What to Eat in Houston

Evidence before pages

Map the source, claim, food, place, and time separately.

The directory is generated from reviewed graph records. Restaurant brands are not locations, menu items are not canonical dishes, and a food truck is not permanently parked wherever someone last photographed it.

View generated GeoJSON Read graph contract

Six layers

The complete decision graph

Sources and provenance

Records where information came from, what may be stored, and how recently the source was checked.

Source

src_

Government record, official page, menu, publisher, creator, community, or first-party source.

data/catalog/sources.json

Creator or critic

creator_

A public reviewer, creator, critic, or publisher identity connected to attributed sources.

data/catalog/creators.json

Signals, evidence, and claims

Separates raw observations from atomic claims so confidence, freshness, and disagreement remain visible.

Signal

signal_

An observed permit, license, inspection, announcement, menu, review, event, or closure lead.

data/catalog/signals.ndjson

Evidence

evidence_

A source-backed artifact or reference that supports or contradicts a claim.

data/catalog/evidence.ndjson

Claim

claim_

An atomic assertion with confidence, validity dates, verification date, and evidence IDs.

data/catalog/claims.ndjson

Graph edge

edge_

An evidence-backed relationship between two canonical records.

data/catalog/edges.ndjson

Food businesses and locations

Distinguishes a brand or operator from each physical location and its current lifecycle state.

Restaurant brand

brand_

The canonical concept, brand, or operator identity shared by one or more locations.

data/catalog/restaurants.json

Restaurant location

loc_

A physical location with address, coordinates, opening state, and location-specific menu evidence.

data/catalog/locations.json

Neighborhood

hood_

A named Houston-area geography used for discovery, routing, and local demand pages.

data/catalog/taxonomies.json

Menus, dishes, cuisines, and traditions

Makes the thing people actually want to eat a first-class entity instead of hiding it inside a restaurant page.

Cuisine

cuisine_

A practical discovery taxonomy that may contain parent-child and cross-tradition relationships.

data/catalog/taxonomies.json

Culinary tradition

tradition_

A cultural or regional lineage kept separate from broad commercial cuisine labels.

data/catalog/taxonomies.json

Dish

dish_

A canonical food concept with aliases, techniques, cuisines, traditions, and flavor descriptors.

data/catalog/dishes.json

Menu version

menu_

A dated snapshot of a location-specific menu from an attributable source.

data/catalog/menus.json

Menu item

item_

A named, priced, time-bound restaurant offering that may resolve to a canonical dish.

data/catalog/menus.json

Time, place, and mobile activity

Models food trucks, pop-ups, markets, events, and temporary appearances without inventing permanent addresses.

Mobile vendor

vendor_

A food truck or mobile operator whose current location is represented by appearances, not a permanent pin.

data/catalog/mobile.json

Pop-up

popup_

A temporary concept, residency, supper club, or market stall with dated appearances.

data/catalog/mobile.json

Venue

venue_

A market, bar, food hall, park, event space, or host location.

data/catalog/events.json

Event

event_

A time-bounded market, festival, collaboration, dinner, or public food event.

data/catalog/events.json

Appearance

appearance_

The dated connection between a vendor or pop-up and a venue, event, or coordinate.

data/catalog/mobile.json

Search and answer surfaces

Publishes only the pages, filters, maps, and feeds supported by approved evidence.

Publication gate

Automation prepares evidence. A merged pull request publishes it.

1Collect an authorized or public source signal
2Normalize source metadata and hash the observed record
3Resolve candidate entities without merging on name alone
4Extract atomic claims and attach evidence
5Corroborate state, menu, dish, location, and timing claims
6Quarantine conflicts and low-confidence records
7Open a data pull request
8Human review and merge
9Compile approved catalog records into map, directory, and answer surfaces
10Monitor freshness and corrections

Relationship contract

Every edge must mean one thing

Edge	From	To	Meaning
`HAS_LOCATION`	restaurant_brand	restaurant_location	A brand operates or is represented by a location.
`LOCATED_IN`	restaurant_location, venue	neighborhood	A physical place belongs to a mapped neighborhood or service area.
`HAS_MENU`	restaurant_location	menu_version	A location has a dated, attributable menu snapshot.
`CONTAINS_ITEM`	menu_version	menu_item	A menu snapshot contains a location-specific item.
`REPRESENTS_DISH`	menu_item	dish	A menu item resolves to a canonical dish when the match is sufficiently supported.
`ASSOCIATED_WITH_CUISINE`	restaurant_brand, dish	cuisine	A business or dish is associated with a practical cuisine taxonomy.
`ROOTED_IN_TRADITION`	dish, cuisine	tradition	A dish or cuisine is connected to a cultural or regional culinary tradition.
`PUBLISHED_BY`	source	creator	A public source is published by an attributable creator, critic, or newsroom identity.
`MENTIONS`	source, claim	restaurant_brand, restaurant_location, dish, menu_item, mobile_vendor, popup, event	A source or review claim discusses a canonical entity without implying endorsement.
`ASSERTS`	source, signal	claim	A source observation gives rise to an atomic claim.
`SUPPORTS`	evidence	claim, edge	Evidence supports, qualifies, or contradicts a claim or relationship.
`HOSTED_AT`	event	venue	An event is scheduled at a venue.
`APPEARS_AT`	mobile_vendor, popup	appearance	A mobile or temporary concept has a dated appearance record.
`OPERATED_BY`	mobile_vendor, popup	restaurant_brand	A mobile or temporary concept is operated by a known canonical brand or operator.
`SUPERSEDES`	menu_version, claim	menu_version, claim	A newer record explicitly replaces an older one without erasing history.
`RELATED_TO`	dish, cuisine, tradition	dish, cuisine, tradition	A non-hierarchical food relationship used for flavor and discovery navigation.

Geographic output

Eight map layers, one approval rule

Open restaurants

restaurant_location

Approved locations with lifecycleState=open and current verification.

Coming soon and opening pipeline

restaurant_location

Approved or explicitly quarantined opening states shown with confidence and evidence labels.

Closures and relocations

restaurant_location

Time-sensitive lifecycle changes with visible verification dates.

Food trucks and mobile vendors

mobile_vendor + appearance

Pins come from dated appearances, never from a stale permanent-address assumption.

Pop-ups and residencies

popup + appearance

Time-bounded appearances connected to a venue, event, or coordinate.

Food events and markets

event + venue

Approved upcoming events with explicit start and end dates.

Dish and cuisine discovery

dish + menu_item + restaurant_location

Generated from current menu evidence rather than restaurant category labels alone.

Review consensus

claim + restaurant_location + dish

Shows source diversity, date range, disagreement, confidence, and freshness instead of a magic score.

Decision surfaces

A URL exists only when the graph can answer it

Restaurant page

Approved location, current state, visible sources, and location-specific evidence.

Dish page

Canonical dish plus multiple current menu-item relationships or strong standalone demand.

Opening map

Coordinates, lifecycle state, confidence, evidence, and last verification date.

Review consensus

Independent source diversity, date range, themes, disagreement, and disclosure visibility.

Food-truck tracker

Approved vendor plus dated appearance records and explicit location timing.

Query fanout page

Distinct intent, canonical entities, enough evidence, unique answer, and useful next action.

Edge

From

Meaning

HAS_LOCATION

restaurant_brand

restaurant_location

A brand operates or is represented by a location.

LOCATED_IN

restaurant_location, venue

neighborhood

A physical place belongs to a mapped neighborhood or service area.

HAS_MENU

restaurant_location

menu_version

A location has a dated, attributable menu snapshot.

CONTAINS_ITEM

menu_version

menu_item

A menu snapshot contains a location-specific item.

REPRESENTS_DISH

menu_item

dish

A menu item resolves to a canonical dish when the match is sufficiently supported.

ASSOCIATED_WITH_CUISINE

restaurant_brand, dish

cuisine

A business or dish is associated with a practical cuisine taxonomy.

ROOTED_IN_TRADITION

dish, cuisine

tradition

A dish or cuisine is connected to a cultural or regional culinary tradition.

PUBLISHED_BY

source

creator

A public source is published by an attributable creator, critic, or newsroom identity.

MENTIONS

source, claim

restaurant_brand, restaurant_location, dish, menu_item, mobile_vendor, popup, event

A source or review claim discusses a canonical entity without implying endorsement.

ASSERTS

source, signal

claim

A source observation gives rise to an atomic claim.

SUPPORTS

evidence

claim, edge

Evidence supports, qualifies, or contradicts a claim or relationship.

HOSTED_AT

event

venue

An event is scheduled at a venue.

APPEARS_AT

mobile_vendor, popup

appearance

A mobile or temporary concept has a dated appearance record.

OPERATED_BY

mobile_vendor, popup

restaurant_brand

A mobile or temporary concept is operated by a known canonical brand or operator.

SUPERSEDES

menu_version, claim

A newer record explicitly replaces an older one without erasing history.

RELATED_TO

dish, cuisine, tradition

A non-hierarchical food relationship used for flavor and discovery navigation.