Pico' Мех-Мех in Houston, TX | Mexican Restaurants

Pico's Mex-Mex Restaurant, with its innovative regional Mexican menu, is ideal for satisfying those Mexican food cravings. Enjoy fresh seafood or spinach enchiladas, pollo pibil (marinated chicken snuggled in banana leaves and baked to tender perfection) or camarones adobados (jumbo Gulf shrimp, bacon-wrapped and basted with adobo sauce). Relax on the palapa-covered patio to the music of strolling musicians and enjoy a Margarita from one of the best selections in the city. Discover Pico's Mex-Mex ….discover the cuisine of Mexico.
About the Chef
Arnaldo Richards is a fourth-generation restaurateur. Raised in Monterey, Mexico, he worked in his family’s restaurants, helping in the kitchen. At age 14, he began to cook his grandmother’s recipes, the very same recipes that he uses today in his restaurants. At age 19, Arnaldo moved to upstate New York, where he was the kitchen manager of a 400-seat restaurant. In 1978, he moved to Houston, Texas to attend the Hilton School of Hotel and Restaurant Management at the University of Houston. While a student, Arnaldo worked as a sous chef at The Houston Club and River Oaks Country Club.
Dismayed and frustrated at the lack of authentic Mexican food in Houston, Arnaldo and his wife, Janice, opened El Granero in 1982 in Bellaire, Texas. In April 1984, they opened Pico’s Mex-Mex Restaurant.
“My passion is cooking and my goal, even after 21 years, is to educate people on what real Mexican food is,” commented Arnaldo.
Arnaldo serves the same food he grew up eating. Having parents and grandparents, and even great-grandparents who grew up over the diverse culinary landscape, the menu at Pico’s is a scrapbook of their favorite meals from the seven regions of Mexico. From the Yucatan, comes the method of cooking meats wrapped in banana leaves. Fresh seafood from the waters of the Gulf and the Pacific is cooked with grilled onions and poblano peppers, or the sophisticated sauces from the Mexico City region.
“Forty percent of what we serve is seafood,” stated Arnaldo. “For centuries, seafood was the best that one could eat. Cows, chickens and pigs did not exist in Mexico prior to the 1500s.”
Some of the most popular dishes at Pico’s are: Huachinango Tikin Xik, Red Snapper filet seasoned with achiote and charcoal-broiled in banana leaves, served with pickled red onions; Camarones Adobados, jumbo gulf shrimp stuffed with poblano pepper, wrapped in bacon then charcoal-broiled and basted with our special adobo sauce; Chiles en Nogada (Traditional or Vegetarian), roasted poblano pepper stuffed with shredded pork or wild rice, cooked in peanut sauce with olives, almonds and raisins, covered with a cold creamy walnut sauce and sprinkled with pomegranates (when in season); Filete al Chipotle , an 8 oz. charcoal-broiled beef tenderloin smothered with Chihuahua cheese, topped with chipotle and parsley sauce, served with white rice and pico de gallo; Calamares a la Mexicana, calamari sauteed with onions, serrano peppers, cilantro and fresh tomatoes; and Tres Leches.
Janice is co-owner and Operating Manager of the restaurant. Her prior experience includes work with Bennigan’s, Steak & Ale, and a country club in her hometown of Kingwood, Texas. Janice also attended the management-training program with the Stouffers Hotel Chain.