Chris Williams — of the storied Lucille's lineage — built Late August inside the Ion in Midtown as something genuinely new: an "Afro-Asian" tasting of the African diaspora's collision with Asian foodways, rooted in the Gulf South. Expect West African and Southern threads braided with Asian technique, plated with real ambition (it earned a spot in the Michelin Guide). It's one of Houston's most distinctive and personal restaurants — a chef working out a singular idea, and worth seeking out for the cooking you won't find anywhere else in the city.