Be-Wiched Bistro

This is a first dear friends: I actually ate at a place on my list of places I want to eat!  And listen, I don't want to brag, but I know how to pick restaurants.  

The best part of the meal was the pumpkin lobster bisque.  I know you think I'm just making this up to make me sound like  I'm really great at picking restaurants, but I'm not.  This was probably the best soup I've ever had.  Bright in color, creamy but with a texture.  I've always thought that lobster just tastes like butter, but this bisque taught me that no, lobster tastes like heavy cream.

The sandwich was actually pretty sub-par, but you know, with carbs and all, no one should really be eating sandwiches anymore anyways.  Do the soup with a salad and you have a $9 lunch that is worth every penny.

Cons: no dessert options, at all.

Pros: when you order iced tea, you get your own personal french style glass bottle.  I don't know if french-style is what you call it, but its the one where you clamp down the seal.  Katie, what do you call that?

House of Blues

For post-election Wednesday, my coworkers and I had lunch at the brand new House of Blues in downtown Houston.  This place has kinda been a thorn in my side lately because there's loads of latenight traffic flowing into my parking garage as I'm trying to leave work in the late evenings, but it has also brought a great deal of excitement into my life, like when Jay-Z came the opening weekend and I imagined him hanging out in his wife's hometown with his wife, just doing their thing.

Anyways, that was all to say that this place has a lot of hype surrounding it (traffic, Beyonce, etc) so I was preparing myself to be let down by the culinary experience.  But let down I was not!  This food was right.  I had a crab/corn soup that was served with a sweet cornbread muffin.  It was sweet, you guys!  Then I had a shrimp po'boy that was served on super-soft bread (oh Holland...sigh) with salty fried shrimp, relatively dry but colorful coleslaw, and I subbed sweet potato fries for regular fries.  This shit was off the hook.

People around me were having catfish nuggets (like chicken nuggets), mac 'n cheese,  shrimp etouffe and pulled pork sandwiches.  All of these had nice and some adorable presentations.

The only bad part of the meal was the bill, about $30.  But don't hold it against this restaurant.  As a bunch of rowdy Obamamamas celebrating the election, someone mentioned a pitcher of margaritas to the waitress and no one shot it down.  So this is definitely an affordable lunch spot as long as you aren't celebrating the greatest election of your lifetime and one of America's proudest moments.  

YES WE CAN!

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.  

Pico's

Chiles en nogada translated literally means fucking delicious.  It is a poblano pepper stuffed with pork (or rice if you are a vegetarian aka carb freak) in a creamy walnut sauce with almonds and raisins, topped with dried cranberries.  What else can I say?

Cost was $9 on the lunch menu and it came with a random salad with iceberg lettuce and a cilantro dressing which I ignored.  But, speaking of cilantro! the red salsa at this place is loaded with cilantro: thumbs up! 

Also, I was tempted by but did not partake in $2.75 margaritas at lunch.  The reasons for this abstention are both frivolous and serious.  My dining partner was achin' from a bachelor party last night so he was no fun, but more importantly, these margaritas are potent and this restaurant is out in Bellaire.  And I don't know anyone who lives there anymore, so if I had gotten hammered (see El Pueblito), I would have had no one's house to walk to.  Jaime said that's why I should go on dates: so that my date can drive my ass around drunk.  Sounds like a recipe for date rape, I say.  

All in all: great Mex-Mex.  Some say the BEST in town.  Well well, let the games begin.

This is David now. I hacked in.... let me just show you.... this is a human head next to an out-of-this-world gianormous 'medium' margarita.

DaMarco

DaMarco: the best lunch special in town!

$25 for a three course lunch.  It was fabulous.

Course 1: I had a grilled eggplant salad which was served with warm creamy goat cheese that integrated the salad.  It was the special salad of the day.  Dining companions had a creamy corn soup which was also very good, light.  Another ordered the frisee salad with pears, which was a mound of frisee, so pretty!

Course 2: All but one of us went with the highly recommended parpadelle with rabbit.  It was really good.  I said "what does rabbit taste like?" and everyone predictably said "chicken" but that really wasn't true.  Since I've never had it before, this could be in the preparation, but the rabbit was very moist and tender and it had more flavor than chicken.  It's a flavor I don't feel confident in describing right now (I must admit that although the time stamp says otherwise, this is not live blogging from the restaurant.  Live blogging makes me want to vomit, which wouldn't be good in a restaurant.)

Course 3: The best course, as always.  2 people went with the flourless chocolate cake with coffee ice cream, a safe choice.  I tried it and it was good, the cake wasn't overwhelmingly chocolate, although it would have been too dry without the ice cream.  I had the panna cotta, what a dream.  So light and delicate, and as the waiter served it to me, he poured about half a tablespoon of aged balsamic vinegar on it.  Sounds bad, right?  It's not!  The tartness of the vinegar  cuts the sweetness of the dessert and the sweet cream highlights the sweet flavor of the vinegar (it was very very mild).  

Four stars, what a deal.  Although you might want to dress up a little, we got looks when we all went in there lookin' unemployed, which we all were (all but one of us, but she had already changed into jeans).  I am loving Houston.

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.