Black-eyed Pea

For old time sake, my mom wanted to go to Black-eyed Pea...

... hmm ... 

When I was in college, I always get the fried cheese... Don't remember it being so unappetizing.  Basically, one cheese stick, the cheese was outside of the stick... urm... frozen much?!

I saw on the menu a Pot Roast Stuffed Potato.  My eyes were bigger than my stomach but figured, why not?!  Until it got to our table... it's been sitting there for a while.  The top had a congealed layer of skin.  I know, it's appetizing, right?!  That was a waste of calories... the meat was nice and soft and easily tear apart, but that said, there was hardly any taste.  Did I mention a layer of skin on top?!

So, in college, I also remembered very good Cheddar & Broccoli soup.  Thought I give that a shot.  I think I only took 2 sips and gave up on it.  That was a sad sight....  no comment.

The service was horrible too.  Now, I know that wasn't their strong point.  Our guy basically have no pen to take our order, then proceed to forgot our drinks.  Then, he stopped at another table to ask if they want dessert before delivering our food and proceed to hold a conversation with the other customer while holding our food hostage.  Did they not teach you that you deliver the food first?  Lesson learned, sadly!

Black-eyed Pea
4211 Bellaire Blvd
Houston, TX 77025
713-661-3642
http://www.theblackeyedpea.com

Pappas Burger

Went to Pappa's Burger for a business lunch.  

 It's nice that they serve quality burger at a casual setting.

I got the Mushroom Swiss Burger with Sweet Potato Fries.  The burger arrived and looking at it, I was already stuffed.  The burger is huge and meat pattie is huge, and with the mushroom, lettuce all sticking out, I already felt huge.  Not to mention the sweet potato fries, they put just the right amount of salt, so you're busy eating that and your burger.  About half way I had to waive my white flag and give up.  Man, that was a lot of food.

If you've never been, how it works is that you walk up to the counter, order what you'd like.  They give you a ticket, then you go and find your seat.  They will then have a server takes over.  It's unusual to have a half self-serve and half full-service type place, but they make it work and the diners don't have any complaint.  It's kinda nice, you don't have to wait to be seated, you find what you like, and you don't have to wait till your server is ready before you can order.  You can just order and sit.  And of course, they can help you with your tab as well.  Just make sure to avoid the peak lunch hour, there's no parking to be had and you have to wait for a seat too.  Luckily, as soon as people finish, they leave to make room for the new group of diners.  It all worked out nicely.

Pappas Burger

5815 Westheimer Road

Houston, TX 77056

713-965-6082

http://pappasburger.com/home/

Jerry Built

Went back to Jerry Built for a quick burger.

 We actually got a chocolate shake, but the little one nabbed it so quickly that I couldn't even get a photo in there.

This is their kids meal with burger.  It's actually perfectly sized for a grown up.  Of course my kid went for the fries and not the burger.  If you just order the burger, it came dry just bun and meat.  So if you want anything else you need to let the cashier know at the time of order.  There were so much fries that we ended up taking a lot of it home.

It's good, organic, have gluten free options and quick, what more can you ask for.

Jerry Built

3501 W. Holcomb 

Houston, TX 77025

713-664-2874

https://www.jerrybuiltburgers.com

Hong Kong's Cafe

Back to my good o' standby, Hong Kong's Cafe

 Instead of getting my usual Iced Lemon Tea, I got Iced Milk Tea.  They used Ceylon & condensed milk for the drink.  You can check out the recipe here.

 I got vermicelli & shredded pork and pickled veggies.  Very nice and warm to your belly in a cold morning.

For the standard part, I got eggs and spam which also came with toast.  There were times where I would do scramble and put them altogether and have a breakfast sandwich.  Talk about filling.  The entire meal for less than $6.50, tax included.  Can't shake that with a stick!

Hong Kong's Cafe

9108 Bellaire Blvd

Houston, TX 

713-772-9633

Dim Sum King

On the rare occasion that I have dim sum craving.  We decided to try something new.

Dim Sum King is in a corner next to Welcome Supermarket in Bellaire.

Some of the standard dishes: (clockwise) steamed short ribs, xiao long bao (Shanghai soup dumpling), tofu skin wrapped meat roll, and har gow (shrimp dumpling)

Turnip Cake, enough turnip instead of flour.

Top: Thousand Layer Cake, nice and fluffy like I remember them as a kid.  Rice Noodle with dried shrimp.  That was not like how I had them as a kid.  The ones we had were mixed into the rice noodle mixture and were steamed together, as opposed to added on later in the process, you can tell the difference.

Fried Eggroll. 

We came in a good time, by the time we ordered, the place was packed.  Of course, dim sum crowd gets up later, though traditionally they have early tea in Asia, not so much here.  That said, the food is made from an authentic chef expert in dim sum, just styling a bit different.  Did they knock it out of the park?  No, but they're not half bad.  I do love the Thousand Layer cake a lot, none I've had in town was done well like they did.  The rest of the dishes are compable. 

Dim Sum King

9160 B Bellaire Blvd

Houston, TX 77036

713-270-6788 

McCormick & Schmick

Met up with another friend for Happy Hour.

It has been long overdue.  It has been at least a year since I've been there last.  

Here's the Happy Hour menu, yummy stuff for $3, 5, 7, 9. 

I got my Midori Sour, nice balance of alcohol & Sweet and Sour.  It was nice don't feel like getting drunk right away.

We ordered the calamari, but there are more veggies than I thought.  The marinara sauce is way better than the ranch sauce.

Get the crab queso.  There's more avocado than I like, and less chips than I like.  Other than that, it was delicious and you get tons of crab meat in there.

We shared the edamame, and it was a tad mushy.

The trick about going there is to get a table early.  We go about 4:45p and there's always table.  Service, however, as the day goes on, we got ignored.  Luckily, our tummy were filled and it was time to jet anyway.

McCormick & Schmick

1151 Uptown Park Blvd.

Ste 1

Houston, TX 77056

713-840-7900

www.mccormickandschmicks.com

Adair Kitchen

Took some time to myself and went to Adair Kitchen for breakfast.

I like the openess of the space, plus that big fan in the middle.

 Got a cup of soy latte.  I wish they used the foam to do some latte art, guess I'm not special enough.  Oh well...

 I got the Chorizo Sausage breakfast with 2 eggs, goat cheese and spinach. 

In case you're curious what it looks like inside.  It was very delicious.  One griddle is enough for one person.  As a matter of fact, I skipped lunch that day, just because it is so filling.

How it works, you walk in, go to the counter, oogle over the baked goods, they will be able to take your order, get you a number.  You go find a seat, then go to the back station to get yourself a drink of water, utensils or whatever else you need.  Good food, quick service, parking is not bad either.  Though, not sure about lunch time situation.  Do go give them a try!

Adair Kitchen

5161 San Felipe

Ste 390

Houston, TX 77056

713-623-6100

http://www.adairkitchen.com/home