Hugo's offers modern twist on Mexican cuisine for Houston Restaurant Weeks

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Hugo's in Houston's Montrose area has been serving up a modern twist on Mexican cuisine since it open on Westheimer in 2002.

Namesake Executive Chef Hugo Ortega has become the anchor of the ever evolving menu.

His ingenuity weaves into the multiple menus being offered as part of Houston Restaurant Weeks.

Hugo's enters its fifth year supporting the HRW's cause for the Houston Food Bank.

The restaurant's special menu attracts tastes of any kind, whether you're a herbivore or meat-lover.

On this particular visit, one of Chef Hugo's top lieutenants, Pastry Chef Ruben Ortega, introduced a lineup that was worthy of a photo studio.

Combining the floral nature of fruit and the freshness of ceviche, Ceviche de Fruta affords a diner the chance to treat his or her palette.

The "amuse bouche" option on the lunch menu gives some spiciness to the pieces of papaya, orange, mango and peach. The dish was conceived with the lightness that summer brings to Houston's outdoors, according to Chef Ruben.

If you're looking for the traditional seafood ingredients that would be found in ceviche, Hugo's HRW dinner menu boasts Coctel a la Campechana, or seafood cocktail.

Continuing the floral theme of Hugo's HRW options, the cocktail includes snapper, oysters, shrimp and octopus. The dish also comes with little flower blooms, which Chef Ruben insists are edible. You can find this under the "Street Foods of Mexico" dinner menu.

For the main course, Cachetes de Res was brought out, boasting braised beef cheeks, a carrot-based puree and wild greens tamale. The tenderness of the beef is worth a repeat ordering.

For desert, corn flan is an offering under the lunch menu. It features an unheard of combination of guava and corn.

Put together, diners can expect a flavorful tour of Oaxaca cuisine under Chef Hugo's guise.

It also doesn't hurt that Hugo's offers wine and beer pairings with each item, which adds additional proceeds to HRW's cause.

Check out Hugo's Houston Restaurant Weeks options at this website.

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