Eating in Texas

We love to eat out when we can. We don’t eat often but we like to try different things. We are also easy to please, preferring to enjoy what we have in front of us rather than to find fault in the food or the restaurant. We are not critical and pretend to know the finer points of food.

Anyway, we’ve been in Houston for three years now and what better way to look back than to list down as best we could all the joints we’ve shared meals in. In no particular order:

1. Redfish Seafood Grill, Cypress – Whenever I pass by Highway 249, I always see a good number of vehicles parked outside the Redfish restaurant. I looked it up online and saw good reviews. They opened a new branch recently on Highway 290 and since this is closer to us, we decided to try it out finally. The tempura cocktail, the fish dish and the sushi roll were all excellent both in taste and in presentation. We’ll definitely be back to try their other specialty dishes.

2. Ocean Palace, Houston – We’ve been here twice, both visits with the same friends. The restaurant is adjacent to the Hong Kong Mall on Bellaire Blvd., which is probably the artery of Chinese and Asian culture in Houston. The interior is like a grand ballroom and is spacious enough for the rolling dimsum carts. Dimsum is such a delight and those served here do not disappoint. The place is big and is clean. The dimsum are very good. A little pricey, though, and considering the restaurant is big, they didn’t seem to have enough carts with enough variety. We saw the same carts carrying the same selections a few times.

3. Kim Son, Stafford – Another dimsum place along Highway 59. Good selection and good prices. If you haven’t had dimsum before, here’s a fair warning: It’s easy to get carried away and select many items on the different carts. The problem is you don’t really know how much your bill will be unless you keep tabs of the stamps on the dimsum card. Depending on how many you are in the party, I think it’s best to limit yourself to one or two plates of the same dish per round. This way, you can try many things and not order too much of the same dish.

4. Mi Luna, Houston – Spanish tapas rule. Tapas are small plates of food, much like dimsum is to the Chinese, I guess. Mi Luna offers a good selection in several “packages” or as stand-alone plates. Tapas are either seafood or meat plates with plenty of garlic, chilies or paprika, cumin, salt, pepper, saffron and heaving amounts of olive oil which you then soak your bread into. One of my favorite dishes growing up was my mom’s Gambas and I always order one whenever I find it on the menu. Needless to say, it didn’t disappoint especially when paired with a pitcher of sangria and a sizzling plate of paella. The place is nice and the wait staff friendly. The food is satisfying and you leave craving for the next visit. I swear I could drink the olive oil on those plates.

5. Rudy’s Barbecue, Houston – We’ve been to Rudy’s in San Antonio, Rudy’s on I-45 in Spring and ordered to go from the new Rudy’s on 290 in Houston. We love this style of barbecue – not your typical sweet rub and sauce – but one that has a bite to it. A good mix of pepper and spice drive us nuts. The place is iconic, as well. Every branch has a gas station up front and the seating is communal bench-style. There are no plates, instead you rip wax paper and place it on your table. You line up to order food and you are expected to clean up your mess after.

6. Spring Creek Barbecue, Cypress – We love the barbecue at this place. I love barbecue sauce and theirs is top notch. One of the best things about this place is their fresh baked bread. Faye and the kids will sometimes go there just to buy bread.

7. Carl’s Barbecue, Cypress – Before Rudy’s and Spring Creek, Carl’s was our bbq place of choice. It’s near and they have good brisket and ribs. From the outside, it looks like a hole in the wall kind of place but the inside is actually bright and surprising.

8. Goodson’s Cafe, Tomball – We were watching an episode of Travel Channel when this restaurant was featured for its Chicken Fried Steak. We were intrigued and headed out to Tomball one weekend. The place was packed. The CFS was huge and wonderful.

9. Mel’s Country Cafe, Tomball – A friend recommended this not so easy to find restaurant in Tomball. The food is deep-fried and greasy delicious. Their main attraction is the Mega Mel which is a 1.5 lbs beef, 1 lbs bacon and .25 lbs cheese burger. That’s like a death wish. I ordered the steak and chicken fingers instead. This is an interesting cafe. I would say it is the most “country” restaurant I’ve been to.

10. Cypress Station Grill, Cypress – The restaurant serves what I’d like to call standard Texan food. The place is clean and airy. We like to order the Fried Mushroom appetizer and the Grilled Pork Chops here.

11. La Hacienda, Cypress – This place seem to be always busy. They serve what I like to call standard Tex-Mex fare. Nice interior, play area and good food. The fish dishes are superb.

12. Bertani Ranch Steakhouse, Cypress – This steakhouse looks real nice inside and out. When they opened, they were serving $40 steaks which put them in my ‘never’ list. Fortunately, they went back to reality and decided to be more competitive and have steaks in the $15 to $20 range which put them in my ‘must try’ list. Needless to say, we enjoyed the rib-eye steak.

13. JB’s Steakhouse, Cypress – We decided to try this seemingly nondescript steakhouse along Huffmeister Rd. The place looked very much like a local favorite. I fell in love with their rib-eye steak the first time I tried it…and the second time…and the third time.

14. Green Garden, Cypress – We have eaten only once inside this restaurant but we have ordered to-go many times. Our favorite is the Shrimp Lo Mein and our recently discovered Egg Foo Yong.

15. Thai Spice Buffet, Houston – We go here regularly. You just can’t beat the selection and the price. Pad Thai, curry dishes, Tom Yum soup and a bunch of other tasty choices.

16. Wood-Fired Pizza, Cypress – Tucked into a small strip mall in the corner of Huffmeister and Spring-Cypress, this family-run pizza place is superb. Quality and flavor are excellent. We’ve ordered pizza here a number of times and they’ve remained consistent.

17. Spicy Sichuan, Houston – Spicy Crispy Chicken! Tried this restaurant in Bellaire Blvd. out of whim and it has become our favorite place for an injection of spice. The specialty spicy chicken is a wonderful concoction of red peppers, pepper oil and chicken. It’s so good that you can’t stop even though you start sweating and sniffing.

18. Pappasitos, Houston – Our favorite Tex-Mex restaurant. The beef fajitas, the chips, the margaritas and everything else in between are excellent. I’m getting hungry just thinking about the melt in your mouth fajita beef.

19. Pappadeux, Houston – The sister restaurant of Pappasitos serves mouth-watering fresh Louisana-style seafood. The Lobster Bisque and the Chef’s Special fillet dishes never disappoint.

20. Hikari, Houston – A small and quaint Japanese restaurant along Highway 6 has one of the best tempuras around. We like the batter to be crunchy and they make it exactly to our liking.

21. Frenchy’s, Houston – One of the best fried chicken we’ve ever had. The skin is light and oh so crispy. We’ve been there once and can’t wait to try it again.

To be continued . . .