Houston Press Menu Of Menus Extravaganza

This event is always a winner! I look forward to it every year. Last year was a lot more fun, though, because the DJ played non-​stop & the food lines moved quickly. This year, the DJ played in-​between the talking going on inside at the Top Chef competition. I guess they wanted the people outside to hear. But, if I’m outside, then I want to hear music. Anyway, the food & spirits never disappoint. Great event! Can’t wait for next year.

Warning, if you don’t eat much and/​or a light weight, then this event may not be for you. However, if you like variety and can pack it in and down those beverages, then I think this is a fairly worthwhile event. I am not sure about the original $ 50 price tag but if you can snag discounted tickets, I say do it!
Once allowed entry, you are provided a coin to vote for your favorite restaurant, a small drinking glass and cardboard box; yes it is a bit flimsy but it personally helped me to carry the gluttonous pile of samples/​used it to catch my food! Then, you enter this huge warehouse (or hallway) filled with vendors, mostly food and beverage, but Pinot’s Pallet, the Gables, BMW and Über were also spotted. Entertainment was also provided by the Iron Fork competition where Chef Kevin and Chef Randy where battling head to head with the secret ingredient of peppers.
There was so much going on that it can be a bit overwhelming for some, but I enjoyed the full experience! There was AYCE Hawaiian, BBQ, Mexican, Latin, Italian, Asian, Mediterranean, and New American/​South American foods, but my favorites were the AYCE sweets. Yes, sweet lovers rejoice, from Shipley donuts, Ice Cream from Fat Cat and Honey Child, Crepes from Coco, and not really a «sweet» but I loved how you could even try raw honey, like comb and all! Pretty much if you craved it, they had it, and my favorites were:
–The Tasting Room: Yummy pulled pork with a BBQ type sauce and crispy plantains
–Maine-​ly Sandwiches: I felt like this was even better than when I had it at their restaurant, a surprisingly generous portion of lobster with their always delicious buttery bread. The whoopie pie was just aite.
–Radio Milano: The winner of Houston Press 2015’s best restaurant for their super tender veal cheeks and perfectly cooked risotto.
–Prestige Oyster’s Incorporated: HOLY MOTHER, these oyster’s were HUGE, like each one was nearly the size of a person’s hand, not mine though since they are kinda big. Anyways, these were super plump, juicy, and milky and didn’t have that sea salt grossness of the Gulf. Honestly, if you ate a butt ton of these you would already get your money’s worth!
Overall, I enjoyed my time here and can’t wait for 2016 but my one suggestion would be to please make water more accessible next year; Topo Chico wasn’t bad but the bubbliness was making me full, and hampering my gluttony, THANKS!

Finally, made it out this year for the gluttony fest. I got my ticket during the early bird special for $ 40. It was worth every penny. The venue location was great– AC, roomy, clean. The event is from 7−10pm. Come an hour early so that you can be in the front of the line so you can maximize the 3 hours that you have to engorge yourself. You can buy the VIP ticket for an extra $ 40 to get in an hour early and free valet. If you have the regular ticket, no worries… They won’t run out of food and drinks. You will leave stuffed and satisfied. There were some great vendors. They give you a coin to give out to your favorite vendor. That was hard because I had so many favorites. The vendors are listed on the website. They give you big portion samples and you can go back as many times as you like. Also, lots of adult beverages– beer and wine. The lines at the vendors aren’t bad. The longest I had to wait was 10 min. Eat while you stand in line and you’ll be fine. They give you a cardboard box tray to put your small plates in. The only reason why I’m knocking a star of this review. The tray is flimsy and a few times it warped and I could of had a major food disaster. Ladies, bring a hands free messenger style purse, you need to be hands free at this event so you can balance your flimsy tray while stuffing your face. Also dress comfortably, there’s lots of walking and standing. Leave the stilettos at home. There’s also the Iron Fork competition, but honestly I wasn’t paying too much attention to it. All-​in-​all, this is a great event for all you foodies. I’ll definitely be back next year.

I appreciated the opportunity to try food from different restaurants, but I felt like the ticket for this event was overpriced for what I actually got. In order to get any food, I had to wait in very long lines for each vendor (most of which served very small portions). The venu was very overcrowded, so people were constantly pushing their way past those in line. There was nowhere to sit, and there weren’t any standing tables either to rest food/​drinks on. The music was loud and jarring. I would not recommend this event to friends unless they sell fewer tickets and/​or decrease the price drastically.

This is my Christmas! Fun great time to try something new around Houston. Get in line early. VIP not really worth it if you show up in comfortable shoes to wait. Very few places run out before you try.

Buy the VIP package if you are gonna go, or you will miss out on everything! Tried it all, loved most. This is just a great event.

Had a great time at MoM cant wait to go back next year and bring more people! Every Houstonian needs to experience this event! Too much fun.

OMG… my first Menu of Menus experience! Yes, wipe that shocked look off your face because this foodie took forever to know about this. But later is better than never… =P
The event this year was sponsored by Whole Foods and the money raised went to a charity that helped feed kids (I forget what the program is called — oops). My friends all bought the VIP pass so I followed suit. Glad I did because you get to go into the venue early and start to eat and drink your heart okay.
Real quick run down on how Menu of Menus work: a bunch of restaurants and alcohol vendors are lined up and they serve their best items in hopes for your vote that they’re the «Best Restaurant» of the year. You get to sample as much or as little as you’d like. I’ve sampled burgers, skewers, boar chili frito pie, pâté (yum), and many, many more. Unfortunately, they didn’t have Indian food there for me to sample. However, the place was packed (especially after general admission came in) and food started to run out.
This year, I wasn’t able to try Nikos Nikos because they only brought their desserts (and trust me… it was a mountain full of desserts). I gave up sweets for lent and I know to never do that again if I am going to attend Menu of Menus! However, Katz’s coffee was there and they had amazing coffee :)
Overall a really good event. I stayed till the end and even got a Whole Foods bag! To me, it was definitely worth paying extra for the VIP ticket and I’m going to do it again next year. I can’t wait!

Such a fun event! I can’t wait till next year. My biggest recommendation would be to come early, and come with an empty stomach. The event takes place in an air conditioned facility, and some vendors outside, with not many places to sit, but that’s ok. You won’t want to sit, because of the vast amount of restaurants you’ll want to try out. There are offerings of full sized glasses of wines, shots, mixed drinks, and nice sized portions of food from good quality restaurants. Some taste better than others, but with anything it all depends on personal taste.

The experience is one that you should not pass up on. If you enjoy different types of food and being around so many different people, this is the thing to do. Plenty of alcohol to enjoy, nice music playing throughout as well. Even better than last year due to better air circulation, two thumbs up to menu of menus.

While I love the concept of Menu of Menus, there is a lot more room for improvement.
LIKED:
1. Silver Street Station was well air conditioned (for the most part). I guess Houston Press heard all the complaints about how hot it was last year because they did something to make the venue as cool as it can be. Personally, I think we should all thank Mother Nature for the cool air last night because after the General Admission folks started to come in, the warehouse warmed up significantly, albeit I’m sure not as horribly as last year.
2. The VIP option. I will forever pay an extra $ 30 for VIP tickets because you get the benefits of early entrance and free valet.
3. Unlimited beer and wine. ’nuff said.
HATED:
1. Everything was completely unorganized from the valet to the (lack of) lines at the booths.
2. It was too crowded. I feel as if Houston Press wanted to get as many vendors to participate as possible without thinking about the consequence of overcrowding the space. Having lots of vendors is great and makes your money worth it but at the same time, it gets old real fast when you’re sandwiched between over 500+ people and booths after booths with no room to breathe and TWO exits only.
3. Food quality. Sure, the portions were nice and plenty but the quality of most of the food was quite sub par. I know I wasn’t the only one who would take a bite and throw the rest of the plate away… and it wasn’t because I was trying to save room in my stomach but because mostly everything I tried was either too cold, too salty, too sweet, or flat out disgusting.
3. Only ONE wine/​beer booth that offered Moscato? Get outta here.
In the end, I left full. (I was lucky to find a few restaurants that were offering some great food that I truly loved.) I think I’m going to try Menu of Menus again next year, but I pray that Houston Press gets better vendors… and a lesson in organizing.

It was a freakin’ zoo. Period. A cattle feed lot. Thousands of souls packed into a few thousand square feet. The lines were crazy long, it was sweltering hot, and some of the vendors ran out of food while I was in line.
They totally — and I mean TOTALLY — oversold this event. This looked to be designed for a crowd about ¼ the size of the crowd that actually showed up. And we paid 35.00 /​ticket, I have no idea what we paid for. Not at all worth it and we won’t be going again.
Some of the booths did well and served an adequate sampling of food but many did not. Many were just harried and overworked and looked as though they, like me, would rather be somewhere else, ANYWHERE but where they were.
We left at 8:15; it was already like a sauna due to the large crowd, I can’t imagine anyone staying until 10:00. Plus running out of food. The only booth that looked like it had plenty of food was Dunkin’ Donuts lol.
Among the better people and food were Sylvia’s, Boudreaux’s, and Gatlins BBQ. They earned my business.

This is probably more of a thee and a half star thing, but I guess I’m feeling generous. This is my second year coming. I believe last year was a much better experience. The crowds this year were crazy making. The worst part is the place had essentially no air conditioning or exhaust fans so we were all baking in a sauna. It was kind of misery making. We left earlier than we would because of it. I was pouring water down my shirt and stuffing ice down my bra. Thank the gods I was wearing a black shirt. I was very grateful for the ice cold drinks. As far as the food, it was all great. Didn’t get to try everything due to some of the lines, and a few vendors under-​planned and ran out of stuff early. I love all the drink vendors too. I have definitely found some new alcohol to pick up at specs soon. I was also disappointed in the lack of veggie options this year as compared to last year. My beau was basically relegated to a salad and the desserts as far as food options. This would have been a good place for restaurants to show how tasty veggies can be. For if nothing else people could just use more of them in their diet. Overall, still had a great time. Just had a few kinks. But please next year turn on the air!!!

Let me just start with this: I will definitely attend next year’s Extravaganza! Let me note that I will come more prepared, wearing shorts and a tube top.
The food and vendors were excellent and friendly, and it was a great opportunity to try a bunch of restaurants that I haven’t been to before (and some that I have). Not all the vendors were competing, which made it more interesting, I think. I learned about a really cool co-​op; discovered a travel-​friendly low-​sodium, msg-​free, etc. soy sauce; tried some new Deep Eddy’s flavors; and much more. Some of the restaurants served what I considered to be random dishes (just dessert at Triniti was weird since that’s not what they’re known for, and just ice cream at Eatsie Boys was also weird for the same reason… could have been presented in addition to something else, like some of the other restaurants did), but most of the portions were a good size and representative of the restaurants.
I concur that it was too damn hot in there. It looked like we all came from a pool party by the end of the night, and not in a good way. The poor vendors had to serve hot food wearing multiple layers or long sleeves, so I really felt bad for them. The lines were confusing as well. While not impossible to figure out, it would be nice to have a roped off area for a line for each vendor. The parking situation was terrible because, as C.A. had mentioned, this isn’t a parking-​friendly area. We did manage to find a nice secret alley way to park in, but I don’t know that we were actually supposed to park there. Waiting for valet took too long.
All in all, I think it’s a great concept and I’m sure they’ll improve the logistics next year. Hopefully we’ll get to at least half the vendors then (23 ain’t bad though…)!

Yesterday evening was really great! This is my second year to attend as a VIP guest, and the added price is well worth it. The Silver Street location is great and has plenty of space. The bars and available libations are plenty; more seem to be added each year. The ability to enjoy at least 40 different restaurants is well worth it. I just need to learn to pace myself because I fill up inside of an hour. I’ll try to remain present and hungry until the Iron Fork Competition begins.
See ya’ next year!
BTW: Please continue to work on the temperature…

This was our first year attending this event, as well as the last. I’ve been to similar events throughout the city and this one does not compare. Parking is a mess of parallel parking in a random neighborhood where there is barely any room to drive because those streets aren’t made for parking. We walked into the venue and the heat just over-​took us. Looking around all you saw were people sweating and fanning themselves. There wasn’t much organization to the event so you never knew where to get into line. The most disappointing part of the event was the fact that the vendors were running out of food pretty early on. We got there 15 minutes after general admission opened up (7:15) and there were vendors already out of food. This didn’t get better throughout the night. We left at about 8:30 and it looked like half of the vendors were out of food and the event didn’t close down until 10. I bought my tickets on a discount site, so grateful I did not pay full price. But even with the discounted price, I do not feel like I got my monies worth. I walked out just as hungry as I walked in, but just a whole lot sweatier.