Argentina Cafe

So happy to share this with foodie friends.

We decided to have a long overdue foodie friends lunch at Argentina Cafe.  Truth be told, I haven't been there for some time now, I forgot how yummy their food is.

First up: empanadas.  There's beef, chicken, ham and cheese, and onion and cheese.  Upper L: Chicken, Onion and Cheese, Beef, and Ham and Cheese.  I like the Ham and Cheese with the sauce.   The sauce is the chimichurri sauce.  I think if you sat these in front of me, I'd be content just eating these.

Morcilla Sausage - blood sausage.  Pretty good on it's own.

Gnocchi with bolognese sauce and a side of parmesan cheese.  This is beyond my surprised that it is amazingly good.  Totally revitalized how I love pasta all over.  So good, it is that good!

Then we get the Lomito Plate, it is filet mignon with a side of potato salad.  Amazingly, I cannot stop myself from eating the potato salad.  The filet was ok, but the potato salad was da bomb!

Overall, the meal was not bad in terms of per person and the variety.  Of course, it's more fun to share it with friends.  Definitely looking forward to the next time, but this meal can totally stand on its own.  I'm thinking of checking their 'express' location and see how it compares.

Argentina Cafe

3055 Sage Rd

Ste 130

Houston, TX 77056

713-622-8877

http://theargentinacafe.com

Confucius Seafood Houston

For my birthday, I requested a lobster feast.  Ok, not exactly a feast, but just a lobster meal.

Started out with the snow pea leaves.  It is stir fried with garlic.

Got me some Barbecue pork noodle.  In Chinese, noodles are usually long, and signifies long life, so you eat that when you celebrate birthdays.

Piece la Resistance: lobster with ginger and scallion.  It's is their specialty and if you order 2 side dishes they give you a discount on the lobster.  The whole meal doesn't come out to $45 for 2 people. The lobster might be messy but it is so good.  The sauce really did the trick, and for that price is not shabby at all.

The trick about coming here is you have to arrive right before the peak time.  Usually the wait time is no more than 10-15 mins tops, but if you arrive at peak time, it might be too late.  At any rate, this is a place that you should definitely try.

Confucius Seafood Houston

8880 Bellaire Blvd

Houston, TX 77036

713-271-6888

https://www.confuciusseafoodrestaurant.com

Blue Bell Factory

We took a field trip out to Brenham, for the Blue Bell Factory tour.

To be honest, the tour is no more.  You go to the observation deck, and you get to see them package ice cream, and the ice cream in various sizes, forms, and flavor gets sent to the back refrigerated part of the factory.  

Back in the day, the tour was $3-5 and there's a bit of walking.  At the end, of course, we go eat ice cream!

Well, now, the 'tour' or rather observation is free.  The ice cream is now $1 a scoop.  Still a wonderfully delightful deal, but the area can be chaotic.  You basically find a line and get to it.  You then go to the cashier to pay.  Very no frills, quick and get you going.

This was funny, I knew it is put together for a reasons, but for the life of me, I can't made out the picture, until a kid walked straight up and announced that it's a rabbit that I realized that's what it is. I was thinking it could be flower or something.  But that is all made out of the Blue Bell containers, very creative.

Blue Bell Creameris

1101 S. Blue Bell Road

Brenham, TX 77833

800-327-8135

https://www.bluebell.com/the-little-creamery/

River Oaks Donuts

Sometimes you just got to spoil yourself.

I'm just going to declare it now, treating yourself donuts is part of self-care.  There, I said it.

Anyway, I treated myself with a couple of the Fritter Bites, which are mini version of the Apple Fritter, I love that even the mini version still have chunks of apple in it.  I love it.  Basically, 3 of these equal to one regular one.  So, calculate your food portion appropriately!

River Oaks Donuts

3601 Westheimer Rd

Houston, TX 77027

713-961-9458

https://www.riveroaksdonuts.com

Skeeters Grill

I won a gift card from school auction, and put it to good use.

I still like that this place has a very neighborhood kinda feel, the food quality definitely have stepped up for sure.

Nonetheless, I was just in a junk food kinda mood, so beef nacho it is!  Truly, I'm there for the queso, amirite?!  There are pico, guac, beef fajita (extra charge) and of course, queso.  That totally worth the money and I'm licking the plate clean by that point.

It like how they do get busy but not so bad that you can't find a place to sit.  They also serve alcohol if you want to catch up on a game while the kids get what they want to eat.  

Skeeters Grill

5529 Weslayan St

Houston, TX 77005

713-660-7090

http://www.skeetersgrill.com/home

Coppa Osteria

Went to spoil myself, and ended up at Coppa.

Since it's been a while since I've been here, items offered already changed, and my favorite dish became something else...

Some things don't change, like my Arnold Palmer... well ok, not much change to speak of, pretty standard drink these days.

Now, this is an off the menu item.  They used to offer anchovy as appetizer, which is no longer, but I know they have the fish back there.  The bartender was kind enough to go get me some.  I feel special to get something off the menu.

As I was saying, my favorite pasta is no more, and became reincarnation of something else.  I usually get the prosciutto with parmesan cream, but since they don't have that anymore, I settled for the Carbonara with their in-house gluten free pasta.  The parmesan cream is super thick and creamy.  They had an egg yoke on top when they first brought it over, so it added the creamy thickness.  Of course, I ask them to give me more parmesan cheese on top of my parmesan cream.  Delish!

I was lucky this round and found a street parking, it didn't take me more than an 30 mins - 45 mins for my meal.  If you do want to hang longer because the weather is nice, make sure you go back and check the meter. 

Coppa Osteria

5210 Morningside Dr

Houston, TX 77005

713-522-3535

https://www.coppaosteriahouston.com/

Liberty Kitchen & Oysterette

Went back to Liberty for another Happy Hour after the last post.

Happy Hour is Monday thru Friday 3-6pm.

I got the New Basil Berry Smash again, and i has more alcohol taste than anything else.  Last time you can taste the basil and you can taste the fruit.  This time was more ice and alcohol than anything else.

Not on Happy Hour menu, this is the Devil Egg Testimony, which is one of each of their devil egg variations: salmon, fried oyster, fried chicken and bacon jam.  Fried oyster and the bacon jam are my favorite.

Got the J&B Tacos again, 2 for $1.49, totally worth it.  It has ground beef, lettuce, tomato and drizzle in the taco sauce, perfect for drinking.

We came here for oysters and we shall have them!  We did half East Coast, and half Gulf Coast.  Can you tell them apart?  (hint: you can tell by the size)

This is the cutest way to serve fries, I love it.

Since we've been munching and drinking, I didn't need much in terms of dinner.  So I got a cup of gumbo, which has fried oyster, andouille sausage, rice, beans, crab, and shrimp.  I really just need to soak up the alcohol, so rice and bread was perfect with a dipping type soup.

Kinda sad that Happy Hour is so short.  It's not exactly easy to get to the parking lot at 5pm.  The traffic on San Felipe can be super brutal.  I think I could've used another 30 minutes.  But that said, the dinner wasn't bad after all the munchies we've ordered.  They don't really get super busy during happy hour, it's dinner time that they started to get busy for.  Happy Hour you can pretty much walk in and get a table, but for dinner, reservation is highly encouraged.

Liberty Kitchen & Oysterette

4224 San Felipe

Houston, TX 77027

713-622-1010

https://libertykitchenoysterette.com