My Top 5: The Lymbar’s Chef David Cordúa

Our My Top 5 fall series continues, highlighting Houston taste-makers, entrepreneurs and character-shapers, and asking them to reveal their own tips and favorite things to do in Houston, from inside—to way outside—the Loop, when they’re not hard at work.

This week, we’re stoked to showcase one of our homegrown H-Town favorites, Chef David Cordúa, who founded and heads up The Lymbar, a casually upscale Latin Mediterranean fusion restaurant and cocktail lounge inside The Ion, situated where Midtown meets Montrose and the Museum District.

My Top 5 Things to Do in Houston

by David Cordúa

1. Home Improvement with an Exit – Something about becoming a dad, with a second kid who just arrived, makes home improvements a different kind of satisfying, in every kind of Tim Allen cliché way. An enjoyable hardware store is essential. My favorite in recent years has been Cox Hardware and Lumber in the East End. Near Navigation on Wayside, it’s clean with helpful and friendly enough staff. The layout is clean, manageable and not trying to sell you a new fridge but just get the job done. For gardening, Buchanan’s Native Plants in the Heights on 11th is an oasis that’s equal part education on local plants that thrive and equal part inspiration. To complement the greenery, especially during any holiday, check out Craftex off Bellaire near Hillcroft. It’s a really cool place to get lost and explore possibilities.

2. Art, Design & Inspiration – For some art that can be a museum visit as much shopping, check out Art of the World on Westheimer near Shepherd. Owners Liliana Molina and Mauricio Vallejo exude pride in their curated masterpieces from Europe and Latin America. You may have seen their “security guards” staring at you through their glass walls. For more local and vintage art, as well as mid-century furniture, Reeve’s Art + Design on Taft and Fairview makes for a good treasure hunt. I was introduced to it by local Nicaraguan-born artist Vernon Caldera, whose contribution was key to The Lymbar’s design and art. Reeve’s owners, Matt and his father Paul, have created a uniquely Montrose experience.  

3. Taquerias – With Houston traffic, having a solid taqueria to pull into in every neighborhood is clutch, extra points for drive thrus. One of these is El Charro on Harrisburg—their chile verde is fire (opt for flour tortillas). Dichos off Wayside also has a drive thru with great breakfast tacos, carne asadas and sopes. Other favorites for street sized fare with multiple locations are Tacos La Bala and their cousin stores Tacos El Jaibo, with an emphasis on seafood from Tampico. For stocking the pantry at home, my most recent favorite market is H.E.B’s Mi Tienda II on E. Little York Road off 59 North. I never knew I needed 3 dozen varieties of masa in my life. I’d apprentice with their carniçero if I could, and their produce section alone is a temple to ingredients normally only found Latin American markets. It’s a total escape.

4. Immersive Art Experiences – With escape in mind there’s been a surge in immersive art experiences in Houston. We made these priority over the summer and started at Meow Wolf, on Lyons in front of the Saint Arnold brewery. You start by going down an abandoned radio station rabbit hole that makes you feel like you’re on an alien multidimensional psychedelic trip with only semi-coded instructions. It’s important to allot a solid 3 hours but it’s a strange, wonderful labyrinth. Artechouse in the Heights is another. Their current Blooming Wonders installation gave me some future shock with room after room of perfectly directed lasers, fully immersive projections and augmented reality. My favorite was a room where you hold a piece of molding foam and form it into whatever shape you want then tell an AI microphone to imagine anything or object you can think. Your molded creation then appears on screen before your eyes… “a gazelle doing yoga on a water tower”, for example. Their newest installation, Fractal Worlds, opens in October.

5. Waterfront Getaways – For a more grounded escape, I go where we can be near the water. Few people in Houston consider how close we are. Our nearest waterside destination is East River 9, a 9-hole par 3 golf course, pickle ball court, driving range on the widest part of Buffalo Bayou in the East End off Lockwood, just east of Downtown. They have live music on the weekend and solid bar with Tex-Mex at their River House restaurant and bar. Now to really get our feet wet, our favorite of late is to take I-10 East past the Houston port into La Porte for some of their beach parks. Sylvan Beach in La Porte is a nicely manicured beach with a big parking, bathrooms and playground. However, a little further down, El Jardin Beach in Pasadena offers more room to run and better swimming, in my opinion. For closing out the day with a good dive bar and a great view is O’Neals on the Water in Baytown. Catching the sunset, breeze and view of the Fred Hartman Bridge makes you wonder how you didn’t know this existed less than 30 minutes from Downtown.

“We have a big day tomorrow… Home Depot… Bed Bath & Beyond…I don’t know if we’ll have time!” — Frank the Tank

About David Cordúa

Born and raised in Houston, David Cordúa is the founder and owner of The Lymbar, a Latin-Mediterranean neighborhood craft cocktail lounge and restaurant at the Ion in Houston. He has more than 20 years of experience in the restaurant, catering, and hospitality business.

David earned Les Grand Diplômes in Cuisine and Pastry from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and a finance degree from Santa Clara University. Before returning to Houston, he worked at La Tour d’Argent, one of Paris’ oldest restaurants, Dolce Hayes Mansion Resort & Spa in San Jose, California, and at Popina Restaurant in Sonoma.

In 2007, David joined his family’s Cordúa Restaurants, working alongside his father, legendary Nicaraguan chef Michael Cordúa. In 2013, they co-wrote and published Cordúa: Foods of the Americas commemorating the family’s 25 years of Houston operations. In 2018, he hosted Houston Public Media’s nationally syndicated The Houston Cookbook show on PBS.

After leaving the restaurant group their family founded, David and his father opened a highly sought after catering company, and opened The Lymbar in late 2022.

Today, David lives with his wife Sara, and their daughters Estella Sofia and brand new arrival Anabella, in the East End—very clearly a jumping off point for exploring Greater Houston and its countless hidden treasures.

Learn more about about The Lymbar, David Cordúa and the family’s culinary legacy in Houston.

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