Subject: Ethnic and Regional Cuisines

• Hollister Hospitality

  June 18, 2009

• Taste-Testing Cheap Eats at Whole Foods

  There's a reason that Whole Foods has earned the nickname "Whole Paycheck" over the years. The grocery store, which emphasizes health foods and organic produce, tends to land squarely on the pricey side of the grocery store spectrum (hey, down there, Kroger! you're cheap, but dirty!). Even with the introduction of its own line of packaged foods and household items, you're still far more likely to find Muffy and Chaz shopping in your local Whole Foods than the average Joe. But with the reces

  June 30, 2009

• Heavenly Hummus at Blue Planet Cafe

  July 2, 2009

• $13 at Pagoda

  Photo by Robb WalshWhere: Pagoda Vietnamese Bistro & Bar, 4705 Inker St., 832-673-0400 What $13 gets you: A cup of pineapple seafood soup ($5) and a big bowl of vermicelli salad ($8) or a Vietnamese sandwich ($4) and a bowl of pho ($8). Pagoda is an authentic Vietnamese restaurant with a chic modern décor that's close to the Heights and downtown. If you love Vietnamese food but don't get around to driving out to Bellaire Chinatown very often, you need to know about this place. The slightly hi

  July 6, 2009

• Tintos Spanish Restaurant & Wine Bar

  July 9, 2009

• New Leaf

  July 9, 2009

• $13 at Edomae Sushi

  Photo by Robb WalshWhere: Edomae Sushi, 12225 Westheimer, 281-558-5599 What $13 gets you: Sushi Special C from the lunch special menu is $10.95 and includes a California roll rolled in bright orange flying fish roe and a Spicy Tuna roll with your choice of miso soup or salad. If you can't afford the tip, get the lunch to go. This Japanese restaurant was remarkable for its monochrome modern interior, throbbing techno soundtrack and cutting-edge cuisine when it originally opened as Blue Fin Sush

  July 16, 2009

• A Cafe Bites Nibble

  Qidong Lin, who's from a small town in China, was first exposed to a moveable sushi bar during a visit to California. "I liked the concept very much," said Qidong. "It is relatively cheap and easy for customers to see what they're getting and how much they will pay." So he opened Sushi Choo Choo (12149 FM 1960 W, 281-955-2888). A conveyor belt moves past customers, displaying an enormous variety of sushi and tempura dishes, along with other dishes such as fried dumplings, edamame and seaweed sal

  July 22, 2009

• Loaves and Fishes

  July 23, 2009

• Indian quesadillas at Red Lion Pub

  July 23, 2009

• The Meaning of Mojarra

  Photo by Robb Walsh​After more than a week of fishing in Arkansas, I headed for Taqueria Jesus Maria as soon as I got back to town. I had Tex-Mex in mind, but I skipped the enchiladas when I saw the special on a whole fried mojarra. I love to eat the crispy fried fish chunks on a hot corn tortilla with lettuce, tomato, guacamole and lots of salsa. Slashing the meaty part of the fish to the bone, sprinkling it with seasoning, and then frying it whole is an easy and delicious way to cook a w

  July 27, 2009

• $13 at Asia Market

  Photo by Mike Giglio​ Where: Asia Market, 1010 W Cavalcade St., 713-863-7074 What $13 gets you: Thai food should leave you full, refreshed and feeling like you got way more than you paid for. Thirteen bucks at Asia Market gets you clear sinuses and more than enough food for two. Best served from tiny roll-carts and enjoyed from flimsy plastic tables along crowded, smoggy streets, in our opinion at least, Thai food never seems right at fancy restaurants. Thankfully, at Asia Market, the sm

  August 3, 2009

• Houston Breakfasts vs. Austin Breakfasts

  Photo by Robb Walsh​This plate of huevos rancheros with bacon and homemade flour tortillas set me back $2.29 at Taqueria Jesus Maria in South Houston. You can breakfast equally well at dozens of other taquerias all over town -- Kiko's on Fulton and Pancho Villa's on Wilcrest both charge $2.99. Dos Amigos on Washington gets $3.25 for an excellent Tex-Mex breakfast special. So imagine my amazement when a commenter recently bemoaned the fact that Houston didn't have any breakfast restaurant

  August 5, 2009

• Top 10 Ice Cream Experiences in Houston

  This week, Robb Walsh explores the vast world of Houston's ice cream parlors in the feature story, "The Scoop." In the course of writing his article, he ate more ice cream than Napoleon Bonaparte did at the Ziggy Pig in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (but didn't get a pin afterwards). He imparts the wisdom gleaned during his research below, as he shares his top ten ice cream experiences in Houston. Photos by Paul S. Howell​10. CreamWorx 8817 Hwy. 6, Missouri City 281-778-2732 CreamWorx

  August 12, 2009

• The Scoop

  August 13, 2009

• Keep on Trucking

  August 13, 2009

• Lingering Over Lunch: Rioja's

  Photo by Robb Walsh​Fine dining establishments are suffering in these days of the downturn. But as we've mentioned many a time before, the best restaurants in the city have some of the choicest lunch specials. Bistro Don Camillo's business lunch, an appetizer, entrée and dessert for $18.95 is quite a deal and so is Tony's "Greenway Special," soup or salad, stuffed chicken and dessert for $17. Da Marco usually offers a helluva spread for $25. But one of my favorite midday feasts is the $1

  August 13, 2009

• An Ice Cream, An Espresso and A Hookah

  Photo by Robb Walsh​While researching this week's ice cream feature, I went looking for Trentino Gelato's dulce de leche -- it's an Argentine-style caramel flavor gelato with big hunks of melted chocolate all through it. I called two of Trentino's biggest distributors, Cricket Creamery and Coffee Groundz, but neither one had that flavor at the moment. The only place selling the elusive caramel and chocolate gelato was a business I had never heard of -- Shisha Express & Deli on Westheimer n

  August 13, 2009

• Gyro Sandwich at Al's Quick Stop

  Photo by J.C. Reid​Al's Quick Stop is a nondescript convenience store on a nondescript stretch of Waugh Drive in a nondescript area of Montrose. There's not even a sign -- Hurricane Ike blew that away last September and it has yet to be replaced. When I describe it to people, I always say "It's that place next to Rudz," referring to Rudyards Pub which is next door. What Al's Quick Stop does have is a well-known (at least to hard core Houston food lovers) deli counter featuring both Mexi

  August 13, 2009

• Food Fight: Battle Cheese Enchilada

  Photos by Katharine Shilcutt​"Cheese enchiladas served in chili con carne -- not thin, meatless chili gravy, or authentic enchilada sauce -- are the hallmark of real Tex-Mex, according to 78-year-old Fort Worth sportswriter and Tex-Mex expert Dan Jenkins," as Robb Walsh stated in his July 2008 feature "Temples of Tex-Mex." The gooey, cheesy, occasionally meaty cheese enchiladas served in classic Tex-Mex joints were more often than not the first Mexican (used here interchangeably with "T

  August 20, 2009

• Laredo Cavalcade

  September 3, 2009

• Mantra Fine Indian Cuisine

  September 3, 2009

• Just-Off-the-Griddle Tortillas at Laredo Taqueria

  Photo by Robb Walsh​In this week's Café review, we visit Laredo Taqueria on Cavalcade, where breakfast is a wondrous experience. When you get in line to order your breakfast tacos, you find yourself standing in front of the griddle where the flour tortillas are being prepared. If you watch carefully, you will see the very tortillas you are about to eat being hand-formed, cooked and passed along to the steam table. The ladies at the griddle turn out a couple of dozen tortillas every few

  September 2, 2009

• Lunch at Le Mistral

  Photos by J.C. Reid​Houstonians have a peculiar relationship with French restaurants. Many Houstonians (and many Texans and Americans) cast a suspicious glance toward anything French. During the 2004 Presidential election, an anonymous source in the George W. Bush campaign remarked that opponent Senator John Kerry "looked French." The characterization, vaguely weak and effeminate in nature, stuck. And the rest, as they say, is history. The campaign aside, W. never really proclaimed an aff

  September 10, 2009

• A Cafe Bites Nibble

  In the space that housed Café Le Jadeite on West Gray emerges a new restaurant, Café Ginger (1952 West Gray, 713-528-4288). Jack Tsai is the manager. "I used to work for Toro Japanese restaurant before coming here," says Tsai. "Toni Sha is the owner. He was one of the partners in Le Jadeite as well as Qin Dynasty, and when the other partners decided to quit, Toni took over. We added a sushi bar and expanded the menu with more variety of Chinese and Japanese dishes, but kept the décor the same

  September 16, 2009

• Easy Risotto: An Oxymoron?

  Photo by Robb Walsh​My friend Paul Howell makes risotto all the time. Pumpkin risotto and mushroom risotto are two of his favorites. I have always found the labor-intensive stirring and adding of liquid required for perfect risotto a little tedious. But Paul introduced me to the pressure cooker method. For my first attempt I tried a dark purple beet risotto. I doubted that the pressure cooker could produce the creamy consistency of a really great risotto, but I was pleasantly surprised.

  September 16, 2009

• Lingering Over the Linguine

  October 1, 2009

• Punjabi To-Go

  October 8, 2009

• Punjabi Sourdough

  ​While writing this week's review of Sher-E-Punjab, we sampled the plain naan and the garlic naan, the dense, vegetable-stuffed paratha, and onion kulcha. Our hands-down favorite, and the best bread to get with the spicy goat vindaloo and fiery chili chicken at this little restaurant and sweet shop, is the fantastically crispy onion kulcha. Kulcha is a Punjabi flatbread made with a high gluten flour and a fermented starter in a traditional tandoori oven. The bread is highly spiced and ru

  October 8, 2009

• $13 at Kojak's Timberbrook Café

  ​ Where: Kojak's Timberbrook Café, 1912 West 18th Street, 713-426-1800 What $13 gets you: At lunch, your money goes a little further at Kojak's (on average the lunch prices are about $1 less per entrée than the dinner prices). Lunch is from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the lineup features hot sandwiches, Po-boys, salads and entrées. Dinner, from 5 to 8 p.m., is heavier on the entrées, but some sandwiches are still available. Get there before 6 p.m., and you can ask about the lunch sele

  October 12, 2009

• Big House on the Hill

  October 15, 2009

• Vietnamese Steak and Eggs... Holy Cow!

  ​ Tan Ba Le Baguette on the corner of Beechnut and Boone is an excellent lunch destination. This Vietnamese diner specializes in street vendor dishes at an affordable price. Ordering here is simple: Walk up to the counter and ask for steak and eggs. The steak-and-eggs combo was traditionally sold to day laborers in Vietnam as a fast and hot pick-me-up to satisfy those mid-day lulls.

  October 15, 2009

• Late Night Scene: Taqueria la Tapatia

  ​On Saturday nights, Taqueria la Tapatia has the craziest music mix. For every two Tejano love songs played, they play one song -- to use the term loosely -- of throbbing, Eurotrash techno. Let's just say it's an odd soundtrack for a burrito. Given a choice, I'll take the Tejano, because the waiters will occasionally dance to the rhythm when they think no one is looking. Around 10 p.m. the crowd is sparse, mostly scattered in booths near the window, but by midnight it's pretty hopping, esp

  October 16, 2009

• Mango Smoothies, Onion Rings and Donuts

  ​Hillcroft -- that magical street where the adventurous soul can find the weird, wild and wonderful cuisine of India and the Middle East. Udipi Café at 5959 Hillcroft is just off 59, tucked between a gas station (go figure) and a jewelry store (go figure again). This restaurant came recommended by Indian nationals working in Houston.

  October 21, 2009

• Tamale Time: A Hot Tamale Sandwich

  ​Forget the dollar menu at Taco Bell, the tamale torta at Doña Tere on Bissonnet is a full meal for $1.79. I got the chile beef tamale and doused the bolillo with salsa to lubricate the rather dry-looking combo of starch on starch. It tasted better than it looked. But next time, I think I'll add lettuce, tomatoes, avocado and mayo. The chicken tamale with green sauce wouldn't be bad as a filling either.

  October 26, 2009

• BBQ Buffet

  October 29, 2009

• Southern Hospitality at Ginza Japanese Restaurant

  ​It's far from the Heights, miles from midtown and could never double as a nightclub. Unassuming as ever, my favorite sushi in town -- Ginza Japanese Restaurant -- makes me proud to dine in a shopping center next to Jack's Carpet. The meal begins with hot towels and ends with sliced oranges - clearly the extracurricular work of an experienced sushi knife. A server hovers four feet from my table with ice water, and the wait staff saunter around in simple, muted kimonos.

  October 28, 2009

• Simon Moon Teaches Korean BBQ 101

  ​Chef Simon Moon is the owner of Korea Garden Grille, the subject of this week's Café review. If you have never eaten Korean barbecue before, this is a great place to try it, because chef Moon makes the experience really easy. When several people in our party confessed that they didn't know where to start, Moon took them through the entire buffet line, explaining it item by item.

  October 28, 2009

• Tex-Pole Kielbasa on a Sizzling Comal

  ​I was singing "Kielbasa" by Tenacious D when the gorgeous blond waitresses delivered my hot sausage on a sizzling comal at Polonia restaurant on Blalock the other day. "I love ya baby, but all I can think about is Kielbasa sausage." Next time I go to a flea market and see some those flat, oval-shaped Mexican comals set in a wooden frame, I am going to buy a couple. They became famous when sizzling fajitas were first served on them in the 1990s, but I have seen the little frying pans ada

  October 29, 2009

• Pickles, Mustard and Pierogi

  ​I am not sure the Polish food store beside Polonia actually has a name. The sign just says "Kielbasa, Golabki, Pierogi." The store is justly famous for its fabulous jelly-filled paczki doughnuts and outrageous kabonosy and kielbasa. (They fly in 600 pounds of sausage from Chicago each week.) But I am usually in such a hurry to get my doughnuts and sausage out to the parking lot that I ignore the rest of the store. Last week my housemate demanded a full tour, and we ended up at the cash re

  October 29, 2009

• Chef Chat: Kay Soodjai of Khun Kay Thai Café

  ​Kay Soodjai and her sister-in-law Supatra Yooto opened the Golden Room in Montrose 27 years ago. Last year they replaced the venerable Golden Room with Khun (Madame) Kay Thai Café (1209 Montrose), with a fast-casual concept and less expensive meals. Supatra, who describes herself as more of an "old-fashioned" Thai cook, offered some translation assistance as Kay was interviewed. How did you get started in the restaurant business? I worked for Chinese and Thai restaurants in Houston, Chi

  November 10, 2009

• Banh Mi Bo Kho: Soup or Sandwich?

  ​Banh mi means "bread" in Vietnamese and thit means "ham"; banh mi thit is a ham sandwich. So when I saw banh mi bo kho on the menu at Banh Cuon Hoa #2 on Beechnut, the subject of this week's cafe review, I figured bread beef stew = a Vietnamese roast beef sandwich. Ever since I first learned about Vietnamese sandwiches, I have been looking for the banh mi stuffed with curry and saucy meats that I have heard are popular in Vietnam.

  November 11, 2009

• Enough About Mi

  November 12, 2009

• Fall Wine Tasting at Simposio Ristorante

  ​In 2007, Vasco Luti, owner of Simposio Ristorante, opened the restaurant's new location in an unlikely shopping center at the corner of Westheimer and Dunvale. Historically, this native Tuscan focused on Northern Italian cuisine, but last night, Simposio debuted some new wines and Southern Italian dishes at the first of many tastings. Two months ago, Chef Riccardo Palazzo-Giorgio joined Simposio Ristorante as the new executive chef. A first-generation Italian-American, Palazzo-Giorgio t

  November 12, 2009

• Mexican Breakfast: Alma Latina Taqueria

  ​Two cheese enchiladas topped with a fried egg (or two) is one of my favorite Tex-Mex breakfasts. It used to be known as huevos montados (eggs mounted) back in the day. Dos Amigos on Washington has this dish on the menu. So do lots of other Houston Tex-Mex joints. But if I don't see it, I often ask for it anyway. After all, how hard is it to throw a fried egg on top of a cheese enchilada plate? I have never been disappointed with this dish -- until now.

  November 12, 2009

• On a Roll at Kubo's Sushi Competition

  Photos by Katharine ShilcuttThe bibimbap roll at Kubo's​Rice, salmon, tuna, seaweed, wasabi, avocado, octopus, daikon radish, cucumber -- it seemed the food would never stop coming. Last night at Kubo's, we were faced with enough sushi to feed two sumo wrestlers. One brightly colored roll after another crossed our plates and palates as we attempted the near-impossible task of choosing a favorite from the group. Kubo's, the veteran Japanese restaurant in Rice Village, is known fo

  November 13, 2009

• Taqueria Huetamo II

  ​On a random weekday around lunchtime we stumbled upon Taqueria Huetamo II (210 Aldine Bender Rd). With only a simple black awning with the name Taqueria Huetamo II in white letters, this place is the poster child for a hole-in-the-wall restaurant. It was clean, simple and almost empty. We were one of three small groups eating lunch, and only one more group arrived while we were eating. The friendly waitress immediately brought us each our own bowl of homemade salsa and fresh chips. This

  November 17, 2009

• Flounder Fish & Chips

  November 19, 2009

• Hair and Healthy Tex-Mex

  November 19, 2009

• Food Fight: Battle Masala Dosai

  Photos by Katharine Shilcutt​After last week's Battle Grilled Cheese, we received a gentle prod from one of our readers and favorite local food mavens, Dr. Ricky: "I think there need to be more creative choices for the food battles. Down to grilled cheese sandwiches?"It was with a heavy sigh and a heavy heart that we admitted to ourselves that Dr. Ricky was right. Food Fight has been taking a turn for the bland (if comforting) lately. We suddenly felt remiss and very disappointed in ourse

  November 19, 2009