Haute Grub and Hot Tubs at La Torretta Resort and Chez Roux

When Houston thinks of a November weekend getaway or a fine French meal, Conroe isn't the first place that comes to mind. Lakeside activities don't quite go hand-in-hand with 40 degree temperatures, but we also know that the weather is apt to change from hour to hour, the sun might come out, and it might very well be lakeside weather the next day if not sooner.

However there is one thing that will always be welcomed in any weather: A hot tub.

Last weekend, my friend Maria and I escaped for the night to La Torretta Lake Resort and Spa in Conroe, Texas. We dined at the resort’s own Chez Roux, a French restaurant founded by Chef Albert Roux, the man behind La Gavroche, which earned Britain’s very first Michelin rating, and three stars, at that. I was excited to try a meal fashioned by one of the world’s most renowned chefs, who happened to be in town tending the restaurant. Many people wonder why on earth he would choose Conroe as his first American venture, and the answer is as simple as it should be. His friend is the main investor of resort and that’s what friends are for, right?

I really hoped to meet Chef Roux, but even more so, I was hoping that he would serve his signature Soufflé Suissesse. And as invariably there would be plenty of wine flowing and we are responsible drinkers, we decided to stay overnight. After all, the website boasted of a hot tub and we had big plans for that hot tub as soon as dinner was a wrap.

Chez Roux’s exterior is unassuming, but inside it hosts an intimate dining room with cozy booths, linen clothed tables, and a glassed-in wine room filled floor to ceiling with bottles from around the world. A panoramic window overlooking the head chef Michael Gray’s kitchen allowed us to observe the various cooks working tenaciously at their stations on our prix-fixe dinners. Gray is the only Michelin rated chef in Texas and we were anxious to see and taste his fare. Suddenly Chef Roux walked out of the kitchen. Wearing his chef whites, he greeted each table, leaning a little on a cane for support. As he approached our table, I tried to think of something clever or adoring to say, but he spoke first.

“I suggest you try the soufflé. It’s a bowl of cholesterol.”

I laughed and joked that it would drink all of the wine, as rich foods tend to dampen the effects of alcohol. I was happy to have met him and I knew then that I would have my soufflé.

But first, champagne, a glass of Chef Roux’s own Blanc-de-Blanc, or blankity-blank bubbly as I find my inner punstress calling it, and along with it a beautiful amuse bouche of a fish terrine with a quail egg. I have to mention that the bread basket contained the freshest mini-baguette, a perfect junior version of a full sized loaf of French bread. I ate two. Or three. The soufflé was served next and to my amusement, it was ‘Texa-fied” with Texas Gold Cheddar and corn kernel cream. The original version is even simpler, and it’s basically a soufflé floating in a bowl of hot cream, topped with Gruyere before being given one final heating in the oven. I don’t count calories when I’m eating French food and you shouldn’t either.

The Coquille Saint-Jacques et Salade de Couscous followed the soufflé. The French call scallops ‘shellfish of Saint James’ because the apostle was to have rescued a knight covered in their shells. At Chez Roux, the scallops are perfectly seared and served over a ‘salad’ of diced carrots and zucchini tossed with pearl couscous with accents of chorizo. Garret, the sommelier, poured us a glass of Duet Viogner-Chardonnay from Burgundy, which was light and refreshing and cut through the saltiness of the chorizo.

Next up we were served a veal loin and my first sweetbreads, along with a glass of Belle Valle Pinot Noir, the best wine of the evening, only because it was a red, and I’m a red girl. While I don’t usually eat veal because it comes from poor baby cows, I did so to honor the chef. It was flavorful but tough for something so innocent. The sweetbreads, if you like them, were cooked to where there was a bit of resistance at first and then the follow through was as soft as the scallops. I will try anything once in the name of food and knowing that Chef Roux knows just how organ meats should be prepared to maximize their flavor and highlight their textures, I can say with near certainty that I won’t be trying them again if I can avoid it. I just don’t like sweetbreads.

As if to whisk away any unpleasant memory of the previous course, dessert arrived- five diminutive desserts to be exact. They ranged from brulee to gelato and each was as good and adorable as the last.

After our meal, we walked across the property to check into our room. The lobby of La Torreta is regal with white marble and minimalistic furnishings. The concierge wasn’t just professional, but friendly, and she found us a room with a balcony overlooking the lake and waterpark. Yes, the resort has a kid friendly waterpark complete with slides, their own pool, a lazy river, and a splash area. For us big kids, La Torretta saves the best. A huge swimming pool topped by what seemed to be a heated infinity pool and, drum roll please, a massive hot tub that we had all to ourselves until nearly 3 in the morning. We plucked whiskey from the mini-bar and sipped it while watching the fog roll in over the pool area and then back out again where the moon and stars were visible once again.

When we finally tumbled into bed, the mattress and pillows were so incredibly comfortable that I made a note to myself to find out exactly what kind they were so I could go out and buy them when it’s time for a new bed. After a long hard meal and a rigorous evening of drinking and hot-tubbing, it was the best sleep I’ve had in a long time. The great part is that it was all only an hour away and in the end it really felt like a true getaway.

600 La Torretta Boulevard
Montgomery, TX 77356-5309
(936) 448-4400

Two men and a brisket- Yelapa

I am typically reluctant to jump on the popular restaurant band wagon so it took me a while to make it to Yelapa, which is definitely 'scene' cuisine. Yet, after driving by it several times I thought, damn, something smells really good and I need it in my face stat. So I said, why not give the place a shot. Just because white people are raving about it doesn't mean I should write it off.

The restaurant was supposedly on a wait when we arrived, but there were a few tables open in the bar area as well as on the patio. We sat inside first and ordered drinks, not knowing yet of the patio seating. I decided to try the michelada, but they never compare to my own, for I am a michelitist. My husband had a really great mojito and I wished I did too. I watched a large man in a white cabana shirt with a neatly trimmed goatee, also white, shift around a floor fan a few times and smile at us as he took a stool at the bar, where a large shot of tequila and what looked like a whiskey and coke awaited him, but he didn't strike me as a whiskey man. Later on when we moved outside, he was there, shifting fans around again and walking around the perimeter of the patio spraying something that caused the diners at the table next to us to cough. He nodded appreciatively and mumbled, "This will get those mosquitoes, for sure."

I had heard that Yelapa was known for their ceviches so we ordered two. There are several different styles, plus your choice of having it prepared 'Peruvian' style, which is 'flash marinated' in lime juice for 5 minutes or fully cooked in the juice 'Texas' style (code for white people.) I ribbed my husband for ordering it well done and he said he wanted to check the quality first, which is understandable considering BP's generous dose of oily marinade it had infused into the Gulf. The first ceviche brought out was the Campechana, which is a spicy tomato based version with crab, shrimp, and avocado, and the second was the more traditional Sevichey Tejano. Both were excellent in taste, quality and presentation. We knew we were in for a treat with our entrees.

I was going to get the maiz con pollo because it had fun little things like blue polenta and huitlacoche, better known as 'corn smut', but I really wanted beef, so I opted for the smoked brisket barbacoa tacos, and at the waiter's suggestion, I switched to sopes instead of tortillas. When the dish came out, there were three wee sopes topped with refried beans, pickled red onions, 'ghost pepper mayo', fresh cilantro, chilies, and that succulent slow smoked beef that had lured me in from Richmond Avenue. I had one bite and had to put it down for a minute. When the right flavor powers combine, an incredible thing happens in your mouth. Each bite is a full on meal. The heat and the tang and the char all on an innocent little corn flour pillow stunned my taste buds but when they gained consciousness they couldn't get enough.

In the other corner, my husband had the 'Whole Enchilada' with chicken instead of beef brisket, which is ridiculous, I think, but the damn thing was in overdrive with about a pound of cheese, red mole sauce and a side of sour cream, cilantro and fresh jalapenos. My fork gained ten pounds just from touching it.

It turns out, that the man on fan and fly patrol was Chuck Bulnes, one of the owners, and his partner chef LJ Wiley was the guy running in and out of the kitchen, greeting tables and hustling plates. I understand and respect the challenge faced in balancing a menu with items ranging from familiar for the feint at heart, like tacos and enchiladas, to dishes like the cantaloupe gazpacho and a ceviche featuring violet and octopus. Always the skeptic, I was impressed by the thing that matters most in a meal, which is how good it tastes. I look forward to getting to know Yelapa better as it reminds me of some of my favorite people: Adventurous and drunk.

2303 Richmond Avenue
Houston, TX 77098
(281) 501-0391

Malaysian Persuasion- Dinner at Banana Leaf

Spoiled rotten, that’s what we are. Despite our sublingual climate, living in Houston has its perks when it comes to the culinary department. Tired of Thai? How about Vietnamese? No? Chinese, Japanese, Korean? No? Let’s do Malaysian!

The Banana Leaf is located in a strip center on Bellaire Boulevard, just east of the Beltway. On entry, the interior almost looks too nice to offer anything authentic, with wall mounted digital frames flashing pictures of various dishes and fancy wooden chopsticks, but on the other side of the kitchen’s glass window, things are looking rather serious. Flames shoot up from a hula hoop sized wok and a loud hiss fills the small restaurant that sounds ominously delicious. The menu is huge and daunting. It’s advisable to study it online and extensively research the unknown dishes before attempting to order. Or you could ask the waiters for their suggestions and entrust they won’t let you down, which rarely happens. Being that Malaysian cuisine has been influenced by so many other cultures, the flavors of India, China, Indonesia and Thailand contribute to the Malay recipes.

The appetizer was a good foreshadowing of things to come. We quickly devoured the beautiful stack of taro coated fried shrimp with a lacy thin outer crust. Our entrees followed soon after and the two stars dishes were my shrimp curry, with big fat shrimp and a sauce similar to a Thai yellow curry, but with less heat and more shrimp paste funkiness, and the littlest son’s magnum opus of a dish, the Sarang Burong, which translates to ‘Bird’s Nest’. Similar to mashed potatoes, the cook had shaped a bowl from taro and flash fried it so that it held its form. It was filled with an assortment of shrimp and vegetables like baby corn, Shitake mushrooms and cashews and we all helped him kill the four pound presentation. Our eldest ordered the flat noodles with beef and scallions, which turned out to use a surprisingly good cut of meat unlike most other places of the Leaf’s caliber. The only disappointed diner at our table was the patriarch who had ordered the barbecued flounder, which turned out to be fried, a no no for his attempt at a healthy diet. But it was a great example of fish, moist and flaky from it’s banana leaf wrap and filleted table-side which is always cool to watch. The kids wanted to keep the bones but we declined.

The next time your stubborn palate wants for something new, check out this little Malay joint on the Westside. Bring skinny friends or small children so you can help yourself to a bit of everything on the table without much resistance.

Banana Leaf
9889 Bellaire Blvd.
Houston, TX 77036
713.771.8118

www.bananaleafhouston.com

A Super Indo-Pak Attak: Sheikh Chilli's

This review epitomizes the tagline of this food blog- Why Houston is Awesome, Mouth First. Houston's awesomeness lies not in the glory of its history or architecture or progressiveness or much of anything that would get us noticed for a positive reason, but it's what the people who live here contribute that makes our city special in spite of its shortcomings.

Yes, our public transportation is a joke, our 'green' ratings are among the lowest in the country, and our solution to just about any problem is to add another lane. But you know what? We have something a lot of other places don't. Food. Glorious food. I would say that, yes, Jeffe, we do have a plethora of places and cuisines to choose from and that is what makes Houston awesome.

Let's say it's nearing midnight and you're feeling the hungerbird pecking* and you're really not in the mood for drive thru or taqueria food. You want something spicy, different, goaty perhaps, and you're willing to drive ten minutes away to get it. Here's the awesome part: There is a place that has been open until at least 2am for the last 26 years and yes, they have goat.Sheikh Chilli's, an Indian-Pakistani restaurant just north of 59 S. on Hillcroft, is tucked into a strip center along with several other interesting restaurants ranging from Salvadorian and Honduran food to a halal meat market and an intriguingly seedy looking game room.

Inside, Sheikh Chilli's is large but rather simply laid out with several booths and tables and a row of tall potted plants dividing the room. A few framed Arabic calligraphy pieces hang on the wall above the counter. There is coin operated Accurate Weight machine at the door along with a rack for Indian publications and entertainment flyers. Like most Indo-Pak restaurants I've been to, there is a television playing popular Indian music videos that are highly entertaining to say the least.

Majid is the owner and Babu is the chef. I didn't see Babu, who is from India, but Majid, who is from Pakistan, has always been there when we've gone to eat. He is soft spoken and kind with tan skin and eyes the color of a shallow lagoon. He took over when Azhar, the original owner, passed away a few years ago.

Ordering at Sheikh Chilli's can be a little confusing at first if you don't know your 'murgh' from your 'gosht' (chicken and goat) but that's what I'm here for.

At lunch time you get to choose from a meat and several sides and it's all served on an old school cafeteria tray. And by school, I mean public school, as in plastic, divided, institutional yellow trays. I love it.

There are several specials each day to choose from ranging from Saturday's fish masala to Thursday's gosht curry. (Friday night is Brain Masala...I dare you!)

This here is drinking food. Most of the curries are heavy and thick and the spice infused oils rise to the surface. The goat here is excellent, especially the tender roasted bone in cuts used in the curries; I ordered the Wednesday special, bhona gosht, a thick cumin-forward goat (gosht) curry (bhona).

The chicken tikka was spicier than most other places and offered on the bone which is a rarity. We also ordered the bengan, eggplant, which was the vegetable of the day. It's spicy and tangy, sauteed with tomatoes and garlic until it's almost a puree.

Try the sag paneer if they have it- it's super rich. There are a lot of menu items they don't have at some times but that's to be expected at any down home no-frills eatery, right?

If they're out of samosas, skip the pasties- a deceptively flaky looking savory pastry that turned out to be bland and dry.

I have to admit, I was a little afraid of Sheikh Chillies the first time I went for lunch, scared in the sense that I didn't know what I was getting my stomach into, but my fears were baseless, everything was delicious, and I polished off the whole tray plus an extra piece of naan.

The next time someone says they're in the mood for Indian, surprise them with a real taste adventure for their mouth and head for Sheikh Chillies. Then thank me in the comments for enlightening you with this old school find.

Sheikh Chilli's Restaurant

- maps.google.com
6121 Hillcroft Street, Houston - (713) 995-6768

A Suburban Saturday breakfast at Fountain View Cafe

Looking around the dining room at Fountain View Cafe, I said to my husband, "Notice anything about this place?"

"You mean how homogenized it is?"

"Yep."

Sometimes, when dining in particular regions of Houston, such as Tanglewood, one finds that the majority of the patrons, if not all, are Caucasians (like me, but I'm 1/16th Cherokee Indian so...I kid). After being married to an Arab for nearly ten years, you start noticing these things when you realize, "That's funny, my spouse is the only customer in here that would get extra scrutiny at the airport." It's true. If you've ever tried flying with an Arab partner, you'll know that you should arrive at the airport even earlier than usual because it is guaranteed there will be 'delays'.

Our food finally started coming out of the kitchen so I had a distraction from my overly observant imagination. True to the area's demands, there was none of that hippie shit turkey or veggie breakfast meat options, and since we don't eat pork, I had to do without. Disappointment turned to delight when my potato and Swiss omelet with a short stack of pancakes arrived.

My husband ordered an egg white omelet and a bowl of oatmeal, aiming for healthy options. While his omelet looked as good as mine tasted, the oatmeal was sitting under a puddle of butter. Who would order that stuff if they weren't looking for a diet friendly breakfast?

I love all cuisines, but when it comes to breakfast, nothing beats a home-style Southern spread. Eggs, hashbrowns, biscuits, pancakes- no regrets. The hashbrowns were great in that they lacked that reconstituted potato flavor you find at a lot of diner style breakfasts. The biscuits were those fluffy buttermilk kind that resemble the pull apart dinner rolls, definitely good but not as good as the pancakes. The 'short' stack was two large, thin pancakes topped with fresh blackberries. I smooshed the berries up a bit with my fork and took a bite with the pancake and proceeded to push all of the other food away and focus solely on those flapjacks. I think I might have growled a little when the kids went to take a bite. In the end, there was plenty left to take home and I just polished them off around 2am this morning after remembering I had leftovers in the fridge while writing this, and they were still pretty delicious.

The fact that they serve a great breakfast all day, every day has deterred me from trying their lunch or dinner menu. Sorry, you're on your own there. It's just not the kind of place I'd go out of my way for at dinner, though I do love how the daily specials are printed out a la 80s public school style.

If you're looking for a great Sunday breakfast spot, don't come here. The place is white ass to elbow for most of the morning and into the afternoon. We went on a Saturday and didn't have to wait in line.

So the next time you're headed to Doneraki on a Saturday like we were, not knowing that their bad ass Mexican brunch buffet is now open only on Sundays, just head over to nearby Fountain View Cafe and bulk up on some desayunos de gringos instead.

Backroad Desi- Mezban Curry and Grill

By Andrea Afra

Hiding in plain site, Mezban is located in a big shopping center in the Mahatma Gandhi District (did you know the area was recently renamed?) off of Harwin between Hillcroft and the 59 feeder road. The first time we went, there was a party going on in the parking lot complete with a DJ who would spin some records then plug the insurance company that had obviously paid the guy to come out.

Mezban started as a catering company that opened as a restaurant on the side. The main feature is its lunch and dinner buffet of a random variety of Indian and Pakistani dishes as well as a few standards, like the raita, biryani, and fresh baked naan, as well as the standard Texas coleslaw. Yes, coleslaw, and it's quite good.

Most of the dishes were on the milder side of spicy, but they didn't lack in flavor- it only meant less complaining from the kids.

While Mezban doesn't rank at the top of my Indian or Pakistani restaurants, mainly because of the lack of heat, it has a buffet which means you walk in and don't even have to sit down before you get your food. And I like that a lot.

The Buffet at Mezban, an array of meat, rice, and vegetable dishes. There is everything from kofta- meatballs in curry sauce, balti gosht- a mutton dish not unlike pot roast, Frontier chicken, saag paneer, a great cold chickpea salad, and desserts as well.



Hot Naan! Some of the best in town- even without butter, brought fresh to your table when you are seated.



There were no lentils on the buffet one day when we went and when my husband mentioned this to the owner, he quickly offered to bring him some. This is what they brought out, his very own little pan of lentils. Nice!

Cheeseburger Delivery = Greatness: Lucky Burger

It was one of those nights when cooking a meal didn't sound very appealing, so I picked up the phone and called 713.522.5650 (I have it memorized) and ordered up a few cheeseburgers, some fries and a chocolate Oreo milkshake to be delivered to my doorstep. Without warning, a few moments later the skies opened up and within minutes our street began to flood. Lucky Burger is really close to my house, and after twenty minutes the driver still hadn't arrived so I figured they had seen the water rising over the sidewalk and nixed my delivery, which would have been perfectly understandable. I even called them back to tell them that the road was flooded and to not worry about my order, but Peggy, the woman who answers the phones, said they were already on their way.

Now I was worried about the delivery person. Surely they wouldn't come down our street, but what if they did? Their car would be ruined and I didn't want my dinner to be the cause. I ran outside into the rain which was pouring down relentlessly. The water was rushing down the street, already well over the curb and shin high on the sidewalks. Sure enough, I saw a car creeping down the street. The water was too high to walk through so I ran back inside and grabbed my bike, then pedaled down the sidewalk with my feet hitting the water with each downward push. I saw the car stop across the street, just a few houses down from mine. The door opened and an older Chinese guy stepped out with a brown paper bag in his hand.

I yelled, "Hey, wait there!", and rode out into the rapids to grab the food and hand him all the money I had for a tip, a fiver, wishing I had more to give.

"Thank you. You're crazy!" I told him and he smiled and nodded, "Okay", before getting back into the car. I rode back home to enjoy a delicious burger feeling a little bit guilty and very soaked.

So what's so great about Lucky Burger, besides the fact that they deliver in monsoon-like weather conditions? Deep inside the barrel fortress at the southeastern corner of Richmond and Mandell, they are cranking out some great diner style fast food. The burgers are simple yet hearty, served made to order on a fluffy bun with terrific pickles (the 'good' kind), American cheese, and a paper sleeve brimming with hot crinkle cut fries.

If you're not feeling the burger, try the jumbo shrimp. They aren't what you'd think. Instead of just a large fried shrimp, they have taken one decent sized shrimp with the tail still on and straightened it out, then another straightened out tail-less shrimp is laid on top of it before battering it and frying it. It's like a long shrimp baton, and they are super crunchy and tasty.

A friend of mine used to get a Lucky cheeseburger with a fried egg on top, so if that's your thing just ask. If you are totally not feeling the cheeseburger thing, try the fried rice. The order is huge and done as well as any respectable Chinese restaurant.

The patty melt is served on awesome buttery toast with those super crisp pickle slices. While I have had the chili-cheese fries, I have yet to try the chili-cheeseburger which seems rather intense, but I bet it's crazy good. Imagine that with an egg on it. Kill me now.

So the next time you're feeling lazy, dial up Lucky Burger, then hum a few bars from Proud to Be an American, and remember why life is good.

Lucky Burger

www.luckyburger.com

1601 Richmond Avenue
Houston, TX 77006-5213
(713) 522-5650

Arabesque Fest @ Jones Plaza Sat., April 3rd, 2010 Houston, TX

Come out to the Arabesque Fest, benefiting Houston Palestine Film Festival






Come celebrate the richness and diversity of Arab Culture April 3rd at Jones Plaza and support the Houston Palestine Film Festival! Come dance to live Arabic music, taste the many 'momma style' foods including a Battle of Hummus from Houston's best restaurants, smoke Shisha, and say hello to friends new and old.

The Arabesque Fest will be held at downtown's Jones Plaza overlooking Houston's skyline ( Directly across the street from Verizon Theater and The Angelika ). Kids 12 and under are FREE to enter and there will be a wide array of children's activities including moonwalk, face painting, and more. So tell your friends, bring your family, and prepare to dance. Doors open at Noon yet festivities go until 10PM.

Slated to perform are:

2 PM DJ Simiyu

3 PM Zylona (bellydancer)

4 PM Khristina Koutsoudas (dancer)

5PM Jabbour (Musical performance)

6PM Hummos Competition (featuring up to 10 local restaurants)

7PM Traditional Dress Fashion Show



Proceeds benefit the Houston Palestine Film Festival; winner of the 2009 Best Film Festival award from Houston Press.

Tickets are $5; free for kids under 12

Quickie post: Deep-fried Sushi...yes, please! Happy Hour at Blue Fish House

Blue Fish has a great Happy Hour going on right now with $4 Deep Fried Madness Rolls and other great deals until 7pm.

Asparagus with tuna if I recall correctly...fried of course.



Deep Fried Madness- with tuna



Agedashi- "Tasty Tofu" with mushrooms and scallions- very tasty indeed, especially for tofu.


Blue Fish House
2241 Richmond Ave.
www.bluefishhouse.com

Two-Timing Thai at Nidda

A brief review of my history with Nidda...a long time ago I went to my first Thai restaurant, Patu's in the Village, and loved it. Later on down the road, one of Patu's original owner's, Marty Chuenpreecha, opened Bangkok Place in the spot near Erotic Cabaret on Westheimer near Waugh. It wasn't the best place for a restaurant but he did his best. The food was amazing but for some reason the customer base wasn't strong enough to stay open. In comes an interested partner who takes over the place and reopens it as Nidda.

Our family became very close with Marty and his small staff before he moved to California to be with his wife and children who had been living there for a while though he continued to work in Houston. He was so kind and sweet and the chef he had in the kitchen came with him from Patu's, a tiny little Thai lady name Nao. So I was spoiled with their love and delicious authentic meals-- she'd even let me in the kitchen where she prepared the food in a wok large enough for her to take a bath in. So spoiled that after Marty left, I shunned Thai food for several months. When I would finally try it, I was extra critical and couldn't enjoy the meal. Where was the love?

I haven't fully gotten over my first true Thai love but under Nao's tutelage (she stayed on for a while to help the transition) the kitchen at Nidda has started to grow on me. I've been going there for a while now, but usually stuck with my usual, the gang panang with chicken, green beans and carrots. I finally took a leap of faith and ordered the Chu Chee Snapper.
One of my favorite meals with Marty was the Chu Chee Shrimp- a perfectly sweet and pungent 'curry' with lightly battered shrimp and snow peas. The snapper is still prepared the same way and I have to admit that I enjoyed every bite. But I still miss my friend Marty and hold everything Thai to the standards he taught me by.


The kids finally tried something besides Pad Thai. These are the Drunken Noodles and they were good, though I'm not a huge flat noodle fan.


This is the Basil Seafood, my husband's healthy standby.

Tom Yum Soup- It's no tom kha kai but it's tasty nonetheless

Thai Spice Express- The fairest of them all

You know you're in the vicinity of authenticity when you see something like this: a hearty meal conveniently wrapped for someone who doesn't have time to stay and eat. Think fast food. This is basically a #4 with fries, Thai-style.



Thai Spice Express is located at 8282 Bellaire near Fondren. There are eight other Thai Spice restaurants in the family, cousins if you will, like Thai Spice in the Village, which is good but a little pricey due to the location and definitely doesn't offer the pre-packaged meals pictured above., Thai Spice Asian Cuisine in the Heights and Thai Spice Buffet at Voss and Westheimer.

Thai Spice Express may sound far off for some folks in my neck of the woods (Montrose) but if you jump on 59 S. you can be ordering in 15 minutes. The "Express" factor means that the food is on the table so fast, that even in the midst of some of my grumpiest hunger bouts, I have made the drive there for dinner knowing I would be feeding the monster sooner than I would be at a restaurant in my area.

We go here quite often and about 93% of the time I order the Tom Kha Kai- the spicy lime and coconut milk chicken soup elixir, which comes in a big bowl and every bite is the perfect love child of all of the best taste sensations. If a place gets this right then you can bet on most of their dishes being A OK.

On our last visit, for the sake of this blog, I would forgo the soup and order something different. Yum Nur is a salad of charbroiled sliced beef, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, mint and cilantro tossed in a spicy fish sauce and lime based dressing. It's a simple dish with complex flavors and being that it's a salad, it's pretty healthy, but the tender meat makes it filling and worth ordering for dinner. I was surprised and pleased that Express' version included the mint. It really makes the dish and I've seen other places omit it, not doubt due to not selling it and having it go to waste.

My husband always has to order something 'special' like this dish of mixed 'whatever you've got' greens, and squid. They usually have all kinds of greens but the selection was limited this time to mostly vegetables. Boring.

There will be more on Thai Spice in the upcoming posts so stay tuned, or better yet, just go there.

Menu- See for yourself.
http://www.thaispice.com/expressmenu.htm

Thai Spice Express 8282 Bellaire Boulevard, Houston (713) 777-4888

http://teethpicks.blogspot.com

Fabio's: Finally, Italian food worth paying for

There are only a few Italian restaurants that I would suggest as it's hard to justify paying $10 for 10 cents worth of pasta and a few toppings. However, Fabio's is the rare exception. When I mention it people either think it's expensive or they don't even know it's there. Since it's right on Westheimer you would think that they would ask a substantial price for their fresh homemade pastas, spot on sauces, and innovative spins on everyday Italian dishes, like the freshly prepared and vibrantly green jalapeno fettucini, but the prices are more than reasonable for any budget.

Located on the main artery of Montrose between a corner store and Number's nightclub, neighborhood yuppies and hipsters alike dine among each other at one of Fabio's 8 tables. When our family went for my sister-in-law's birthday, we took over four of the tables and tried to keep our voices down for the other diners but soon even they joined in on the chatter.

As Fabio soft steps around the room offering wine and taking orders, ask for his specials and suggestions. He's a really nice guy and is proud of his menu and there are many off menu items prepared only when the ingredients are in house, like a medley of raviolis filled with a variety of cheeses, seafood, and osso bucco. For an appetizer he brought out a big platter of fried calamari, fried cheese, bruschetta, and who knows what else but I ate it, that's for sure.

I can't help but always judge an Italian restaurant by its Alfredo and Fabio's is so rich and mellow that you just can't help but make little appreciative grunts while eating it. I had it over the jalapeno fettucini they make in house and the little kick of heat paired well with the creamy sauce. I think there was chicken in it too but I could seriously fare well with just a bowl of the sauce and a loaf of their garlicky bread.

Here are a few shots from our last dinner there. The lighting was low so I apologize for their poor quality.

Fresh pasta > anything and everything? Jalapeno fettucini alfredo with grilled chicken. Tres 'White Girl'...

Ravioli medley, each filled with something better than the last


Frutti del Mar- Off menu so don't be shy to ask! Clams, mussels, shrimp and is that calamari I see? Why yes it is!

Fabio's Italian Bar & Grill
www.fabiosbarandgrill.com
212 Westheimer Road
Houston, TX 77006-3222
(713) 528-4212

No Domo Arigato, Kata Robata

Okay, horrible play on the name aside, Kata Robata is missing something elemental to a good meal, but what could it be?
Color changing bar lights: Check.
Interesting menus with obscure and intriguing dishes: Check.
Chef Manabu "Hori" Horiuchi of Kubo's at the helm: Check.
Informative servers to guide you through the obscure dishes...meh.

I am not one to complain about service as long as I get my food in a timely manner, but I expected our server to at least be able to fake their knowledge of the food they were serving. After all, Chef Hori wouldn't allow his cuisine to be presented by someone who didn't know what it was, right?

Me: How is the lobster bisque?
Server: Um. A little boy ordered it earlier and sent it back half full so...I don't know I haven't tried it yet.

Okay, an honest answer but being that I am a 20-something woman, I didn't see how a child's impression on the bisque would be helpful to me, so I tried it. However, he must have had good taste because it tasted like something from a can with too much Maggi and MSG and the few pieces of lobster lurking at the bottom of the bowl were a letdown.
Now, don't come at me with the whole "Why would you order bisque from a Japanese restaurant?" It was chosen to be put on the menu, so it should have been decent, right?
Plus I needed something rich in my stomach if I was going to be drinking later and it seemed to be the fattiest thing on the menu.

We ordered the miso-marinated black cod collar which was crisp on the outside and incredibly moist inside, but its only accompaniment was a mysterious little red berry, and for $12, I at least wanted to know what the damned fruit was. Yet upon asking the server who delivered the dish what the fruit was he shook his head and smiled apologetically that he didn't know. 'Okay, at least go ask, find out, aren't you curious?' I wanted to say. Nah. I'd just Google it later...

I stopped asking questions and tried to enjoy the rest of the meal which consisted of a tuna carpaccio drowned in a yuzu infused olive oil and a really crazy roll filled with Japanese 'ice fish'- little whole fish resembling translucent bean sprouts with tiny little black eyes. Salty, crunchy, fishy. All of the dishes were interesting, yet I just don't have the urge to return unless we were to sit at the sushi bar and have our inquisitive needs fulfilled. And after some research I found out that the little fruit is called "yamamomo."

Bismillah

We recently visited Bismillah for the first time and while we were glad to have tried it, we weren't too impressed. The chicken tawa (not pictured) my husband ordered was supposed to be enough for two, but upon first glance of the drumsticks in oily sauce I wound up ordering the goat biryani (not pictured) to supplement the dish. We also tried a couple of lukewarm samosas which were mediocre, and the aloo palak,(pic 2) potatoes and spinach, which was spicy and earthy and good, but again, not wow good. My biryani was about 10 parts rice to 1 part goat but it was tasty, though minimalistic in appearance. I still can't believe I like goat.

The kids split the beef paratha kebab roll (pic 1), a minced version of kabab pressed into flat bread and rolled up. It was tasty but the bread itself must have been better earlier in its life. I let them order a Pakola, (pic 3) which is a Desi cream soda with rose water and I promise that you will never drink anything greener than this in your life. I had it out of the can before but when we poured it into a cup I saw just how green it really was. Feeling bad about letting my kids drink such artificialness, I had most of it. It's really good!
While our food was somewhat below par with other area Pakistani restaurants, Bismillah is very mom & pop and tends to cook to the demands of the customers and when food runs out, it runs out.

Bismillah Restaurant 5702 Hillcroft

Fist of Basil and Pla Koong at Nidda

A couple of years ago I pilfered some Thai Basil seeds off of my friend Brittany's plant, stuck them in a pot, and they decided they wanted to grow. The leaves are smaller than what you get at a Thai or Vietnamese restaurant but they are still full of flavor and help add an essential flavor layer when trying to recreate these cuisines from home. I don't do a lot of Vietnamese dishes at home only because it's so cheap and accessible and we eat it all of the time. On the other hand, I'm infatuated with Thai food and the beautiful simplicity of the ingredients that combine to create a sensory symphony of flavor (waxing a bit too poetic, I know.)

Nidda used to be Bangkok Place and I was really good friends with the previous owner, Marty Chuenpreecha, one of the founders of Patu in the Village. Marty took over the space at Bangkok Place (inopportunely located next to Erotic Cabaret and their window display of mannequins bedecked with fabric daisy pasties and fishnets.) The teensy little Thai cook named "Nao" (NOW) came with him and I swear she could have taken a nap in the giant wok she cooked with in the kitchen. When Marty moved to California to be with his family and a friend took over business, Nao stuck around long enough to see that the recipes were passed on correctly to the other cooks. I don't know if she's still around but you can still tell that she was there.

Bangkok Place epitomized Thai food for my palate because of the love that I knew was in the food. But every now and then I come across it again and I can tell that the cook is stirring the dish with their heart. I've tasted it at a handful of places like Asia Market (1010 W. Calvacade), Thai Restaurant (5757 Westheimer), and finally Nidda (1226 Westheimer).

Pla Goong @ Nidda
Spicy Charbroiled Shrimp Salad w/ Lemongrass, shallot, keffir lime leaves, fish sauce, lime juice, Thai chilies

My First Trip to the Canino Mercado and a Stuffed Squash Attempt

Last weekend we ventured out to the north Heights Canino Mercado Farmer's Market. Even though it wasn't at its seasonal peak, it was still awesome. We picked up some baby globe calabacita squash, as well as some nopalitos (prepped cactus), green beans, guavas, strawberries, habaneros, chili piquins, and a pumpkin to carve. It was beautiful and I could have stayed there all day had Husby been willing to stick around a little longer.

Last night, I decided to experiment with the squash in a dish inspired by my mother-in-law Amal, who is the queen of stuffing squash. When you cut into her cousa meshe (Lebanese stuffed squash) it is packed so tight it looks like it grew that way, already filled with rice, pine nuts, and sometimes a little ground beef.

I washed the squash, cut the tops off, and used a little baby spoon to scoop out the innards and put them aside in a bowl. I used a muffin tin to hold them in place while I sauteed some garlic, olive, and onion. Then I threw in the squash, a few dashes of balsamic vinegar and about two TBSPs of tomato paste, and cooked it down for about ten minutes. I salted to taste but still felt like it needed something, so I sprinkled on about a TBSP of chicken masala from Chandrika Spices. It is blend of chili powder, dhana jeera (a mix of cumin and coriander), shahjeera (caraway seeds), cinnamon and clove. It is like being able to add Techni-color to your ho hum dish.



I filled the squash with the improvised 'ratatouille' and put the tops back on (not necessary, just cute as a button), put the oven on about 400F and popped the muffin tin in for a good fifteen minutes. I was really surprised that the Husby liked them because of the cute factor but he did! Yay! The older son squeezed the squash and ate the filling. The little refused to try it at first but after he saw that Annie liked it (our dog) he ate not just the few bites I insisted on but almost his whole serving!