Rise No.2

Met up with the girls for a weekend lunch.

Ended up at Rise.

Since the glass is dark and you can't really tell, but that's Limeade in there.  It was fresh for sure, I was puckering.

A MUST for me, the Marshmallow Soup.  Every time I come here, I tell myself, I should really try their Onion Soup, which I understand has an equally popular vote, but since it's not like they offer Marshmallow Soup everywhere, just have to have it.  Plus the cheese stick goes so well with the soup, not to be missed.

Just to clarify, they call it Marshmallow Soup because of the little cheese souffle came out like marshmallow, no real marshmallow was used in making of this soup.  It is essentially tomato basil soup, with these cheese souffle on top.

I'd figured to go easy on the entree, and do the Nicoise Salad, which is the French version of the Seared Ahi Tuna Salad.  The dressing is pretty good, not to over-empowering, and there's actually plenty of tuna to go around.  Don't underestimate the dish, by looks, it doesn't seem much, but it's actually a lot of food there.

Of course, big perk of coming here is the dessert.  Here's the before...

Here's the after, we pour the chocolate sauce, of course.  So that you know, if you don't like too sweet, definitely can do it to your liking.  My advice, however, since it is pretty dry in the middle, pour the sauce!  You won't regret it, I promise!

I always enjoy coming here, the service is great, and there's so many attention to details in each and everything there.  The dishes are made specifically to this location, the staff came and checked on us but not too intrusive.  Everyone from the hostess to the person refilling our water was friendly.  No complaint.

Rise No.2

1700 Post Oak Blvd

Ste 290

Houston, TX 77056

713-850-7473

http://www.risesouffle.com

Houston Food Bank

After such a great devastating tragedy that's called Hurricane/Tropical Storm Harvey.  The Houston Restaurant Week was able to work with the various restaurant to extend Restaurant Weeks thru the end of September.  Please participate if you can, any contribution to the Food Bank will make a huge impact, now more than ever.

Houston Restaurant Weeks

Escalante's

Had a meeting at the Woodlands location, and colleagues suggested Tex Mex

In Texas, who doesn't like Tex-Mex, really.

I got lunch special #6 (seis).  It has a beef burrito with cheese (yum), with refried beans (which are fat free), pico and Mexican rice.  I love mixing all of them and top it on top of the burrito.  Everything goes together and makes my tummy happy.  

It's a simple and quick lunch that makes everyone happy.  What more do you want?  During week day, it's mostly business lunches at the Hughes Landing location, but imagine if you come to the area for shopping, it might be a tad out of the way, but they serve fast and decent food.  Worth coming back.

Escalante's

1900 Hughes Landing Blvd

#100

The Woodlands, TX 77380

281-292-7800

http://www.escalantes.net

Sushigami

The newest Sushi game at the Houston Galleria mall...

Sushigami

Originated from Florida, and brought conveyor sushi to the mall.

I like that they have shields and a cover for the belt.  The cover is only the part for the 'kitchen' staff.  The booth seating that are expose, don't have a cover, which allows passerby see little dishes moving along.  Quite a sight for a lot of people.

This is Four Seasons, different tobiko on top, and also different filling too, two of them has crab meat, one has a pineapple, and one has cream cheese.

On the left is California roll, not too shabby.  Love their colored plates.

Top Blue plate is Spicy Tuna roll, a little different but not bad.  To the right in dark pink plate is Dragon Roll, unagi, avocado, kanpyo (from squash family), and cucumber.  Gray plate is salmon and Light Pink plate is Tuna.  

Overall, I was impressed that it was decently fresh.  Does it taste fresh like out of water?  No, but it doesn't tasted frozen and thawed out either.  In case you've never been and don't know how all this works.  As you see stuff on the conveyor belt, you grab.  You eat what you want and they won't clear your plates, because that's how they tally you up at the end of the meal.  That said, for having what I had, that was plenty of food.  The pricing goes according to color of the plates.

My strategy as mentioned in Sushi Sakura post didn't quite work.  That is, you sit by the kitchen or chef (or by the kitchen for hot food), you're guaranteed to have freshly made food.  That didn't work here because while I did sit by the chefs, they continuously make the sushi and stack them on the side.  And as they happen to see opening for the sushi, then they make space for the new plate.  So unless you meticulously study which has been there the longest, it's hard to tell which plate just landed there.  While the food doesn't stay in the stacking/staging area for long, it's probably a good 15 mins for the belt to make one loop around.  So, watch closely.

I like to place fine, they have dishes that you don't see, such as salmon sandwich, where the rice is the bread and fish is in the middle, and they are cut in triangles.  Some rolls use either tofu skin or kanpyo, which is not typical American palette are on there, and I'm kinda surprised.  They have bowls you can order as well, and offer options to those who are not sushi lovers.  One bad thing is that if you've never been, no one tells you where to begin.  Basically, you walk up and sit wherever and begin.  

Sushigami

Houston Galleria Mall

Skating Rink Level, next to La Madeleine 

5015 Westheimer Rd

A14590

Houston, TX 77056

346-980-5454

http://www.sushigami.net

HRW: Del Frisco's

Another Houston Restaurant Week pick:

It is super close to work, I can easily walk there.  That said, for lunch, I still went ahead and made reservation, and always glad that I did, in case an influx of people decided to show up.

First course, I got the Caesar, which was good.  The croutons are too big for my taste, but the dressing is good, so I'll take that.

For the main course, I got the Wagyu French Dip.  I was enticed by the Wagyu of course...  It came with the au jus sauce, horseradish and ketchup for your fries.

Look at all the beef.  It was filling for sure, I had this half and was plenty.  That said, I can't really taste the difference between Wagyu in the sliced form, versus the steak form.   Steak, you can tell right away, how tender the meat is.  Since it's all sliced, it was not easy to tell.  Dipping in the sauce was good, but it just muddied up my taste bud further to tell the difference.

For dessert, I got the bread pudding, and like 51Fifteen, that was too much bread for one meal for me, so I took it to go.

Of course, you know service would be good, and I will say, seating upstairs has a lot of advantage than downstairs.  The servers upstairs are very attentive and even though they have to come up to bring you your dish, they never failed to get it right.  Happy with the service even the food was so-so.

Del Frisco's

5061 Westheimer Rd

Ste 8060

Houston, TX 77056

713-355-2600

https://delfriscos.com

HRW: Eloise Nichols

Another Houston Restaurant Week pick:

Last time I was here for during regular lunch, so was interested to see how their dinner service was.

This upside down pineapple is my Spirit Animal.  No, really, it's called Spirit Animal, which is vodka, pineapple and lime, pretty straight forward and pretty tasty.

For first course, I got their brussel sprouts, I remembered it was good last time.  This time isn't too bad, but a tad soggier than I like.

For the main course, I got the grilled chicken, it was nice and juicy, not dry at all.  The polenta (at the bottom) did nothing for me.  I kinda felt like they're soaking up my sauce for my chicken, which I wanted it to go with.  Otherwise, no complaint here.

For dessert, I got the peach crisp.  It has Texas Peach, cinnamon crumble, and Mexican Vanilla Ice Cream.  All put together, you get yummy deliciousness.

Overall, no complaint here, the service is fine, dinner wasn't crowded or super busy, but the bar was full, so I guess the Happy Hour is the thing to get there.  Parking is a luck of the draw, if not, there is valet there.  I do see police around the corner, so I felt very safe.

Eloise Nichols

2400 Mid Ln

Houston, TX 77027

713-554-0136

http://eloisenichols.com 

Cheesecake Factory - Desktop Cafe

We had a late work night so we ordered in...

... Since I had a large lunch, I went for a flatbread, which turn out to be bigger than I though.  This is the Skinnylicious Roasted Pear and Blue Cheese Flatbread.  I like it that the blue cheese is not over empowering and I love the arugula and cartelized onions and pecans.  The whole thing is true to the Skinnylicious brand, you don't feel too much but just enough to tie you over.  No protein on this but for a small bite, it's just right.

Cheesecake Factory

Houston Galleria

5015 Westheimer Rd

Houston, TX 77056

713-840-0600

https://www.thecheesecakefactory.com/