It's All Greek To Me

Let's start tonight's blog post off with some humor...

Ironically their burgers are made from the same material as the costume.

Now on to some real grub a dub dub.

Niko Niko's is a pretty awesome Greek joint on Montrose here in Houston, so good even Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives rolled up here one day. This has become one of my favorite Greek restaurants in all of Houston (rivaled closely by Yia Yia Mary's but you will have to wait for that write up) and so far I have not found an item on the menu I have not enjoyed.

The hummus may have an odd green hue to it but do not let that distract you from everything this plate has to offer. First of all, the veggies are a great change up from your standard pita as a dipping device, especially the crunchy bell peppers.  But wait, that is not all they mix up in this dish, you also get some pita chip so once again change up that texture and flavor and BOOM.  That does not mean the pitas are not good though, far from it, they are basically like little pillows from heaven that come out hot and fluffy, so dangerous.

Sea salt and oregano...  they keep it real on the Niko's tables.

Here is the crown jewel, the gyro, one of those absolutely awesome pitas full of tender meat, veggies, and a delicious tzatziki sauce. For those of you not in the know, tzatziki is a yogurt based sauce with cucumber and other flavors adding a cool creamy topping to gyros.  The gyro is fantastic, but look at those fries, fresh cut fries covered in flavor with just the right level of crunch.  Basically, this dish is amazing.

For those of you who may not be a fan of the gyro (not sure if we should be friends anymore if that is the case) they have a pretty amazing menu of Greek fare.  This is the Pastichio / Mousaka Combo, and of course there is a side of pita and fries because they do not want you to leave hungry.  Pastichio is kind of like a Greek version of lasagna, layers of pasta, meat, cheese, and sauce.  Mousaka is another baked item but this it is almost more like an eggplant casserole and is very hearty.  Both of these come cooked in a bechamel sauce so you know it is healthy.  If I had to choose one of the other the Pastichio wins hands down, you really cannot go wrong with pasta.


I have only hit the tip of the iceberg in my multiple trips to this little gem, but Greek cuisine is quite frankly amazing.  The flavors are rich and varied and you can gnaw on anything from lamb to delicious veggie items, basically the whole crowd would be pleased.

Burgers, Sweat, and Tears

Apartment Complex Update:  So the evil squirrels have given up destroying the tomato plant as of late but a new enemy has appeared in the crappy foliage of my complex that is inevitably going to lead somewhere bad.  Earlier in the summer I noticed an absurd amount of lizards and paid no heed to them, but now a few months later the 2” creatures have doubled in size.  At this rate it is only a matter of months before I have Godzilla strolling around the complex, and we all know what happens when Godzilla shows up… next thing you know you have Japanese people running and screaming at all hours of the day and quite frankly I enjoy my sleep far too much to allow this to happen.  Needless to say I am going to nip this one in the bud and am currently debating the options of flamethrower, napalm, or nuke.  I will keep you posted on my actions at a later date.

Now let’s continue on to the glorious foodventure that happened this weekend.  I alluded to it in my last post, an afternoon spent with the fam culminating in fireworks in my mouth, and ridiculously large amounts of sweat even for this fat kid in humid Houston.

Lankford Grocery is a small joint located in the Montrose neighborhood (home to numerous other Houston food destinations that will definitely be making appearances here in the future) that was once a local grocery store and over time became a favorite restaurant of Houstonians. 

We wandered in there on a nice sweltering July day, and let it be known Lankford’s air conditioning unit does not exactly keep up with the heat, crowds, and door that never seems to stay shut so before we even sat down a layer of sweat coated all of us and most of the other patrons in the small café.  The initial sight of the crowd and lack of open tables had me dreading a long wait in this warm room, but fortunately we were able to swoop in and grab a table quickly after a couple left, yes it is a seat yourself environment so you have to be snappy and move with a purpose in that place.

Service was not exactly as snappy as we were though, so we sat there for a while with enough time to decide our meal and the fact that iced tea was not going to be enough to satisfy us at this point.  Fortunately there was a sign on the wall listing beers, basically like a beacon of hope letting me know that all was going to be ok in this place that might have been close to Hell in terms of temperature. 

I felt like the best way to truly soak in the experience of this place was to drink some nice low grade beer, and fortunately at the top of the menu Lone Star Light was beckoning my name.

Now on to the burgers, as you can see on the menu, there are multiple burgers that sound absolutely amazing and made my decision of what would be worthy of a write up to you amazing people that much more difficult.  My initial thought was the healthy burger known as the Grim Burger, a healthy combo of mac & cheese, bacon, fried egg, and jalapeno. As good as that burger probably is it was not meant to be, I overheard a nearby table singing the praises of the Firehouse Burger and from that moment on I was sold and realized that my fans deserved me to suffer in the name of flavor.  You may ask why someone would order a burger topped with habanero sauce, jalapenos, and cayenne butter.  I don’t know I still don’t have an answer to that one other than this guy is dumb.

Upon placing that order I realized that the beer order would need to be increased so it went to two at a time.

How was the burger you asked?  Delicious is probably the best word for it, yes I burned and sweated more, but it was worth it every bite of the way.  The burger was one of the sloppiest burgers I ever had, basically it had to be eaten upside down since the bottom bun was soaked to destruction by the spicy sauces but you will hear no complaints from this guy on the presentation because every other aspect of it knocked it out of the park.  The fries were simply okay, so I wouldn’t say come here for them, but if you have the opportunity get your ass there and wrap your mitts around one of these juicy burgers.

After I survived the run in with the Firehouse Burger there was only one rational thought that passed through my tablemates mind, a dessert follow up with the special of the day.  Let’s just say the blackberry cobbler with Bluebell Ice Cream was a great conclusion to this meal, although the hot cobbler might be best saved for a cooler day in the fall.

Needless to say it is only a matter of time before I find myself back at this small former grocery store, but if you don’t believe me and didn’t see this on yesterday’s posting, take Guy’s word for the glory that is Lankford Grocery.

Define Mediterranean

Greetings from Space City

First order of business tonight, the squirrels have struck again.  Evidently the squirrels of my apartment complex (not the cute fluffy kind that populated my beloved alma mater) have a personal vendetta against tomato plants, specifically cherry tomato plants.  I came home to once again find the plant tipped over and looking even closer to death than it was when I found it this way yesterday.  Then the thieving rodent returned as I was sitting in my living room and it steals more branches, and does squirrely things to the poor plant.  Needless to say I am sure its days are numbered.

Now on to the main course.

As the title suggests tonight was an adventure in Mediterranean food.  The original plan was to go to Niko Niko's, the Houston classic (visited by none other by Guy Fieri himself as seen here) located on Montrose.  Sadly the parking lot was full to the brim and it was not a good sign so we opted to venture back down Westheimer and landed at La' Fendee.

This spurred a question in my mind, what exactly does food mean by calling itself Mediterranean?  I mean geographically speaking that is a vague term it could apply to cuisine from Spain, Northern Africa, Greece, Lebanon, Israel, and countless other nations.  So it is always a grab bag of sorts when you walk into one of these places for a first time, me personally I like it all because the food has flavor, but others might not feel the same.

La' Fendee was actually a pleasant surprise, it is a small dining room with a simple menu and a wall of hookahs, and during our time there the primary focus seemed to be the quality summer game shows of ABC. Nothing like a little Wipeout to go with your hummus and gyros.

My meal for the night was a staple of mine when trying a new Med restaurant, a scrumptious falafel sandwich with a side of hummus and grape leaves.  Needless to say this was not the best falafel gyro I have had in this city but the pickles and tomatoes in the sandy made up for a mediocre ball of chickpea.  The grape leaves were also not my favorite, personally I prefer more of an olive oil/citrus flavor but these almost had an alcohol flavor to them but of course I still ate all three, I felt bad for the leaves to be left on the plate.

Finally, as we were preparing to leave there was a plate of baklava that could not be said no to.  I am going to say that these were the best part of the meal, but in the end honey soaked flaky dough is usually delicious and a great way to wrap up the meal.  Unfortunately, my photo taking ability is still rusty and so you only get to admire the end result...

So clearly, it was not too bad but you will just have to take the crumbs words for it.

In terms of recommending this place,  I cannot whole heartedly say drop everything you are doing and cruise on down to Westheimer when there are already so many better tasting (and cheaper) places to get Med food in the Houston metropolis.

Until next time my chirpy little crickets.