The Loop Churros

There's a new Churros place in the Rice Village.

The Loop is a Churros franchise from Cali.  They were having lion dances, giving out prizes, and these cake pop.

They are located at the formerly Cloud10, in the Rice Village.

The counter instead of having different ice cream flavors, they have different sprinkle options.

Their company motto: Life is Sweet, you can move the letters around like the magnet poems we used to like to do.

For grand opening, I went for the yummy...

I got the Chocolate Almonds glazed.  It came out nice and warm (even after a few pics I've taken).  It was perfect temperature to bite into.

Got the Watermelon Lemonade.  They do have small size or add $1.50 to get the bottle.

This is the Blue Raspberry Lemonade with mango jelly.  So the jelly was a good concept and maybe add that in small size drink instead of the bottle.  It was very hard to get it out of the bottle.  So note-to-self on that one.

Overall, I'm super excited that a churro place inside the loop is open.  I've been following couple food trucks around town, but either timing or location that's the problem.  Of course, I know I can order Churro as a dessert, and several places around town is worth doing.  But, you have to get a meal, when I just wan churro.  So I'm excited.  You can get it by itself with dip, with ice cream, with add-ons or half a dozen mix to go.  Look forward to coming back soon.

The Loop

5216 Morningside Dr

Houston, TX 77005

832-668-5456

https://www.theloopchurros.com

 

Coffee vs. Matcha Dessert Boxes

After the Alice in Wonderland Sphyrn Marketing, this time they did the Coffee vs. Matcha box. 

Look at the beautiful dessert

Rows and rows of boxes, waiting to be picked up.

This is the Coffee Box, which has an eclair, macaron, and mochi.

Stuff that didn't fit inside the box, a cheesecake bar and a Coffee Panna Cotta.

More stuff in the Green Tea box.

Onigiri, mochi, eclair, and macaron

Green tea Panna Cotta, Barfi/Burfi Bar, and a bonus dessert of green tea coconut custard macaroons.

Mini Croissant with little Bacon Bit by SKM Pastries - a little too thick on the texture for me.  I like them light, fluffy and buttery and this was more dense than I'd like.  

Matcha Mochi from Mia's Goodies, which is always superb.  Nice and fresh, and definitely have gotten it in the past. 

Coconut Custard Macaroon by The Custard Box

Macarons by Street Treats

The Matcha one is Matcha butter cream with adzuki beans in the middle.  The Chocolate one has Mocha Butter Cream, and half of it was dipped in chocolate.

These eclairs are delectable by MomoBakes.

The Coffee one is Coffee Raspberry, raspberry drizzle on top of the choux with coffee cream on top, and coffee cream in the middle. 

The Matcha one is unique, it has thin slices of peach on top, matcha glaze, peach jelly and has matcha buttercream inside.

Onigiri from Click Virtual Food Hall.

Opening it has always been a challenge and I finally was able to open it without tearing it apart.  It has grilled salmon, avocado, green onion, furikake sprinkled on top.  You can really taste the quality of the salmon in there.  Highly recommend. 

I already tried the Panna Cotta last time at Pling.  I saw that they offered it, and had to get them again.  Between the Coffee & the Matcha one, the family all voted the coffee one.  It's more flavorful, the Matcha one is really tame. 

Bars are by Sweet & Saffron. This is the Matcha Barfi Bar - very pretty and rich as a dessert.  This is an Indian dessert with milk, matcha, sugar and coconut bits.  Texture is pretty nice, this is best shared.

The other thing they made, was Chocospresso Cheesecake Bar - this is also rich.  It's like espresso cheesecake with Oreo bit, chocolate bits and hazelnuts.  I do very much appreciate the fluffy cream that's in the middle though... Can't have this a lot but I want to... 

Sphyrn Marketing do these boxes monthly.  To participate in these Dessert Boxes, you do have to follow them on their Instagram to wait for their announcement and date for pre-order and pick up info.  I really appreciate that they pull all the Asian bakers and small businesses together and showcase them.  

Sphyrn Marketing

https://www.sphyrnmarketing.com

https://www.instagram.com/sphyrn_marketing_/

 

Fresh Sando

This food stall is one of my 'destination' at the Railway Heights Market.

Sando is finally gaining popularity here in Houston.  There are several pop-ups past year, which proves that people like it and welcome it to our food universe.. 

Sorry for the tiny menu, it was hard to get a good shot since the booth is always busy.

So, what did I get?  I got the Menchi Katsu Sando, and a Matcha Strawberry Cream Dessert Sando.  The Menchi Katsu was recommended by the guy behind the counter.  He said it's one of his fav, and I usually trust the people who work there.  Menchi Katsu means deep fried grounded meat patty.  In this case, it's ground pork with a bit of cole slaw and squeezed between their house-made Japanese  Milk Bread toasted.

The dessert one, is matcha cream, which is very mild and not overly sugary.  They let the strawberries do the sweetening here.  it's nice and delicious.  Wish I had room for their Sumo Fries, it looked good when someone else got it.  Also I saw a lot of Egg Sando (not Tamago Sando).  The Egg Sando is egg salad, versus the Tamago one is cooked, Japanese style scrambled egg sandwich.

There has been instances that they sold out because they're out of bread.  Then, they'll stay late or on the off days to bake more.  So you know the qualities are fresh.  They are also tuck in a corner, but if you see those giant Nekos you can't miss the place.

Fresh Sando

Railway Heights Market

8400 Washington Ave

Houston, TX 77007

https://www.instagram.com/freshsandos/

 

Heads & Tails

Another place I checked out at Railway Heights Market was Heads & Tails Cajun.

This is tucked in a corner from Peaky Grinders (Burgers) is this booth.  

All the yummy Cajun faire can be found here.

I got the Gumbo, which has plenty of sausage and chicken.  There are rice in there, and not too spicy.  Just enough for taste.

Then ordered a side of Dirty Rice, my favorite.  

You know what else is my favorite?  Dump the Dirty Rice into the Gumbo.  It was sooooo good.  Wish I had enough room to try the Boudin Balls & Oyster Platter.  They all looked good.  Don't walk pass this stall.  It's definitely worth visiting!

Heads & Tails

Railway Heights Market

8200 Washington Ave

Houston, TX 77007

https://www.facebook.com/headsandtailshtx/

 

Churrazon

Finally made my way to Railway Heights Market.

One of my MUST STOP is Churrazon.

They have giant jars right there for you to look over.

Flavors get rotated, but since the cup is 32oz big, you can mix and match your flavors.  I got watermelon and mango mix.  I could also have a Chili Lime salt straw to go with my drink too.

For $8, that seems like a lot, but since it's 32 oz of agua fresca and all made in-house.  For work and time, it's a good deal.  They also have Choco-Banana, which is a banana dipped in chocolate but frozen.  I had my handful this trip, so maybe next time.  The food hall is closed Monday and Tuesday and there are tons of parking on the side, just need to pay attention to go to the right entrance.

Churrazon

Railway Heights Market 

8200 Washington Ave

Houston, TX 77007

 

Segundo Coffee

Been seeing this place on social media a lot lately too.

This is Ironworks in the Deep of EaDo.  

It was formerly the Cameron Iron Works building.  The building had produced equipments for oilfields up till WWII where they were producing gun barrel, mounts, and rockets for the U.S. Navy.

Now, it's been re-purposed as a multipurpose building.

Inside, they used various shipment cargos as office and retail space.  

 The building itself with the big huge windows are truly beautiful.   

One such space is used for Segundo Coffee.

They have food from Koffeteria and Dona Licha's Taco.  Hooray for me, I got the last 2 Chorizo & Egg breakfast Taco (yay me!).  They have a Roja's sauce and a Verde sauce, which by the way the Verde was spicier than the red sauce.  But all the yummy goodness are mine! 

For coffee, I got a Honey Lavender Latte with Oat Milk.  It's nice and smooth.  I know they are known for adding CBD in the coffee, but I needed the jolt, and felt like between lavender and CBD - it would mellow out my coffee than really a caffeinated thing.  Not bad but next time I would like to check out their Te Con Leche. They have Melon & Honey, Taro, Matcha, Thai Te and Chai Te - all come cold and bottled.  Next time!

Got there about mid-morning and the line was long with folks already sitting down enjoying the coffee.  Mind you, not the folks that work there.  There are people just stopping by to grab their coffee.  While the area is being revitalized and some would say gentrified, it is still a work in progress.  Meaning, there's not much around.  So people really made the trek to grab a cup of coffee.  They really got a lot of support from social media, mainly Instagram, where influencer often tag them.  And having pop-up markets in the space helps with exposure as well.  Pretty neat.

 

Segundo Coffee

711 Milby St

Houston, TX 77023

832-341-8700

https://www.facebook.com/segundocoffeelab/

Sweet Paris

Since traveling out of the country proof to be cumbersome... 

Going for a little escape is one of the ways to combat the travel blues.

Came to Sweet Paris for a little piece of France in this 100 degree heat.  Yes, I'm sitting outside, but it's early enough and their front entrance has some covering between the buildings that it's not as hot and unbearable just yet.

And yes, with all these Parisian talk, a cup of coffee would've suited the setting more.  But just too hot for one, OJ instead.

I got the Nutella with Strawberry & Banana crepe; aka the Patty Special.  I forgot that their batter is thicker than some other places.  It's not bad, but you fill up faster.  I, of course, gobbled it all down.  It's sweet, it has fruit, and the crepe.  What's not to like?!

I'm going back to dining outside or to-go again.  If you go early enough where they have plenty of seating in or outside.  You truly can feel like you've been transported to anywhere not Texas.  Give that a shot.

Sweet Paris

2420 Rice Blvd

Houston, TX 77005

713-360-6266

https://www.sweetparis.com

 

Pling

Been meaning to try this dumpling place on Lower Westheimer for a while.

It's called Pling, a dumpling restaurant that can pan or steam your dumplings.

I got the Kimchi Tofu, which it really is not over powered by the kimchi taste.  The tofu bits are hard to pickup once broken up.  But it's nice and crispy.

Then I got the KFC - Korean Fried Chicken Pling.  (Oh I get it now - Pling - short for DumPling ... LOL). Anyway, it's chicken stuffing and drizzled with Korean marinated sauce.  It does have some kick to it.  Not super spicy, but definitely more kick than I thought it would be for a little dumpling.  Again, it's pan fried and crispy.  I would come back for this one next time.

I found these yummy dessert at the cold case - they are made by SKM Pastries, who had done the Korean cookies at the Alice Box,  These are Panna Cotta, one is the Dalgona Coffee, which if you remembered was all the rage on social media where people whip their coffee at home during lock down.  The other is Matcha Latte flavor.  Both went very well with the panna cotta itself.  It's not overly sweet, flavor was not overly strong.  It mix well with the two and the consistency matched well together.  I highly recommend getting it if you have the chance.

You can call your order ahead of time, they don't have online ordering at this time. And oh, they're closed on Sunday.  So, don't stop by.  As busy as the area is, they have a nice size parking lot.  So, makes it easy to visit them.

Pling

223 Westheimer Rd

Houston, TX 77006

713-360-7255

https://www.plingusa.com