Not Harry and David

February 18, 2015 6:50 PM

Where in the Houston, TX area can my sister call to have a food and wine gift basket delivered to a new single mom? She is looking to avoid a basket of almonds and spicy mustard. She is hoping more for fruit, crackers, wine, and possibly prepared foods that could be frozen. She is in New York, so again, delivery: 75-100$ range.
posted by oflinkey to Food & Drink (3 answers total)

Call Spec's. They do every type of cheese available, same for wine, and a good assortment of foods, etc. They're also tremendously helpful, and pretty good about this sort of thing. The one downtown (Smith Street) is the largest by far, but there are stores all over the area.
posted by Seeba at 6:59 PM on February 18, 2015 [4 favorites]

Ha, I clicked on this topic to say "Spec's!!!!". So I'm just reiterating Seeba's vote. Spec's has a page for gift baskets ( http://www.specsonline.com/cgi-bin/showpage?pageid=giftbaskets ) but I assume if you call they'll do anything you want.

The Spec's on Smith Street (technically not downtown, but just south in Midtown) is an amazing wine/liquor store with also a pretty fantastic selection of imported and deli foods. Their web presence is uninspiring at best, but their physical presence (while a touch gritty) is outstanding. If/when your sister has the good fortune to come to Houston to visit her friend the new mom, Spec's needs to be on her list of sites to see.

(Note that I've lived within one to three blocks of the Smith St. Spec's for the last 9 years, so I may be a bit biased. Being within walking distance of Spec's was a not-insignificant consideration when buying our current house.)
posted by bigjoec at 7:53 PM on February 18, 2015

Houston Dairymaids gets my vote. I have not actually ordered any gift boxes from them, but I have had several party trays put together, and their attention to detail and quality were topnotch.

Also, definitely give them a ring. They are so quick and willing to help
posted by jaksemas at 8:18 PM on February 18, 2015