Not Your Typical Pizza

I have found my favorite pizza thus far in the city of Houston, and tonight I have decided share this with you.

Candelari's Pizzeria is located on Washington Avenue, just west of the roundabout located at Westcott, there are other locations around town if you check their website and do not really feel like driving.  I have been here a few times now, the beer is always a good selection, and the food is even better.

They carry two types of pizza at Candelari's, Euro-Style and Signature, the Euro is a thin pizza with some different toppings, and the signature pizza is more traditional with your standard toppings in heaping piles.

My personal favorite is the Euro, the thin pizza is amazing and the simple toppings work wonders. My personal favorite is the Quattro Formaggi pizza, a pesto pizza with smoked provolone,  gorgonzola, mozzarella, and grana padano.  Pesto is definitely my favorite pizza sauce, the smooth flavor of olive oil and basil works wonders on a pizza. The cheese create a bold blend that complement the pesto excellently, a bold kick in the mouth with each bite.

For a Signature pizza I recommend the Papa Albert's, their version of the supreme pizza, a pie loaded with Italian sausage, black olives, onions, pepperoni, bell peppers, mushrooms, and my new favorite pizza topping green olives.  The ingredients are fresh and full of flavor from the bold sausage flavors to the tangy zip of green olives, the pizza is a home run.

Candelari's claims that they are "Not Your Typical Pizzeria" and they live up to that oath, from their salads to their wide variety of pizzas, even the pasta dishes that I saw walking past me all looked delicious.  As I said earlier, Candelari's is my new favorite pizza in town and I will definitely find myself walking through these doors from time to time.

What A Twit

So some days there the logic behind Twitter is not always clear, sure it is a place for crazies like me to randomly vent to know one and annoy the few of those that actually follow you.  Once in a while though, there are great benefits of reaching out to people who are more famous than I am and quite frankly know a whole heck of a lot more.

I took advantage of this opportunity on my return trip from Corpus Christi in reaching out to Houston’s resident BBQ/Tex-Mex expert RobbWalsh.  On my trip south along Highway 59 I noticed numerous smokehouses and decided that rather than taking a stab in the dark I would reach out to Robb and get his input which of these joints my trip would be the most delicious at.

Robb pointed out Mustang Creek BBQ south of Hillje, Texas to me as the destination of my meal, and I had no desire to second guess the man.  The one problem I ran into was the location that Google Maps listed as Mustang Creek was actually a hay farm and as I began to hear the dueling banjos going off I flipped a u-turn and headed further on down the road.

To say Mustang Creek is hard to spot at 60 miles per hour might be an understatement; the restaurant is housed in an old Exxon gas station on an empty stretch of Highway.

Do not let the humble settings fool you though; the BBQ here was spot on.  I decided to follow Robb’s advice further with the Bohemian Special, a delicious sandwich piled high with brisket, smoked sausage, onions, pickles, and a smearing of sauce.  To call it amazing might be an injustice to this sandwich, the meats were perfect and the sauce was full of flavor but just in the right quantities so as not to overpower the other flavors between the pillowy soft bread.

Of course I had to get a side and the potato salad looked too good to resist and my eyes did not lead me astray.  It was creamy and full of mustard flavor that accented my meat rounding out the great meal.

I almost walked away after that but then by a chance of fate a cup of banana pudding passed by me and my weak will power gave in.  To say this might have been the best banana pudding I have had in my life (I have a personal fondness of Back Forty BBQ near my childhood home in California but I think that is more of a case of nostalgia), the creamy banana flavor and healthy dosages of mushy Nilla Wafers made this all worthwhile.

In closing, if you need any further empirical evidence that this place is worth the stop, it seems to be a favorite of state troopers patrolling along this stretch of the highway so if they are there and known by name it must be good, which probably also means you should avoid it if you have a warrant out for your arrest but hey such is life.

Judging A Book By Its Title

On a recent business trip down to Corpus Christi I left my meal choice up to a coworker that was much more familiar with the local fair, and that was definitely the choice to make.  We made our way down to The Executive Surf Club near the bay, upon hearing the name all I could think of was people dressed up in stuffy suits and over priced food, but this place was far from that.

As you can see, this place lacked anyone is stuffy attire and even included a gigantic fishing lure as a decoration.  The laid back dive bar would have fit perfectly on a beach somewhere rather than downtown Corpus which has no sand anywhere near it but hey beggars can’t be choosers.

For my choice in libations I decided to kick back with a XX Amber, and it arrived in a cold bottle that helped ease back a long day of driving and work. 

For food I decided to rock some seafood, I mean when you are within a stone’s throw of the Gulf it just seems right, and in this place I decided to trust the experts and get one of the house specials.  For that I settled on their version of fish and chips, panko breaded filets that were full of flavor and crunchification that was like a party in my mouth.  The real rock star of the dish was the tartar sauce, it was not your standard tartar sauce mind you, but a Creole tartar sauce that added a twist to the usual mayo and relish dip.

The twist in the meal was the side of battered fried, fries dipped in a batter and then fried up giving it an extra dose of healthiness.  I actually was not a big fan of them, the concept was interesting, but they just didn’t have enough flavor to make them anything special.  Good thing the fish was so awesome I was able to ignore the short comings of the fries.

What A Burger

So for all of my readers who do not reside in the great state of Texas (or one of the neighboring states that has the opportunity to bask in our glow) I feel sorry for you.  Aside from all of the 100% pure unadulterated awesomeness that you do not get to reside in you miss out on one of the truly wonderful fast food experience known as Whataburger.

I am going to be lazy and not provide a whole heck of a lot of background information on this, if you have never seen a Whataburger ad you must live under a rock, because I spent my entire college career in Kansas being tormented by images of juicy burgers you can have "just like you like it".

My love for this place reached a climax this year when a one of their limited time releases combined my love of a good Whataburger and green chiles.

Behold the Green Chile Cheeseburger.  It was as glorious as it should have been and my only true regret here is that they do not have it year round.  Damn you green chiles for being a seasonal harvest.  This burger had American and Pepper Jack cheese as well as a heaping serving of green chiles, basically one of the best fast food burgers I have ever had.  Guess I just have to wait until next fall for it to reappear hopefully, consider my fingers crossed.

Austin Meets Houston

The Creek Group family of restaurants must be doing something right, as the 4 of them always seem to have a crowd clambering for some good grub or a good drink.  Their restaurants all bear a name of waterways in the Austin area, as well as a theme focusing on the quirky city.  I was a big fan of Cedar Creek until they got rid of the outdoor fire pits and replaced them with fountains.

I found forgiveness in my heart though and decided to patronize one of their other restaurants, Canyon Creek, located on Westcott near Memorial Park. 

As you can see, the art work on the exterior of the building celebrates life around Austin, with the floaters, musicians, and even some annoying UT fans. 

The interior is no different, an eclectic mix of decorations, and yes even some annoying UT duct tape.  I don’t know if you are catching a theme here, but as a Kansas State fan I have the right to pick on those Longhorns (sorry if I hurt your feelings, but I am still riding high from my Cats beating the Horns yet again this Saturday... BOOM!).

Now on to the more important aspects of Canyon Creek, the grub.  The theme of this breakfast outing was omelets, I rocked the chorizo omelet and my mom ate the spinach omelet. 

The spinach as thick and hearty, almost too much greenery for the omelet, but the flavor was good and the cheese definitely helped counter the overload.

The chorizo was spot on, a greasy Mexican sausage that just adds great spice and flavor to any breakfast dish.  Now as per my side, I decided to step outside of my comfort zone and force myself to eat something that I usually refuse to even consider, grits.  I do not see the appeal to this southern breakfast staple, I mean it is bland flavorless mush, which requires either a ton of butter, cheese, or some other flavor to make it edible by most standards.  That being said, I decided to try their cheese grits, loaded with cheddar, thus proving my point, but my bowl of cheddar with a side of grits was delicious none the less.

Canyon Creek is not a bad spot for breakfast, they have lunch and dinner as well, but you have got to hit the place at the right time, or a parking spot will be next to impossible to find.

In Its Prime

So today I am serving up a primo burger to you, and you will eat it, and you will like it.  Unless you don't like the stuff on it or burgers in general so I guess you will not necessarily eat it or like it.

Beck's Prime is a local burger chain that knows how to serve up quality burgers and french fries.  My foodventure this go around took me to the "special" Beck's known as the Sportatorium located in Memorial City Mall at Gessner and I-10W.  A wall of televisions, a projector or two, and a decent selection of beers on taps all adds up to a good environment to scarf on a burger that makes you almost forget you are sitting in a busy mall full of screaming brats and annoying teens.

Seriously the best part of the beer here is that the pint glasses create one of my favorite sights in the world, beerbergs.  For those of you unaware of this phenomenon, it is the situation in which your glass is so cold your beer freezes up into an iceberg floating in a sea of deliciousness.

The Sportatorium offers a good selection of burgers, and I opted for the concoction known as Bill's Burger.  A 1/2 pound patty of certified Angus chuck, sauteed onions, cheddar, bacon, jalapenos, prime sauce (a sauce similar to Thousand Island known as secret sauce in some other circles), and some miscellaneous burger veggies.   Basically this was a 4th of July fireworks show crammed in between two soft and tasty buns that just kept exploding time and time again with each bite.  I was a fan, but the meal did not end there my friends, no not by a long shot.

These delicious hand cut fries were quite possibly the star of the meal, crispy and full of flavor it was almost a crime to dip them in ketchup, but alas I am weak.

Until next time my hungry little friends.

Getting My Craft On

Ok so I know once again I have been slacking off lately, but today  I am taking a step back from food yet again so show off my recent project.  As you well know I love beer, specifically craft beer. In my drinking I often find myself staring at the labels admiring the various forms of artwork that finds its way onto a bottle.

So I got the idea one day to take labels and form them into a collage on a small old table that I had to give it a different look.  The original concept was to use labels that I drank, removing them from the label and then gluing them onto the surface of the table.

Unfortunately, that idea was a total failure.  Most labels would tear when I tried to remove them, I had the most success when running them through the dishwasher but that left the labels faded and wrinkled when I dried them out.

That was when a new idea struck me, write the brewery and get them to send me labels that had not been glued and were still in mint condition.  Sure enough, the labels started flowing in and that meant that I finally had to get my craft on with these craft beer labels.

Please disregard the goat dog in the background, Cabron was another boredom project but didn't turn out nearly as amazing as the beer label table.

Overall I would say my craftiness was a success this time in creating something that will have to be thrown out by my future wife.  I'll keep you posted the next time I get bored and come up with a crazy idea.

The Flavor of Texas

BBQ is quite possibly one of the greatest foods ever.  I mean there is something magical that happens when you cool a slab of meat low and slow with some smoke thrown in for good measure.

That is what drew me into 7 Rivers located at 1855 Barker Cyprus in Katy.  The name itself screams homage to the great state that I call home, Texas for those of you who forgot, referring to the seven major rivers that call this place home.

I opted for the three meat plate, what better way to truly test out a BBQ joint than to get a plate full of meat?  For my selections I ordered the turkey, hot sausage, and chopped beef.  My personal favorite of the trio was the turkey, a tender flavorful cut of breast with a nice peppery rub that will definitely have me coming back for more.  The other two were not bad, but not nearly as good as the turkey.  The sauce had some good flavor to it, a good level of spiciness to take it up to the next level, but the best aspect of it is that it is warm, nothing like warm BBQ sauce to dip your meat in.

The sides were pretty decent themselves.  Coleslaw is my latest BBQ addiction, somehow I grew up hating this stuff, but in the past year my tastebuds have fallen in love with slaw and I now find myself in a perpetual quest for a good slaw.  This slaw was not the best I have had lately, but it had decent flavor, and I did like the fact that it is chopped up in smaller bits, so all in all it was a good call.

The fries were a favorite of mine, nice and thick, with a good crisp to them.  Plus you get a larger quantity than any one needs with a three meat plate.

In the end, 7 Rivers was a good choice, it is a rather unassuming place since it is located in a strip mall in Katy, but the flavors are good, and supposedly there is some great beer specials here.  Sadly, I have only been here at lunch during work so my indulgences in cheap beer have been lacking.

Revisiting Korean

So tonight's blog post is going to be a lazy one on my part.  I revisited my good friends at Kimchi's in Katy and decided to sample a new dish for you to broaden our adventures into the cuisine of Korea.

The dish this time around is known as Bi Bim Bap, this was actually the first Korean dish I ever read about as sort of a quintessential plate.

As you can see this dish is an explosion of different flavors, and once again in one those ridiculously hot bowls that continues to cook the food as you eat.  I opted for the beef, and it is combined with some bean sprouts, carrots, cabbage, and an egg, all served up on a bed of rice.

As you can see, you once you get all those flavors mixed up every bite is loaded with all sorts of hearty goodness.

My favorite Korean ladies even found my weakness.  Sauces, how can you resist the sweet and the spicy?  Sauces are a magical thing that is kind of like sprinkling unicorn tears on buckets of sunshine.  Basically, pure awesomeness.

Here is the real hidden surprise of the rice bowl, as you mix it up you get some nice crispity crunchity cooked rice that adds a whole new texture and flavor into the dish.  Maybe it was my mom's cooking as I grew up, but I have a certain liking to burned foods once in a while and this is no exception.

Operation Overload

First and foremost, please allow me to apologize to those loyal readers of mine for a lack of recent activity.  I have been busy and brain dead lately so what writing I started was not worthy of a posting.

Now on to the food…

Today’s adventure leads us to Burger Tex Grill, a small corner in a strip center that is rather unassuming and one that I have driven by for nearly a year before ever actually stepping foot in there.  It is located at Barker Cypress and I-10 on the north side near the Bally’s gym. 

As you can see the operation is fairly bare bones, the menu contains just a few items, but as with many themes in this blog, I am perfectly fine with the concept of doing one thing and doing it right.

Even the numbering system for your order is about as simple as it gets… yes that is a number written on my cup.

The food is about as simple as everything else seems to be here in the restaurant.  A cheeseburger and fries does not get much more basic than that.

Fortunately, there was a bar of condiments and let’s just say I might have gotten a little out of hand.  Of course you have the basics of onions, lettuce, and tomatoes but that is not where I lost my self control.  I bypassed those for jalapenos, pico de gallo, and then two crock pots located at the end of the cold bar.  Grilled onions and queso were too good to pass up and next thing I knew I had this pile of awesome.

Sure the burgers were decent, the ingredients were ok, but all the flavors combined helped to cover up whatever bad flavors there might have been.  Basically, I just pummeled my taste buds into submission and told that they would enjoy it.  The queso covered fries certainly didn’t hurt either.

Amazing Amazon

During my time in Houston I have heard endless rants and raves about just how good Churrascos, Americas, and the other Corduarestaurants are.  Unfortunately, as a 24 year old male these restaurants tend to lie outside of my price range.  Then I caught word of a cheaper restaurant in that family and of course I had to give it a try.

Amazon Grill definitely jumps out at you as you drive down Kirby just south of 59, the banana yellow exterior alone is enough to make you stop and investigate this place further.

The interior is no exception to that rule either, for a counter service restaurant the furniture is trendy and even the duct work is artistically designed.

One of my favorite features of this place was the plantain bar.  How could you resist a serve yourself fried plantain bar?  For those of you who don’t remember me talking about these in the past, these are a substitute for tortilla chips when in this form.  They are sliced thin and perfect for dipping in the variety of sauces.

And sauces this place had, there were about 3 different salsas and even some rich chimichurri, what I like to think of as South American pesto.

Now comes the real food, we will start with mine to get it out of the way.  I ordered the Plantain-Coconut Shrimp, basically coconut shrimp with plantains creating the crispy crunchity exterior.  It was served up with a side of sweet chile sauce and I opted for a side of yuca fries (note that these are not made from yucca plants that you see in the deserts of Texas and other regions, but rather from the plant we know as cassava).  The shrimp was average at best and the sweet chile sauce was lacking, the best part of my meal was the fries but thankfully I had another meal to fall back on.

That is where the delicious Mixed Grill dish came into play.  This amazing plate is chimichurri grilled beef tenderloins, grilled chicken, and achiote grilled shrimp.  If the meats weren’t good enough for you this dish is served up with some cilantro rice, escabeche vegetable (personally one of my favorite Latin sides, basically pickled veggies with loads of flavor), and some roasted plantains with some crema fresca.  All in all this is an amazing plate and enough food for two making the $13.95 price tag a great bargain.

My addiction to plantains also mandated a side order of roasted plantains (note here they are called maduros in case you are looking for them on the menu).  They certainly didn’t disappoint someone who was jonesing for a fix.