Hugo Ortega, the James Beard Award-winning chef behind Hugo's, built Xochi around the cooking of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. The dining room sits on the ground floor of the Marriott Marquis, sleek and modern but lit up with colorful Mexican folk art, with a glass wall facing the lawns of Discovery Green. The kitchen grinds its own masas from several colors of corn, makes its own chocolate and quesillo, the Oaxacan string cheese wound into balls, and keeps a lineup of moles that can anchor a meal on their own. Build dinner around a mole, add something on the colored-corn masa, and finish with a dessert made from the house chocolate. It suits a convention-week business dinner as easily as a birthday.
What to expect
- The room is airy and modern; the bar is a good seat for a quicker meal.
- Valet is available; reviewers say it and nearby lots are pricey.
- Courses sometimes arrive all at once; ask your server to pace them.
What to order
- A mole from the house selection
- Dishes on house-made colored-corn masa
- Quesillo
- Dessert made with house chocolate
- Hugo OrtegaChef
- H Town Restaurant GroupGroup
- Ground floor, Marriott Marquis HoustonSetting
- 2017Since