Oru

Has been looking forward to try Oru and so excited to come here. 

The restaurant sits in a 1940s home where they restored. 

This is a 24- seats counter.  The only difference is that they have a rolling dining time, instead of specific seating times. 

I got the Grape Spritz - it has green grape, jasmine tea for flavor and soda.  It's not too sweet and it's kinda nice. 

This is Trout Roe Service.  it's super cute.  It has a play of roe, hay smoked butter, and taiyaki.  Growing up taiyaki usually have fillings in the middle, but these are all waffles.  So treat it like bread, open it up, get some butter and top it with some roe.  It's pretty delicious. 

Sorry, just one more pic of the fishies, they are too cute.

This is the Nibitasu Salad, which has eggplant, tomato, and crispy shrimp leg.  The crispy added texture so the dish is not all mushy.  But the sauce that accompanies it is pretty decent. 

This is Tofu Karrage - the sauce on top was pretty good. 

This is Waygu Lumpia - it has a thinly sliced waygu wrapped around crispy egg roll fried with tallow.  I will say, as much as I've heard about this dish, it was underwhelming.  I like the creativeness of it, but the flavor is lacking, even with it cooked in tallow.  That was a bummer.  

This is Chawamushi - sadly, the temp was too lukewarm and the roe was too cold, so the temp lost me there.  Then, the texture of the egg custard is too undercooked, it's too mushy.  So even thought they have delicious mushroom inside, it was just not doing it for me. 

For Nigiri: we got Hotate (scallop) very good texture and lemony.  Then Madai (R), it was a tad chewy.

Sawara - King Mackerel - it's so good that it melts in your mouth, there's a little crispy bits in there too.  So good.  The other is Otoro - fatty tuna, which you cannot go wrong with that.

Here we have chef showing off the Uni.  

These are from Maine, which has a cleaner flavor, very similar to Hokkaido kind. 

Here's another check showing off their hand rolls

It was Masaba - which is Japanese Mackerel, the smell was good, but the temp was too cool for my liking.

This is Seared Barracuda - never had it before.  Not my fav but I tried it. 

This is Uni Okoge, which has Uni, confit pearl onion, rice porridge.  The rice has a texture of risotto, and it does taste like cheese, but it's actually that is from uni butter.  The onion here is not my jam, but the uni butter rice is pretty good. 

For dessert, we have: Banana Caviar - the caviar made it a tad salty, but the ice cream does taste legit real banana.

This is the Coconut Sorbet - This is the best one that the entire group agreed on.  It has a hint of mint, but they scraped the inside of a coconut and made ice cream out of it.  And it's true, every bite tasted like real coconut. 

For desserts, the fishes made a re-appearance.  Again, the Taiyaki doesn't have filling.  Because you're suppose to dig into the cup to get the filling.

The cup has crispy rice, Nutella, and strawberry jam at the bottom.  I guess you can dig into the depth and grab all 3 flavors together and smear it over the waffle.  But honestly, all I needed was the Nutella and I can do without the other layers.

I enjoyed the service, everyone there were exceptional, very knowledgeable about the dishes and can explain the food.  Watching the sushi chef work their magic is always fun.  The place is very clean cut, but so much so that the sound system is echo-y that wasn a tad of a bummer can't hear each other, but can hear folks across loud and clear.  I do appreciate the rolling seating unlike Neo which has designated seating times.

Anyway, the place only has 24 seats, obviously you should make a reso.  Can you do walk in?  Yes, there's a small 'bar' area that try to accommodate, but don't count on that.  Parking is tight, the lot is small, but do-able.  The good thing is since the dining time is rolling, you can easily find a spot as people are coming and going.  I will say, our dinner was at 6:30p, kinda busy, but by 8:30p either folks are near done eating, or it's well underway.  There's no line waiting on a. weekend night that we were there.  So you can definitely do a progressive crawl and end here.

Oru

746 W. 24th Street

Houston, TX 

https://www.commahospitality.com/oru/

https://www.instagram.com/oruhtx/

 

AD Boba

Drove past the place and was curious with the cartoon marquee. 

This was a place that used to have the egg coffee.   But don't worry, they also have egg coffee here.

The new place is cute inside.  Not only do they have lots of seatings, there's also a mini stage for live performances. 

I got the Pandan drink, it has pandan syrup on the cup, pudding, and boba. 

They have this cute area, and you can sit down to play games.

They also have a lot of food items for offering.  They have all kinda of Bahn Mi with different meat and variations for the middle.  Fried food, and skewers. 

AD Boba

6938 Wilcrest Dr

Houston, TX 77072

832-839-3979

https://www.instagram.com/adbobahouston/

 

Crown Seafood

Went back to Crown Seafood for dim sum.

 

This time we went after 1p, and turns out that's the trick. 

We got Siu Mai - pork & shrimp dumpling, like a little cup.  For sure, this is very meaty. 

We got the Preserved Egg & Pork congee.  The preserved egg is super salty, which makes the plain congee & pork flavorful from it.  Out of all of the congee, this is one of my favorite. 

We got the Fried Tofu topped with Fish Cake.  It's nice with all of its fried yummy goodness.

Pan-fried Turnip Cake.  They literally shred daikon, and add with flour, they're steamed.  Once in shaped, it's cut into slices.  And when they're ready to be eaten, people pan-fried it.  The flavor is flexible for any kind of sauce.  The only reason I know it's because it was done in my house growing up.  I'm all about eating these, as long as I don't have to do the shredding. 

Then, my favorite, Fried Cheung Fun with XO sauce.  I just like it's fried with the sauce mixed in, and it just so much more flavor than the plain fried ones.  Though, the plain ones goes with the peanut and hoisin sauce mixed.  

The thing about dim sum is that it's fun to order all these little dishes.  Except my eyes are usually bigger than my stomach and then regret ordering so much.  Of course, I would eat them for left over, I just love the variety and the mix. 

Anyway, Crown is easy to get in and out of the parking lot.  The wait time here is pretty decent, they move the tables very quickly, so the wait is minimal. 

Crown Seafood

10796 Bellaire Blvd

Houston, TX 77072

281-575-1768

https://crownseafoodrestaurant.com/

 

Sucre'

Needed a Sunday pick-me-up

Stopped by Sucre. 

Laze about with an Americano and some Macs.

I got the coffee, chocolate, and a blackcurrant macarons.  Just taste better when someone else makes them.  Enjoy them with coffee is nice and really make you feel like you're enjoying life on the side as traffic whiz by. 

Bringing its Louisiana charm, the Mac stand on its own.  The gelato is also flavor packed.  Definitely worth sneaking over here to hide away from the world, one coffee at a time. 

Sucre 

5404 Kirby Dr

Houston, TX 77005

https://shopsucre.com/blogs/news/sucre-houston

 

Liberty Kitchen

Went back to Liberty Kitchen for a lunch. 

Since it's lunch, can't go too crazy, as a matter of fact, this is totally NOT crazy at all. 

Got an Arnold Palmer, and fun-fact, they cannot print his name on menus because he lent his name to Arizona Tea company, so you won't see that on the menu, but it's a well known beverage choice. 

First off, must have truffle fries.

Since I don't see the Ahi Tuna salad on there anymore, I picked the Ceasar + crab meat.  I do more dressing on the said so I don't over do the dressing and takes up my calories intake.  But it kinda worked out. 

Though they do ask if you have a reservation, unless you come on a weekend, most of the time we have no issue getting a table or a booth.  Parking is slim here, best to valet.  

Libery Kitchen

4224 San Felipe 

Houston, TX 77027

713-622-1010

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

 

North Italia

Went to a different North Italia for dinner. 

Let's start with a drink.

I got the 00 Spritz which has zero proof aperitivo, crushed lemon, and bubbles.  Not too sweet, but did the trick!

Have to get my fav - Zucca Chips with the aioli sauce.   So addictive that we practically cleaned the bowl. 

Got a proper Grilled Branzino - flavor is not bad but could use more of it.  It came with fennel, Brussel sprouts, broccolini, and the lemon caper butter is what did the trick.  I just want more of it.

After the meal, just needed a cup of decaf to unwind.  

But of course, we have to have some dessert first.  Got their tiramisu, because that's just apropos for the place.  It has these chocolate crunch on top, give a pretty good texture.  I will say, there's more mascarpone than I like for the proportion, but not bad. 

As usual North does get busy, so book ahead.  Though dinner is easier than lunch.  There is a parking garage attached to the building, so it's convenient and safe to park and walk over.

North Italia

1700 Post Oak Blvd

Ste 190

Houston, TX 77027

https://www.northitalia.com/locations/houston-tx-blvd-place/

 

Arden WeHo

Last post on LA.  This time we're on Santa Monica Blvd in the middle of WeHo (West Hollywood). 

I fell for the IG trap, the place looked pretty and decided to make a reservation to eat there. 

The inside is very nicely decorated, but too much mood lighting, but I do love the dreaminess of the flowers hanging everywhere. 

The menu is not too complicated. 

This is Mint To Be - it's a mocktail in honor of Dry January.  It's cucumber, mint, lime and ginger in there. It's actually very refreshing, if it's hot and get this it would've been a nice pairing.

We got the Truffle Tuna Crudo, much like the Yellowtail Crudo, there's fried shallots, but instead of avocado, there's pinch of chili and edible flowers.  It's pretty for the color.  The flavor is on the saltier side, and it has a kick to it with the chili. 

Another starter is the Meatball, but it's not your usual meatball.  It's Waygu Meatball with tomato, fennel, and burrata in the mix.  The toast is also very good and wish there's more. 

This is a salad???? There's so much parm on top, don't even know.  Just kidding, it's their Caesar Salad. They have the Big big leaves, capers, parm, and anchovy vinaigrette. 

For sides, we got broccolini for some greens. 

This is their version of risotto, with fried Brussel sprouts on top.  The risotto seemed a tad dry here. 

Here's Grass Fed Half Lamb Rack.  It comes with a small side salad, fingerling potato and tomato with tzatziki sauce.  

We also got the Branzino, which is over a bed of orzo, which tasted better than the risotto, but the fish isn't as flavorful to my taste. 

For dessert, here's the Croissant Sundae - literally split open the croissant and put some vanilla ice cream in the middle and drown it with sauce and whipped cream.  To be fair, it is pretty good. 

This is berries with creme fraiche, Chantilly cream and some hazelnut.  

This is definitely a spot of girls night out or a romantic date.  All these flowers and alcohol is flowing everywhere.  We were originally going to try to get to the speakeasy next door but we finished dinner earlier than expected, so we didn't stayed for that, but thought it'd be fun!

Parking: they have a valet stand, trouble is that they only have one person doing it.  So for him to run to their lot and come back and grab another car created a backlog especially when it's peak time.  There's a fee for valet service, but beats trying to find parking.  That said, if you use your credit care, they do pass on the credit card fee to you, so it's almost better to get some cash for it. 

The place does get popular, so make sure you book well in advance.  Their brunch doesn't look bad, and maybe they do better on that than dinner, if anything it's worth doing it for the gram. 

Arden Restaurant

8289 Santa Monica Blvd

Los Ángeles, CA 90048

https://www.ardenweho.com/