The Best Second Date Ideas in Houston

Share Basque-inspired dishes cooked over live fire at Baso in The Heights, where the menu changes often and many ingredients come from Texas. Grill embers glow beside the small banquettes, with dishes like red deer tartare and tuna crudo made for the table.

Plan on about 2 hours for a table of two. Reserve the kitchen counter, or walk up to the bar, which takes walk-ins first come, first served. Baso is open Sunday through Thursday from 4pm to 10pm and Friday and Saturday from 4pm to 11pm, closed Mondays.

Hugo's serves regional Mexican cooking inside a 1925 building in Montrose, with chandeliers overhead and dishes like pulpo al carbón, slow-roasted lamb barbacoa and handmade blue-corn tortillas.

Margaritas are shaken tableside, and many of the regional dishes work well for sharing.

Settle in for the nine-course tasting menu at Tatemó in Spring Branch, where the cooking centers on maize grown by small farmers in Mexico. The changing menu has included tostada de tuna, sope de barbacoa and grilled duck with mole negro, served in a small candlelit dining room.

Tatemó is open Wednesday through Saturday evenings. Tables are by reservation only through Tock, and spots are released a few weeks ahead and go quickly.

Dinner at Bludorn in Montrose often starts with complimentary Champagne. Chef Aaron Bludorn's New American menu draws on French influences and changes with the seasons, alongside global wines and handcrafted cocktails.

Start with the smoked oysters topped with caviar and finish with the chocolate tart with shaved truffle. Book through the Reservations page on the website.

Book a tasting-menu dinner at March in Montrose, where each season focuses on a different Mediterranean culture, with Portugal featured this season. A seven-course sample menu is available with drink pairings, and an elevator takes you to a lounge for snacks.

March is open Tuesday through Saturday from 5:30pm to 9:30pm, and reservations are required.

Claim a lamplit booth or the broad balcony over Main Street at Captain Foxheart's Bad News Bar, a cocktail bar upstairs in a historic building downtown. The cocktail menu changes seasonally, and the spirit list runs long on mezcals, amaros, and absinthes.

A line often forms outside the blacked-out door. The bar is open Monday through Saturday from 5pm to 2am.

Getting to Bandista is part of the experience: a guide leads you through the Four Seasons downtown to a bookcase that opens into the 20-seat bar and lounge. Inside, an eight-seat bar, vintage barware and rare spirits nod to Prohibition-era tequileros.

Reservations are required, and you check in at the Four Seasons front desk. The bar seats let you talk with the bartenders.

Pappas Bros. Steakhouse in the Galleria area centers dinner on dry-aged USDA prime beef butchered in house. The low-lit dining room is backed by a wine list with more than 6,000 selections.

Open Monday through Thursday from 5pm to 9pm and Friday and Saturday from 5pm to 10pm, closed Sundays. Reserve through the website or call (713) 780-7352.

Walk the paths at Houston Botanic Garden along Sims Bayou past desert succulents, coastal prairie grasses and subtropical flowers. Foot traffic is lighter than at many inner-loop parks, leaving more room to wander at an unhurried pace.

Come any day between 9am and 5pm; the last entry is at 4:30pm. Buy tickets online or at the window.

Amalfi Ristorante Italiano is a Galleria-area restaurant with an intimate, neighborhood feel. The menu includes truffle and taleggio ravioli and herb-crusted grilled octopus.

The dinner menu comes from a wood-burning oven, with porchetta al forno, branzino, pollo alla diavola, and dry-aged steaks. Amalfi is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11am to 10pm. Reserve through the form on the website or call 713-532-2201.