Fonda Santa Rosa

A co-worker once asked me that if I had to choose just one type of food to eat the rest of my life what would it be.  My natural response was Mexican food.  I mean I grew up eating pretty much nothing but Mexican food.  I always loved my mom's cooking and I have very fond memories of both my grandmothers' tantalizing cuisine.  So when ever I find a place that comes close to replicating it I am more than happy to give that establishment my patronage.  Luckily I have found such a place in Fonda Santa Rosa.  My wife actually discovered the restaurant when we were looking for a place for dinner.  She found out that Fonda Santa Rosa was owned by the same people who are responsible for Tamales Dona Tere, a favorite place of ours for breakfast.  Naturally we were intrigued and as it turned out we loved the place.

FSR however has not really worked into heavy rotation of our places to go out to eat.  Not for any real rhyme or reason.  Therefore, my latest trip to FSR was with my mom.  She is currently living with us and it was just her and me for dinner.  After weighing some options close to the house and trying to determine what type of cuisine we wanted for dinner, I remembered that FSR was not too far away and quite delicious.  I also figured that my mom being a Mexico City native would appreciate a taste of home.

Of the multiple time that I have dined at FSR I have never experienced a full or busy restaurant.  This night was no exception.  The dinning area consist of several tables in an L shape around what is an open and very visible "kitchen".  This  area was occupied by a large family at one end and a couple of gentlemen at the other.  As we walked in we were greeted and invited to sit anywhere we liked by a friendly waitress.  My mom and I sat kind of in between the two parties.  The fact that it was so quiet gave the place a much more intimate feel. 

While looking over the menu my mom and I had a hard time deciding what we wanted.  The choices were so many and they all sounded tasty.  So to help give us some more time we decided to order some guacamole to start as well as some aguas frescas to drink.

The guacamole was served in a small plastic molcajete with some freshly made tortilla chips.  Not only were the chips fresh, but the guacamole was also exceptionally fresh.  I think it may have even been made only after we order it.  The flavor of the guacamole was quite exceptional.  It was well seasoned as well as very balanced.  The flavor of the avocados was dominant with undertones of sourness from the lime and spiciness from the chile.  It was just the right consistency, not being so smooth that it would seem derived from an avocado paste. 

The aguas frescas were a mixed bag.  My mom got the Jamaica (hibiscus) and I got the pineapple.  My mom's was just right.  It had the flavor that I have come to expect from that drink.  It was naturally tangy balanced out with sweetness derived from the added sugar.  My drink was not quite as flavorful as I would have expected.  It seemed quite bland and insipid.  I was hoping to get a bolder pineapple flavor.  My mom also made the comment that the pineapple tasted as if it was on the verge of going bad.

While looking at the menu we also noticed that they offered agua mineral.  Since we both hand not had one in a while we ordered one for each of us.  They brought us the typical 12 oz glass bottle of Topo Chico which we both loved.

At that point my mom and I had finally made up out minds about what we were going to have for dinner.  My mom decided on the Molcajete Mixto which is basically a small molcajete filled with a combination of beef, chicken fajitas and chorizo in a spicy sauce with tender cactus, Panela cheese, onions, and cilantro.  It was served with rice and refried beans on the side as well as a compliment of corn tortillas.

My mom absolutely loved this dish.  She was enthralled with the presentation as well as the flavors of the different meats. She quickly ate up the tender cactus and enjoyed making tacos from the meats and the plethora of corn tortillas given to us to accompany our meal. She also remarked that the chorizo tasted like real authentic Mexican chorizo.  She was also impressed with the quantity of food.  She had enough to eat her fill and take some home.

For my dinner I chose the Tampiqueña, which is a plate consisting of juicy grilled tender beef accompanied by mole enchilada, fire-roasted Poblano pepper rajas, fresh guacamole, Mexican rice and refried beans. The beef was a thin piece of steak resembling a cecina. It was excellently seasoned and tender as advertised on the menu.  It was great for eating with the tortillas.  The enchilada was sublime.  It was some of the best mole I have had in a long time.  My overall plate was portioned just right so that I ate everything without feeling as if I had over eaten.

As we were wrapping up dinner, my noticed the coffee and asked if it was cafe de olla, which is a coffee prepared with cinnamon and piloncillo.  The waitress informed us that it was indeed cafe de ollo and asked if we wanted to sample it.  My mom accepted.  As soon as she sniffed the coffee my mom's face was an expression of absolute joy.  The coffee was beyond good.  It was delectable with the spiciness of the cinnamon and the sweetness of the piloncillo.  It was so good, I ordered one to go.  I was unable to finish the coffee that evening, but saved it for the next day.  It was excellent even the next day drinking it cold.  My mom also mentioned that if it was this good, after having sat all day on a warmer, imagine how good it would be when it was freshly made.

The waitress told us about the buffet during the weekends from 11AM to 2PM.  They have pretty much all of their menu available for you to partake.  It sounds delicious but dangerous.  I could easily see eating myself into a food stupor.  I highly enjoy this quaint little restaurant and would encourage anyone who wants a taste of truly authentic Mexico City cuisine!

Sweets by Belen

What do you think of when you think of great desserts?  Probably cakes and pies hailing from the United States or maybe even parts of Europe.  Some may even go as far as thinking about Mexico.  Well, what if I told you about desserts from Peru? I was introduced to Ms. Belen Bailey via email encouraging me to try something different from your typical desserts and sweets.  Always the intrepid foodie willing to be adventurous, I agreed to meet her.  Belen is the owner and operator of Sweets by Belen, a "food truck" specializing in desserts with a South American (Peru in particular) flair.

Belen Bailey came to the US from Peru to be a teacher, not a cook or baker.  In fact, she was a Spanish teacher for 12 years.  However, during that time Ms. Belen told me that she missed the home cooking form her mom and grandmother and would often contact them to find out how to make things from home.  It was during this time that she discovered her true passion for baking and making sweets.  During our conversation Ms. Belen told me that the reason she changed careers was not because she did not enjoy teaching, but rather because she enjoyed baking more!  She did the baking thing only as a hobby and part time enterprise for 7 years before fully committing to making baked goods full time a year and a half ago.

In a way she does not have a food truck in the traditional sense. Where most food trucks will sell their product out of said truck, Belen uses it more as a means to get her business around.  The truck (more like a van) is used to make deliveries or get product from point a to point b.  Rarely does she actually sell out of the truck, but it can be prominently seen so as to indicate where she is.

 A good portion of her business come in the form of catering, either from her website or from customers who have ordered from her in the past.  Belen told me that she even does cakes and other baked good for some restaurants that either don't have an in house baker or just don't know how to do the things she does. 

I met Belen at the Rice University farmer's market where she can be found every Tuesday from 3:30 to 6 pm.  It was actually at farmer's markets (specifically the Kingwood farmer's market) where Belen first started selling her wares.  Now she not only does the farmer's market scene, but also does food festivals as well.  The festivals are a good way to get here name out there.  A majority of food trucks sell savory dishes so Sweets by Belen provides a good alternative.  Even if there is another dessert truck, it is a certainty that they will not offer what Belen has.

When I walked up to her stand, Belen had a full array of sweets out on display.

Alfajores

Banana Breads and Merenguitos

Various Sweets

 One of her more popular items was the alfajores.  These are little shortbread cookies with dulce de leche sandwiched in between them and coated with confectioners sugar.  Belen makes them in three varieties: traditional, pecan, and chocolate.  At the market she was selling them in packages of 6 cookies.  The cookies were marvelous.  Light and crumbly but not too sweet so that the dulce de leche could provide the sweetness and shine on its own.  I would highly recommend these to anyone.

Traditional Alfajores with one missing.

The most popular item with the kids, however, were the ice pops.

Exotic and more traditional flavors available.

Have to keep them frozen.

 These cool treats were basically just tubes of frozen goodness.  Using the most traditional recipe with the most basic ingredients, Belen creates magic.  She has flavors ranging from the well known, like strawberry, passion fruit, and mango, to the more exotic like chirymoya , lucuma or chicha morada.  I opted to try something different so I chose the chirymoya.  It had a taste that while different it was not unfamiliar and all together enjoyable. Belen mentioned that having chirymoya had gotten her a number of Vietnamese fans seeing as how the fruit is now cultivated over there.


Belen was nice enough to give me some things to try at home with the wife.  So here at home we tried the banana bread and the merenguitos.  The banana bread has liquour infused raisins that Belen infuses herself.  The merenguitos are small meringue "cookies".  They are just basically meringue piped into a shape and baked until hard.  The banana bread was delightful.  The infused raisins played well with the bread and did not overwhelm it.  And while not my favorite, the merenguitos were also good.  They provide an interesting alternative if nothing else as far as sweets go.

Banana Bread w/ Infused Raisins

Merenguitos: Baked Meringue Cookies

 While talking to Belen she told me that she only uses all natural ingredients in all of her confections.  She also tries to use local ingredients too as much as possible, although some of the more exotic fruits she has to ship in frozen.  Right now you can find some of Belen's handy work at both of the Phonecia Specialty Foods locations.  So next time you find yourself in a farmer's market or food festival, keep an eye out for Sweets by Belen and try something out.  I promise you it will be worth it.

Tango & Malbec

Two weeks ago was my wedding anniversary.  So my wife and I decided to try a new restaurant.  We had spotted Tango & Malbec a couple of times while driving through the Galleria area and were intrigued by its name.  My wife is a big fan of malbec wines.  Tango & Malbec is a South American steakhouse.  While a little on the pricey side (special occasion type of restaurant), the food and atmosphere were well worth it.  I did make reservations, but when we got there it did not seem as if we needed them.  There was plenty of seating available.  The dining area was warm and inviting.  The lights were dimmed to set the perfect mood for a romantic night out.  We were seated close to the open staging area.  What I mean to say is there was a big opening where the waiter would pick up plates from the kitchen and we could look into and see the guys working over the grills.

The first thing that the waiter brought to our table was a bowl of different types of bread and house made chips with a smaller bowl of chimichurri sauce. The chips were exquisite. They were nice and crispy without being burnt or hard.  The chimichurri was equally as good having a nice balance of tang from the vinegar, eathiness from the herbs, and sweetness from the sugar.  They both played very well with each other. The bread was just your standard sliced baguette, some small bread sticks and some sliced parmesan bread.  Good, but nothing spectacular.

While looking over the menu, my wife and I decided to order a bottle of wine.  We got the Humberto Canale Estate '11, which is of course, a malbec.  This was a very robust wine that was good right out of the bottle but really opened up once you let it breath a bit in your glass.  Our waiter was also very good about keeping my wife's glass filled.  I was taking my time with it, so I did not need as many fill ups.  The wine also made for a fine accompaniment of our dinner.

Before we placed our order, the waiter informed us of the specials for the night. The thing is, he did not just tell us about it, he showed us.  An assistant and he brought forth a very large butcher's block filled with various types and cuts of meat ranging from a filet mignon, to a dry aged ribeye, to a couple of tomahawk steaks. In the end, we decided to order something off the menu.

As a started we decided to go with the ceviche.  The ceciche was fresh fish and shrimp cooked in lemon juice and jalapenos and topped with some avocados and freshly made tortilla chips.  The fish had a very fresh taste.  It was very citrusy with some kick from the jalapenos.  The shrimp had good flavor, but was a little rubbery as if it had be overdone slightly.  Still, the ceviche was a nice way to start our meal.

For our main course, my wife and I decided to order the Como En El 50, which is a sort of sampler plate for two.  It comes with skirt steak, lamb chops, tenderloin, short ribs, sausage and blood sausage as well as accompanied by grilled vegetables.  My wife and I also decided to order a side of fried yuccca.

The meat was served on a metal served platter with hot coal underneath it and place in the middle of the table where my wife and I could serve ourselves.  We were both given a plate with our accompanying vegetables.

The vegetables were prepared with the utmost care and respect they deserve.  They were flavorful and tender without being mushy and overcooked.  The yucca was also very good.  It was the perfect starchy compliment to our mostly meaty meal.  Like well made fries, the yucca was crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.  

The meat, of course, was the star of this dinner show.  Given so many options it was difficult to know where to start.  We started with the black sausage.  My wife was a little hesitant about it, but I told her to be adventurous.  The sausage had a very mild flavor with an almost boudain like quality to it in texture.  Next we moved on the the normal sausage which was also very good.  Next I tried the tenderloin. It was cooked just as I like my meat, medium rare.  The meat was very well seasoned, moist and tender.  The flank steak was equally as good.  

The two meat that really shined were the lamb chops and the spare rib.  My wife described the lamb chop as possibly the best she's ever had.  It was moist and tender without any gamyness to it.  It was so good, we were both gnawing on the bone.  We both know you are not really supposed to do that in public, but screw it.  It was that good.  The spare rib was incredible.  The meat had a buttery quality that was beyond description.  My only fault with it was that there was not more of it. There was, however, plenty of food to go around.  My wife and I both had our fill and still had enough to take home to make steak and eggs for breakfast the next morning. 

In just in case we were not stuffed to the gills on delicious meat, Tango & Malbec threw in a complimentary dessert.  I had mentioned when I made our reservation that it was our anniversary, so I guess they decided to add some tres leches to our meal.

Not really a birthday.  Unless you consider it our marriage's birthday.

The tres leches was an unexpected, but pleasant surprise end to our dinner.  As far as tres leches cakes go, it was above average.  It was also a very good portion size.  After having such a big meal, the cake was a perfect size for sharing with another person.  My wife and I both got a taste, but it was not so much that we would feel sick after eating.

Tango & Malbec left a good impression with me.  I enjoyed the food and the atmosphere and would definitely return.  Given the possible hefty price tag, this will not be a place in heavy rotation of our favorite places to eat, but it will always come into consideration for special occasion meals.

Omelette & Waffle Restaurant

My wife and I first discovered this small, unassuming eatery shortly after it opened a couple of years back. The only problem is that is it so unassuming that we had really forgotten about it until this past Sunday.  If you are looking for a nice little spot for breakfast or brunch, this place is it.  Located in a strip mall and surrounded by various other store fronts, it is easily overlooked.  But if you can get past the outside, you will find an unpretentious "mom and pop" restaurant with quick and friendly service as well as good food.

Omelette & Waffle Restaurant is the epitome of straightforward cafe style food.  I mean, the name alone screams "SIMPLICITY" from the rooftops.  The interior reflects the no nonsense directness of the restaurant.  Always clean and tidy and with little frills, the restaurant has about 5 or 6 tables along with a counter.  We were promptly greeted and seated and handed our menus.

I must note that Omelette & Waffle Restaurant does serve lunch and dinner options, but mainly I go there for breakfast/brunch.  It is close to the house and serves perfectly for that Sunday after a late night or for whenever you just don't feel like dealing with the ordeal of making breakfast.  First thing my wife and I ordered was coffee.  You can't have a proper morning brunch without coffee.  The coffee here was quite good.  It was nice and strong without being overpowering or bitter. It was a pleasant proverbial kick to the senses.  Our waitress was also very keen on keeping our mugs filled.

Now, given that omelette is in the name of the restaurant, you think I would have ordered one, but alas, such is not the case.  I was tempted by something more basic on the menu and something that I truly love for breakfast.  I chose to order on this morning the pancakes with eggs and bacon.  Something a little simple, but I love pancakes so much that I will judge a place on the quality of its pancakes. That being said, let me start with the eggs and bacon.  The eggs and bacon were served on a plate of their own so the pancakes could have a stage all to themselves.  I order the eggs over easy and that is exactly how I got them.  The whites were nice and cooked while the yolk was still soft and runny.  The bacon was nice and crisp without being burnt.  The surprise of this plate was the salsa.  My plate included a small ramekin of homemade salsa and it was great.  You could really tell that someone took care in making this salsa.  It was flavorful with just a little bit of kick.  It played really with with my eggs and bacon.

Next we come to the pancakes.  The pancakes were very nice.  They were served with warmed maple syrup and topped with some sliced strawberries and a dash of powdered sugar.  It was just enough to take notice, but not so much that the pancakes would be confused with a snow topped mountain.  The pancakes themselves were very tasty.  They were, however, a little dense, almost like olde timey flapjacks.  To me this was great.  I liked them like that.  I can see how this could be a detractor for others though.  It all boils down to personal preference.

My wife decided that she wanted to try one of the daily specials.  She ordered the chicken fried steak with eggs, hash browns and a half order of the Belgian waffle.  She also received a ramekin of the homemade salsa.The chicken fried steak came with cream gravy and the eggs were cooked to order.  If I remember correctly she ordered over easy as well.  The eggs were cooked with the same precision as mine, so nothing to note there.  The chicken fried steak was good, but nothing amazing really.  The hash browns were quite good. Golden brown and crispy on the outside while being soft and tender in the middle and nicely seasoned.

Where Omelette & Waffle really shined was with... the waffle.  It was one of the best waffles I have had in a long time.  It was nice and crispy while still being light and fluffy.  The warmed syrup only accentuated the flavor of the waffle.  The waffle was topped with freshly whipped cream and strawberries and bananas. All together they danced and elegant waltz upon my palate I won't soon forget. Tasting the waffle can only lead me to one conclusion: if the waffles are this good, then the omelettes must be amazing as well.  I look forward to coming back and exploring more of the menu.

Omelette & Waffle Restaurant is a fine neighborhood eatery.  The problem might be that its reach might not extend past that.  So if you ever find yourself in this neck of the wood, do yourself and favor and check out this place. 

Sonoma Retail Wine Bar & Restaurant

Let me start of by making two points about my review of Sonoma Retail Wine Bar & Restaurant.  First, I went to Sonoma with my wife as a romantic dinner date as it was the first weekend she was home after being away for a couple of weeks.  Having said that, my second point is that I was unable to get any pictures due to the atmospheric aesthetic that was at this establishment.  Taking pictures of food and wine with a flash in a darkened room seemed kind of tacky.  Do not fret though, as I hope that my words will suffice to impart a sense of the fabulous time my wife and I had at Sonoma.

The very first thing that struck me about this place was the overall atmosphere.  It had a sense of panache that exuded class.  However it never felt pretentious or flashy, like it was being forced.  Part of that came from the types of patrons that were frequenting Sonoma.  While there was a fair share of sharply dressed groups, my wife and I included, you also had your share of more casually attired people there.  And the thing about it was that no one felt out of place or awkward.  At stated previously, the mood lighting was was set to give the place an air of intimacy.

The next thing I noticed was the service.  Don't get me wrong, the waitstaff was very friendly.  However, they did fall to waiting by committee, and as I have stated before, this never works ideally.  This may have been a by product of having a large party there at the same time, but non the less, it did affect our service somewhat.  Our primary waitress gave us our menu and explained that, should we need anything, we could call on any of the waitstaff.  While we pondered our options for the evening we noticed a little lag time in being attended.  Once we ordered our drinks, they were brought out to us promptly.  The food seemed to take a little longer than one would have liked, especially when waiting from our first to second course.  I ended up ordered a second glass of wine and it almost went unserved.  I will give the waitstaff credit for being knowledgeable about the menu; both the food and drinks.  In the end, even though somethings took a little longer that optimal, the waitstaff made up for it.

As far as what we consumed at Sonoma, my wife and I both had some wine.  The difficulty of that was the fact the Sonoma has quite an extensive wine list.  Luckily for us, the list was cut down significantly due to the fact that only a few wines were offered by the glass.  My wife and I were not so certain we would have been able to polish off an entire bottle by ourselves, especially if we wanted to drive home.  Instead, she opted for a wine flight and I had a glass.  The wine flight consists of 3 oz of four different wines.  She choose what is called the Well Traveled which includes Canta Perdices Tempranillo, Domaine de Fontenille Cotes du Luberon, Claudio Morelli ‘Le Terrazze’ Sangiovese, and La Florencia Malbec.  Being fan of the malbecs, I choose La Florencia as my wine.  My wife enjoyed every wine with the exception of the first (the tempranillo).  She is not a fan of wines that are overly dry and she felt that the first wine fell into that category.  While I would agree that the tempranillo was a bit dry and could have benefited from a little aeration, I did not think it was too dry.  The malbec I had was quite good on the other hand.  It had a nice balance between the sweetness and the tart as well as nice body.  It was so good, that I ended up ordering a second glass.

My wife and I also ordered food during our outing to Sonoma.  We ordered the Duck Confit Eggrolls as an appetizer and one of the hand rolled gourmet pizzas as our entree.  We also ended up ordering dessert.  The duck confit eggrolls were very tasty. You could tell they were made with fresh ingredients.  The mango mustard that accompanied them was also surprisingly good  I would have never expected mango and mustard to go well together, but they did.  The sweetness of the mango played a good foil to the spicy mustard.  My only gripe about the eggrolls is that they were a bit on the small side.  The only real reason I see this as a bad thing is the the duck confit tended to get lost in the eggroll with so much else going on in there.

The pizza my wife and I ordered was the Nappa pizza which included  olive oil drizzle, forest mushrooms, fresh herbs, goat cheese, parmesan, mozzarella, and white truffle oil.  You had me at goat cheese and truffle oil.  These are two of my favorite things, and by putting them together on a pizza, you are just pulling at my heartstrings.  The pizza was thin and crisp and as our waitress described it, "top heavy".  What she meant by that is that it was fully loaded with the toppings.  She was not wrong on that end.  The pizza had that perfect ration of toppings per pie to make it great.  

When it came time to order desserts, my wife opted for the bread pudding.  I asked what the dessert of the day was.  They waiter told me that it was rocky road bread pudding, but that they might have run out of it already.  I told the waiter that the rocky road bread pudding sounds delicious, but failing that, I wold have the four layer chocolate cake.  Unfortunately I ended up with the chocolate cake.  Now, I don't want to give anyone the impression that the cake was bad.  It was good.  It just wasn't spectacular or special.  My wife's bread pudding on the other hand was amazingly good.  Definitely some of the best bread pudding I have had in a long while.  If given the choice now, knowing what I know, I wold choose the bread pudding every time.

All in all my wife and I had a great time at Sonoma Retail Wine Bar & Restaurant.  In fact I look forward to going back and am even planning on taking some friends who would love this place.  At such a time I hope to bring back some pictures of the food and adding an expansion to this review.  I would wholeheartedly  recommend this establishment to others and encourage them to go.  

Rustika Cafe & Bakery

   This little taste of breakfast heaven is found at  in a little strip mall next to US-59.  My wife and I have been coming here pretty much since the place opened and we have never been let down.  Rustika's menu includes lunch and breakfast as well as a wide variety of baked goods.  That being said, my wife and I love to go there for breakfast or brunch.  On numerous occasions we have taken guests or out of towners.  The breakfast menu is quite varied and borrows influences from Latin America as well as Europe.  In fact you will probably recognize a couple of Mexican breakfast classics such as migas or huevos rancheros. 

   Before I start talking about the food I also want to point out that Rustika is indeed a bakery.  It is not just in the name for show.  Chef Francis is quite the baker.  Her creations just look exquisite. She has a number of catalogs to show off her cakes. The store itself has cases to display cookies, already prepared cakes and pastries.  The savory empanadas are especially tasty, my favorite being the chicken mole.

 

 

  

   So, onto the food.  Choosing what to eat here is never easy.  Just when I think I have narrowed it down to a couple of choices, something else catches my eye.  And to complicate things, Rustika usually has some kind of special.  In fact two of my favorites started off as specials before being added permanently to the menu. The two items in question were the BP omelet and the Ike omelet.  The BP omelet was named after the BP oil spill in the gulf.  It encompasses scrambled eggs topped with hash browns and mole.   The Ike omelet is named after Hurricane Ike and it is all the omelet ingredients scrambled together in a big mess.

   On this occasion both my wife and I stepped out of comfort zones, so to speak.  We both ordered something new.  My wife ordered the Nutella and strawberry crepes.  I ordered the chilaquiles, which were a special menu item.    

   The Nutella crepes my wife order were very luscious.  They had a great flavor.  The crepes were light, fluffy and thin.  The strawberries were fresh, crisp, with just the right amount of tang.  My wife's only objection was that the crepes were almost a bit too rich, having gone over on the Nutella just a bit.  But hey, if you love the Nutella, you will love these crepes.

  The chilaquiles I ordered were superb.  I ordered them with the green salsa instead of the red.  They also included a side of black beans and I ordered an additional side of scrambled eggs.  The eggs were great.  They were seasoned well and had a pillowy, almost gossamer, texture to them.  The black beans were cooked to perfection.  They were soft, not mushy, yet firm, not hard, and were seasoned just right.  The chilaquiles were amazing.  They had a nice tangy flavor as is to be expected form a green sauce.  It had some nice spiciness to it that was not all that immediate. It sort of built up on your tongue and palate lingering with a pleasant heat. Another great quality about the chilaquiles was that they did not end up as one big clump of tortilla.  You see, when cooking chilaquiles, you take your tortillas that have been cut and fried and saute them in the sauce.  This usually lends to the chilaquiles ending up as one big mass.  These were layered and you could separate the individual tortilla pieces.  The whole thing was topped with a dollop of sour cream, fresh diced onion, and some queso fresco.

   To round out our breakfast, my wife and I both ordered coffee.  The coffee at Rustika is self served.  They usually have three or four varieties to choose from and you can fix the coffee however you'd like.  If you don't want to make your own coffee, I would recommend ordering the Cafe Cubano.  It is a little more expensive and you don't get a free refill, but it is worth it.  The coffee on this morning however was a bit of a let down however.  The reason why is because the coffee itself was a little on the cool side.  I suspect the coffee had not be heavily rotated since we had gone on a weekday when it was not quite so busy.  Other than that. the coffee was just fine.

  So if you ever find yourself looking for a place for breakfast or brunch, I would recommend Rustika Cafe and Bakery.

London Sizzler

  Let me start by asking a question.  Have you ever constantly driven by a place and though to yourself, "I really should try that place out."?  Well, such was the case with London Sizzler.  It located in a little shopping center right off of US HW 59 which I drive by everyday on my way home from work.  So last Friday when my wife and I were trying to decide what to do about dinner, I suggested we try something new.  At first we did not directly choose London Sizzler.  I had suggested something out of that general location given that there is a good amount of options there.  After doing a little research online, we decided London Sizzler was the place to go.

   When we got inside my wife and I were promptly greeted, then seated by the hostess.  We were then attended to by a waitress.  When prompted as to what we were drinking, my wife and I had previously decided to try a lassi.  I ordered the more traditional salted lassi as I am found of savory drinks.  My wife went with the "safer" mango lassi.  I also figured that since we would be eating Indian food a yogurt drink would help calm any of the spicier notes of our meal.

   The mango lassi my wife had was very good.  First of all you could tell they used real mangoes to make it.  It tasted fresh and refreshing, especially for a hot Houston summer day.  The yogurt played well with the mango and it gave it a nice consistency overall.  It was midway between a smoothing and a milkshake.  It was sweet, but not overly so.

  The salted lassi was also exquisite.  It was thick and creamy.  In fact, it was a little thicker than my wife's lassi.  It had a nice salty taste to it.  Just enough to make it pleasant.  The saltiness along with the flavor of the yogurt gave it an almost cheesy flavor.  It was the perfect accompaniment to what I ordered, the lamb vindaloo.

   After pouring over the menu for several minutes, I finally decided on the lamb vindaloo.  I had narrowed it down to this or the butter chicken. What made the vindaloo win out after all is that my wife pointed out that I like spicy food, but don't really get to eat them at home on account of her milder palate.  The vindaloo came accompanied by a bowl of Basmati rice, which is good because the vindaloo was indeed spicy.  While not quite "kick you in the groin" spicy, it was still enough to make me sweat.  The rice as well as the lassi really helped my handle the heat.  The vindaloo had a nice robust flavor and the lamb was very tender.  Every once in a while I would encounter a cardamom pod, indicating freshly made food.

   My wife, given that she is not into the spicy food, had the tandori chicken.  While tandoori chicken is usually spicier in India, here it is toned down.  My wife order the half chicken which was served sizzling hot on a cast iron platter.  The chicken itself was nicely cooked.  It was juicy and tender.  I had the nice tangy flavor you would expect from being marinated in yogurt and spices.  My wife's only complaint was that it was difficult to eat since it was served bone in.  You don't really want to gnaw on the bone in a public restaurant.

  To accompany our meal, we also order some garlic naan.  London Sizzler has a nice variety of naan and other breads.  It was a little overwhelming, so we stuck to something we knew.  The naan itself was delicious.  It was served warm so it was still soft.  It had just the right amount of garlic so that you knew what it was, but not be overcome by it.  The naan also had a slightly crunchy underside so it was crisp while still being pliable.

   Complimentary to our table was a little condiment tray.  On it was included fresh lemon wedges, sliced onions, a red sweet chile sauce, and a spicy green cilantro sauce.  Now, not being an expert on Indian cuisine, I am not sure what these condiments were meant for or what the two sauces are called.  Perhaps someone who is more familiar would like to enlighten me.  Non the less, the two sauces were very good.  I tasted them both with a bit of naan.  I preferred  the red sweet chili sauce and thought my wife would too, but she said she liked the green sauce better since it complimented her chicken more. Go figure.

   Now this is a place I would recommend to anyone, unless you are not a fan of Indian food.  As far as I can tell this is more Indian fare via UK, so it might be a bit different than a restaurant focused a particular region of India's cuisine.  In any case, I think this place might make it onto our rotation of favorite eateries.

Kim Son Restaurant

Apparently this particular restaurant has several locations.  I am talking about the one found on 10603 Bellaire Blvd, Houston, TX.  Now that we have cleared that up, let me start with my introduction to this nifty place. I must note that this is actually my second trip to this fine eatery.  A co-worker and friend of mine invited me to go out to the Asian part of town and explore the food markets and grocery stores then have dinner with her.  I readily agreed.  As I am a foodie and a chef, exploring where other cultures get their food is right up my alley. (I did major in anthropology in college after all.)  So after a day of staring at huge durian fruit and marveling at the low price of outstanding produce we went to dinner.

At first glance this looked like a typical Chinese buffet type place.  Oh how wrong I was.  You see, there were quite a few differences in this buffet.  First of all were the dishes.  Sure you could find a nice assortment of things you might find at any other buffet, such as spring rolls with peanut sauce and pepper beef.  Ah, but don't be fooled.  There were other things such as sauteed duck's feet or cold chicken.  My favorite was the Vietnamese fried omelete.  but I will get to that later.  The other difference was that this was a hot pot restaurant.  This was really the main thrust of the place.

Another snazzy little addition to the place was a little side station where you could get things like roasted duck with steamed buns, soups and fried pancakes.  I love me some roasted duck.  They had some of the more typical soups such as won ton and sweet and sour. 

This was my first introduction to hot pot eating.  The twist to hot pot restaurants is that there is a butane burner placed on each table.  When you are seated, the waiter brings a pot that is split down the middle and contains spicy broth on one side and normal broth on the other.  Now, besides having the "normal" cooked selections in the buffet, there was one section of the buffet that provided you with raw ingredients for your hot pot.  The ingredients ranged from the straight forward shrimp, beef, leafy greens or rice noodles to the more unusual beef stomach lining and kidney and fish and pork balls.  NO, it is not what you think.  They were balls of fish and pork that were steamed. 

So after you pick out what you want to put in your broth, you go back to the table and cook it in the boiling broth.  While this cooks you enjoy the other things the buffet has to offer.  Like I said earlier, one of my favorite things was the fried Vietnamese omelete.  Essentially, this is an omelete that has been folded over, is crispy and has bean sprouts and other goodies in the middle.  You then wrap the omelete in a lettuce leaf and dip in a spicy dipping sauce before eating.  Another memorable dish I ate was the sauteed duck's feet.  They were quite tender, if a little bony. 

So once our soup was done, we all dug in.  Some of the things I chose to put in there were the stomach lining, kidney, and different type of balls. Some of them were unlabeled, but I chose to be a little adventurous.  In reality after everyone adds their ingredients they get all mixed up and it is a free for all.    So you might get a little of everything and not everything you put in.

After dinner they had many dessert options such as fruit and pastries.  My favorite was by far the ice cream.  Yeah, they had chocolate, vanilla and strawberry, but what made the ice cream so special and good, was the green tea ice cream.  Very light and refreshing.  Also available was another dessert.  Now I don't know what it was called or what it was made of since I did not initially get it.  The item was a ball of something that looked like goo and was held in liquid.  When it was dug into with a spoon, it did not break apart easily.  Everyone at the table had a taste including myself.  Well, it was an experience.  The taste was fine.  But the texture... oh the texture.  It felt like a snot ball for lack of a better descriptor.  Yikes.  It was soft and squishy with something rough and slightly crunchy mixed in.  I was surprised at how the texture made me dislike it so much. 

Overall this was a good time out.  I enjoyed the food and I like the making your own soup aspect of it.  I recommend that you go out and try a hot pot restaurant at some point and time.

Review of Fadi's Mediterranean Grill on Beechnut

   One of the things that I love about Houston is that it is so multicultural.  You can find great cuisine from all over the world in Houston.  And not only can you find it, but chances are that it will be good.  My wife and I dined at what is turning into one of our favorite Mediterranean places, Fadi's Mediterranean Grill. 

    Fadi's is set up cafeteria style where you can go down the line and pick out your food.  One of my favorite things about Fadi's (besides the food) is the fact that they allow half orders.  This gives patrons a chance to not eat as much food if they are not as hungry or, and more importantly to me, it gives people a chance to try multiple things without breaking the bank. Oh, and you will want to take advantage of that because Fadi's is not short on choices.  I commonly get half orders of stuff just so I can try them out.

   For tonight's meal my wife and I both went with our standard entree, the lamb shank.  She also had some tabouli, a half order of roasted garlic and mushroom hummus and a side of dolmas.  To accompany my lamb I had a half order of the same hummus, a half order of a yogurt, dill, and walnut dip, and a full order of the grilled vegetables.  I also had an order of varied "pickles".  We both also got pita bread.

   My original plan was to start with the "weaker" dishes and move on to the stronger ones, but the truth is there weren't any really bad dishes here.  So, I guess I will start with some of the shared stuff and move onto the entree.  The dolmas, or stuffed grape leaves, were delicious.  They were stuffed with rice and had a nice tangy bite as from lemon.  All this was underscored with a pleasant mint flavor.  The dolmas were also nicely constructed.  They held up to being bitten into or even dipped.

  The yogurt dip was exquisite.  It was rich, thick and creamy.  It had the consistency of a nice cream cheese dip.  The flavor was quite good, highlighting the yogurt, while still  showcasing the walnuts and dill.  Speaking of which, the dip had some nice walnut pieces mixed in.  What I liked best about the dip is that it played well with others, whether that be mixing it with the lamb or intermingling with the hummus. 

   That leads me to the hummus.  Fadi's really knows how to make hummus. I would even venture to say that this is one of the best things about Fadi's.  There is always at least two or three types of hummus to choose from.  This iteration is one that I won't soon forget.  The hummus itself was full bodied and lush, almost feathery.  It was thick, but not too viscous.  The flavor of the chickpeas and tahin never overpowered the roasted garlic and mushrooms.  In fact, it was as if the hummus was just the vehicle for the other flavors, giving it a much more robust flavor profile.

   The grilled vegetables I had were quite nice.  First of all, they were served as a cold dish, not hot.  This was a delightful surprise.  The vegetables were thickly cut so they really held up to the grill.  They were soft, but nut mushy.  Truth is that they still had just the right amount of bite to them.  If I had any issues with them it was just that they could have used a little seasoning.

   The tabouli my wife ordered was also marvelous. It was parsley heavy giving it a nice fresh feel and taste.  Now, some might not like their tabouli to be proportioned like that.  For her, it was just right.  The tabouli was quite zesty, having been flavored with a great deal of lemon juice and spices.  It was a cooling side dish for a hot summer evening.

  For those of you who might now know, happiness is fresh, warm pita straight out of the oven.  And that is exactly how Fadi's serves them.  They have a working oven right where you can see it and they are cranking out fresh hot pita.  The pita works well with your dips or to make makeshift wraps at your table.  One of my preferred things to do is to dab some hummus and yogurt dip on the pita and wrap it all around some tasty lamb.

   Now we reach the pièce de résistance: the lamb shank.  If you love lamb, then you need to eat at Fadi's.  This is one of the best places to eat lamb that I have found in Houston.  If you know of a better place, PLEASE TELL ME!!  Now, why is this lamb shank so good?  To start, the meat is so tender.  More than fork tender.  Melt in your mouth tender.  You can just practically look at it and it falls off the bone.  It has been so masterfully cooked that even the connective tissue is appetizing forming a slightly gelatinous morsel bursting with flavor.  The meat itself is quite flavorful.  You can tell the meat has been cooked for a long time very slowly allow the meat to absorb the flavors.  The liquid is then used to make the sauce for the lamb combing tomato, lamb, and other savory elements.  If I have anything bad to say about the lamb, it is only a very minor point of contention.  The accompanying vegetables were a little bland.  But the truth of the matter is that you don't really get the lamb shank for the vegetables.

   Fadi's is a place where you get a wide variety of choices.  You get to decide how much and which food you want.  So next time you are looking for a place to eat, whether it be by yourself, with another person, or a large group, give Fadi's some consideration.