Archive for the ‘Restaurant review’ Category

It only took 3 1/2 years to get my husband to dinner at one of my favorite spots in Houston, Cafe Red Onion. I guess I can’t call it one of my favorites anymore – the last time I ate there was *literally* the day before I met my husband.

Far more exotic than Tex-Mex, the Red Onion prides itself upon “Latino Fusion” cuisine – a mixture of American and fresh tropical Caribbean and Latino flavors. If you’re visiting Houston, this place should default as one of your “must eat” locations.

I think of suggesting the Red Onion for dinner all the time, kick the idea around a bit in my head:

Then I usually promptly discard the Red Onion as a suggestion and we move on.

However, because my in-laws (that’s still so funny to write, much less say!) are taking us to the Red Onion for dinner to celebrate my birthday tonight, I no longer have to imagine all those funny looks on my husband’s face – I get to see them! I will not whip out a camera at dinner, though – that silly moment will still be reserved for just the two of us.

To my surprise, there actually are a handful of very normal items on the menu – “regular” chicken quesadillas and tacos al carbon. Jason enjoyed dinner, completely delighted with the handful of “normal” offerings on the menu. I returned home completely delighted at the Chicken Relleno I ordered – thinly pounded chicken breast stuffed with broiled grape fruit, crushed pistachios, goat cheese, cilantro, and chopped relleno peppers, plated with a creamy cilantro sauce, and a tropical black bean salsa. There were no leftovers… there never are.

My “must make as soon as the kitchen is finished” list is growing quickly – I expect to turn out a Chicken Relleno knock-off within the first week!

Locatelli’s Pizza
13215 Grant Rd
Cypress, TX 77429

Atmosphere–A+
Service–A+
Food–A++

Six hours can make all the difference in the world.

The suburbs can be touch-and-go when it comes to eating out at dinner time. I’ve learned that visiting a place at lunch time is no way to gauge how dinner will be there. My husband and I work in the suburbs of Houston – it’s great to live in town and work out, driving against the flow of traffic. The downside is that our favorite “lazy lunch places” up in the ‘burbs seem to disappear around 7:00 each night and morph into total chaos.

We frequented a Tex-Mex restaurant near our workplace for lunch that had a neat atmosphere. We decided to go for dinner one night and oh, my! Loud. Obnoxious. A totally different place – the lazy lunch place was no more. The entertainment worked hard to play over conversation and the shrieks from the kiddies, while the diners worked hard to speak over the music – a viscous cycle. Then there is Locatelli’s Pizza.
Read the rest of this entry »

Atmosphere – A
Service – A+
Entertainment – A++ (bonus points for the jazz band serenading us twice)
Food – A+
Bananas Foster – C

Yes, you’re seeing that correctly. I gave the inventors of Bananas Foster a C. But before that…

Brennan’s of Houston just might make the best Eggs Benedict in the world. I don’t have any real credibility in that statement, though – I’ve only had Eggs Benedict a few times and all within the last 6 months. My husband lived on it growing up so I’ll claim “Expertise by Marriage.” Read the rest of this entry »