790. Houston's Art Museums

Where: Houston, Texas
When: January 10, 2014
With: Dave, Lazar and Patricia

When our good friend Lazar said he was moving to Houston, we knew we'd have to make it down to visit him. When he told us his wife, Patricia, who has been living in Vietnam for work, would be visiting him in early January, we booked our flights almost immediately. These were two of our closest friends while we were living in London, and the thought of easily seeing them both again for the first time since July was just too good to pass up.

It would be my first time in Houston (at least, my first time leaving the airport). And my initial impression of this city gave rise to thoughts of oil and cowboys and highways. But when I cracked open the Book to research what I could check off while there, I was surprised to see....art museums. Apparently, Houston is a bit of a hub, with three museums listed. (That doesn't mean there aren't still lots of highways: we got firsthand exposure after blowing out a tire on one of the largest freeways in the city.)

Anyway, the great thing about Patricia and Lazar is that they're usually up for anything. And since Houston is a new city for them too, they were open to all ideas. When I said I wanted to hit up a museum, they were down. The museum we selected of the few listed in my book? The Menil Collection. 

As the name indicates, this museum features a collection of artwork owned by John and Dominique de Menil. The collection covers quite a range, from paintings by Warhol and Picasso to African tribal masks to Greek statues. My personal favorite was a collection of artifacts that served as the inspiration for surrealist artists like Dali. When you entered the small room, creepy, dream-like masks hung on the walls and strange mannequins lingered about. You actually felt like you were inside a surrealist painting. 

Not my photo, sadly. 

The building itself was a modern work of art, and all about the grounds, there were sculptures.

This reflecting pool, called The Broken Obelisk, was built in memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. 

The area surrounding the main building is called the "campus" and one of the most famous buildings "on-campus" is the Rothko Chapel. Commissioned by the Menils to build a non-denominational church, Mark Rothko created this 8 sided chapel as a place for people to worship any religion they'd like. On the walls, Rothko painted 14 large canvases, in hues of black, merging art and the meditative spirit.  The inside was quiet and peaceful, and it contained the scriptures of all the major religions, available for anyone to borrow. Its intent to be a spiritual haven was emphasized to us by a  lone man sitting on his own, reflecting and meditating. 

 The museum was enjoyable, but fairly small (understandable as it's someone's personal art collection). I think the reason the Book includes it is that it's one of the largest of its kind available to the public, but unless you're a true art lover, I think it is more of a "nice thing to do in Houston" rather than as a stand-alone must-see place. Having said that, I've also included below some of the other things we did over our weekend to show more of what Houston has to offer. 

 Houston is an interesting place. While having been around for almost 200 years, it feels as though it's only just coming into its own. The city itself is spread out across a pretty wide area (necessitating the many highways to connect it all together). However, the downtown is made up of a sharp and sudden clump of tall buildings that seem to rise up out of nowhere. We explored this area the best way we knew how: by having a bar crawl.

Most of the streets of downtown Houston are actually quite barren, a buzzing business district that just dies on the weekends. We had to wander quite a bit through the area to find anything at all that was open, let alone a place to grab a drink. 

However, we eventually found the Preston Station section of Houston, which is becoming the hotspot for bars and restaurants. 


The first place we stopped at was hysterical, called Duke of Hollywood Tailors. This place doubled as a tailor shop and a bar, with the bartender serving his patrons an ice cold beer before heading into the back to hem their pants. We ordered a few drinks, mused about what we could have stitched for the hell of it, but then headed up to the second floor terrace to enjoy some Texan sun. 

 The next place we went to was La Carafe, believed to be the oldest bar in all of Houston. We sat out on the sidewalk, still enjoying the sun, and taking in the scene. 

Eventually, we found our way to the Main Street Corrider, a line of bars and pubs situated right by the University of Houston-Downtown. We stopped in a few places, all proudly serving local microbrews and each with their own vibe. 

Sadly, we didn't have time to really explore the Main Street for too long because we had to get going to explore another side of Houston: the food scene. Tex-Mex is the food of choice in this area, and the restaurant we went to, The Original Ninfa's, did not disappoint. In fact, I wish it had disappointed a bit more: I was starving by the time we got there, and had no self-control when the table was presented with a giant bowl of queso. After wolfing down probably a quart of queso, coupled with my dinner of tacos and fajitas, I nearly became sick I was so full. There was a lot of pacing necessary to get me through the rest of the night and everyone was forbidden to say the "q" word in my presence. 

While the Tex-Mex was amazing, another great restaurant we ate at showcased some great Southern food. The Breakfast Klub is a brunch staple in Houston, marked by the incredibly long line of patrons waiting to get in that weaves through the parking lot all morning long. Serving incredible home-style breakfast foods like grits, chicken & waffles, and katfish & kornbread (real spelling on the menu), this place likes to make everyone feel like a member of their family. The manager came up to chat with us while we were eating, and when asked what makes his food so good, he responded "a whole lotta love" in a deep, southern drawl. Everyone there was so incredibly friendly, it really did make the food taste better. The piping hot cauldron of syrup that sits beside the coffee didn't hurt either.

All in all, we had a great time in Houston. The art scene was unexpected, but definitely something fun to do. The city is growing, and I expect will be changing rapidly in the coming years. I'm excited to come back, watch it evolve, explore more museums and eat more Tex-Mex. But most of all, visit Patricia and Lazar again.