Guide

Date night in Baytown

You don't have to drive to Houston. Here's a night that works, in order, and two other nights for when it doesn't. 7:30 — Dinner. Three ways to go: - Rooster's, North Alexander — steak, the burger that won Best in Baytown, dark wood, the kind of place where the server remembers your last order.

You don't have to drive to Houston. Here's a night that works, in order, and two other nights for when it doesn't.

The night. 6:30 — A drink on the water. The Hyatt's terrace on the marina, 100 Convention Center Way. You're not staying there; nobody checks. One drink, the sun going down behind the ship channel, the plants lighting up across the water. It's the strangest beautiful view in Texas and it's ten minutes from your house.

7:30 — Dinner. Three ways to go: - *Rooster's, North Alexander* — steak, the burger that won Best in Baytown, dark wood, the kind of place where the server remembers your last order. Book on Friday. - *Anchor & Hearth* — stay at the Hyatt and move to a table. The pretty option; ask for the terrace side. - *Luna's Mexican Restaurant, West Cedar Bayou-Lynchburg Road* — the late one: open till eleven on Friday, a patio, and the kitchen that's still going when downtown's has closed.

9:00 — Walk downtown. Texas Avenue is three blocks; Art Alley is lit; the Little Theater might have something on and it's worth checking the calendar before you leave the house. Then a last drink: the Dirty Daiquiri on North Main if you want the town's own drink; The Chute out on Garth if you want live music and a longer night; Hooky Entertainment out on I-10 if you want to be twenty-five again with a bowling ball.

The other night. A night at the Lee College Performing Arts Center — the season opened with a film on the big screen for five dollars, and the rest of it is on the calendar. Dinner before at Bocanegra's on Texas Avenue; it closes at nine on a weeknight, ten on Friday.

The cheap night. Thompson's Fish Camp on Simms Road: shrimp and beer at a picnic table on the water, then the Lynchburg Ferry at dusk on a weekday — it runs until eight. Under fifty dollars and better than most of the above.

The rainy night. Max Bowl, then C'est Bon for something sweet if it's open, then home. Or the PAC; see above.

En español. Una noche en Baytown sin ir a Houston: una copa en la terraza del Hyatt, cena en Rooster's o Bocanegra's, y una caminata por Texas Avenue. La versión barata: camarones en Thompson's y el ferry al atardecer.