Dutch Bros Coffee

Drove by another Dutch Bros, and decided to try drive thru instead.

This one has the zipper type drive thru lines (2 merge into 1), so picking the shorter line seems to be advantageous. 

Then a staff came out and took my order, and then I can pull up to the window after I paid.  

I got the Cookie Butter Iced Latte. And upon first sip, it does taste like the famous cookie butter. 

It has espresso, cookie butter flavor, milk, and Soft Top.  Soft Top is their signature sweet and fluffy cream  on top.  So if you get a regular latte, you get foam from the milk.  Cold drinks you don't because foam came from steamed milk.  Here the Soft Top is like a half texture of whipped cream, but drinkable and thicker than a cold foam.   Pretty delicious.

If you're a fan, download their app and you can order online, so when you drive thru, they just match your order so their staff can start preparing and you'll be on your way with a beverage. 

Dutch Bros

at the Rice Village

2301 University Blvd

Houston, TX 77005

https://www.dutchbros.com/locations/tx/houston/2301-university-blvd

 

Urbe

Lucky to be back to Urbe for Happy Hour. 

Love the funky designs that honor Mexican heritage, but also its diversity amongst the country. 

Ahh, they already set up their ofrenda for Dias de los Muertos. 

Got the mocktail, which has cucumber, lime, mint, passionfruit, sparkling water and Tajin. Not sweet at all, it's pretty refreshing. 

Elote Asado - Mexican street corn with aioli, cotija cheese, and Tajin pepper.

Little corn tortillas with cheese, squash, corn.  Very yummy. 

Little tostada has mesa chip at the bottom, guacamole, radish, cheese it's pretty delicious. 

Mini taquitos, chicken taco with salsa on top, crema queso Fresca on top.  One of my favorite. 

I like going to Happy Hour here, you can try so much at a happy hour pricing.  Of course, coming here for a full meal is also good.  They've renovated since I've been here a couple years ago, and everything is brighter, there's more seating both high top or table.  It's very inviting.  And now that the weather is so nice, definitely try to enjoy the weather at their patio. 

Didn't have any issue with parking.  You can see if businesses nearby are closed and park there.  Or they do have valet.  Otherwise, plenty of parking on the side of the building in the open lots. 

Urbe

1101 Uptown Blvd

Ste 12

Houston, TX 77056

713-726-8273

https://www.urbehouston.com/

 

Ngoc-Lan Bakery

Saw on IG these cute little buns, and decided to go check them out. 

The bakery is literally in a corner of the L shaped shopping center, so go to the very corner, you'll see them.  They are on the outside of the center. 

The case have all these colorful buns. 

They have some sweet and some savory.

I picked 3, and they were saying they got a promotion of buy 3 get 3 free, I just can't eat so many, so 3 it is. 

This one is red bean bun - steamed. 

You cut it apart, you can see the filling. 

This cutie is adorable.

Inside filling is Black Sesame. 

Then we have little piggy.

Inside is ube filling. 

As you can see, they have all sorts. 

So basically, the buns are all in the fridge.  So by the time you get home, you're supposed to wet a paper towel, wrap the bun and microwave for 30 seconds.  The trick works, it's nice and moist, not dried out at all.  My only complaint is the flavor for the filling, it's too light.  It's like a hint of the flavor, not strong enough for my liking.  Unlike the ones you get during dim sum. 

Ngoc-Lan Bakery

on the outside of Hong Kong City Mall

11205 Bellaire Blvd

Ste C14A

Houston, TX 77072

832-646-3555

https://www.instagram.com/banhbaongoclan/

 

Creamery Teahouse

Went to grabbed a drink at Hong Kong City Mall. 

Saw this place...

and I was sold on having Sugarcane Juice. 

The Regular size is 16oz, so it last me a while.  It's nice, all natural, not too sweet, I also didn't add anything into my drink, so it's nice and pure.  Would you try it? 

The location is inside Hong Kong City Mall, at the beginning of the food court section of the mall.  And they have some seatings right in front, in case you are buy some snacks, you can grab a seat.  There are elderly guys that hang out at the food court playing Chinese Chess (Xianqi), so that's kinda neat.  

Creamery Teahouse

11201 Bellaire Blvd

Ste A13

Houston, TX 77072

https://www.instagram.com/creameryhouston/

 

William Price Distillery

Went to William Price Distillery in the Heights.

Didn't realized they are on the backside of d'Alba on the same block.

I got a mocktail - Not A Ranch Water - it has grapefruit juic, lime, and Topo Chico, mixed. 

Here's their list of cocktail and anything w/ stars can be done as a mocktail. 

William Price Distillery

970 Wakefield Dr

Houston, TX 77018

713-364-9225

https://www.williampricedistilling.com/

 

Yard House

Came out for a group dinner at Yard House. 

Parking on Saturday night is crazy, so please read the signs. There are plenty of parking garages, but not all spaces are free. 

I got the Black Cherry Refresher - it's pretty good.  Not too sweet and nice to have different flavor than the plain Pellegrino. 

This is the Ahi Tuna Crunchy - it's seared blacked tuna, greens, slaw, crispy wonton strips, and soy vinaigrette.  The thing all came into all tossed.  

I will say, it was easy to get a table on a busy night, so I'm grateful for that.  But because it's Saturday night, the servers were running around like chickens without heads.  I think we only seen our server once, where she took additional order and gave us straws.  Otherwise, our food didn't all come together, some how, food that was order after the first batch came out the same time as the 1st time ordered, but somewhere in the middle something easy was delayed for a long bit.  It didnt' make too much sense. 

I will say, to split check was easy, we did note that for our server, and when she didn't come back to check on us, we located one of the table kiosk and took care of the checks ourselves. 

Yard House

800 Sorella Ct

Ste 116

Houston, TX 77024

713-461-9273

https://www.yardhouse.com/locations/tx/houston/houston-city-centre/8325

 

Shabu Zone

Went back to Shabu Zone for brunch. 

On the weekend, I like to get there right before peak hour.  That's to guarantee a table.  For party of 6 or more, you do need to make a reservation for that. 

Alright, to start, I like to get the Tonkotsu soup base, since it's pork broth based, it makes it more flavorful and more textured. 

Then go over to the salad bar and load up!  I've got frozen seafood (oysters, squid, fishcakes), mushroom, veggie, vermecelli, dumplings and more.

Then we got the protein, Waygu belly, Prime Rib, Chuck Eye...

Pork Belly & Chicken

Pork Loin, Prime Rib, Lamb.

Not pictured, sauce bar, make your own sauce.  Banchan bar where you get raddish, kimchi, and other pickled stuff.  Ice Cream bar, where you scoop your own add your fixin's, or fruit.

So, apparently, when you sit down, they have a 2 hour time clock on the table.  Not that you don't get full quickly when you start stuffing your face, but we did go under that timeframe. 

All in all, for a group meal, this works, because we each have our own pot and we can choose our own soup base.  One friend can take super spicy, while I'm a total wimp.  We all shared the meat, and got our own veggie, noodles and seafood.  Overall, it's an easy group meal place. 

Shabu Zone

11201 Bellaired Blvd

Ste 2

Houston, TX 77072

https://shabuzone.com/