Potbelly Sandwich Works

If you like your sandwiches hot and drippy, you will like Potbelly.  

A Potbelly sandwich consists of soft warm wheat bread, a load of meat, a little bit of cheese, and then a veritable shmear of assorted olives and peppers.  The first time I went to this place, I thought, wow, that little bit of heat from the peppers is nice, a fresh take on a sandwich.  But this week!  Good Lord!  Those peppers were hot.  My lips were burning so hot after finishing that baby off it looked like I was wearing ball-buster-red lipstick.  It really made my day.

Google lets me know that my readers in DC and Minnesota will have no trouble finding a location near them, but my loved ones in NYC are going to have to venture out into the greater Tri-State area.  I'm not going to say its worth a 45 minute train ride, as only few things are, but, if you find yourself in the neighborhood and work up an appetite (knocking on doors, perhaps) you might find one in Philly and chow down.  

Striphouse

The Striphouse is a downtown business-oriented restaurant that is completely inappropriate for today's business world.  The walls are draped in pornographic images of the past, probably the 1950s.  Were there breasts in 1950's porn?  Because there are exposed breasts on the walls of this restaurant.  There is an aura aureola. 

[I'm sorry, but let's all stop and take a moment with that last sentence.  How great is it to read this blog?]

So even though it's kinda creepy to go there in mixed company, my co-workers and I ventured over when the newly-opened House of Blues was running a 45 minute wait for lunch.  I would have been happy to wait because it was Friday, but then I would have had to work all weekend.  Oh wait, I worked all weekend anyways.

Wow, this post has  a lot of personal asides.  Probably because reviewing steakhouses is boring.  I guess I just don't like steak.  I like the sides associated with steak though.  For instance, this place has great creamed spinach.  Maybe I will start getting veggie plates at steakhouses, although that's a pretty big professional risk at this point in my career.

Lankford's Grocery

This place is a dive, to say the least.  The day I went it had rained in the morning, and it appeared as though it was still raining inside at lunch time.  Nevertheless, a great time.

First of all, while waiting for a table, I saw tater tots being consumed all over the place.  Tater tots!  You just don't see that on too many menus these days, and for no good reason.  Tater tots are definitely in the top five potato preparation methods, yet rarely do you hear drunk girls screaming about how much they want tater tots.  I mean, I'm no carbaholic, but I've had a potato or two in my life, and thick flaky tater tots are about as good as it gets in spuds.  

Back to Lankford's: this place is in the Midtown area, but it is nothing like Midtown.  I mean, it is Midtown in the sense that it is across the street from three-story townhouses, but it's more like whatever Ward Midtown used to be -- or, even older, perhaps even pre-Ward.  So sure, it's old and the roof leaks, but there's a reason this place is still in business: somebody there knows how to use a deep fryer.

The special of the day was chicken-fried steak, which I had to forgo because I had Chick-Fil-A for breakfast and too much fried meat is what gets people on The Biggest Loser.  So I had a chicken sandwich (although the burgers looked amazing) and then tasted the assortment of fried sides: tater tots, fried jalapenos (called hot sticks or something) and onion rings.  Damn girl.  This is what I'm talking about.

I really want to go back for breakfast.  It's nice to find a place in Houston that's not in a strip mall and feels more than fifteen minutes old.

Udipi

This might be the best Indian food restaurant in Houston.  That is a bold statement, but its one that the fearless critic has already asserted, so I don't have to be so fearless to concur. 

Deeeee-lish.  That's all I can really say.  We started with some a plate of assorted fried appetizers: potatoes, mushrooms, various unidentifiables.  All of them hearty and good conduits for trying all the different sauces in the caddy.  The Indian donut was heavenly with the coconut sauce.  Do it.

Then the food came out with your choice of carbs: grilled bread (nan), fried bread (fried nan) or rice (white man's nan).  You can also get your fried nan stuffed with potatoes, but even I know when to say when when it comes to carbs.

The food was so flavorful.  Mine was the best, although James said David's was the best.  David had something with dumplings in a sauce.  Man, my details sound shady, but I am just going to recount as much as I can.  Mine (the best) had mushrooms.  Oh my God that's all I can remember!  Fuck!  I'll go back and eat there tomorrow and then update this post.  James's had vegetables and potatoes, but it wasn't as good as mine.  

I know this is a terrible restaurant review, but have no fear.  I will come back to this.  I just want to say that this restaurant is really good and I want to make it a habit to go here once a month, even when I'm working on important documents (shout out to David, who thinks I'm going to the dark side but won't say it out loud.)

Spencer's

Steakhouses and lawyers are like peas and carrots, perhaps because steak brings status without demanding too much skill.  

So, as a young attorney, I've been recruited at a lot of steakhouses in Texas.  My cardinal rule of eating at steakhouses is don't get fish.  It's not lighter and healthier than meat because it is swimming in butter.   It's generally just a bad version of whatever fish you were hoping to get (usually salmon). If you have to go to a steakhouse but you aren't that hungry, just order steak and eat a little bit of it.  

I switched sides of the table this week and became a recruit-er and then broke my own damn rule.  We started with some crab cakes and coconut shrimp that were really good, so I thought, shit, I'm gonna order some ahi tuna.  What a mistake.  It was disgusting.  And not just because I had just had really really good ahi tuna at Ibiza.  This ahi tasted briney.  And the texture was...raw.  The steak was really thick, so the  outside was chewy and overcooked and the inside was chunky and undercooked.  Very inconsistent.  I would take central market day-old tuna rolls over what I got at this place.  

So, Spencer's.  It has interesting architecture inside, the desserts looked good, apps were great, and lunch menu is reasonably priced.  Don't order fish at a steakhouse.

Ibiza

This is a pretty solid choice when you are looking to upgrade your evening without going over the top.  The lunch crowd is a veritable facebook of downtown lawyers, the kind that like to eat hot fresh french fries drizzled in truffle oil.  I started with the crab bisque and it was heavenly, nice big chunks of melt-in-your-mouth crab.  Then I had an ahi tuna salad.  I remember that the salad part of it was really dark green and healthy looking, but I can't remember what vegetables were in it.  No matter because the star of this salad was the ahi.  Ordered rare, it came out in a half-dozen thin strips of sushi-quality tuna.  The flavor was delicate and the texture was perfect.  I know that the french fries at this place are like crack, but they're not the only thing on the menu worth stopping in for.

Known for its wine list, a great place to bring a lady when you are dressed to impress.

Reef

This is a midtown restaurant that isn't too midtowny.  It has the best sliders in town.  I know what you are thinking, what the fuck is a slider?  It's a miniature hamburger.  How could you not love it?  

I didn't have sliders because I was planning Star Pizza for dinner.  I had a salad that was loaded with vegetables and big slices of parmesan, and then scallops with polenta.  They were good, but I think the best way to eat scallops is all alone.  What is polenta anyways?  Grits?  Someday, I'll get to the bottom of all this.  

El Tiempo (Richmond)

El Tiempo was Part II of Mama Ninfa's Friday and I was really really full on Mama Ninfa's Friday night.  My family always orders a combination of the following dishes at this restaurant, so I am not qualified to review anything but 

• carnitas
• veggie fajitas
• brisket flautas
• any given combo of shrimp and bacon

That being said, everything at this restaurant is top-notch.  The carnitas are the best in town, no doubt.  There is no other restaurant in the world that will give you as much variety of charry veggies that come with the veggie fajitas.  The brisket flautas have nothing to do with Mexico, but man are they Texas.  

For a review of the guac, see Ninfa's on Navigation.  It's the same, and it's delicious.  Ditto on the ritas.

I love this place, although last summer the valet crashed my dad's car.  

Ninfa's on Navigation

When you walk in to this place, the original Ninfa's, you are immediately struck by two things: a large beautiful oil painting portrait of Mama Ninfa (the owner) and the tortilla station where three women are rolling out flour tortillas.  Both of these things are very nostalgic for me, as I went to Ninfa's on Richmond almost every Friday when I was between the ages of five and ten.  I used to see Mama Ninfa herself more Fridays than not, and every Friday those nice ladies at the tortilla station and would give me a ball of tortilla dough in the shape of a swan.  So when I walk in to Ninfa's on Navigation, my heart swells a little.

Start with guacamole.  Do it because you won't be sorry.  This is the only place in Houston (the world?), with the exception of other Mama Ninfa joints, where you get to mix your own guacamole.  You get a big plate of mashed avocado and tomato and then you decide how to mix in the onions, jalapenos, cilantro and garlic.  It's fun, and it's good.

Then just order anything on the menu that you like: enchiladas, fajitas, whatever.  It's all good.  The rice and beans are just average, but by the time your attention falls on them, you should be hella full anyways.

The rest of the Ninfa's in town (the world?) are not like this Ninfa's.  Go to this one.  It's just east of downtown.  It has a patio.  It is what all the other Ninfa's should be.