Ack, I shouldn't give up on the blog. Feels too much like work. I was even deleting the food porn photos on my phone recently. Planned a great post about seeking out local food in Jamaica. Alas, alack.

Anyhow. Motivation for posting is Houston Restaurant Month. Last year when they officially went to all month long instead of "oh we're going to extend another week and another week and another week" we went hog-crazy, hitting IIRC nine restarants. Was very, very cool. Best view - Spindletop (food not as good as we like). Most WOW factor: CINQ @ Colombe d'Or. Best food, hard to pick. Perhaps Olivette. Another WOW restaurant. Restaurant you couldn't drag me to again for a million dollars: Ibiza, where a waiter brazenly tried to steal my phone! We also did benjy's on Washington, Brennan's, Frank's Chop House (we didn't like this one so much). One or two others.

This year, hard to nail Scott down for too many work obligations so we only made three.

Americas River Oaks. Wasn't even on my short list abut it was like, Scott you have a night free, we're going. Ss you can see, I got as far down the list as the As. Interesting place. Different. Weird decor. The food was good but too much meat for me. Another problem with this place is the proximity to Brasserie 19 which we like a lot (but are starting to burn out on).

Philippe. Oh, wanted to like this more than I did. Wonderful ambiance and the view is stunning. Noise level *high*. The food was hit and miss. Gazpacho was excellent as was the potted foie gras. Scott my foie gras slut claimed he did not like it as he stuffed his face with it. We were underwhelmed by the waiter. Desserts were meh. Entrees were okay to good. Philippe himself came out to ask how we liked the meal. OMG, he is charming and handsome and French! Delicieux! I may go back to check out the lounge but nothing about the dining room pulls at me.

On the other end of the spectrum, the last place we made this year is Triniti. And WOW. Everything from beginning to end amazed us. (well getting there didn't, being on a busy part of Shepherd, but that's a nitpick). Loved the decor, light and airy and open. The food -- stunning! Stay away if you don't like artsy, froofy food, but it was amazing. I think I said that. I got a wine tasting for $18, three small pours, one for each course. Best Value. We got an amuse bouche, and a mignardese. And some muffins. And the waitstaff was great.  And they have a tasting menu! I gush. I gotta go back.

Say it ain't so!

OMG driving down Westheimer today just past Fondren, what do I see? Signs being put up on a yet to be opened Del Taco.

Just what Houston needs. A bad California-Mex chain.

Del Taco made a brief foray into the Houston market back in the 80's. They lasted maybe 2 years. With luck, they won't stay as long this time around.

Hey, Hay

Been hearing a lot of buzz about this brand new place, The Hay Merchant, down in Montrose. Had a lot of trouble finding it, partly cause they didn't have a sign up, and partly cause they're in the same building I know Underbelly was going in, which isn't open yet. The old Chances sign is still up, strangely.

Anyhow, it's an alehouse with loads of neat beers and foodie type food. Did not think to take any pictures despite playing with a brand new nifty Transformer tablet. We delved right in and ordered a lengua pastrami sandwich, waffles and fried chicken livers and black sausage queso. The sandwich was a little meh despite the lengua but the other two were excellent.

Not being much of a beer drinker, I wimped out and got a cider tho I wanted a hefeweizen they had sold out of. My companion got something dark and chewy and bitter that he quite enjoyed. With an interesting name, Pontificator.

Worth a look. 1100 Westheimer, across the street from El Real.

One ship Two ship

I haven't been wayward, I've been on a cruise. Once upon a time I was so excited about cruising, I'd immerse myself in all the goings on, including checking the webcams, etc. Many cruises later I'm rather blase about it, but not enough to stop cruising once per year. That is why when we drove down to Galveston at the usual time, we were surprised to find a paucity of cruise ships.


Because of the fog. Southeast Texas tends to get heavily foggy this time of year and the Port Authority closed the docks. We were shooed away and told to go have lunch and come back some hours later.

Which we did, to be greeted by this welcome sight.




Btw, that's not the ship I sailed on, that's Carnival Magic. They still wouldn't let us on since now they were running about 6 hours behind schedule so we wandered back into The Strand and found a wine bar.

Nay, not a wine bar, a winery. I should know better not to expect much from places that don't grow their own grapes. Not only that, they didn't purchase grapes, they bought the juice. Needless to say the wine wasn't very good. It was a nice respite and I got a free glass from doing a tasting.

There is a wine bar and a champagne bar both on our ship. Normally I'd spend more time at the champagne bar but the bartenders at the wine bar were a lot more personable, plus it was the first time I'd sailed on a ship that had a dedicated wine bar. Another thing we liked about Vintages was better happy hour munchies. The champagne bar put out caviar which got snarfed up quickly. Vintages had what they called "tapas", not sure about that. Things like olives, shrimp, grilled zucchini, proscuitto, cheese, etc and they'd fix you a big plate.

Somehow got talked into trying a $36 dollar glass (that's glass not bottle) of wine. I realize prices are inflated on ships, plus one tends to be a little more extravagant in one's spending. However, it was hands down the best wine I have tasted in my entire life. I'll tell you until I'm blue the face that I don't like Cabs, but this was a Cabernet. Caymus Special Reserve, OMG, it was awesome.I took it to dinner and took tiny little sips of it, I wanted to savour it that badly. On the ship, the bottle price was $175 IIRC. Back home the cheapest bottle I can find is $119. Ack. Man I don't spend $36 for a bottle of wine! All I can say is, Wow. It was excellent.

Btw, this is the ship we were on, Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas. (docked in Cozumel in the photo)