Leven Bakery

Been meaning to go try Leven ever since I know about their opening.

There's plenty parking all around, super easy.

You walk in on the left side is the coffee bar, so you don't have to wait thru the main ordering line to get your coffee.  But if you want a pastry to go with that coffee, you would need to go thru the main line.  And you can see they have alot of cookies for an afternoon treat.

Pound cake galore!

They are known for their pastries all gluten free certified.

I got a slice of their apple pie.  While totally understand that the pie crust won't be the buttery one that I know and love, but also didn't realized that the filling would be so tamed in taste.  Usually with granola on top, it enhance the flavor palette as whole, but this one was plain and not up to flavor at all. 

Overall, while the space is nice and they do look like they have really good pastries, the apple pie was a no for me.   Compare to Awesome Bites, I feel like it lacks creativity to create good-tasting, gluten-free products for all to enjoy.  I know Leven also serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and offering GF alternatives, hopefully those are better. 

Leven Bakery

4191 Bellaire Blvd

Ste 125

Houston, TX 77025

https://www.levenbakingcompany.com/

 

Tiger Noodle House

Just trying to grab a quick lunch and went back to Tiger Noodle House.

I was craving fried squid, Chinese styles, which typically meant Salt & Peppered Fried Squid, but desperate times called for whatever measure you can get.  So got their dish, the only reason for the hesitation is because they use alot of chili pepper in there.  Which means, the longer it sat, the more it marinates, and I'm a weakling when it come to spicy dishes.   That said, I was super happy to have some to cure then craving.

Something I happen to see on the menu while I was ordering.  A side of Chinese sausage cooked with garlic.  I'm not sure if that's how it's supposed to be cooked.  Growing up, my parents either cut it up and steam it with rice in the rice cooker after the rice is cooked to bring out some flavors.  Cook the sausage and than mix in egg and rice and make fried rice.  Or cook them by itself but not to a point of crispy like here.  So this is an interesting take in a very simple way.  It's definitely crispy and harder to chew, but good enough flavor.  Not sure if garlic is really needed, but I enjoy trying that for the first time.

Between the 2 dishes they gave us white rice to go with the dish and yep you guessed it, took me days to finish and the squid got spicier by the day.  It was good still, just kicked up a notch each day.

Trick that I learned, for to-go orders, when I leave the house open up their site and order online.  By the time I arrived the order is nice and warm and ready for me.

Tiger Noodle House

2424 Rice Blvd

Houston, TX 77005

281-974-4083

https://tigernoodletexas.com/

 

Abrui Sushi

Trying out a new sushi place. 

It's actually super close between work and home, so I was surprised I didn't try them out sooner. 

This place is pretty hep and feels intimate.

The seatings are nice and cozy.

This is our Green Bean Tempura, they put it together like a little stack of firewood for camp fire. 

This is their Truffle Fries, it's not too overly overpowered by the truffle oil, and the fries is a thicker chip/fries, definitely made in-house.

We shared the Hamachi Crudo, yellowtail with Thai chili, I didn't see a little chili pepper hidden behind the scallion and that yielded a very surprised result.  Needless to say, had to drink lots of water. 

This was very pretty, it's the Spring Truffle Roll, it has Kani (crab), Unagi (eel), soy paper, battered, flashed fried, topped with eel sauce and a salad in the middle.  You can taste a hint of the truffle oil.  And I think that's why I appreciate this place, they just dabbled some and not doused a bunch in case you can't taste it which ended up making it way too strong than necessary. 

Next up is the Sashimi boat - to be honest, we were so excited to see this and totally did not stop to think we did not order this.  We had in fact ordered a Sushi Platter, which was supposed to be nigiri.  But we saw how pretty this was, started to dig in and not realized until our true order arrived that we had eaten someone else's dish.  This had 8 types of fish sashimi, which 2 slices per type.  There are Salmon, Tuna, Chu Toro, Japanese Snapper, Hamachi, Madai, Kanpachi and Aji. 

Of course, I have to top it with a piece of Toro, Uni, and caviar - note this is a Santa Barbara Uni, so if you are trying to decide, here's your tip.

Not anticipating getting the Sashimi Boat, we had ordered a roll just in case,  We got the Rainbow Spider,  like the regular Spider Roll with soft shelled crab with cucumber, topped with salmon, tuna, topped with greens.  It's really yummy, in particular I really liked the yuzu sauce.

For dessert, we decided on chocolate creme brûlée.  If you're looking at the picture and go: huh?!  You are spot on, like we were.  We didn't see the 'chocolate' in the custard part, and turns out they were at the bottom.  Listen, I won't ever turn down a creme brûlée, so.... 

All in all, this is a pretty good experience.  They have social hour till 6:30p.  What I wish they had done is to come by and do a last call.  We were eating, chatting and looking at the menu, by the time we look up to find the server, it was exactly 6:30p and she plainly said they've stopped doing Social Hour.  That point, I wish they had given us a heads up like many eateries do.

That said, they do get alot of big parties to dine in, so if you plan on coming for dinner, making a reservation is a good idea.  You can always grab a seat at the bar area, and it is decent size that you won't feel cramp, and food is good enough that I would do the bar.  Looking forward to come back and try other rolls and sashimi.

Abrui Sushi

3800 Southwest Fwy

Ste 104

Houston, TX 77027

346-701-7953

https://www.aburihtx.com/

 

Katz's

Went back to Katz's for breakfast. 

Saturdays are easy to get a parking and not too busy.

Let's get hydrated, OJ & coffee to start.

I got the Salmon & Lox, so it's scrambled eggs mixed in with salmon.  It came with toast and potato pancake.  I really like to break a piece of the potato pancake with a bite of egg and lox together.   The flavors are so simple but goes along so well.  Truly that is a lot of food, so couldn't finish it all, even though this was all delicious.  I basically skipped the toast, applesauce and part of the eggs, so basically snack for later.

Katz's Heights

2200 N. Shepherd Dr

Houston, TX 77008

713-999-4799

https://www.katzsneverkloses.com/katzs-heights

 

Gelato Rossa

Was driving down the street and the word Gelato caught my eye.

Of course I just had to pull over.

There are 2 cases of flavors, and they also sell these by the pint. 

After I picked my flavors, they asked if I wanted to Verona style.  Since I have no idea what that yes, of course I'm going to say yes!

Turns out, they have a white or dark chocolate fountain, and it runs the whole time we're there.  They dunk my ice cream under and drizzle.  I can add nuts and whipped cream too, but let's start out with this first. 

Turns out that chocolate hardens into a shell.  I love this!  You even get a little cone too.  Too cute.   They are pretty generous about the portion, so even though it's a bit more on the expensive side, it's worth doing.

They also offer coffee or gelato based drinks.  So if you don't feel like ice cream, you can have the other options.  Actually it's pretty genius, you go eat dinner at Enoteca Rossa next door and go over to have some gelato.   There's a rumor that there will be a speakeasy later (if it's true, I know exactly where the entrance is).

Gelato Rossa

4564 Bissonnet St

Bellaire, TX 

https://www.gelato-rossa.com/

 

Duchess

Been seeing lots of fancy photo for Duchess.

Turn out it's in a small little corner of the Uptown Park.

Grabbed a mocktail

Loving the burrata - which has peach jam and pesto with sourdough.

Another to share plate, pulled apart bread with shipped goat cheese, basil and olive oil. 

This is a side of Potato Croquettes, it's pretty yummy.

We have the croquettes and grilled veggies and vermicelli rice as sides.

And can't forget the brussles spouts. 

For entree I got Pasta and Prosciutto sans Peas - Didn't realized that it doesn't come with sauce and the dish is so huge.  All in all, it's not bad, not as good as some but I had expected great coming here.  So the expectation set me up to fall there.

To share, we got the doughnuts that is dolce de leche stuffed with chocolate cremaix, just gimme and no body gets hurt.

This is one of the prettiest dessert that we've ever gotten.  This is a white chocolate mousse, strawberry compote, strawberry bits, elderberry foam.  Super pretty, it has a little bit of a shell on top and you crack into the mousse, very pretty.

For a pretty place like this, a reservation is a must, they do have a bar area in the back but the whole place is not big.  Now that it started to get hot, eating on the patio after sundown might be a possibility.  

I would say, for all the hype, the experience wasn't as good as the hype was.  We got 2 servers, yet we never seem either one of them once the restaurant traffic picked up.  Couldn't even order more even if we wanted to.  By middle of the meal, they started to have live DJ, so you can't even hear each other talk.  It's a tad of a wasted space because the DJ was set up at the main dining area, but the bar is in the back.  So if you are sitting in the middle, you're stuck with the noise level. 

 Duchess

1131-01 Uptown Park Blvd

Houston, TX 77056

713-832-4370

https://www.duchess-houston.com/

Chef Kang's Home Cook

Saw several influencers were talking up about a hole in the wall.

And curious always catches me, especially if it's going to be home cook Korean meals. 

They have home made soup and congee in the case.

Banchan - Korean side dishes that accompanies meals at each of the home.  This is truly your grandma's kimchi, but there are veggies, pickled or otherwise, little fishes, potato, 

On the side of their shop, they also have snacks and smaller dishes to be sold on the spot too.

I saw that they have crabmeat stuffed tofu pocket, it has rice inside, kinda like a nigiri.

The bento came in a very neat compartment box, and it is not small.  Ok ok, this is a deluxe, but the regular one has just as much, just have 2 less banchan.

Here's unclose.  You have the main entree - eel over rice.  For banchan (side dishes), it has a salad, smashed potato, veggie, mini fishes, mung bean, fish cake, kimchi, omelet roll, japchae.  I believe the salad and tempura shrimp are bonus on the deluxe, but I do love all the orange slices. 

Took me a while to get to it, because even the almighty Google and Apple Maps were not finding it.  It is in the little center that looks like they have Karaoke, tax accountant, and spa, but it's at the back of the right building is where this little hole in the wall is located.   

Best thing to do is to order ahead, because you don't want to risk they don't have what you want.  But if they indeed don't have what you want, you can still grab alot of the stuff in the cold case and put a very nice meal together. 

Chef Kang's Home Cook

1249 Blalock

Ste D

Houston, TX 77055

https://www.instagram.com/chef_kang_homecook/

Artisana

I'm so proud of myself to have found a legit hole in the wall. 

This little shop on Piedmont, it's not my usual stomping ground, but it's a pleasant find.

This little baked shop has croissant, kouign amann...

...Cinnamon Rolls, Pain aux Raisins...

... tarts and more croissants.

They also have loaf breads too.

Baguettes, organic loaves...etc.

I got a spinach, feta, tomoto tart.  It was really delicious and surprising as well.  Also got an Americano to have a well balanced breakfast.

Ahh my fav. pain aux raisins - growing up having it and not understand how hard it is to hunt for them now.  So whenever I get a chance, I grab one.  This one is actually pretty big, but delicious just the same.

The shop is small and in a small strip center. Plenty of parking but literally where you see the counter, it only take 2 people and the line become out the door.  That line however is non-stop, people grabbing breakfast or a loaf, the stream is steady. 

Artisana Bread

965 Piedmont Dr

#800

Houston, TX 77018

832-940-2129

https://www.artisanabread.com/