown, to the barren wasteland of empty lots and homeless and drug dealers (*save for those few businesses that formed then like Specs), to the formation of a tirz, to the redevelopment of a couple blocks, to the gradual development of other blocks, then to the explosion of growth in a matter of ten years ... which has led to now a huge mixture of things to do, nice townhouses, parks, businesses, and a place you can take your kids for a stroll in the evening.

With all that said, Midtown is still growing and changing every day. People like to complain that it hasn't come far enough. We just need to keep in mind where it has come from in such a short time.