Milk & Cookies - River Oaks

Went back to Milk & Cookies in River Oaks.

In the morning, hardly anybody there.  It was easy to walk up and grab a quick coffee.

Got my latte and may or may not have gotten a Ham & Gruyere Croissant.  If you do get the croissant, ask them to warm it up, you won't regret it.

It's nice, morning, hardly anybody there.  You can do a quick turn around.  The staff of course make. your drinks to order, and they like to make it fancy for you, since you're there early and they have the time.  I like this better than going to Tiny's Boxwood down the street.  They get super busy over at the shop, and here you can just do a quick grab and go.

Milk & Cookies

2809 Saint Street

Houston, TX 77027

713-222-7474

https://www.tinyboxwoods.com/location/river-oaks/

 

Eloise Happy Hour

It's been a while since I've been to Eloise.  This is my first time here for happy hour.  It's nice to do a group thing, because we can order a bunch and not look like pigs.  Not to mention, you can try a little bit of this, that or another and order more if you like something. 

This is Joe's Hot Chicken, good news is that it's not hot.  Bad news is that it's so addicting.  It was nice and crispy and crunchy, much like the KFC (not Kentucky but Korean).  It's super flavorful and not dried.  Definitely can eat the entire thing by myself.

Cheese board, cheese from Houston Diary Maids. There are toast, apple slices, roasted pecan and honey. The Toast is raisin bread, nice and crunchy.

Lamb Meatball with romesco sauce with cucumber.

Brussel Sprouts - I'm totally a fan on this one.

Deviled Eggs, it has a bit of sour cream and bacon on top. 

Oyster Rockefeller - which has spinach, bacon, parmesan and bread crumbs on top of Gulf oyster.  It's pretty good, and I can stand for it to have more parmesan on it.  But that's just me... definitely worth ordering.

Happy Hour is very chill here, and now that the weather is nicer, you can definitely sit outside and enjoy the beautiful fall weather.  Service is good, they again didn't have my drink of choice, but that's ok, got a beer instead.  Fun time had by all, and definitely coming back for that chicken!

Eloise Nichols

2400 Mid Lane

Ste 100

Houston, TX 77027

713-554-0136

http://eloisenichols.com

 

Dumpling Haus

It was serendipitous that we saw the food stall at the Asia Society museum for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

You can smell the yummy pan fried dumplings from afar, I was drawn to it.

What I got?  I got the Garlic Fried Rice, which smells delicious but doesn't taste spicy.  It's vegetarian, there are some veggie in there, but definitely Chili Garlic sauce.  Like I said, you can smell it, but it does not taste spicy.  On the side is Pork Pan Fried Dumplings, and it is full of flavor in there. It has pork, cabbage, and shiitake mushroom and the skin is not too thick.  Their dumpling sauce works so well with the dumplings, that I just keep going back to it.  

You can definitely catch them around town.  They are usually at the Urban Farms Market on Saturdays.  But I am definitely inspired to stop by their brick & mortar shop in the Heights in the near future.

Dumpling Haus

2313 Edwards St

Ste 180

Houston, TX 77007

832-781-1807

https://www.dumplinghaushtx.com

 

Luce Ave Coffee

Got a few minutes to spear on the way to work, decided to grab a quick coffee at Luce.

Look at all the options.  I think that's too early to make that much decisions...

Everyone busy getting drinks out there.  I got a hazelnut oat latte to go.  As streamlined as possible.

I heard that their Heights location often have events and what not.  That's pretty cool.  Just check their site on their calendar for more info.

Luce Ave Coffee

3995 Richmond Ave

Houston, TX 77027

281-974-4588

https://lucecoffeeroasters.com/main-location2

 

Moxie

We went to Moxie for a quick bite.

Luckily there were enough spots down by the bar and outside.

Of course we have to get Poutine.  Fries with cheese curd, beef gravy, and you see some chives on top.  Just give me the whole thing.

Next up, Calamari.  Can't go wrong with that.  It also has shishito peppers on top and sriracha aioli sauce.  I didn't try the sweet chili sauce (red sauce), but it's available. 

Of course we also got got some guac too... Talk about an indulgent meal.

So that you are not taken by surprise, when you are seated at the bar area, they will ask for a card as though you open a tab.  And at the end of the meal, they would split if you wish.  So no worries there.

Moxie

5000 Westheimer Rd

Ste 250

Houston, TX 77056

346-571-6164 

https://us.moxies.com/restaurant-locations/tx/uptown-houston-post-oak

 

Norigami

Another pop up that was hard to come by was Norigami.

They are actually borrowing the space from Hidden Omakase.  

And you have to book ahead of time.

This is Blue Crab, it comes with cucumbers and Yuzu Aioli.  To me, the roll didn't have enough crab meat and the lemon taste was over empowering anything else in the mix.

This is their Waygu with truffle soy sauce.  Meat taste good, the only complaint is that the sauce is not spread evenly.  So, you can taste the parts that doesn't have anything with the rest.

Gyutoro which is sous vide for 72 hours short ribs.  It was strange, the first bite and last bite were full of flavors but the middle was skipped.  Not even sure how that happened.

This is Supreme which has Uni, Toro, Foie Gras, and Siberian Sturgeon.  All great ingredients, in theory they should all go well together.  Somehow there seems to be some dissonance amongst the toppings.  The temperature is cold on the fish and warm on the rest. It was kinda weird on first bite.  Uni is creamy and the Foie Gras tasted great, but since the chef staggered the toppings instead of truly layering them on top of each other where each bite gets a full well rounded feeling that they wanted you to have; instead it feels incomplete.  The sauce was strong on here as well.

If you don't want to be filled up with rice, you can ask them to put less rice, which is why all these rolls looks like it's so tiny.  Don't worry, they are giving you the full piece for toppings.

They give you a time and it's 75 minutes per service, if you will be late, do let them know.  They will try their best to work around you.  They open up for monthly bookings, so keep an eye out on their Instagram to keep up.  Sometimes they have last minute openings or accommodating last minute walk-ins.

Norigami

https://www.instagram.com/norigamihtx/

State Fare

Went to State Fare for a quick dinner.

Got an Arnold Palmer, which is perfect since it's a tad hot outside.

What I didn't realized is that they also have a flight of frozen margarita, it's so pretty.

We started with Fried Green Tomato, nice and crunchy.  It was topped with crab meat and pepper, the sauce is a remoulade sauce, I practically wiped clean of the plate for it.  Highly recommend this dish.

I got the Dixie Burger, and it has a beef pattie, onion rings, and inside the onion rings it has some pimento cheese.  Yummy bun, top and bottom.  It came with a side of fries.  Here's my complaint about it, I'm a huge Onion Rings girl, but this was too soggy for me to enjoy.  That said, they do have a lot of accommodations for a burger, gluten free buns vs. regular buns, add bacon, avocado, mushroom, grilled onions, fried eggs.  Sauces like sriracha, blue cheese dressing, pickle dip, queso, it already comes with bbq sauce. The side can be fries or salad.  To be honest, by the time I had half of a burger, I was already full.  Definitely need to save room for dessert.

If you go during Happy Hour is definitely easy to find a spot.  If you plan on coming for dinner, best make a reservation.  They do get popular almost any night.  I would say, the staff that mask vs. not are about half and half.  

State Fare

Sugarland

15930 City Walk

Sugar Land, TX 77479

713-234-1405

https://www.statefaretx.com