houston.city-dweller.com blog

www.city-dweller.com is live!

2008-01-28T13:31:00.000-06:00

www.city-dweller.com went live yesterday.

As I've mentioned before, we are planning to extend the houston.city-dweller.com site to be used in other cities, such as nyc.city-dweller.com, atlanta.city-dweller.com, and so forth.

www.city-dweller.com now has details about our franchise plan to offer these subsites to other businesses and individuals to run - we thought it made the most sense to have a local person run each city's site.

We think it's really cool to be able to offer a franchise opportunity that is also a legitimate work-at-home online business. Not everything has been finalized yet, but the basic informational site is up there, and there's more to come!

As promised... new logo and URL!

2008-01-22T16:05:00.000-06:00

If you go to www.living-in-houston.com, you'll notice that you are now redirected to http://houston.city-dweller.com! And you'll see our nifty new logo at the top left of the site. Let us know what you think!

Little Italy self-destructs

2008-01-20T12:48:00.001-06:00

We were in for an unpleasant shock when we went to Little Italy Friday night. It isn't Little Italy anymore, as we knew it. The cafe is closed and a sign directed us down towards Nick's Bar, in the same shopping center.

Turns out it's now Nick's Little Italy, and it has a home of sorts in one section of Nick's Bar. Only the bar separates what was once a very nice coffeeshop from what is a very casual sports bar. And it doesn't do the trick. The "coffeeshop" area is now noisy, with the same jukebox music of Nick's, has a wall of TV's, has none of the old awesome selection of pastries and other desserts (though the gelato freezer is still there, oddly), and had no one attending it when we were there (though, admittedly, we only stayed for a few minutes). The decor & atmosphere is hardly what it was in Little Italy. Plus, there aren't wall outlets for laptops.

We don't understand this move at all. The purposes and clientele of the two businesses were radically different. People who go to Nick's to drink a couple of Buds and watch football are not the same people who went to Little Italy to have some gelato and a decaf mocha and read the paper. Trying to have them share space just doesn't work.

Needless to say, we won't be going back.

Rebranding to houston.city-dweller.com shortly!

2008-01-11T15:13:00.000-06:00

News flash! We have decided to expand www.living-in-houston.com into other major cities!

More information will soon follow on www.city-dweller.com (currently just a placeholder) about the national program. Meanwhile, www.living-in-houston.com will get a new domain name and logo, as http://houston.city-dweller.com. Not to worry, everything else will remain the same!

Jeanne's Rock Shop

2007-12-15T15:04:00.001-06:00

Nooooooo!!!!!! Why do our favorite places keep closing down?

Jeanne's Rock Shop sent out a flyer saying that they are closing down the store they've had there for 35+ years.

At least they aren't going out of business - they are still going to operate, just as an online store, which will be here: http://www.jeannesrockshop.com/ (right now it's just a basic info page).

Need a last-minute Christmas gift? They're doing a major "store closing" sale through their last day, which will be the 24th.

the Edwards Marqu*E Center

2007-11-02T13:41:00.000-05:00

So, we went down to the Edwards Marqu*E Center on I-10 (and no, I really don't know why they spelled it that way, but they did) last weekend for the first time in a long while, and were dismayed to discover that it had all but closed down. There were very few shops left.

I heard from a friend that the leases are being ended because the center is going to be remodeled. That would be good. It was very busy/crowded all the time last year (which is why we stopped going there) and I'd hate to see it go away. It was a weird anomaly, this outdoor mall in Houston, Texas, but kind of neat too.

Because there are a handful of stores left, I hate to suggest that you shouldn't go there if you're new to Houston or haven't been there in a while, but it's an ugly surprise if you're not prepared for it.

Houston Automotive

2007-10-21T17:20:00.000-05:00

So, does anyone know what happened to Houston Automotive, which used to be at Richmond & Wesleyan? I was just about to write a recommendation of them, since we've been going there for years, and then one day it was just gone. Did they move or close completely?

Absinthe

2007-10-20T17:12:00.000-05:00

Last night Billy and I tried Absinthe based on the recommendation of a friend (hi, Andrea!). We liked it a lot.

It's a tiny bar in the Montrose area, with upscale furnishings, elegant decorations, and very dim lighting.

It has several couches and loveseats for getting cosy, plus most of the available wall (that isn't take up by bar) is lined with an upholstered bench they got just right in terms of height, depth, and cushiness.

They don't have real absinthe, sadly (it being illegal to sell in the States); they sell almost-absinthe which contains the essence of wormwood rather than the real thing. Billy said it was quite good and the taste was almost exactly right - it just didn't have the tingly effect of real absinthe.

It's also got food (sandwiches and pizzas) but we didn't try any.

The drinks were pricey, but it's a nicer bar, so we didn't feel it was inappropriate.

So, we'll be going back...

Anyone out there a regular at Absinthe? Submit a full recommendation for us! =)

La Pupusa Loca

2007-10-15T19:09:00.000-05:00

My friends Lee and Aida took us to La Pupusa Loca on Hillcroft for lunch Saturday. It was an interesting experience and well worth repeating.

La Pupusa Loca offers El Salvadoran food at extremely low prices in a neighborhood you might not want to go into at night if you're a gringo. Lee warned me in dire terms not to come here after dark, to park close by, to watch my car through the restaurant windows, and not to leave ANYTHING visible in it.

The waitstaff doesn't necessarily speak much English and the menu isn't terribly clear - although the menu does have English beneath the Spanish names, pupusa is still pupusa, and if you don't know what that is, that doesn't help. (Though that's a lousy example, since the pupusas are explained on the back of the menu.) The point is, having a Spanish-speaking escort is almost a necessity.

Pupusas, as it turns out, are yummy. Sort of like fat corn tortillas stuffed with meat and cheese and beans. They're served with a pickled cabbage & carrot topping and a separate tomato sauce, which altogether tastes WAY better than it sounds!

The corn enchiladas, chicken enchiladas, and fried plantains we had were also very good. The yucca & pork dish we had was a bit dry.

The four of us feasted like kings for less than $40 total.

Like I said, the one we went to was in a bad neighborhood, next to a laundromat, in an old building - a place we'd never have gone into without someone who could vouch for the food. But there are several locations in Houston & perhaps some of the others are nicer. In fact, a Google search turned up La Pupusa Locas in Canada & California, too, though I don't know whether they're the same chain.

The first Living-in-Houston.com e-newsletter just went out!

2007-10-12T16:40:00.000-05:00

Guess what?! Our first .... okay, I gave it away in the title... yeah, our first e-newsletter just went out :)

Yay!

Of course, you know that already, if you're subscribed to the newsletter... hm? you're not? What do you mean, you're not subscribed? Don't you want to know when new recommendations get posted to the site?! Don't worry, the newsletter goes out no more often than once a week, it's free, and we won't spam you or share your email address. So get thee hence & sign up: http://www.living-in-houston.com/newsletter.htm :)

redesign is live!

2007-10-05T12:08:00.001-05:00

Hiya... as you can see if you are reading this from the home page, our newly redesigned site is live! Using the links to the top right, you can now sign up for the free e-newsletter or submit a recommendation for your favorite places in Houston to share with your fellow Houstonians! We've also posted four new recommendations as of this morning - be sure to check them out in the "Most recent reviews" section on the left! www.living-in-houston.com

Paulie's

2007-10-02T17:18:00.000-05:00

Billy and I went to Paulie's deli for dinner last night.

I really enjoyed my sandwich & veggie soup... I would love to have that same meal again... but that place was sorta odd. It has the higher prices & food quality of a nicer sit-down restaurant, but they don't have table service (order at the counter) and they also cater to children, which makes it seem more like a Jax's Grill.

As Billy said, "If I'm going to pay $15 for a steak, I'd like to eat in a quiet restaurant and have someone bring me my iced tea..."

Westheimer Block Party

2007-09-27T14:35:00.001-05:00

The fall 2007 Westheimer Block Party will be Oct. 13 (Saturday) from noon till 9. There are a LOT of bands set up in 4 locations: Numbers, Avant Garden (formerly Helios), La Strada, and Mangos Cantina (never heard of it...). More info here: http://spacetaker.org/event/?event_id=7605 and here: http://www.freepresshouston.com/. Come check it out... it may not be the Westheimer Street Festival anymore *sniffsniff* but it is something... And it's free!

quick newcomer's guide to Houston

2007-09-22T15:37:00.000-05:00

Here's a quick rundown of my favorite spots and places to check out if you're new to Houston and just want to know where to start when you don't know anything yet.

You can just Google these... some of them have reviews on this site as well.

Coffeeshops (all independents with character, good to hang out for a long time, some have food):

Cafe Artiste, Montrose area (just west of downtown)
Cafe Brasil, Montrose area
Little Italy, out west, a little ways east of Beltway 8
Agora, Montrose area

Nightclubs:

Numbers (alternative crowd), Montrose area
South Beach (mostly gay), Montrose area

Walking and shopping outdoors:

Rice Village (trendy, mix of cafes, stores, bars) (Rice University area, southwest of downtown)
Edwards Marquee on I10 (basically a place to kill time before watching a movie at the Edwards cinema) (near 610 loop west)
Montrose strip (antiques and vintage clothing), Montrose area, on Westheimer west of Montrose

Walking and shopping indoors (trendy, designer shops):

Galleria (Galleria area, just outside 610 loop west on Westheimer & West Alabama)

Pubs (all with good character, mixed crowds, and some pub food. some have dart boards)

Stag's Head (Shepherd, just north of 59)
Red Lion (Shepherd, further north) (amazing weekend breakfast)
Richmond Arms (west of the Galleria Area on Richmond)
Dark Horse (just to the northwest of downtown)
Poison Girl (Montrose area)

Restaurants

India's for Indian food
Thai Gourmet for Thai
Ninfa's on Bellaire (NOT the other ones) for Mexican
Fuad's for very pricey European cuisine
Buffalo Grille for awesome breakfast
Mama's Cafe greasy spoon American food
Tien Fu for Chinese
Texas Land and Cattle for steak (several locations)

Movie theatres

Alamo Draft House, Highway 6 & Richmond
Edwards Cinemas, on I10 and on Weslayen

Random interesting places if you're bored...

Waterwall near Transco Tower (park and waterfall thingy)
Amy's Ice Cream
Quarter Price Books
Rothko Chapel & the nearby Menil Collection & little park
Museum District (Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Natural Science, Sculpture Garden)
Memorial Park & Houston Arboretum

That's all I can think of for now! :)

redesign launching soon!

2007-09-03T13:11:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to announce that www.living-in-houston.com will be launching anew in the next couple of weeks. It will have a streamlined visual design, will include a sign-up web form for the mailing list (which is finally ready to go), and will offer visitors to the site a web form through which to submit reviews.

We're excited about the new site and look forward to adding more reviews once it's easier to do so ;)

Cafe Mezza & Grille

2007-09-03T12:58:00.000-05:00

We tried Cafe Mezza & Grille on Westheimer Saturday night. It was not great.

The atmosphere is noisy and crowded, especially for a quite small restaurant.

The place appeared overstaffed, with waiters rushing around frantically and creating a lot of distraction. We had a handful of different people taking orders, bringing food, clearing dishes, and bringing the check, which was distracting.

Our waitress was just barely civil, and not attentive. Other people brought the food and cleared the dishes. She didn't check to ensure the food arrived in a timely manner or was to our liking.

Billy liked his food; my friend and I did not care for ours. The Alfredo sauce tasted like a mix of mayo and butter. The cheese ravioli was oddly sweet, and came with a pile of onions on top of it. I asked for vegetables with my pasta, and specified that they be cooked well done - they were not.

When I told the waitress that the food was not to my liking and I would not be finishing it, she shrugged and walked away.

Happily, she told the manager and he comped my meal, but that barely made up for everything else.

Worst of all, Billy got sick later that night, and we think it was from his meal there.

So, needless to say, we won't be going back.

Harry's

2007-07-04T15:32:00.000-05:00

Billy and I tried Harry's for lunch today simply because they were open on the 4th of July and near to my office. We were pretty underwhelmed.

It's a seat-yourself cafeteria but also has table service and menus, and it's only open for breakfast and lunch. You pay at the register. It has a large open dining room with a tile floor and high ceilings, which made me miss the coziness of Fountainview Cafe.

Harry's offers standard American fare like hamburgers, waffles, and chicken-fried steak, plus a few Greek items on the menu, which is also replete with admonitions against substitutions or customizations - something I always find a bit irritating. "Our way or the highway" is not a very good customer service motto.

The food was neither exceptional nor terrible. I wouldn't order the chicken-fried steak again - it put me in mind of a frozen steak I could buy at Sam's Club. At least it wasn't expensive -- but it was not as cheap as House of Pies or Fountainview Cafe - two places I will continue to choose over Harry's.

Klockwork Band playing this afternoon

2007-07-04T15:29:00.000-05:00

Wayne from Klockwork sent me this note a bit ago:

Klockwork @ "Freedom over Texas" again. http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=holidays&id=4084665. www.chevysfreedomovertexas.com

Gallant Knight goes into that good night

2006-12-03T19:59:00.000-06:00

I'm bummed out that the Gallant Knight has closed down. I really liked dancing to the Klockwork Band -- does anybody know where they're playing these days?

Cafe Layal

2006-04-27T13:26:00.000-05:00

We just had a very yummy lunch at a great new place in town -- Cafe Layal. It is, I think, Turkish/Mediterranean -- shish-kebabs and gyros and flatbreads and a variety of stuff I couldn't pronounce :) The inside was beautifully decorated, as a traditional Turkish coffeeshop, according to our waitress. It was hard to believe it was the same restaurant that used to be Chuy's. It was quiet, with nice music, good service, absolutely yummy quality food, and very reasonable prices, and we will definitely go back. I'll put a full review up once we've been there several more times. OH, the big thing -- most of the Turkish/Mediterranean places in town make you go through a cafeteria-style line to get your food -- here, it's all table service. Definitely the best, for that reason alone.

P.S. Cafe Layal is on Richmond, north side of the road, in the building that used to be Chuy's, in front of Thai Gourmet.

Baba Yega's

2006-03-12T09:32:00.000-06:00

Our friend Thomas convinced us to try the Sunday breakfast buffet at Baba Yega's today, and I have to admit, I was impressed. I'd never been to Baba Yega's, despite the fact that I'd been hearing the name around town for years.

First, I was pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere. Baba Yega's is a rambling building that seems to be at least one if not two converted houses; the main dining hall we sat in was nicely finished with lots of hardwoods, lots of windows, and so forth.

The buffet itself was YUMMY. I am a huge fan of breakfast foods, and there must have been 40 different foods to choose from. There was a waffle station and an omelette station, plus the standard hot plates of sausage, bacon, potatoes, and eggs. The fresh fruit station included chocolate-dipped bananas and strawberries. The bread/dessert station had a wonderful assortment of baked goods and decadent bite-sized desserts.

Best yet, I noticed on their menu that they use organic greens and whole-grain breads, and they have several vegetarian options. I will have to go back to try their lunch/dinner menu.

I also want to explore the place a bit more -- I've read that the back patio area is really nice, but barely glanced at it on the way to the buffet.

The Sunday breakfast buffet did cost a lot -- $18/person. We can get breakfast for both of us for $15 at some of our other favorite spots. And we noticed that it was good to get there early -- there were people standing and sitting around outside waiting for a table by the time we left. Plus parking sucks.

Owlcon

2006-02-16T11:05:00.000-06:00

We went to Owlcon (http://www.owlcon.com) this past weekend -- it's Rice University's annual gaming convention. By gaming, I mean tabletop roleplaying games, live action roleplaying games, miniature wargaming, board and card games, and other stuff I don't remember anymore :)

We played in the Vampire LARP, which started at midnight and went until 4 A.M., and it was a BLAST. I had never LARP'ed before, but it was very cool. Also, I played in Steve Jackson Games a Go-Go (Illuminati and Car Wars) while my husband participated in a miniatures painting class. We also joined the Paranoia LARP, and the Dark Ages Fae table-top RPG. We missed the chance to meet Steve Jackson, who was hanging out on Saturday.

We met new people, got in touch with one of the Vampire LARP gaming groups in town, and had fun! I expect that we will go back next year :)

Cavalia!

2006-02-08T15:10:00.000-06:00

For an early Valentine's Day present, my husband took us to Cavalia -- which I would describe as Cirque du Soleil, except equestrian (in fact, a co-founder of CdS created Cavalia). It was AWESOME! :)

Like Cirque de Soleil, it's a Canadian show that blends live music, acrobatics, dance, and dramatic visual effects. It just has 47 (!) horses as the main performers. It has a touch of humor and some typical stunts, but much of it is just incredibly elegant.

The costumes and the horses and visual effects were amazing, ethereal, beautiful. For a few minutes they even had snow -- snow that, as far as I could tell, was "real" -- because it melted. First they showered the stage with a sheet of very cold water to chill the air, then dropped the snow, which fell as far back as we were in about the 12th row. That's impressive in Houston ;)

I was so impressed by the horses, who were trained to perform to music or to hand gestures and words -- there were even moments that a horse was performing alone on stage!

My favorite bit was at the end -- when the master trainer came out with 3 horses that he was, according to another review, supposed to lead through a 'gentle and romantic dance.' A few minutes into it, after the trainer had the horses lay down, one of the horses decided he was quite comfortable and refused to get back up for several minutes. It was very funny to watch the master trainer try to coax or push him back up -- and it was also endearing that even when he tried to be stern, he was still very gentle, and found himself laughing along with the audience that one of his horses was just not in the mood to play along. Finally the horse got back up and the show went on. It didn't bother me at all that part of the show "went wrong" -- I love live performance exactly because of that sort of thing, and the unpredictability of the animal stars just added to the experience.

Well, I can't even tell you how beautiful it was -- you'd have to see it yourself :) It is expensive, at $70-80 per adult ticket, but I think it's well worth it. It's still showing through the 19th with many showings throughout the week. It's in the huge white tents at Richmond and 610 (if you were wondering what those were for!) More info at http://www.cavalia.net/.

A great review is here: http://www.azcentral.com/ent/calendar/articles/0109horse09.html
And another here: http://www.talkinbroadway.com/regional/sanfran/s441.html

P.S. My husband and I did the Rendezvous package, which was double the regular ticket price and was borderline worth it. It offered good seats, special parking (which didn't amount to much considering how small the whole event was), a special reception with hors-douvres and wine/cocktails (the hors-douvres were really not very good and there wasn't enough seating for everyone), a dessert buffet at intermission (which was yummy, but I had to bolt it and run back to my seat), a "special gift" which was a program (which is actually very nice -- it includes 21 beautiful, small posters of the show; it costs $24 if purchased separately), and a tour of the stables (which was definitely a let-down -- you weren't escorted and weren't allowed to touch the horses, so it was just walking around and looking at them -- and it didn't include all the horses).

P.P.S. My husband used the online ticket-buying system and it didn't work, but didn't show an error message, either. So we got there and had no tickets! We were simply lucky that there were still good seats available to purchase. So be careful about that!

Fleming's Steakhouse and Wine Bar

2006-01-27T10:40:00.000-06:00

I won't be writing a full review of it, because it wasn't really good enough to go back to regularly. It was overpriced.

We sat at the bar, which was busy but, unlike the main dining room, not too crowded and not too loud. The servers/bartenders we had were excellent -- almost too attentive at times :) They had a nice selection of wines and other drinks. I liked their interior and lighting design, too.

My husband said his steak was "okay" -- which makes me think it wasn't worth the $30 we paid for it. He cut off a lot of gristle (which, at least, one of the bartenders noticed and asked about). They cooked it 'rare' properly -- it was still cool in the center. I didn't like the crab-stuffed mushrooms (a bar snack for $9) I ordered. The sides we ordered, Fleming's potatoes and creamed spinach (which cost about an extra $7 apiece, if I remember right), were good. Oh, and the bread/celery and cheese spreads provided at the beginning of the meal were good, too. They had fairly large portion sizes. What redeemed the place in my eyes was the dessert -- Chocolate Lava Cake with homemade Chantilly Cream -- now that made me a happy woman! The entire meal with 20% tip cost $104 (also including 1 glass of wine and 1 cocktail).

We concluded we might go back just to sit at the bar and have drinks and dessert -- but for dinner it just wasn't worth the price.

Subaru owner's club -- scavenger hunt

2006-01-23T15:16:00.001-06:00

Something cool we did Saturday night -- we have a friend, Lee, who has a Subaru and belongs to the Subaru owner's club (TXIC is the local chapter of the NASIOC). They had a city-wide scavenger hunt they called the Brain Freeze. My husband and I rode along with Lee and his girlfriend. The items on the list that we did -- and documented via photo -- included Lee jumping in an outdoor pool fully submerged except for a peace sign (and it was cold!!!!!!), going to a jail, talking a Hooter's girl into sitting in the backseat for a photo, asking a fortune teller for a picture, going by Dave & Buster's for a matchbook, driving like crazy way out to Space Center Houston (and getting a speeding ticket -- which, amusingly, also counted for points!), and getting a little old gray-haired lady to flip off the camera. There were lots of other fun things we didn't get to, like finding a place to take a photo with a real casket or getting a picture of the car with all 4 tires off the ground or getting a ride in a security golf cart. We didn't win, but it was fun! :)

There's a highly entertaining thread on it with pics and all here: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=925079&page=1&pp=25