Houston's Oldest Restaurant Is A Gulf Coast Seafood Gem Serving Up 'Innovative Culinary Creations'

As the largest Texas city on the Gulf Coast, Houston is a remarkable place that's well worth visiting. However, while this city has plenty of attractions, it's really the food that draws visitors from all corners of the globe. In fact, in 2024, Houston was one of several Texas cities earning its first-ever Michelin Star.

But it's not just Michelin-level food being served at Houston-area restaurants. One of the most well-known and revered spots is a top-notch soul food restaurant, voted one of "America's best eateries."

For this culinary expedition, though, we're going back in time. Not literally, but we'll be visiting the oldest operating restaurant in Houston. When it opened, World War I was still raging, and the city's population was just around 100,000, which is a fraction of the 6.7 million that live in the greater Houston Metro area today. Yes, Christie's Seafood and Steaks has seen a lot in over 100 years, and we're about to find out why it's stayed so popular for so long.

If you visit Christie's today, you may wonder whether the building or the business inside has been open for over a century. Technically speaking, the location on Westheimer Road only opened as recently as 1965. However, Christie's restaurant has been serving Texas residents and visitors since 1917 (just not always in Houston).

The story begins with a Greek immigrant named Theodosios Christofidis. Upon arriving in America, Theodosios decided to Americanize his name and changed it to Theodore Christie. After a brief stint as a court reporter in New York, Christie found his true passion: Food service. He moved to Galveston and opened a small sandwich shop at the Tremont Hotel. His specialty? Fried fish po-boys.

Although business boomed in Galveston, Houston was a much bigger market. On the advice of a friend, Christie moved his restaurant to the city in 1934. Over the years, he would open multiple locations, although only one still survives to this day. But the family that runs Christie's is not the descendant of the original owner. Instead, they're related to James Priovolos, the man who bought Christie's restaurants in 1967 and adopted the name to ensure the pioneer's legacy.

Christie's Seafood and Steaks sits in West Houston, just a few minutes west of where Highways 69 and 610 intersect. If you head west on Westheimer Road, you can't miss it, thanks to its eye-popping blue and white exterior, lighthouse-style design, and the brilliant red neon sign out front.

As far as what to get when visiting, that's another story. If you're a seafood lover, you'd be hard-pressed to find something you don't like on Christie's extensive menu. Even just browsing the appetizers can make your mouth water, with dishes like Texas fried oysters, oysters Rockefeller (or Thermidor), and fried crab fingers. However, you have to get the OG dish that started it all, the 1917 fish sandwich. You can get it blackened, grilled, or fried, and the recipe is still the same as it has been for the last century.

Once you've stuffed your face with the best Gulf seafood around (although don't ignore their delectable and juicy steaks, either), you can check out the rest of Houston. Or, if you'd prefer to see the ocean and feel the spray of the sea, you can head over to one of the most charming beach towns in America, Galveston. After all, that's where Theodosios Christofidis got his start and where Christie's was really born.