LOCAL Houston | The City Guide OCTOBER 2015 | Page 22

OPEN
SOUTHERN GOODS
Cuisine: Southern
Executive Chef/Owner: Lyle Bento
632 W. 19th St. | Tel: [phone] | www.southerngoodshouston.com
Mon–Thu, 5pm–12am; Fri, 5pm–2am; Sat, 11am–2am; Sun, 11am–10pm
Southern Goods is a lot like your favorite pair of well-worn jeans. Stepping through the glass
doors for the first time, the one-room restaurant and bar feels comfortable. Its personality –
from the playlist, to the decor (stripped brick walls, wooden picnic tables and metal chairs)
– is easygoing, laid-back. It just fits. You can picture yourself grabbing a beer at the bar,
noshing on snacks like the crispy pig cracklins or grubbing on a pimento cheese sandwich.
And while the ambiance is definitely a big plus, it’s the food that will keep you coming back.
Start, like we did, with the crazy good, finger lickin’ “Pig Wings,” just one of the many dishes that had us hooked on Lyle Bento’s menu. Bento’s last post was as sous chef at
Underbelly, and he’s recruited other former Underbelly mates, Patrick Feges and JD
Woodward, to round out his kitchen team. What that means is you can get everything from
a killer cheese fondue to the delicate and oh-so-right melted brie wrapped in crispy phyllo
dough, topped with green tomato and peach salad.
Feges’ “Burnt Ends” is a hunk of beef belly that arrives black and charred, with a smokysweet caramelized crust that takes the classic barbecue beef rib to another level. For dessert,
get the Bourbon Balls. Doughy and boozy, these maple-tinged rounds epitomize what

Southern Goods is all about: “We’re not doing anything
groundbreaking here,” says Bento. “We just want to be a
neighborhood restaurant where you can go for awesome
food every day.”

By Mai Pham|www.luxurytravel.about.com/od/Contributors/fl/Mai-Pham-Femme-Foodie-Biography.htm

POUR SOCIETY
Cuisine: Gastropub
Chefsr: Greg Lowry and Matt Lovelace
947 North Gessner, Suite B190 | 832.831.0950 | www.poursocietyhouston.com
Mon–Thurs, 11am–2pm and 5–9:30pm | Fri–Sat 11am–2:30pm and 5–10:30pm |
Sun 11am–5pm (brunch until 3pm)
Pour Society, the new American gastropub concept by celebrity chef Bradley
Ogden’s group located in the Gateway Memorial Complex in Memorial City, is
big and beautiful. Flat screen TVs hang on every single wall. There is ample seating for groups and singles (including a gorgeous bar). The design is Texan chic all
the way, with lots of natural wood and gray metal, round metal chandeliers and
a mural of a Texas cowboy.
In other words, it’s the perfect down-home, after-work watering hole, starting with
the 30+ selection of craft beers and craft cocktails on tap, and the affordable wine
list where a glass of red sets you back a mere $5.50. What makes this place a
must-hit, go-to spot, though, is the crazy-good food by chefs Greg Lowry and Matt
Lovelace. They came up with simple menu – starters, salads, sandwiches, entrées
– everything sounding so great that you kind of go a bit crazy.
Because that’s exactly what I did. Barbecue wings? Okay. Picnic platter with cornbread and liver mousse, and house-made sausage? I’m down. Mac and cheese
so thick and gooey and rich you absolutely need to wash it down with a beer?
Hell, yes. And then there’s the Pour K Burger, a blow-your-mind hunk of perfect

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| october 15

craftsmanship made with a Black Hill Farms ground beef cheek patty,
topped with house-made bacon, pimento cheese and all the regular
fixin’s on a chili-cheddar bun. Insane. Seriously, it’s all good, right
down to the TV dinner that changes nightly. Think Salisbury steak or
meatloaf served up on a metal plate, with a side of potatoes, veggies and a brownie – now, that sounds like a plan, doesn’t it?