If you stop by a food truck at the Museum for lunch, you’ll have a pretty good chance of spotting Malcolm Daniel, the Gus and Lyndall Wortham Curator of Photography and food-truck aficionado. He shares his tips on our Fine Art + Food Trucks program.

Okay, so let’s admit it: At a certain point, even the most devoted art lover succumbs to reality. His feet hurt, her mind is overloaded, the stomach is growling. A visit to the MFAH that lasts long enough to take in the fall exhibitions—The Glamour and Romance of Oscar de la Renta, HOME—So Different, So Appealing, or the one I’ve organized, David Levinthal: Photographs 1972–2016—is going to require some rest and refueling. I’d be remiss if I didn’t put in a plug for the Italian-themed MFA Café, but my favorite lunchtime option is to hit the food trucks, now stationed by the Museum’s Beck Building entrance, on the corner of Binz and Main streets.

There’s a different truck here from about 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. or so Monday through Saturday, with outdoor space to eat under the Beck Building’s covered porch or across the street in the Cullen Sculpture Garden. We all have our favorite dishes. I’m partial to the Taco Morocco (chicken, chickpeas, and Moroccan spices) and the Rooster Quesadilla that Julio and Ludo of Moon Rooster cook up on Thursdays. Some of my colleagues are happy to find vegan options on the menu, too. 

Food trucks park by the covered porch at the Beck Building, located at 5601 Main Street.

On Fridays, Casey of Food Music Life whips up an awesome brisket or pulled pork over polenta, a mean burger, and addictive fries. Every now and then, there’s an amazing surprise—like the day after he catered a wedding and had baby lamb chops on the menu. In short, without fail, there’s something I like at each of the trucks. You can check out the daily food-truck schedule by following the MFAH on Twitter.

Perhaps best of all for visitors: Save your food-truck or MFA Café lunch receipt for free same-day general admission to the MFAH if you enter between noon and 2 p.m. on weekdays, and you can stay until the Museum closes. There’s more than an afternoon’s worth of art to see in the galleries, from the Museum’s collections to nonticketed special exhibitions. You can’t beat that bargain.

Ever since I joined the MFAH staff three-and-a-half years ago, I’ve thought our website’s description of “a curated selection of Houston’s finest food trucks” was exaggerating a bit, but secretly I’m aiming to add “Curator of Food Trucks” to my current title.

Learn more about Fine Art + Food Trucks and other dining options at the MFAH.