Here is a growing list of my favorite restaurants in the Houston area, arranged by type of cuisine:
American
"Oh, it's a burger place," you'll think when you see it. But you're wrong. Well, sort of. The Original Eats does serve burgers. It also serves buffalo burgers, chicken sandwiches, barbeque pork sandwiches, and a slew of things that aren't sandwiches. Oh, and probably the best-tasting gyro in town. Certainly, the gyro is the best I've ever tasted.
TOE is a family-owned restaurant nestled in the corner of a shopping center, on the north side of Highway Six, about a half mile east of U.S. 59. It is not pretentious, neither in its exterior or interior appearances or its style of cooking. TOE doesn't pretend to be elegant and shee-shee. It's just plain food, tasty, served quickly, hot, and for a very reasonable price. The sandwich specials are all $5.45 as of October, 1998, and they come with french fries and a soft drink. The drinks have free refills. Oh, and the condiments are where you can get to them, so that you can decide what you want.
Another plus: Monday and Tuesday nights, kids eat free after 5:00 p.m. Thus, it is possible to eat far better than you would at McDonald's and yet spend less money doing so.
If you're in the area, give it a try. As I said, it's nothing to look at, but the food's great.
Greek
Houston is home to a large Greek-American population, and there are many fine restaurants offering this cuisine. To my embarrassment, I have not visited many of them, but this is something I plan to change in the coming months. The one I've enjoyed myself most often at is Mykonos, which is something of a Houston institution for this wonderful fare. I believe they have the very best dolmades (stuffed grape leaves) anywhere in town. They offer them as an appetizer, but the serving is huge and easily makes a meal for one who doesn't want to venture into all the diverse fare on their menu.
Now, why one wouldn't want to so venture is a mystery to me. With the exception of musaka (I am no admirer of--shudder--eggplant), I have enjoyed everything I've tried here. I'm woefully rusty on my names of Greek dishes, but the variety and the quality are consistently excellent, and the prices are most reasonable considering the size of the servings. The atmosphere is casual and relaxed, and the owner and staff are most amenable to making your visit very enjoyable, whether you are planning a cozy dinner for two or a gathering of a large group. Opa! The next time you're in the mood for Mediterranean/Adriatic delicacies, stop by Mykonos. Oh, and here's another plus: They're located in the same center as a grotesquely overpriced Italian restaurant (lunch for two at $50.00 while only drinking iced tea? I don't think so!). You can relish wonderful Greek cuisine, not have to mortage your house, and afterward enjoy a good laugh at the expense of the trendy chi-chis who went to the wrong restaurant.
Italian
Mingalone's is one of many shops and restaurants in Bayou Place, which began life in the 1960s, when I was a lad (and Lincoln was President and dinosaurs roamed the Earth) as the Albert Thomas Convention Center. Albert Thomas was singularly the ugliest public building ever constructed in Houston, Texas--at least until the city fathers decided to pour money into the even less attractive George R. Brown Convention Center that blights--I mean, graces--the opposite side of downtown. Anyway, when the new center was built, there began talk on the order of, "What do we do with Albert Thomas?" Someone bought it and renovated it as a two-level concourse with a movie theater, specialty shops, and several restaurants.
I visited this restaurant for the first time on Saturday, 1 August 1998, at 6:00 p.m. It was hot. It was baking outside. I was part of a group of twelve people and we had no reservations.
We had a wonderful time.
Even though the place was already quite full, the staff very pleasantly and very promptly put three of their better tables together and arranged seating for us all. Every member of our party received a warm and personal greeting from our waiter as he or she arrived, and the waiter seemed sincere and genuinely interested in his customers' welfare without being either patronizing or obsequious. Passing grades on Points One and Two (adaptability and courtesy).
The napkins that were under all the water and wine glasses were interesting. Slightly off-square, the lower fold was elongated and on the tab that stuck out one could read, "DO NOT OPEN THIS." Well, of course, that's waving a red flag in this irreverent iconoclast's face, so naturally I did . . . to find the list of quick appetizers the restaurant offers. That was a novel touch; more pleasant still was that the waiter did not try to push any of the appetizers on us. He mentioned them, of course, but in a very low-key way. In fact, that was his style throughout the meal, and I noticed that the staff waiting other tables did much the same. I liked that. A check mark on Point Three (not pushing the purchase).
My friends asked me to select a wine, and I was pleased to see a very good selection of Italian reds and whites as well as a serviceable stock of California wines. Overall, I thought the wine list a little too pricey, but I'm more inclined to write most of that off as being due to the regrettably too-common markup that restaurants apply to the contents of their cellars. There were several very affordable wines in all the sections, and I selected a Barbaglia for us to enjoy. They passed Point Four (wine list).
Despite the crowded nature of the restaurant, the staff paid a correct amount of attention to our party. They kept the water and iced tea glasses filled, they replenished the bread baskets, and they kept a not-too-distant but not-intrusive eye on our table. Point Five (interim service) zipping by with flying colors.
The bread. Ah, the bread deserves a word. They feature two breads at Mingalone's, and although I neglected to ask, I sincerely hope they are made on-site. One is a rich white bread with a thick, hard crust. Some people don't like such breads because they have to gnaw the crust, but I like it. It was flavorful and still warm. The other bread I liked even more; it was a soft, fluffy, ivory-colored concoction with just a hint of carroway seed in it. Both went very well with the olive oil/pesto mix that was in several small, deep bowls at our table. The pesto did need more seasoning, however. Passing grades on Point Six (bread).
Our order came in good time--consider, please, that we'd arrived in the typical straggle whenever groups meet like this, roughly at six o'clock, with an eight o'clock curtain call at a nearby theatre. To skip to the end of the meal, we had plenty of time to enjoy our selections and still make it to the theatre without having to rush. Excellent marks for Point Seven (timing).
Now, to the menu and the selections. I was very pleasantly surprised to see the affordability of most items on the menu. I judge affordability by three factors: Price, quantity, and quality. Mingalone's does very, very well on all three counts. I had a pizza, cooked in their wood-burning oven. It had some of the most savory prosciutto I've ever tasted, along with black olives, nice large mushrooms, and goodly-sized chunks of artichokes. The waiter suggested that one pizza would feed two people. It would, if neither were very hungry. I'd say one pizza would feed one and a half people. I couldn't finish mine.
The veal parmigiana looked tempting. The chicken in strega sauce was quite good; I almost wish I'd ordered that instead of settling for a taste from someone else's plate. Strega is an acquired taste (I happen to have acquired it) and I was interested to see how it worked in a light, off-white sauce.
The servings were of very good size. The only downside to the meal was the house salad. Featuring "assorted greens" it, well, it didn't have any lettuce. It had all sorts of unidentifiable greenery that ranged from delicate leaves that looked like they could've come from a live oak to various stalks with strange pointed leaves. The vinaigrette dressing was very good, but it didn't overcome the overall strangeness and outright bitterness of the salad. So, a downcheck on Point Eight (salads) but passing grades, nearly honors grades, on Point Nine (entrees).
The pizzas, the salads, the sandwiches, and the daily specials all bore affordable price tags. The non-specials entrees looked a little pricey. $22.50 for roast beef? I think way too high. Overall, though, the prices give Mingalone's a good score on Point Ten (price).
The waiter was sensitive to our timing and did not try to push desserts on us. He merely asked, and then brought the bill when I asked for him to do so. Check marks on Point Eleven (the end game). And he made us feel welcome even when we were leaving.
Oh, and while I'm on the bill, extra credit to the restaurant for not automatically adding a gratuity on our party. We did tip. He earned it, and then some.
I really enjoyed this restaurant, and I'm happy to recommend it.
Oh, I can hear it now. "A buffet? You're going to say something nice about a pizza buffet?"
Yes, I am. About this one, anyway. But first, I'm going to correct something in that implicit criticism above. Ravioli's is not simply a "pizza buffet." In fact, it's not simply a buffet. Yes, they have a buffet line and yes, they serve pizza. But they also serve many other dishes, on the buffet and through menu ordering, and every one I've tried has been quite tasty.
What do they serve? Well, here's a partial list: Lasagna (surprisingly good even in its most institutional--i.e., serving line--style, and even better when ordered off the menu), baked ziti with several different sauces and garnishes, veal and chicken rollattini, marsala, and cacciatore, chicken savinelli, half a dozen kinds of salads, an excellent salad bar (anytime I've gone there the lettuce has been crisp, fresh, and good-looking, and the condiments are varied and plentiful) . . . and, yes, pizza.
The pizza's quite good. It puts Pizza Inn and CiCi's to shame (okay, in the case of the latter, that doesn't take much effort!) and you can take the whole family to Ravioli's and not worry that someone won't like any of the pizzas. The opposite is true. Someone will like one or more of what they offer at the buffet.
Their plain sausage pizza is excellent. I don't know where they're getting the sausage, but it tastes like sausage pizza used to taste--savory and well-spiced, not simply greasy lumps of undefined meat. Their Hawaiian pizza is quite savory--and this from a man who doesn't particularly care for cooked pineapple! And the other day I found a nice little gem in the buffet, that being artichoke and black olive pizza. It was wonderful!
The selection brings me to the staff. If you don't see something you like, ask. They're happy to tell you whether any is being cooked. In fact, the staff acts genuinely pleased to see you whenever you come in and whatever you're asking for. They make you feel welcome. They don't rush you, even in their busy hours. In fact, every time I've been there the waiter or waitress has taken pains to say, "No need to hurry" when he or she brings the bill.
So, ultimately, why a pizza buffet in this section of the estate? Three reasons. Ravioli's has good food. Ravioli's is extremely affordable--at less than $6.00 a person for dinnertime prices, this is an affordable family restaurant. And, most of all, Ravioli's people are nice folks. They've contributed time, talent, effort, and their cooking to many functions at the Meadows Elementary School, where Courtney attends. They've catered the various parent-teacher-children dinners with very good food in substantial quantities for extremely reasonable prices. They give to the community around them, and they deserve recognition for that and our support for their business in return.
The menu says they're available for catering and reservation functions. If you have that need--or if you just want a good, hearty, reasonably priced lunch or dinner--check out Ravioli's.
Spanish
Tio Pepe is, without a doubt, my favorite restaurant, bar none, in the Houston area. If you've read my reviews of a particular Spanish wine, you already know the reasons, but I'm happy to give them you again here, along with my heartfelt recommendation that you make this a regular entry in your list of restaurants.
Note that this is a Spanish, not a Mexican restaurant. If you're looking for a place that serves upscale (or downscale) Mexican fare, this is not for you. There are no enchiladas, tamales, fajitas, cabrito, or black bean anything here. At Tio Pepe, you can enjoy an entirely different kind of cuisine, one that specializes in seafood in either spicy red or smooth buttery sauces, veal cooked to perfection in a light, savory sauce, broiled and sauteed chicken, and paella that Spaniards consistently tell me is every bit as good as that dish when prepared in some of Spain's best restaurants.
Paella, by the way, is Spain's traditional dish. It's a combination of chicken, seafood, and pork with savory yellow rice and vegetables, served straight out of the cooking pan onto your plate, garnished with fresh lemon juice. Tio Pepe also offers a paella marinera that uses only seafood. I find the "regular" paella better, but both dishes are excellent.
After the paella, my favorite dish is mariscada, a succulent seafood . . . well, "stew" is such a cheap word to describe this dish. Shrimp, fish, often crab, usually calamari, are blended in a garlic-lemon-butter base with scallops and other niceties. It, too, comes with that delicious yellow rice, but as a side dish, not blended with the rest of the food.
One word, not of caution but of recommendation: You should like garlic, because you are going to taste it in virtually every dish. If you do like garlic, you'll leave Tio Pepe loving it. If you aren't a big fan, you'll leave having found at least the beginning of a new liking.
The prices are fairly good. Entrees run between $8.00 and $13.00 and include a salad and fresh, warm bread. The serving portions are very good for the price. If you add some appetizers and soup--I highly recommend the sopa de ajo (garlic soup)--you are still looking at only around $20.00 per plate before you figure alcohol into the bill.
The wine list is excellent and there are some lovely Spanish wines to select from. If you don't know exactly what you want, the staff is well-versed in the wines and can make excellent suggestions.
And so I come to the best part of Tio Pepe: The people who run it. Carlos Rota, the owner, is actively engaged not only in running his restaurant but in making your visit there memorable. He visits each table and converses with the guests, and also, on many evenings, comes by to garnish your dining experience with guitar music--and, yes, he's a good guitarist. The staff is unfailinly friendly and helpful, and the restaurant has a warm, cozy air that is equal parts the fact that it is a small restaurant and the more important fact that it's run in the traditional Spanish way. That means, no one rushes you, no matter how busy the place may be. They do not hurry you through your meal, they do not speed the bill to you; on the contrary, they make you feel welcome, and welcome to stay.
There are some excellent desserts along with the main fare; I'm partial to the chocolate mousse but the bread pudding looks awfully good, too. Their espresso is quite good and it's a great place for a quiet after-dinner brandy.
And, if you're in a more festive mood, Tio Pepe also has a tapas bar on weekday evenings, along with live flamenco music and dancing.
I recommend making reservations. There isn't a bad table in the house, by the way.
I welcome your recommendations for restaurants to review.