Liberty Kitchen

So we have an out of town trainer that's helping our office out. So we got a great excuse to go to different places.

One place I have been dying to try is Liberty Kitchen in the Heights. It is located on Studemont & 11th Street. The funny thing was that building used to be a 7-11, then got bought by Circle K, and then it became a Hit and Go with gas station. Then, next thing we know it went out of business, and then it became a tamale factory, and it went black. So, fast forward some time, the folks in Liberty Kitchen took over.
We ordered some shelled oysters to start. It was from Louisiana, and at first I was a bit hesitant, because it's from the Gulf. Then again, I'm all about trying new things.... what's the worst? Food poisoning? My boss was at the dinner with us, so she would be my witness.

Turns out, it was decent. Now, for sure, it was slimey. But it's not without it's taste. It tasted fresh and not gamey, to which I was super impressed.
I ordered the brisket. It came with some huge onion rings, which were nicely battered and golden and fried. Oh yes, it's fried through alright. The brisket was very good, you can taste a hint of smoke. That said, a part of the brisket was dried.

I will say though, our out of town guest was totally impressed with the porterhouse, which had a side of asparagus with bacon jam on top. Yes, you read that right, bacon jam. Supposedly, it tasted so good that we made a special order for him to take home. By calling ahead, and for mere $20, they will get you some extra to take home. And if you think about it, you can put it on top of anything, toast, meat, veggies, you name it.

Liberty Kitchen
1050 Studewood
Houston, TX 77008
(713) 802-0533

http://www.libertykitchenoysterbar.com/

Mala Sichuan

Now that the 'real winter' is back in Houston, what I love is a nice warm dish on a cold day. My friend and her husband were eating here one night, and I thought why not give it a shot.

We ordered peppered pork, it has white meat, scallions, some cabbage. It has a little heat, not as much as the next dish.

Ma Po Tofu. I love this dish since I've been a little kid. It goes well with any plain rice, and totally liven things up. Let me tell you though, you better have a glass of iced water ready at hand just in case the pepper went down the wrong way.

Service is good, food are decently priced. Definitely will warm you up on a cold night.

Mala Sichuan Bistro
9348 Bellaire Boulevard

Houston, TX 77036
(713) 995-1889

Uchi - Houston

This is totally out of the order I had lined up, but this is such an occasion for me that I had to reshuffle to pull this up ahead of the others.

I've been trying to go to Uchi in Austin for a while. Let me tell you, if you don't have a reservation in Austin, it is guarantee to have an hour wait. So, as soon as I heard that Uchi Houston is opening, the first day they were accepting reservation, I set my alarm on my phone to call. Booya! Got in the first official opening weekend, and word on the street that they are booked every weekend thru the 23rd. And if you want to check for yourself, go have a look-see at Opentable. Your best bet, Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. You are not going to get any luck walking up on Thursday/Friday/Saturday.
The space is not as big as you would think. Or if you've been to the Old Felix Mexican restaurant, you realized how small their kitchen must've been back then. The seating definitely is limited. As we were waiting, bartender Dale highly recommended Akami Te, which Chef Tyson Cole believes that food of the similar color works well together. And boy did it?!

Akami Te basically is slices of tuna on top of compressed watermelon with cilantro and thai chili. Let me tell you, it was a parade in my mouth, it's compact taste, you wouldn't think watermelon would work here, but it does. It brings a refreshing balance against the thai chili. The cilantro is not just for decorations, it does bring out the taste of the watermelon. You have to order it if it is in season. While, January is not exactly watermelon season, this year has ben unseasonably warm, which makes it all the more special.
The other thing bartender Dale recommended was avocado sushi. Yes, I was surprised just like you are. But he has a point, it is a vegetarian way to get some nice experience to fat. It isn't just avocado and rice, it also have a little pepper on top. It is fatty like the tuna would taste, and the avocado is definitely fresh. But really, the pepper is the show, the fat is just along for the ride.
Next up is the Gyutoro, which was Uchi's version of 72 hr wagyu shortribs. As David calls it, his DAMN moment. It was DAMN good. It has the juicy ribs which literally melts in your mouth. It's not a figure of speech, it was for real. YUM!
Bacon tataki was a work of art. It is pork belly with citrus and lime taste. To top it off, it has this pretty fried onion chip as decoration. It was yummy!
Since the Uchi's service style is a service per course, however many dishes you order they bring it out to you as a course. So if you ordered several tasting, or sushi, they are brought out to you course by course, which does draw out the time you would at a normal dinner. That said, we didn't mind, we just can't wait to see what comes out next.

Our server Grace noticed that David had asked alot of questions regarding gluten free, and she noted on our dishes that they needed to be gluten free. And she also noticed that I noted our last dish couple of times and brought out a complimentary Uchi salad. I wasn't complaining, I swear. But it was nice of her to thought of doing that. The lettuce is seasoned with salt and I swear there were bits of parmesan on it. And you dip it in this edamame and jalapeno sauce. It was literally like crack. Even if you're not a salad person, you should get this, you eat it chip and dip style.
My friend Julia who went to the Media dinner, highly recommended Walu Walu, which was escolar cooked and you dip it in ponzu sauce. It has this lightly crisp outer layer, and when you cut into it, it falls apart and you drizzle ponzu sauce over it and it absorb everything nicely.
Another thing Julia said to tried, and I've been eyeing on it since I found their menu online, was the fried milk. What an interesting concept, it featured 3 different type of milk in the dish. The chocolate milk is in a mousse-like form. Then, obviously you see the ice cream form, but when in fact, it's milk sherbet. It goes super well with the truly fried or as they called it toasted milk. You get the warm and cool together, it just melted perfectly.

Overall, the pricing of the dinner is exactly what I expected. Service was excellent, between our server, runner, and the bus person, the entire experience is done seamlessly and it is like witnessing an orchestra at work. From what I heard, each server has to go thru a 10-week training to learn the culture and learn the way they do service. I wish every restaurant would take the care to do that. I loved my experience there, and I can tell other diner and ever the workers do too.

Uchi Houston

902 Westheimer Rd

Houston, TX 77006

713-522-4808

http://uchirestaurants.com/houston/index.php

PF Chang's - Austin

We have now learned that PF Chang doesn't do reservation 30 minutes before arrivals but they would do a call-ahead service. That worked out very well, just need to get the valet to get you a ticket so you can walk in and pick up a pager.

Since we got there right before the dinner rush, it wasn't so bad of a wait for a table. Our order of gluten free fried rice came pretty quickly as well. I'm totally addicted to it, not sure what they added there.
We also added a gluten free chicken and broccoli to go with our fried rice. If you ever wonder how the server can tell what is gluten free and what isn't. Take a look at the dish they served on, the gluten free dishes are the ones with the writing and line around the rim. Otherwise, normal dishes are served on white square plates with no writing on the sides.
To top off a gluten free dinner date, we ordered the mini triple chocolate mousse. It is their flourless chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, and chocolate ganache. YUM! Dose me up!

PF Chang's Austin Downtown
201 San Jacinto Blvd. on 2nd street
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 457-8300
http://www.pfchangs.com/Locations/LocationDetail.aspx?sid=9400&checked=1

La Boite

As you type 'macaron' on Yelp, one of the places you see is La Boite. I just find it fasinating that this is not a food truck, it's a shipping cargo that is transformed into a cafe. Now, mind you, as cargo unit goes, this is a very small one. And you can see, for them to close their doors, they can easily slide the side over. It's all very unusual and neat to me.

I was mainly lured here by their almond horn on their website. It looked to be a real pastry chef's handy work to make those beautiful horns. Thinking: their macarons cannot go wrong. Well...

The owner lady, Victoria wasn't as friendly to newcomers as one would hope a small business owner would be. She was almost annoyed when we asked what flavors of macarons they have to offer that day. They did have a few out of the norm flavors such as the orange rose (pictured) or just orange, that's not a usually offered flavor. They charge $1.75 each, and 3 for $4.95.

While everything looked 'right' for a macaron, and pretty, since they're doing a swirl here. They have been sitting out for days and pretty dried up. It took one bite and everything fell apart. So they had let it sit for too long instead of rotating them. We also got a salted caramel, and it was a cool day in Austin, but by the time it reached the final destinationg the filling had already melted. While that is not an unusual problem, most of the macaron's meltage usually don't melt that easily either. So I would say a no-go for me.

La Boite Cafe
1700 South Lamar Boulevard,
Austin, TX 78704
(512) 377-6198
http://laboitecafe.com/

Kerby Lane Cafe

When I first visited Austin, one of my friend said migas in Austin is like hamberger anywhere else. They are so ubiquitious that almost no local place would exclude it from their menus. That I find to be true. Almost every restaurant you go, they would serve their version of migas. Since this is not exactly gluten free or paleo, I don't get to have it very often. But since we're at the Austin's true diner, I must have some.

This round, the migas wasn't as flavorful as I remembered them. Maybe they had an off day, or my tasted buds changed. It was more eggs and less cheese, which was also what makes it so good.
We ordered a single of cinnamon gluten free pancake, to try.
The other one we ordered a single of was the gingerbread gluten free pancake.

I missed Kerby Lane, I love that place. But true to Austin's fashion, it requires a wait, and when you're hungry that very moment and they ask you to wait for 25 mins, you would want to go somewhere else too. That said, the saying about it's worth waiting for is true. We've been to places that has no wait, and after you tasted their food, you'd know why. So, while you see people waiting outside the building is a good sign, make sure you don't wait till you're super hungry to go to the wait lane.

Kerby Lane Cafe (South)
3003 South Lamar Blvd.
Austin, TX 78704
512-445-4451
OPEN 24/7
http://www.kerbeylanecafe.com/

Bess Bistro

On our last night in Austin, David said, let's go to the Sandra Bullock's restaurant. Now, I know, I'm not going to see her at the restaurant, but you know you secretly hope that she's there. That way you can tell your friends that you saw her while you were eating at her place. I guess since it's located in such a centrally located place, that would be very cliche'. And no, we didn't see her there.
Their menu, has enough of a variety that there is a little bit of something for everybody. What caught my eye is the quail. I'm a big quail fan, but besides BRC, I don't see many places offer it as a casual dining.

So I had asked for harlot vert inside of lentils and forgot how much I loved the harlot vert. Nice and crispy and goes very well with the quail.
For dessert, we ordered the creme brulee. It tasted like it just came out of the oven, cool enough to top the sugar on top and torched. Personally, I liked the brulee to be cold out of the fridge and then add sugar for the crust. It also wasn't as flavorful as I had hoped.

Over all, the food wasn't exceptionally anything. They do use local producers and truly farms to table style food. The decor was very nice, half of it feels very speakeasy like, with hard wood floor and cushed wall panels. The other half is like a little French underground bistro, where you have these big wooden booth that seats 6 for a nice communal feel. The neat thing was their bathroom has their own scent, and it is very French from pictures down to the water knobs.

BESS Bistro on Pecan
500 West 6th Street
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 477 BESS (2377)
http://www.bessbistro.com/