Rice University joins The Gourmet Guide

Bound for Houston, Texas, on your college road trip? Well, today Rice University joins the Gourmet Guide.  There's gulf shrimp and blue crab sandwiches, soul food, South American fusion, peach cobbler, catfish and grits (for breakfast!?!) and Nutter Butter ice cream.  Okay, we're really hungry now... Check it out... Rice University From Julie M. Browning, Dean for Undergraduate Enrollment, and Tamara Siler, Senior Associate Director of Admission at Rice University Local Foods 2424 Dunstan Road Houston, Texas Locally sourced gourmet sandwiches, salads, and prepared meals. Here's a hint of what you'll find there: Capered tuna sandwich with tomatoes, crispy onions and hard-boiled farm egg; sides of Tuscan kale with golden raisins and toasted pine nuts;  arugula salad with shrimp, cranberries, Texas honey pecans, pecorino, and lemon-thyme vinaigrette. And… draft root beer from 8th Wonder Brewery. Goode Company Barbeque Three locations in Houston: 5109 Kirby Drive 8911 Katy Freeway 20102 Northwest Freeway How do you like your barbeque? At Goode Company you'll find beef brisket, pork ribs, turkey breast, chicken, Sweet Water duck, and jalapeno pork sausage. Can't decide? Try the combo plates, BBQ po-boys or stuffed barbeque potatoes. There's also a gluten-free menu. Goode Company Seafood Two locations in Houston: 2621 Westpark Drive 10211 Katy Freeway Founder Jim Goode was born and raised along the Texas Gulf Coast. Goode Company Seafood combined his fondness for Texas roadside diners  with his love for the region's seafood -- including shell roasted oysters, campechana de mariscos, gumbo, po-boys, mesquite grilled redfish and Gulf red snapper, shrimp etouffe, and fried catfish. Goode Company Hamburgers and Taqueria 4902 Kirby Drive Houston, Texas The menu has a little bit of everything from both sides of the border -- burgers, hot dogs, mesquite grilled fajitas, crispy tacos, enchiladas, pork chops, and quail.  Sitting on the patio is a Houston tradition. Empire Café 1732 Westheimer Road Houston, Texas Stop by here for breakfast to fuel up for  your campus tour for omelets, frittatas, oatmeal, fruit pancakes or one of their egg specialties like the Parma -- two eggs on herb roasted potatoes with pancetta and fontina cheese. Don't worry. You'll walk it off. The Breakfast Klub 3711 Travis Street Houston, Texas Selected by Good Morning America as one of the four best places in America to have breakfast, brave the line to dine there.  It's worth the wait and you'll kick yourself for not having done it earlier.  Nothing brightens your morning like chicken and fluffy waffles, or catfish and grits, buttermilk biscuits, homemade cinnamon rolls, and a great cup of their special coffee.  Just a hop, skip and a jump away from Rice, and easily accessible from the light rail. This is It 2712 Blodgett Street Houston, Texas A Houston institution for years, this is the place for soul food.  From smothered chicken to mac and cheese, fried catfish to cornbread, peach cobbler to tea cakes, Craig Joseph and clan will make sure you do not leave hungry. Julia’s Bistro 3722 Main Street at West Alabama Houston, Texas Fantastic fusion cuisine with a heavy South American influence -- plantain crusted snapper, churasco cut pork tenderloin, and pollo poblano. Minutes away from Rice, along the light rail. T’afia 3701 Travis Street Houston, Texas A Monica Pope restaurant – Monica was featured on Top Chef Masters Season 2 -- this is a place which celebrates the local cuisine in inventive and unforgettable dishes.  There's a  5-course tasting menu that will let you sample plates such as razor clam soup, polenta fries, maple chilil-marinated tofu, and beet brownie sundae. Wow!