Del Frisco's

So, after not getting enough to eat at Prohibition, we walked over to Del Frisco's for some real food.

I ordered a small salad to start, it's a mini caesar. YUM with the pepper!
David and I split a carpetbagger steak. It's a piece of hanger steak with a huge side of mashed potato. The potato was super creamy and I totally love the flavor.

Of course, the service was impeccable and top notch. Total 180 degrees from our earlier experience. We had 4 servers come and deliver our food, and a head waiter made sure our order is super and tasty. And again the 4 servers comes back and comb our table. Talk about a different class of service.

Del Frisco's
5061 Westheimer Rd, Suite 8060
Houston, TX 77056
Tel: (713) 355-2600
http://delfriscos.com/houston-menu.php

Prohibition

When a friend was all excited about Prohibition, I was mildly curious. It was billed as a place that has the 30s Speakeasy type decor, and have a place to dance and live music. Alright, seeing that we haven't been out a while, can't hurt to get dressed up and give it a whirl.
The bartenders, urm... excuse me, the Mixologists are definitely awesome. The list of drinks are endless just like their creativity. And if you see the photo, yes the bar is a bunch of nickels glued on the bar. The drink is delicious too.
My friend misunderstood that they serve food. They do serve food, but in tapas style. So we ordered some parmesan chips, which is salty and oh so good.
This is the lollipop lamb, which is really a skinnier lamp chop. The amount of green on there is good enough for garnish, but I was so hungry that I ate the entire plate clean.
We also go the sliders. They have the mini burger...

And a mini crab cake, and mini pulled pork.

Here's my thing about this place, the decor is nice, having reservation doesn't really serve you before 9pm. Don't expect their food to be good enough for a meal, it's all appetizers, and shared among friends, that is even less.

The place is huge, beside the main seating area, there's a private room upstairs. The focal point is definitely the bar. That's where the lively conversations are, and that's where the people gather. Not to mention, that's where the service is located too. We have a great service from the mixologist than our server. While all of them are dressed to the part of 30s Speakeasy style, their service is horrible 90s style. There's 2 server for the entire seating area and patio. The kitchen is pretty slow, as though they're not equip to handle the volume. While they do model themselves after a high class food menu, the result was so-so. If it's in front of me, I'll eat it, but not the reason for me to come back. I'll go back for drinks...

Prohibition (inside the Galleria)

5175 Westheimer Road

Houston, TX 77056-5510
(281) 940-4636

www.prohibitionhouston.com/

Rustika Cafe

So before my college buddy headed out of town, we were trying to catch up before she goes. It was well within brunch time, and they were having breakfast. Since I already worked out, I'd figure I'll have the chicken cesar salad instead.

In some ways, this is how a chicken salad should be. For $8.95, you do feel like you got your money's worth. Real big slices of chicken, not the chicken strips that most serves you. Decent amount of parmesan, and enough good leafy green that you don't felt like you're eating water (aka lettuce).

I appreciate that the chicken was freshly cooked, it was nice and warm on my salad. But then again, I'm not a big fan of my food with different temperature on the same plate. That said, it wasn't bad.

My biggest issue with Rustika is that they do not accept credit cards under $10. Nowadays, more people carry cards more than cash, the least they can do is $5 minimum. But $10, I am forced to order more stuff that I'm not going to eat, or unable to eat just to get to that requirement. Thus, my friends eating breakfast, I'm having lunch. (It wasn't by choice, just lucked out that it's good).

Co-worker had gotten cakes here before. And I will say that they are good for that aspect of the cafe. The pastries are pretty standard: crossiants, cookies and the like. They also do wedding cakes. It's definitely not heavy on the buttercream like you get at the grocery story.

Rustika Cafe
3237 South West Freeway
Houston, Texas, 77027
Ph. 713-665-6226
http://rustikacafe.com/

Queen Vic Pub

When my college friend was coming thru town, she was asking where to go that's nice and hip and they won't kick us out. I overheard co-workers going to Queen Vic Pub, I was curious.

Their menu is heavily Indian food based. While I'm not amissed to the fact that the English has roots in India and their menu is heavily influenced, I would say there's more items Indian based than say Black Lab or Firkin & Phoenix.

I ordered the Royale with Cheese, which always remind me of Pulp Fiction. It is burger with gruyere cheese (my fav), a fried egg on top (it's covered here) and onion rings to boot. Honestly, I didn't need the fries with the gigantic onion rings, but I'll take what they give me. And yes, that was without buns.

They do have a large array of beer selections and hard liquor too. Beware that alot of the selections may be seasonal. So, don't be surprised if the beer menu changes from time to time. It does get busy and packed. If you need to find parking, the Animal clinic next door is available to park when they're closed. We park on the side street and just walked over. Otherwise, they do have valet on hand.

I saw that they got a pretty nice Happy Hour menu, which conincidentally the same time with the High Tea from 3-5p. Yes, I said high tea. Kinda odd for a pub to serve that, but it's a nice option.

Queen Vic Pub
2712 Richmood
(1 block west of Kirby Dr.)
Houston, Texas 77098
713 - 533 - 0022
http://www.thequeenvicpub.com

Chocolate Cranberry Macs

For David's work pot luck, he thought it'd be fun to have some macarons as dessert. So, along with the Pumpkin Spice Mac, I decided to make some chocolate cranberry macs.
Ahh, the beautiful shell, if I may say so myself.
I'm just so in love with them... so pretty with feet.
Here they are packed and ready to go... but here's the ganache recipe:

Chocolate Cranberry Ganache
2oz chocolate (I used Ghiradelli's)
2oz heavy cream (that's about 1/4 c)
1oz chopped cranberry
1/4 tsp butter (room temp)

1, put the chocolate pieces in a glass bowl or bowl that can contain heat
2, heat up the cream until it starts to bubble and remove from heat
3, pour over the chocolate
4, stir and feel free to add butter until all are melted
5, add cranberry bits and mixe well
6, finally, cool or put in fridge until it solidify

Then you're ready to sandwich them between shells

I also submitted this for MacTweet, check them out!

P.F. Chang

For our Anniversary, we went out to P.F. Chang. We are super thankful that they have included their Gluten Free menu with their main menu now. They also increased the amount of dishes too. Yay PFC!

Here we ordered the Singapore Street Noodles. They are a tad spicy as they should be, and the dish comes with shrimp, pork, veggies and vermecelli noodles.

Then we ordered Beef & Broccoli. I assume they use a different type of soy sauce because once you order GF items, they mix up a GF sauce for you. Pretty good service, eh?

Also, if you ever wonder if you gotten a GF dish, they use different plates to distinguish. The ones w/ the logo around the plate, that's GF. If you get a plain white dish, it's the normal menu.
For dessert, they have the chocolate mousse in a shot glass. Honestly, it's so dense that it is more than enough. Of course, for me, any chocolate is good dessert.

P.F. Chang's
Feel free to call ahead and make a reservation, but they do not take it within a 30 min window
Highland Village Center
4094 Westheimer Rd.
Houston, TX 77027
(713) 627-7220
http://www.pfchangs.com/

Renaissance Fest

This year's Ren Fest was way subdue than the past. I think it's because we went on a Sunday instead of a Saturday, and it wasn't around any big celebration weekend. As a matter of fact, the themed weekend when we were there was Roman Bacchanal, which I was wondering because I saw a ton of people wearing toga, and was wondering how that fit into the Renaissance times.

While my eyes are definitely bigger than my stomach, and I'm sure I would've love a Steak on a Stick or Sausage on a Stick (and those are David approved, more so than what I picked). I was walking around trying to find the Polish area because I really wanted the Gnocchi.

The ones they have were potato and mushroom gnocchi, guess that is to accommodate the vegetarians. But let me tell you, they packed the stuffing to the max. Every bite has some of the 'meat' in there.

Yes, they have funnel cakes, toasted almonds (which I bought a big bag of it), turkey leg, pizza. Oh yeah, tons of non-time compliant type of junk food that all fairs should have. While the fair season is now over, this should give you something to look forward to for next Fall.

Texas Renaissance Festival
21778 FM 1774
Todd Mission, TX 77363
(800) 458-3435
http://www.texrenfest.com/