Pei Wei

Went to lunch with some colleagues in Beaumont, Texas.

 Since we were limited on time and trying to avoid traffic on the road, figured Pei Wei is nice and quick.  A little something for everyone.  Got a side of egg roll to start.  So, bad for you, but tastes so good... cannot resist.

At least I got tofu for the entree would that work?  This is the tofu with the Sesame style, got scallion, bell pepper, onion, garlic, citrus glaze sauce which is yummy with the fried rice.  I totally cannot finish it, and had to take half home, mind you, this is already the small portion... So full they have to roll me out.

Pei Wei

3050 Dowlen St

Beaumont, TX 77706

409-866-0620

https://www.peiwei.com/texas/177-beaumont

Soma

Back to Soma for weekend Happy Hour, and boy do I love their Happy Hour.

On weekend lunch time, easy to get parking, quick service and quick food.  Perfect for a hungry diner.

Figured I'd get an Arnold Palmer, then the server was asking if I'd want that with Green Tea or regular tea.  Hmm, that's a thought, I've never done the mix with green tea before.  Why not?! 

Crazy Irishman, per the server's recommendation, did not do the flash fried, and just had it raw.  It has salmon, tuna, spicy aioli, and caviar on top.  Not too heavy, worked out just fine.

Mini Destiny: Tuna, Salmon, and Flounder... the Salmon and Tuna were particularly fresh that day.  Yummo!

Spicy Tuna Roll - great as always.

Unagi Roll - was kinda expecting a hand roll, but this worked out too.

Needless to say, I did not have dinner this meal.  But let me tell you, Happy Hour on weekend is totally worth it.  I felt like I really ate a ton for next to nothing.  Not to mention you get super great service and my server kept telling me different combo of rolls to try.  That's on my list for the next visit, for sure!

Soma Sushi

4820 Washington Ave

Houston, TX 77007

713-861-2726

https://www.somasushi.com/happyhour

Omni - Cafe on the Lake

Went to a birthday dinner at Omni Hotel out on Eldridge.

The hotel restaurant, called Cafe on the Lake, because they have an indoor lake, super cute.

Chef gave us an amuse bouche, which was a fried shrimp with Thai cole slaw, which was very unique and I've never had that before.  I was surprised with the creativity and the mix that worked so well together.  Impressed nonetheless.

Since I wasn't super hungry, got the Quesadilla Sampler, there's 2 steak slices, 2 chicken slices, 2 shrimp slices... I couldn't even finish all of that.

Needless to say, by the time they gave us a slice of chocolate cake, I had no room in my tummy for it.  Had to take it home.  That said, it was pretty good, was it heavy?  Sorta, but it was worth the calories.

Don't think hotel restaurants are stuffy, they give one of the better service than a lot of other high end restaurants.  They know that more than likely you're staying on property, and they want to give you a positive experience at your stay there.  It's not hard for guests to go down on Eldridge and find all sorts of cuisine.  But for dining in, they do go the extra mile, and I appreciate that.

Omni Hotel & Resort

13210 Katy Fwy

Houston, TX 77079

281-558-8338

https://www.omnihotels.com/hotels/houston-westside/dining/cafe-on-the-lake

General Public

Went to General Public for dinner...

I've heard about them, and besides the fact that they serve Whiskey, I didn't know much about their food.

Love the coaster

Had to have my drink.... Midori Sour.  As one of my co-worker said, she hasn't seen one since College.  Yep, I'm just young at heart.

Got half a dozen of East Coast Oysters.  You get to choose either Gulf Coast or East Coast and since I was taught the yummy-ness of East Coast, once you go East you can't go back.

Got the Oven Roasted Cauliflower, it's pretty delicious.  Butter and cheese, cannot go wrong.

This is the Shishito and Shroom, which is tempura styled light batter to fried the mushroom and pepper.  It was actually lighter than I thought.  It comes with a Sriracha dipping sauce, which is more like a mix of Sriracha and mayo mix.

For entree, I was debating between crab cake and fish and chips... so I went with Fish and Chips.  Cute tray arrived.

In real life, that thing was huge, because it was a bucket, which is the 3 big pieces of fish you see on top, so all of that to the bottom is nothing but fries...

This is the crab cake, which is what I should've gotten.  It was a real deal, decent size of crab chunks in the mix.  Even the brussle sprouts was yummy.

The only dessert they offer, the birthday cake.  It does come with sprinkles and a candle.  Sadly, the cake is nothing like the rest of the food... it tasted like it came out of a box, that's just sad because for $7 and they aren't even made from scratch and the icing was so-so, keep your calories and walk down to City Center and get something else.

The neat thing is that they are owned by the same owners as Bowl and Barrel, which is a very fancy bowling alley with awesome menu.  Bowling has never tasted so good.

General Public

797 Sorella Ct

Houston, TX 77024

832-690-4450

http://thegenpublic.com/

Bite

So, was in need of some macarons!!!

I like going to Bite, love their decor, love their macs, love that I can find parking and quick go in and come out. 

look at those beautiful pied... the new one for me was the chocolate dipped mac.  That was Cassis.  So, left to right: Chocolate, Chocolate dipped Cassis, Pistachio, and the top was Coffee.  YUM!

I see on their site that they'll be launching macaron ice cream sandwich, just in time for summer!!!

Bite Macaron

5172-B Buffalo Speedway

Houston, TX 77005

713-664-2483

http://www.teambite.com

Maine-ly Sandwich

Happen to be driving down Shepherd and saw Maine-ly.  It's been a while... 

they have since added a lot more stuff to their menu like Nathan's Hot Dog, Mac & Cheese, and more sandwiches.

But none sounded as good as the spotlight: Lobster Roll.  This is a 1/2 roll and that's plenty for one person.   I appreciate the chunks more than the shredded pieces (a la Bernie's).  And their roll is lighter and easier going, meaning less heavy.  You really feel like you're getting your money's worth on the lobster as opposed to the bread.  It was a toasted bun and also a cold filling.   For some reason, I didn't mind this one bit. 

Also got a mushroom soup to go with the sandwich.  It's not bad, it is a brie bisque, so you do get the extra texture of brie in the mix.  If you dig real hard, you may still little chunk bits.  Definitely more hearty than I expected.  And for a cool patio day, it goes straight to your belly and it warms you from the inside.

Maine-ly Sandwich

3310 S. Shepherd Dr

Houston, TX 77098

713-942-2150

https://www.mainelysandwiches.com/

Eloise Nichols

Went to lunch with some colleagues, we ended up at Eloise Nichols.

To my surprise, the inside is very cool and transform you to a vacation spot.  With the nice weather, you might just convince yourself.

I got the brussels sprouts, it has been cartelized with sugar and fish sauce.  Not too salty like some places that used soy sauce.  They did went heavy handed on the sesame though.  But it even convinced the anti-brussels sprout person into eating 2 spoonfuls of it.

I got the poke bowl, which is all the rage right now.  It came with plantain chips.  The bowl obviously have tuna, scallions, avocado, cashew, you can't see the rice, but it's at the bottom.  You mix it all up, and it ended up to be a very filling rice bowl.  Between the nuts, veggies and tuna, it was a lot.  It makes a very full meal.

The service was nice.  We get seated right away.  The bar is really neat and the decor really tries to transport you to someone's home in Havana (not that I've ever been) but it has this homey feel to it.  And I am looking forward to coming here for Happy Hour, because the bar looks so inviting.

Eloise Nichols

2400 Mid Lane

#100

Houston, TX 77027

713-554-0136

http://eloisenichols.com