Quattro Brunch

I was lucky enough to get an invite to go to brunch at Quattro, I was more than happy to go.  Talk about a spread.... yum!

Here's the cold cut and cheese table.

Seafood table, ceviche, crab legs, oysters, lox... etc.

Custom pasta station, chef came from Denver.

Hot food station, veggies, 

More hot food, and soup bar

Sushi, yes, I said sushi...

Salad station, several different types of salads.

Fruit station, which is next to the omelete and waffle station.

So, what did we get?!  Salami, cheese, salmon, seared tuna, crab legs (super fresh), grilled veggie, salad, and grilled chicken.  

Pasta pomodoro with basil and cheese.

Dessert table

Chocolate flourless cake

Fruit and peach brioche

Mini creme brulee, chocolate mousse, bread pudding.

The brunch cost $55 per person, if you go there for brunch, they will stamp your valet parking and you get to park for free.  Take advantage of that because it helps, since parking around there are difficult, especially on a good day and everyone decided to go to Discovery Green nearby.

They also have a Bloody Mary bar as well, and of course they have mimosa to your request.  You pretty much can get anything you want during that hour.  They have so much food that you can hardly taste them all, so make sure you come hungry.

Quattro

Reservation is recommended, especially during holiday season

Insides Four Seasons Hotel

1300 Lamar Street

Houston, TX 77010

713-276-4700

http://www.quattrorestauranthouston.com/

Thanksgiving lunch at Kiran's

I know Thanksgiving was couple weeks ago, but just now got a chance to download pictures and do a write up.  :)  

We got our start with butternut squash soup and salad with vinegar.  The vinegar is a little too sour.

Here's the bread, pita, naan table.

Green beans, apricot rice, yukon potato

Here we have turkey, salmon, yukon potato, sweet potato, cabbage & turnip (which was bitter)

The carving station

Mostly normal American type buffet food

Saag Paneer and Chicken Marsala

Here's a Tandori turkey, that's a bit different.

Here's poached pear, spiced cake, and donut

The pear was good, donut was super dense, and this mixture of spiced something or another, was not that great.  

For an Indian restaurant, they did a good job for a turkey buffet.  They did fill up quickly and the place is quite popular.  I will say all the food were pretty good, plenty of options to choose from.  That's one a year event, but they also have afternoon tea every second Saturday of the month.

Kiran's

4100 Westheimer (at Mid Lane)
Houston, Texas 77027
(713) 960-8472 Phone

http://www.kiranshouston.com/

Teppay

For some real sushi, unlike yesterday's experiment.... To eat at a real deal, we went to Teppay.

We have unagi handroll and Tuna handroll.  Fish is fresh and rice is good... 

If you ever get a chance to go, be able to sit down, and someone to serve you... You definitely should get the Uni and the Tamago (egg) sushi.  They were sold out when we went, but it's good.  They use organic, fresh farm eggs and it's the fluffiest I've ever had and I'm not even a big fan.

This round, I had uni, fresh and delicious.  Scallop and salmon sushi.  I know the wait is long, service is slow, but the food is worth the wait.  If you do want to give them a try, make sure you're not super hungry and bring a good companion with good conversation, you will need it.  Otherwise, food is great, totally worth and wait and the price.

Teppay

6516 Westheimer Road A2 

Houston, TX 77057
(713) 789-4506

Sushipop

A friend of ours had a Groupon for Sushipop and invited us to go try it out.

The place is very much a neighborhood type joint.  Not your normal sushi place.

This place is set up more like a cafeteria style.  The menu is huge with different rolls and bento box, and wraps???? Yep, they have a whole list of wraps, and burger???  Hmm...

If you order the bento box, it comes with a soup or salad, and 2 pieces of sushi your choice.  The 'box' is not as filling as one had hoped.  And as I mentioned, this is more Americanize and trying to be neighborhood joint.  This is definitely not a qualified sushi place.  If you needed a quick fix, this may do, but authentic or Japanese fusion it is not.  

Monday they have a 'free sushi Monday'.  From 5-10p, if you go in buy sushi, they will give you a gift card to come back.  They also have a Wine Down Wednesday, either you BYOB with no corking fee, or half priced bottles.  Oh and they have free soft serve.  It's more like a Sweet Plantation mix with Souper Salad and Cafe Express, except it's sushi and the quality of fish and rice were so-so.

Sushipop

9770 Katy Freeway #100  

Houston, TX 77055
(713) 935-0707

http://www.sushipop.us.com/

Kata Robota

We do go to Kata pretty often, I find it easier to order Chirashi than to have to decide over what sushi to get.

Lovely two tier box.  This time no pretty flowers like they did over the summer.

You see these nice sashimi?  Delish!  Scallop, Tuna, Salmon, Yellowtail, Whitefish, and couple more, I forgot, it was nice a fresh for sure!

The cooked fish is on top of a bed of rice.  You have shrimp, crab, tamago, caviar, eel.  Let me tell you, it's not easy to finish it all, but somebody has to do it!

I really do like Kata, the food, and chef, the only thing is the service, which is a bit touch and go.  It's not even because they were super busy or anything, just sometimes I think they get ditzy.  I much prefer the sushi bar, at least the sushi chefs are paying attention to you.  Tip: go before dinner rush, you get better seating and easier to get the bar seating.

Kata Robata

3600 Kirby, Ste H
Houston, TX 77098
http://katarobata.com/

House of Pie

After a Color Run, a friend and I decided that we needed to refuel.  And so what it's breakfast for dinner, the best place to go for that, and also when you need to sober up is House of Pies. 

I always get the same thing, that is Cornbeef Hash with Sunny Side Up eggs with Cottage Fries (aka tater tots)

My friend Angie got a lemon ice box pie...

I got a slice of peach pie, no frills, no a la mode. just warmed.  I just love the butter in their crusts.

In case you are not aware already, they are opened 24 hours a day.  I have my favorite servers at night versus the day, but the food is consistent.  Keep in mind, don't go there for a salad, but go there for pie. During Thanksgiving they have a long line for pies and definitely worth the wait.  The rest of the food is more like diner food, and you can't go wrong on that either.  Grease is the secret key of making it tastes so good, but for sure the coffee is addictive.

House of Pies

3112 Kirby

Houston, TX

713-528-3816

http://www.houseofpies.com/index.html

Pin-eatery

I'm not sure how big of a fan you are of Pinterest, I am a huge fan.  As my friends called it, it's a virtual pinning board for girls because most of the popular topics are fashion, kids, craft, workout, inspirational saying, wedding, and parties.  More and more men are joining the front, but they still have quite a bit of catching up to do.

To me, it's like a photo way of surfing the web, you can find something interesting on there, always.  The unfortunate part is that sometimes people mis-pinned; such as, mis-categorize, failed to put proper label, or link you to a informercial site.

That said, if the community operate in the way it was intended, you do find alot of cool things.  For instance, one of my favorite things on Pinterest is all the awesome food people are making.  Some are elaborate, fancy, and not to mention pricey.  

Some, are easy, and perfect for parties.  Above, I made Caprese Skewers inspired by Pinterest.  By the way, those are called Pinspirational.  Yes, that's a new word for you Webster!  You get grape tomato, basil leave and mozzarella balls and put a skewer thru them.  Drizzle some olive oil to keep everything moist, and viola!  Caprese Skewers!

Another easy dessert, was S'more skewers.  Which, of course, you'll need marshmallows.  I found the JUMBO size at Kroger.

Melt the chocolate, preferably, the milk or dark chocolate, and don't melt it for too long, it'll just re-congeal together. I would advise against using white chocolate, the mixture just doesn't come out nice due to the fact that the % of fat in white chocolate is significantly lower than the other counterparts.

Lastly, you dip your chocolate covered marshmallow into crushed graham crackers.  Here I used gluten free graham crackers, and you can put the crackers in a sandwich back, and use a rolling pin and roll it over to crush into pieces.

After you dip all of that, you should put them on a parchment paper covered try to let cool.  You can put it in the fridge if you want to.  But honestly, air dry takes few minutes, so fridge is not necessary.  And your guests are ready to enjoy!

Feel free to follow me on my Yum Yum board.