El Real?

Alright,

It has been a while since I last posted anything.  I have obviously been way too busy eating that I couldn’t manage to take any time to write.  Last Saturday I went to El Real Tex Mex in Montrose.  I have wanted to try this place for a while but I couldn’t seem to find an excuse or a dining partner to venture in town with me.  Well, I finally had a reason.  Not only was I going there to chow down but I also got to hang with one of my besties for her birthday!

This restaurant is headed by Brian Caswell who also operates Stella Sola (no thanks), Little Bigs (best milkshakes) and Reef (no thanks to seafood).  Since I have had a less than appealing experience at Stella Sola I don’t know why I wanted to try this place as bad as I did.  Maybe it’s growing up in Texas and my insatiable appetite for anything Mexican!

I have to say that I thought it would be way more crowded than it was for a Saturday night around 9 pm.  It felt like it could have been a Tuesday night for all I know.  But it is a pretty big place so I figured maybe I couldn’t see everyone? 

My party of 4 was definitely all about the margaritas!  The prickly pear looked delicious but I opted for a Paloma.  If you have never had one of these it is made with tequila (duh!), grapefruit soda and lime juice.  This is probably one of my favorite drinks but I always forget that I like it so when they waiter told me it was on the menu I didn’t hesitate to say ‘yes, please!’ 

Now, on to the nitty gritty…

The meal obviously began with some chips & hot sauce.  The chips by themselves were nothing special.  It seemed like I could get them at the grocery store.  Some were overly salty and others tasted old.  The hot sauce had a nice kick to it but it’s not something to write home about.  This was probably a good thing because I am trying to start eating better & the not-so-yummy chips & hot sauce prevented me from my usual scarf-all-the-chips-then-eat-none-of-my-meal-because-I-ate-all-the-chips routine.

For my entrée I went with the San Antonio puffy tacos, one chicken and the other pork.  Now, my experience with puffy tacos has been a good one.  They are usually nice & crispy and the filling is more than satisfactory.  Well, these did not live up to the past!  The taco shells were not crispy at all!  I had to use a knife to try to crack them.  In an effort to remain as lazy as I can be and because of the taste of the shells, I ended up only eating only the meat out of the tacos.  The chicken was good but the pork lacked flavor.  In order to ease my disappointment, I turned to the rice hoping it would be the saving grace to the dish.  WRONG!!  It tasted like…..nothing!  Major disappointment.

I should have taken the suggestion of one of my dining companions and gone with the beef fajitas but I just had to be different.  Next time I should listen better.  The fajitas looked & smelled delicious!

The saving grace to the meal was the queso.  Without it, I would have been lost.  We got the picadillo beef in it, which didn’t hurt it on the flavor side.  The cheese was nice and silky & there was a healthy ratio of cheese to veggies (tomatoes, onion, and jalapeno). 

Next time, I think I will go here for drinks and appetizers...oh & definitely the fajitas.  I don’t want to write this place off because I think it could be good but someone needs to stop this ride in flavor town!

Shattered Glass

For months we have been trying to fit in a real gem of a restaurant and we finally thought we found one. Of course, that meant we had to venture out into BFE (aka The Heights). This seems to be the up and coming area for restaurants. Unfortunately, we sampled all we needed to in this area. Was it worth the drive all the way down I-10? Debatable!

Primero Uno: The restaurant is named The Glass Wall. However, for such a see-through name, it was not nearly glassy enough for our tastes. Would you like to pay to valet your coche right in front of The Glass Wall? I would! Not! It would have been easier for me to park my own car than go through that glass tape!

For a Thursday night, the restaurant was totally empty. The bar was hopping though. This makes us question the quality of the food. Maybe it was the staff keeping people from the dining room. Upon seating, we were presented with a small token: a dish full of green liquid we could only guess to be oil. This gem was followed 30 minutes later by the lackluster bread. Not impressed. Keep this in mind; know what you want before you get there because you only have one chance to order. After this chance, your waiter will disappear for what seems like hours on end.

When we finally ordered, we chose to start with some appies. Skip the corn chowder! Do not look at it on the menu or in person. It is nasty! Absolutely no taste. Recommended if you have no taste buds. The crab cake is good if you are really hungry. But it is very small: no Texas portions here so leave your stomach at home. The one diamond in the rough was the beef brisket that came with the most lovely potato salad we have had the privilege to eat. This is when you call your stomach on the cell phone, apologize for earlier, and say "Hey! Get your ass over here for some good lovin'." That is all we have to say about that...

The mains were pretty much along the same line. One gentleman in our party ordered the salmon. He ate it all so it must have been delicious. Since we don't fish, that is all we have to say about that... If you are tempted to order the pasta, wake-up, get in your car, and drive to the Olive Garden. This is the only time we will ever mention this hell hole of a dining experience. I would have enjoyed O**** G***** left overs more than the pile of blah I paid over $20 for.

On a lighter note (or fattier note), the potato chip crusted chicken fried steak was pure perfection. That is of course if you forgo the mashed potatoes. They tried to fancy up the potatoes by calling it Mashers but we all know what this means. A side dish that the Chef can make and forget about until the little Hispanic man plops it on your fried steak with an ice cream scoop. Done.

What really makes this glassy wall totally see-through is the "well trained, fine dining" wait staff. All we can say is "You know you paid too much when the water guy clutches the rim of your glass with his been-there-done-that hands." PUke! Oh! A shout out goes to the Manager:

Dear Manager of Glassy Disappointment,

I believe I saw you breeze by my booth about 15 times last Thursday night. In answer to your missing question, "Yes, the service is fantastic!"

Thank you for a forgettable experience that I have already told 6 people about.

Silly Girls

Done!

Super Real Italian Food!!!

OMG! This is no Olive Garden. PUKE!! BTWs we hate the Olive Garden! Damn you Fettuccine Alfredo!!

Arcodoro (you must say it with an Italian accent)was a great place. In honor of Passover, we tried a new Italian restaurant. The place was really authentically decorated and cooked! We even got to chose our own seating: a very awkward decisions. A grown up game of musical tables.

The bread basket was to die over! Quite an assortment of carbs. I would accept this bread basket as my meal any day of the week. It had little baby crescents and rosemary bread! Looking back now, I'm not sure if it was so delicious because of the ingredients or my intense level of hunger. The ingredients are in the lead.

The service was just uppity enough for our taste without making me feel fat. At one time during dinner, I did a crazy hand gesture to the table and right away a little Italian man popped up waiting to take our order! Perfect! A little Mario! Where's Yoshi?

In all seriousness, this is the most authentic Italian food we have ever had outside of Italy. (Not to boost, it's just that we've been there enough to tour the Tuscan countryside!) Speaking of feeling obese, the food was so good, we gladly paid for the smaller portions. We are watching our figures and are on Project Hawaii mode.

We give it a Molto Mario Luigi Scucuzzi Ristorante!!

Prego!!!!!! (not Newman's)

The Spiciest Pickle in Town!!!

The Spiciest pickle in town dances a little jig on your taste buds. The SP on Kirkwood and I-10 lives up to its namesake!

After many months of "I wish we could"s or "do you think its open"s, we finally found the time to visit.

The SP exceeded our expectations. We were a expecting a little mom and pop place that catered to the weird and pregnant. While it did use the pickle theme throughout the restaurant, besides the pickle-shaped table, it did not go overboard. The place offered paninis and sandwiches (the Ps are huge). The Double Dilly O is a great deal; you get half a sammy, soup or salad, and a drink for less than the price of a regular panini. And how can you pass up a name like that?!

Each meal is accompanied by a little sidekick. What is it you may ask? Well, it is a very spicy pickle!! And we thought it was just a name. The real kick of the pickle is not discovered upon first bite. Only after a few more may you discover the pure spice in the SP.

We ate everything on our plates!! I mean every little morsel. I like the Roma panini with mozzerela, basil, and tom toms. The Sausalito Bandito was a huge hit at our table, too. Excellente!! Who knows what it had on it? Pure Deliciousness I bet!!

Although regular readers know that we do not condone the digestion of tuna, we hear from an unidentified source that the Sinker was extraordinary.

We definitely think this place rocks!! We give it Three Dills Up!!

P.S. The soda fountain machine dispenses Barqs root beer!! A reason in itself to go.

Barnaby The Heavenly Pooch

How can you not love a restaurant that's named after a dog? Finally! People who love their dog as much as we do! (Shout out to Dolce and Gumbo!)

Barnaby's is totally laid back and chill. The quintessential trendy neighborhood restaurant. They serve everything from blue cheese french fries to ribs or brownies. They'll even give your puppy a treat for visiting. We doubt our furry friends can patron the inside of the restaurant so, when we return, we will sit on the patio.

The food was A-mazing. We had, hands down, the best eating-out meatloaf of our lives!!!! Like spaghetti sauce slobbered loaf with a miraculous side of mashed taters. This was after we did major damage on the french fry appetizer! The ribs were really good too (covered with luscious sauce). Definitely leave the chicken tostada on the menu. If you are ever worried about receiving raw chicken at a restaurant, don't order it! We demand this of you!

We are supporters of the environment and its health! Barnaby's gives bio-degradable and compostable ToGo containers! Yippee! Eat to save the world!!

The portions are gargantuan so share or eat for the week!! We give Barnaby's a FO-SHO rating. Four paws up and a drool slobber!

Cafe Pita Non Plus

A few weeks ago we unknowingly traveled in the footsteps of a Food Network legend...Guy Fieri (The Blonde Bombshell). The BB visited Cafe Pita Plus this summer. While he thought the food was a plus, it was a serious minus!

At first, learning of the previous visit by The Blonde Bombshell excited us to our inner core. We even made sure to ask the waitress to find out which dishes he tried on the show "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives." We ordered each dish he tried hoping we found TV worthy food.

We started off with the fried-homemade-cheese. They make the cheese there at Pita Plus. It was awesome. It tasted like the cow it came out of.

We ordered the Cevap (little sausage sandwich) and something way to bland to be memorable. The sandwich turned out to be little breakfast sausages in between two pieces of homemade bread. Just Bread! Nothing else! The little links were delicious but it didn't add up with the bread sandwich thingy.

Overall, it left us wondering why it is called Pita Plus when we left totally un-plused. Don't waste your time. It's on Westhiemer between Highway 6 and Beltway 8. If you go, don't blame us.

Shut It Down Hizzy!

Shut it Down Hizzy this place is too good! Our theme: eating in seedy areas. We like our food spiced with a touch of DANGER!

Some would consider the Hillcroft area risky. However, this place may be worth the risk. London Sizzler, off the Southwest Freeway, is far from seedy. Our culinary tour guide and part-time waiter, Billy, was more than happy to explain the ins and outs of each Indian dish. For serious! He knows all the ingredients and preparation of everything on the menu! A true first for us.

The dinning room is really small: no more than 15 tables. And we were definitely part of the early crowd at 7pm. It quickly filled up with actuall Indian people. A sure sign of authentic deliciousness. It's considered British Indian but there was more Indian than Brit in our tummies. Although they have fried rice, stick to the Indian dishes.

We ordered the Chili Manchurian, little vegetable dumplings in a really delicious sauce. Upon our further inspection, we found entire jalapeno slices in there which deathly caught up with us in the end. The Chicken Boom Masala Platter was absolutely scrumptious and very spicy. Not like OMG my mouth is burning hot. More like an explosion of different spices on your taste buds.

They put green chili and tamarind on the table to go with your meal. The tamarind was sweet and sour(YUM) but the green stuff was deadly. Seriously, wait for it to hit you 20 seconds after. The tandoori naan was a delectable compliment to the meal but the pilau rice was a leave out option.

I recommend London Sizzler to all our Maharajahs. So jump in your tut-tut and strap on your bullet proof vest and journey to Hillcroft.

--As a side note, thank you to the anonymous third party.

Trust us. We know.

Over the years, the two of us (sisters whose lives revolve around their dog's potty schedule) have eaten ourselves through size 16 and later to 6s. We live to eat. After dinner, we think about what we will be eating for breakfast. After breakfast, lunch. And so on.

We may not always ace our exams but we got an A+ in food. Mainly eating it. Sometimes cooking it. Sometimes talking about it.

Our parents met their marital demise over 10 years ago. Weekly visitations with our dad occurred at a restaurant of our choosing without fail. When you were young, eating at the neighborhood Chili's worked. It was find. You ordered the Chicken Crispers and loved it!

Much later...(like the time it takes for a good cheese to ripen), we said no to Crispers and yes to deliciousness!

We are determined now, to take a food adventure and eat Houston for all it's worth. New food and new restaurants are our prey.