Vanleeuwen Ice Cream

Man, having a VanLeeuwen so close to me is dangerous.

This has now become and easy kid outing activity.  But their ice cream is not cheap...

I got 1 scoop and thought that's plenty good...

It's Mint Chip.  It's still funny to look at it when it's not green.  I'm so accustom that they put green food dye for 'mint'.  I just love the true chocolate chunk they have in there... I'm a huge fan.  The milk is smooth and just a little hint of mint.  Did I mention that I'm a fan?!

VanLeeuwen

2565 Amherst St

Houston, TX 77005

832-582-5750

https://vanleeuwenicecream.com/scoop-shops/#houston

 

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

 

Ramen Hakata

This one checking on Yelp paid off.... 

Surprisingly there are quite a few Japanese restaurants specifically ramen restaurants in the area.

Yummy Gyoza - too bad, I saved room for the ramen & dessert and didn't finish these.  We put it in the hotel's fridge and it had gone bad because the fridge was broken... but worth a try if you could.

I also got the Hakata Yuzu Sprinkling Soda - which is like a very citrus 7Up, except the citrus is not lemon, lime or orange.  Yuzu is part of the citrus family, so that works.  That said, it was a tad sweeter than I had expected.  But worth giving it a try.  By the way, the to-go version, is good enough for 3 to split, as long as you're not a soda junkie.  So make sure you don't over order.

For ramen, I decided to get the Hakata Ramen, which has pork, in the pork broth, with veggies like mushroom, sprouts, green onions, 60 degree egg, and of course noodles.  The broth was still piping hot when we sat down to eat.  The bowl of broth hits the to-go container right on mark.  You do need to soak it a bit since the noddle is dry at the bottom.  By the time you pour the broth in, your bowl is so full it was hard to move around to mix the ingredients around.  That said, everything went well together, and not bad.

For dessert, we got the Green Tea Mont Blanc.  I've never seen one before and was highly curious.  It came with whip cream and couple of blueberries in it. It has these green tea strands piped from green tea butter cream, adzuki beans in the middle and sponge cake at the bottom and sprinkled green tea powder for taste.  Not too sweet but just enough to close out the night.  The whipped cream had melted by the time I got it due to heat, but dabbed some on each bite, works in its own way.

You can place the order on their website and go for pickup.  Somehow Yelp order wasn't working for me, but either way, figured it out.  You walk in and a table full of to-go orders were waiting to be picked up.  Pretty efficient on their part.

Ramen Hakata

8300 Gaylord Pkwy

#16

Frisco, TX 75034

469-200-8342

http://www.ramenhakata.com/

 

Norma's Cafe

When you travel to a different city, a lot of times I rely on Yelp and local reviews....

When someone else does the research... I got no say... so no say it is.

This is again, eyes are bigger than my stomach... ordered some Onion Rings.  I just chalk it up as to-go is just not as good as when you get them fresh.  Sadly, it was cold by the time it got to me.

I got a taco salad.  And of course, we all know salad is cold to begin with, nothing new there.  It came in a cake box, that was interesting.  But the meat didn't have any taste.  In the spirit of not wasting things, I ate all the meat accompanied by lettuce as I could and gave up the rest.  

Luckily, there's a bright spot in the meal.  The Peach Cobbler.  It was nice and warm and hit the spot.  Redeeming part of the entire night.

Their motto is: Life is Short, Eat Dessert First; appears to hold true to this meal.  That's the piece that they did well.  Perhaps should've eaten dessert first, as per their recommendation.  I'm surprised as restaurants started to cater more to to-go in addition to in-house orders, they haven't perfected this piece.  Mainly, they also forgot to pack one other item in the order, most places got the pack and check part of the program down since the lock down.  Surprise they didn't.  So double check your order to avoid another trip. 

Norma's Cafe

8300 Gaylord Pkwy

#19

Frisco, TX 75034

972-712-2233

https://www.normascafe.com

 

Tom & Tom's Galleria

It's been a few months since I've been to Tom & Tom's.

This time I went to pick up stuff and picked up a Horchata Latte. Horchata is made with rice, cinnamon, water soaked overnight and sweet.  The thing for me is when you add the espresso shot, it was thicker than my taste. It definitely has the rice taste to it, the texture is thicker and felt like it's a bit thinner than overnight oats.  For a Latte, I'd like it to be lighter, especially when it's hot out.  

Either way, come and support the family.  Even though this is franchised, it is owned by a small family.  So please go support.  

Tom & Tom's Galleria

5353 W. Alabama

Suite 107

Houston, TX 77056

713-497-5655

https://www.tomntomsgalleria.com

 

Milk & Cookies - Memorial

Was working over at the Memorial City area and I knew that there's a Milk & Cookies over that direction.

Very curious and it's not easy to find.  It's almost better to take the back streets than follow Google Maps.  Look at it before heading there.  I love how green that mini lawn is in the front.

Got my usual, Honey Lavender Latte.  Yummy as usual, quality is totally up to par.

Got a Lemon Blueberry loaf.  Goes very well with the coffee.  It was a bigger slice than I can have for breakfast, but it's delicious nonetheless.  They will also be rotating that offering too.  So check back.

This location is on the backside of a set of office building.  The maps on the phone are telling me to go via Katy Freeway, but truly, it's easier to take the exit and take a backstreet to get there.  It's easier and less confusing.  Not to mention all the parking is right in front of the shop, easy to stop in and grab to go.

Milk & Cookies

Memorial Location

9655 Katy Freeway

Houston, TX 77024

713-913-4430

 

Alpha Bakery

Haven't been inside Hong Kong City mall forever.  I used to at least go eat near the area, but traffic there can get hectic, so avoided it for a while.  Happen to run an errand nearby, so decided to stop in.

Came across Alpha Bakery, lots of people lining up, and curiosity got the best of me.

You walk in and there are rows and rows of prepared food neatly stacked and ready to go.  There are spring rolls, fried tofu... 

and desserts.

I got the Bahn Beo, steamed fan cake.  Nice that they list all the info on the sticker.

What's in the pack: a small container of fish sauce (which they did put some pepper in there), the little bag on the upper right is fried onion.  Then they use rice flour to make these little mini disks which the texture is more like a thicker rice noodle.  The texture has to be a tad thicker to hold the toppings.  The orange stuff are fried shrimp crumbs, there are mung beans and green onions.  

So I like to spread the topping evenly across.  Then drizzle the fried onions, then pour on the fish sauce all around.  So every bite, you get a bit of everything.  It's actually pretty filling, so one will do the trick for me.  

Besides that, the shop is known of its Bahn Mi - as a matter of fact, when we walked up to the cashier, first thing they ask is how many you want, meaning how many sandwiches.  Since we stocked up on other food, we didn't get anything but that is definitely the thing to get here.  They also have palmier, macarons and other cookies for sale as well.  Definitely support this mom and pop shop.

Alpha Bakery

inside Hong Kong City Mall

11209 Bellaire Blvd

Houston, TX 77072

281-988-5222

Modern Tea

Happen to see Modern Tea driving by.

It looked interesting, so decided to walk in and check it out.

Plenty of seating around - spaced out and what not.

Cute corner plus seating.

Nice decor - very pretty.

Cool hanging lights - all cups.

Every cup of tea was made to order.  They really went to cut some lime, oranges, and lemon for us.  It was very light and fruity.  I wish they put more ice into the tea, otherwise, it's perfect.

Parking can be a challenge during prime time on a weekend.  But they do have a lot of good tea and snacks.  Definitely a good place to go back.

Modern Tea

9968 Bellaire Blvd

Suite 100A

Houston, TX 77036

713-773-2231