HRW - Himari

Another Japanese HRW, this one happens to be lunch. 

Got a iced green tea to start, since it's so hot outside.

First course, it's Himari's Kanpachi - which is Amberjack, slice of orange, and radish sitting in ponzu sauce.  The bite combined with orange really did the trick.  That made it less salty. 

Second course, it's the Waygu Pitchfork, which is a roll with Waygu with asparagus and shallot.  The sauce is really good, there's not enough flavor from Waygu. 

3rd course is Sweet Potato Tempura - that's one of my fav's, so no problem there. 

That was so much food that I ended up taking the dessert to go.  Since the other options are ice cream and it'll sure melt.  I picked chocolate truffle cake. It's pretty dense, there's chocolate crumble and peanuts on the side.  Drizzled with miso caramel, which I do like because it's not too sweet to offset the chocolate cake. 

Here's my thing about the place, it's not big, but you have to flag down the server's attention.  Then, between course 1 and 2 and 3, it's at least 20 mins.  Yes, I was sitting there for an hour.  Several occasions have to look for someone to check on the status of my order.  

Lastly, since the shopping center is super kid friendly, which is great and good because kids can run around and run the energy out.  At the same time, you have to give grace to the parents who wants sushi while they're there (aka read: there will be screaming children in the restaurant - lucky they don't have enough room for them to run around, but screaming will be had).  

Do you need a reservation? Not exactly, the place is not huge.  But I have a feeling if you can't find seating here, there are other good food around without you having the re-park your car.  I would say this is an ok place if you're in a hurry or with kids.  Save the special outings to another place. 

Hirmari

1223 W. 34th Street 

Suite C500

Houston, TX 77018

832-582-5005

https://www.himarihtx.com/

 

HRW - Vic & Anthony's

2nd HRW this year: we wanted steak!

To Vic & Anthony's we go!  It's been a few years since I've been here.  Mainly it's in the downtown area, and I don't come down other to the ballpark across the street. 

While this is an old school steakhouse, I'm surprised they haven't caught on to list mocktails on their menu as alot of upscale places have done. 

First course, I got the lobster bisque.  You do get chunks of lobster, not nearly enough for my taste, but that's just me. 

For sides, we ordered potato au gratin to split.  Gimme more cheese.

Creamed spinach - yes give me more crunchy.

Brussels Sprouts - nothing too special not that one. 

For entree, I got the 6oz filet.  Either I haven't had a proper steak for so long, or this steak was really special.  I just devoured the whole thing.  Did not touch the green beans or the potato.  Potato was good, but I liked my cheesy potato better.  And the green beans wasn't cooked long enough.   But never you mind, the steak was good, that's all you needed to know.  I think the truffle butter on top to that couldn't hurt either.

If I were to re-do, I'd focus on just steak when coming here. 

For dessert, I got the apple streusel coffee cake, it came with maple bourbon ice cream.  In truth, the ice cream really made the dish.  It seems like it has some cinnamon to it to enhance the apple taste.  TO be honest, I cannot taste any coffee on that.  The bourbon sauce on the dish made it less dry and with the ice cream in one bite is the best!

For a place like this you should definitely make a reservation.  They do have valet for $13, and of course, you can take your chance on the street.  Please read the signs and check the meters.  Of course, before you go, check and see if there's a game going on too, that area gets super busy. 

Vic & Anthony's 

1510 Texas Ave

Houston, Tx 77002

713-228-1111

https://www.vicandanthonys.com/location/houston/

 

HRW - Aiko

This is my first HRW this year. 

The menu list this year nothing really excited me, but a good excuse to meet up with friends.  

I like how they have duckies everywhere...

They have a few mocktails to choose from, I got the Herbed Lavender Lemonade.  I asked that they don't make it too sweet, but it became too tart. 

For starter, we got the karaage - fried chicken (for kids - that's chicken nugs for you).  The sauce is aioli japaleno, which is super delicious but also spicy... eep!

I got the Maguro Crudo - which is bluefin tuna, ponzu sauce, and chili garlic chips - very delicious match with a little piece of apple to balance out. 

We split the maki's for 2nd course - I got the Sake Make - which has King Salmon on top with yuzu chili pepper sauce.  The other one in the back is the Hamachi Maki - which is yellowtail with cilantro on top.

3rd course, I asked for Nigri 3pc - it has Hamachi (Yellowtail) , Kanapachi (Amberjack fish), and Hirami (Flounder).

Of course, I'm greedy, so I got an extra piece of Waygu - it's ok.  I did ask for foie gras but they ran out.  The Waygu was a bit too chewy for the cut.  That can be done better. 

Come dessert time!!!  It's like a little piece of of cloud on top of my dessert.

Closer look, it's Milk Tea Boba Tiramisu.  Not going to lie, while I did love the boba, which tasted fresh (aka not chewy), it is not as good as Brian's; there! I said it.  

It's not bad, the tiramisu didn't have too much of either the coffee or tea flavor.  The flavor really was vanilla, which is the base.  It is not dry but the flavor really came from the boba.  

Lastly, just want to show ya'll - when they tell you do take care of business in the woods... they made it happened.  LOL.  Half kidding, the bathroom is really at the end of the hallway.

The restaurant is actually not very big, so if you plan on coming, do plan on making a reservation.  Of course, the bar area does have full service, that's first come first serve with no reservation.  For parking, they do have a lot next to the entrance, they do have a valet if you wish, but plenty of spots you can park yourself.   

Aiko

1902C Washington Ave

Houston, TX 77007

832-582-7525

https://www.aikohtx.com/

 

HRW - Rouse

We decided to do girls night with a HRW.

This is one of the few menus that are $39 and their website showed pretty well in terms of food and drinks...

Pretty simple on their menu - no descriptions or anything.  Let's talk food first, and we'll talk about the experience later.

For app - we have beef yakitori.  The meat and sauce are good - that was a suprise start.

I asked for Bourbon Chicken, since there's no description there was no way to tell what was going to come.  The chicken was lightly fried, and the sauce - to be honest I cannot taste bourbon, but it is a bit sweet. 

For dessert, I got the Apple Empanda. It came with vanilla ice cream and fruit.  It's not bad for end of the meal.

Ok, the experience.  First of all, for a hotel restaurant, this is a step up from Days Inn's breakfast bar, but many steps down from say a classy joint like Xochi - which is also inside a hotel.  I will tip my hat on their PR company which drafted a very beautiful website and created a very up-class vibe for the place.  While the food is decent for $39 is on par.  I wouldn't have paid for extra say some of the other HRW that are charging $55.  That said, whatever listed on the menu isn't exactly available.  For example, there's no Red Snapper - they only have Mahi Mahi.  That dish supposed to come with butternut risotto, but instead mushroom risotto showed up.  We tried to compare what is listed on HRW to their regular menu in attempted to get some description.  But that was no help if they changed everything over. 

When I checked out the site, they did such a good job hyping themselves up that I made a reservation, turns out that's not needed.  Having server to attend to you, however is a whole different story.  Our server is also doubled as bartender, the person who takes in-room service order; because she's doing so many roles that it took a good 10-15 mins before we get our water.  Once our order is in, that was better, the pacing on the food was fine.  Mind you, we were the ONLY table for the majority of our time there.  Later on another table came for dinner, but it's not so swamp that her and another staff cannot handle.  The dessert took extra long not because we were slow but both staffers are tending to other things. 

What I want you to pay attention is your check!  We were looking our check over, they all have a 'Service Charge' of 27%.  This is doing a great disservice to your staff.  I want to pay them extra for their work, but I am not a charity or a bank, if the hotel charge me a 27% of Service Charge, that makes it difficult for us to put down extra for tip.  This ambiguous Service Charge doesn't say who eventually benefits - the hotel alone? the Staff? our server???

Parking, yes, you can valet.  There's also self parking.  Follow the signs, however! For a not-busy hotel in the heart of Galleria and high traffic area, they blocked alot of spots for Valet.  Your force to go to 2nd floor, which is not fully opened.  They do ask you to take down your license plate and use the QR to pay later.  We did check with our server, and if you dine at the restaurant, you can get your parking validated.  The front desk staff was super polite and friendly and accommodating.  So be sure to have your plate number handy, they cross check the camera that take down an image as you enter, so they can credit on your way out. 

  The only 2 things that came out of that evening was: 1, I know some of the proceed do get to Houston Food Bank because it's Restaurant Week.  2, my friends and I got to catch up.  The hotel has potential, has a decent pool.  But the entire experience was subpar.  Again, credit the great job the PR company did, but other than that, it's just a pretty facade.

Rouse Craft Cooking

inside Chiefly Hotel

2400 W. Loop South

Houston, TX 77027

713-586-5143

https://www.rouseuptown.com/

 

HRW - PS 21

This year there weren't too many menus on the Houston Restaurant Week that excites me.

We came back to PS 21. 

You can do the HRW for dinner is $55 for the prix fixe and lunch is $25.  The place is small, so a reservation is a great idea.

I got a mojito

Casablanca - with tumeric, ras el hanot syrup, lime, and cardamom bitters

I got the Petatou - which has goat cheese on top of potato salad with olive and thyme.

I got the Crispy Salmon, which are salmon filet wrapped with pastry baked and a side of ratatouille.  Entire dish was great.

For dessert, we each got something different to split.  We got Crepe Suzette, it seemed to be a bit overcooked on this one.  It's too crispy on sides.  It's suppose to be chewy crepe. At any rate, it does have the citrus-y taste.  But the ice cream was good.

I got the Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding.  That was a great ending for the night. It is nice and moist and it had bourbon caramel sauce with the ice cream.  We liked this one best.

As mentioned earlier, it pays to have a reservation early on, simply the place is small so walk-in might now work.  They have a small parking lot but they do have valet.  So getting there also helps with parking as well.  We got a new server the night we were there, so it took longer because he has to get thru his training.  But food is good, service is fine.

PS-21

2712 Richmond Ave

Houston, TX 

346-571-8988

https://www.ps21htx.com/

 

Xin Chao

This is technically my 2nd Restaurant Week meal, but I was too hungry, plus the to-go packaging wasn't all that appealing, so no pic to share. 

This time is to Xin Chao.  It was a collaboration between Christine Ha, Master Chef Winner & owner of Blind Goat and Tony Nguyen, founder of Wokker TX Ranger food truck & Saigon House.

What I didn't recognized until I pulled up was that this was formerly Beavers!  Also very closed to a friend's house and almost automatically turn on their street.  But I digress.

Happy Hour menu - from 5-6:30p Sunday thru Thursday.  Definitely try them all... I fully intend to come back just to do that. 

I got the Sugar Cane Juice, you don't get these easily.  And no, it's non-alcoholic.

For my Restaurant Week set, starter was: Not Our Ma's Eggrolls.  It has crab, shrimp, pork inside.  The trick is tear the lettuce (yes, not only for decoration), and wrap it around the egg roll.  Dip it into the fish sauce and enjoy.  Trust me on this... 

Off HRW menu, I had to get the Grilled Oysters, which came out hot, hot, hot!  It has oyster, pork cracklin' but also look to be bits of bacon, peanut, lime juice.  It's good... get it! 

Entree: their flagship dish - Braised Pork & Crispy Rice served in a hot stone pot.  It has scallion greens, some celery, pork (YUM), 60 degree egg.  And in Asian culture, you often see this dish and it is THE BEST to have during Winter time, because it will warm your belly.  The rice is crispy because it's 'burnt' by the pot.  And they have some sauce from the pork to 'soften' it up.  It's pretty good.

Last but not least, dessert: their famous Rubbish Apple Pie ala mode.  Besides apple and pastry, it has a hint of star anise, ginger, salted caramel sauce (where I later found out it has a hint of fish sauce), and vanilla ice cream.  I cleaned the plate of course.  

Overall the experience was great.  Definitely make the reservation before coming.  Whether online or by phone.  If you just show up, it is not guaranteed a seat.  Bar area is small, so those fill up fast.  

Server was fine.  But I have to say, our hostess, was the mostess.  She can sense that I was a tad sensitive about sitting near others indoors, and while we all know they have to fill the tables, she tried to seat folks at other tables until she absolutely have to seat someone next to us.  By then, we were paying our bill, so it was no biggie.  While they do have ample outdoor seating, the sky was gloomy and I was informed that if we sit outside and it's full inside, when it rains, we won't be able to find a seat.  So if you're sensitive about crowded places, go early.

Xin Chao

2310 Decatur St

Houston, TX 77007

832-740-4888

https://www.xinchaohtx.com

 

HRW - Traveler's Table

This is my first HRW for this year.

Things this year is not like years past, so I'm focused on restaurants that will do take outs.

For Traveler's Table's Brunch, I started out with Vietnamese Coffee Cake.  It was goofy, online, they said it's out of stock, but they obviously was offering it in person.  

Overall, for coffee cake, I expected some hint of coffee.  For it to be Vietnamese Coffee which has a very distinctive taste and smell, I didn't sense too much of it.  I think I'd like for it to be a tad more moist to make the texture more perfect with the drizzle.

For my main course, I ordered the Truffled Ham, Mushroom, Brie Omelette.  I was surprised to see the onions draped on top.  I saw it in the description was hoping it was inside.  But what they did here was to have the onion melt the brie on top of the omelette.  It's decent, but I was left to wonder if I did taste any of the truffle that was on the description. 

 We also ordered a side of bacon to share.  Luckily, they are cooked well and the slices are thick, so that made me feel better for paying extra $6 for 4 slices of bacon.  Still high, but the taste and size redeemed for it.

They do allow for HRW order on their online ordering system.  However, you are missing a few options which I've called to find out that you can phone in the order and they will let you know if an item is available for order or not.  As a matter of fact, when the manager delivered my food at curbside pickup.  I had informed him as well.  He was apologetic but did admit there was a glitch.  

When you arrive, there are 2 entrance to their parking lot.  The 'smaller' one is for curbside and handicap parking.  The other is for dining.  On the weekend, they have a guy that valet's - if you're comfortable with that.  That said, he does block off spots and if you need to cut thru from one side to the other, you have to wave him down.  Otherwise, he's pointing you to a parking spot.  Once you arrived at the front, you have to phone in and let them know you've arrived.  Even though I've noted on the online order in the notes what my make and model of my car, they will ask again, in case you send someone else to pick up.

This year because things are so bad that all the restaurants that are participating are committed to donate $1 per meal to the Houston Food Bank.  That doesn't sound like a lot, but $1 can get 3 meals thru the Food Bank.  So, even though it is not a huge impact, it is important to participate.  Not only for the Food Bank, but also for the restaurants that are participating.  Hopefully, this is a way to reenergize the food scene and get people out eating agin.  

Traveler's Table

520 Westheimer Rd

Houston, TX 77006

832-409-5785

https://travelerstable.com

HRW: Caracol

Another HRW: Caracol. 

Don't under estimated that just because lunch you can waltz in and get seated.  I'm glad that we had our lunch early and we made a reservation.  By the time we were leaving, the house was packed and there's a line waiting by the door.

Got my drink of choice: Arnold Palmer, nothing fancy.

First course, I got the Chile Poblano soup.  It has corn, chorizo verde, tomatillo, and of course, poblano pepper.  It is not spicy, but definitely flavorful.  Since I sit in A/C all day, having some soup warms me up did the trick.

Main course I've been eyeing the deconstructed enchilada.  Like, what exactly would it be?  Well, it is with brisket, the tortilla has salsa already on it, with veggie and queso fresco, which if you lump them into one bite, it's  pretty good.  Looks different, but they get the flavors across to you.

Lastly, I got the tres leches.  Oh my goodness, it's divine.  Very light, not heavy, but definitely soaked up the milk and moist.  The fruit around it, I don't hate them but didn't think they enhanced anything either.  But it was definitely a good choice on my part for this.  So good.

Since Post Oak is under constructions, I'd highly suggest sparing extra time for travel.  They offer free parking if you were to self-park in the garage.  Don't forget to give your ticket to the server or the hostess to get it stamped.  So you don't have to pay on your way out.  You can also valet, but even though it is complimentary, make sure you tip them, since these guys are out there in the hot sun doing this all day.

Service as always are top notch.  Our server, even as it gets busier, came by just to make sure we were doing fine.  Everything is very well organized and well run there.  Between the delivery of food, and the delivery of service, I really felt that the team came under pressure and still come out beautifully.  I'm glad they're participating in HRW.  Go eat and do good!

Caracol

2200 Post Oak Blvd

#160

Houston, TX 77056

713-622-9996