Barnaby's (River Oaks)

California with grilled chicken & honey mustard: good, adequate, fine.  I always forget that the California comes with artichoke hearts, no avocado!  Petaluma has avocado, but it also has tortilla chips which I don't care for.  The best salad there is the Mediterranean, I have to stop denying it.

Mom had Bacon Blue Cheese burger, she said the blue cheese lacked flavor.  

A note on the location: I hate that location.  We only went there because we were so hungry.  (I knew I was hungry because I had just made a major purchase and felt more tired than excited.  I knew mom was hungry because she suggested we go to the Container Store, then eat, even though we hadn't eaten in over 5 hours.  Hello, blood sugar!)  That location sucks.  It's full of people who get dressed up to go out to lunch, the service is only good when they are really busy (which means it's really loud) and it's always way cold inside.  Fairview is the one.

Avalon on Westheimer

This place is always a trip down memory lane.
I always thought it I were living in the country on a manor as
a privileged child in the 1940's, the breakfast experience would
be similar except in the breakfast nook of my wealthy parents home.
I could go riding and then eat grits. I love grits and I love the
waitresses at this restaurant. They are always so welcoming.




However, do not order Tex Mex breakfast here. Eat
the bacon and grits and classic breakfast. But if I had my
choice, I would eat pancakes at Buffalo Grill or the French Toast
and wings at Breakfast Klub.

Avalon Diner

An oldie but a goodie.  

I won't get in to the cultural (historical?) aspects of that place that make me slightly uncomfortable, but let me share this gem with you. I had just arrived back from Costa Rica, and I was excited to tell my parents how I had caught Barack's acceptance speech on satellite during a thunderstorm at a random bar in Santa Teresa.  Because satellite doesn't work in the rain, a lot of the stations weren't coming in so I ended up watching Barack's speech on BET.  I'm telling my dad this as we are being served our coffee, I say "BET! Isn't that crazy?" and he goes "what?" and I say "BET" and he says "what?" and I say "BET" and by then we all had our coffee and the waitress just walked away smiling.  Then he said "I thought you were saying BEC."

I had the vegetarian omelette with fruit and a biscuit.  Avalon has the best biscuits in town. (Breakfast Klub? Maybe...)  Fruit is always a little lame, but this bowl was ok.  It paled in comparison to what I was eating in CR.

My mom had huevos rancheros which she did NOT like.  Something about the cheese being bad.

David had migas, poorly reviewed.  Also a cheese issue.

My dad proudly discovered two menu items that were virtually indistinguishable.  He ended up with the Western Scrambler. 

Luigi got carbs.

El Pueblito

David and I accidentally ordered a pitcher of margaritas for just the two of us.  A pitcher is enough to get four people hammered, so I don't know how accurate my review of the food is.  

I love this place for the elephants outside and for the pineapple salsa.

I ordered vegetarian enchiladas, I think 3 came? it could have been 2.  I was hammered.

David had shrimp fajitas, he would recommend it: "for $12, it was cheap."  It smelled good, as I recall.

The patio is really nice, but we were in a spot that was pretty loud.  

Something to consider: Midnight happy hour on Fridays and Saturdays