At the top of each week we feature an enterprising Houstonian in My Top 5 and get them to share their own local favorites. This week, we’re pleased to feature Aaron Lyons, founder of Dish Society in Katy and near the Galleria, who shares his five favorite places to go in Houston.
My Top 5 Things to Do in Houston
by Aaron Lyons
- Eastside Urban Harvest Farmers Market – I started hitting the Eastside Farmers Market when I moved to Houston prior to opening the first Dish Society. It’s really where I established a lot of our relationships with our vendors. I like going earlier in the morning before it gets too crowded and hot. I’ll push my one year old son around in the stroller. He loves touching everything. I like meeting with existing and new vendors and sampling new seasonal stuff. I don’t think most people realize how far some of these folks travel to sell their goods every week. It’s cool to hear everyone’s story. I like doing business with people like that. Tyler Horn, market manager for Eastside, does a great job.
- Whole Foods on Post Oak – In addition to the weekly family grocery trip, I love using the upstairs seating area to knock out emails, interview folks, and just get out of the restaurant in general. I love the design elements and natural light. I’m a lot more productive outside of the restaurant, so I grab a kale smoothie, put on my headphones and head upstairs to get stuff done.
- Blacksmith – Blacksmith is another great place to have meetings and get things done outside of the restaurant. We started working with David Buehrer and his awesome team prior to opening our first store. We use Greenway for all of our coffee and tea. We send our baristas there to stage and it’s just a really cool place. The food and wifi can keep me parked there for hours.
- Torchy’s Tacos – Our Katy store is right next to Torchy’s. I used to go to the original taco truck in Austin while I was in college so I’ve always been a fan. I pretty much ate there every day during the construction and pre-opening of our Katy store, and find myself getting the Trailer Park “Trashy” more often than I probably should. I’m going to be in trouble when Bernie’s Burger Bus opens across from us as well in the fall. Maybe more Kale smoothies will balance it out!
- Ginza Sushi – My wife and I love going to grab sushi at Ginza. It’s in our neighborhood and the owners and staff are awesome. It’s really comfortable and you will always see someone you know when you’re there. It’s very un-pretentious and very good. Go for the Ginza and fiesta rolls.
About Aaron Lyons
Aaron is the Founder of Dish Society – a casual farm to table restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch, dinner and brunch with locations in the Galleria area and Katy, and plans for more. He and his wife Stefanie moved to Houston from Austin in 2012 to launch the restaurant even though neither had experience in the industry. He is a proud father and Longhorn sports fanatic (which is a sore subject right now). Aaron currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Greater Houston Restaurant Association and Texas Restaurant Association’s Education Foundation. He holds an MBA from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas, and also a BS with Honors from UT.
