Mona Lisa at the City Center. I think that's the name, I go where I'm told. Apparently there's a restaurant and a bar/lounge and outside pool cabanna area. We didn't eat, just stopped by for wine. We sat on the patio loungers, across the way were 3 cabannas. It was a nice trendy spot. City Center has really vamped up. Supposedly the new big epicenter, the Memorial/I-10 area. One of my girlfriends said the spot is nice and trendy, but the people don't quite live up to the atmosphere...that was her observation, I hadn't noticed.

Before that, we stopped by Straits for the chocolate lava cake. Friends said it's good, as we gobbled it up in a couple bites, but Flemmings is still better. We had some more Roti bread, yum yum. They thought the curry sauce was overpowering and skipped the sauce. Bartender was a Korean guy, tall, very nice.

Before that, we were at Yardhouse. We had the Korean bbq, calamari, and margherita pizza. Happy Hour is 5-7pm, they have a slew of things to pick from at half the price and wine is $1.50/glass.

I like City Center, but it's too far for me, but okay once in awhile. If I lived on that side of town, it would definitely be my hot spot.

Christmas Soon…

So Christmas is just around the corner, 3 days. I was driving down the streets of the Heights the other day, at night when all the lights were up and the decorations were out and it made me think, what makes a person decide to decorate their house or not? I thought, I never decorate my place, although I'm usually in an apartment. But for those that have a house and don't have any inclination or desire to decorate or maybe they do one year and not another. Then I was thinking, if a person were in financial hardships, which is probably the most stressful life situation that influences the way a person behaves or thinks, I would assume they wouldn't feel the desire to decorate their houses. So, is it then, houses that are decorated are happy and in a good place? What about those that aren't in a good place or happy, stressed, depressed, would they decorate their houses? And if they do, I'm sure there are those out there, how does that work? So you can be depressed about your life and still decorate your house? I just find it so odd a person can compartmentalize these things. I guess everybody is different...it's the Christmas season and maybe that in itself helps people get through the tough times, get their mind off of things. They say when you're depressed, look at a picture of something that makes you happy. Or that pets extend your life for 5 years.

Christmas is just around the corner...happy thoughts...

MNF at YardHouse

This week MNF was held at Yardhouse in the City Center near Town & Country. I must say, they've done a great job with the City Center. It makes the old Town & Country square seem so sad and lonely. It feels like a new city. One complaint, there are no directional signs, I'll be driving down a lane and realize I'm going the wrong way, only because of the direction the cars are parked on the side. They really do need one way signs.

Yardhouse is a little fahncy for sports watching, but they do have plasmas, picture clear, long sitting booths, and over 100 bears on tap. Happy Hour was between 6-9pm ish and half off everything off the happy hour menu, which has a really good selection. We ordered buffalo wings, yum, jerk chicken, alright, margherita pizza, yum, bbq chicken, sliders and fries. I thought everything was good, a bit further than I'd like to go for mnf, but all in all, a good experience.

Sorry forgot the pictures again, must pay better attention.

Straits in City Center

My friend Nikki works as a chef at Straits, which is an asian fusion restaurant from San Francisco, I think. I've heard from a couple of people say the food isn't good. For my birthday, Nikki took me to Straits, she ordered the Tuna Tower, Ahi Jewels, Ginger, Kaffir Lime Leaf, Wasabi Aioli, Wonton Chips $15, which I thought was pretty yum. She also ordered the Grilled Grape Leaf Beef Butter Lettuce Wrap, Sweet Chili Vinaigrette $10, pretty good. Roti Prata Crisp griddled Indian Flatbread, Curry Dip $7 was so good, I devoured it!

For my main meal I had the "Spicy Basil Chicken Tender Chicken, Shiitake Mushrooms, Bamboo Shoots, Thai Basil $12". This I did not like. It had that, sorry folks, strong chinese flavor. Nikki said it was the "Singapore" flavor in the dish that I probably didn't like. I looked it up, it didn't say anything about "Singapore", so whatever it was in that dish, I didn't like it.

For dessert, they brought out a ginger cake which was eh, a bit dry and lack luster. But, the server did sing me happy birthday, unashamedly, which I thought was cute. Nikki ordered the "Chocolate Lava Cake house-made vanilla ice cream, Thai tea caramel". I've had lava cake that looks similar, but this was actually pretty darn good, so chocolately and tasty...we devoured it too :)

The front manager came by, was told it was my birthday and brought out 3 shots, which I didn't drink. I don't do shots, Nikki and Mel weren't complaining as they polished it off for me.

It's big, modern, and "fahncy" design. Has a bar on one side, that seems pretty popular with the hip folk, and a white, subway tiled, unisex bathroom with pink neon lights...that's different. It's outside my neighborhood, but I'd probably go back for a special occasion. Sorry no food pictures, I forgot. We did manage to take one photo right outside the restaurant near the perty lights on trees. The guy that took the photo obviously does not know how to take a photo.



I forgot to mention, I had breakfast tacos at Tiny's with Jenny on snow day, black bean and cheese and it was super yummy, I went back for seconds! But the second time, the tortilla wasn't as heated, it was hard and not ask gooey. Forgot to take pictures again, must pay better attention.

Rainbow Lodge

With much reserved anticipation, I finally visited Rainbow Lodge for my birthday after 3 years of first hearing of it. I've always heard great reviews but was always hesitant envisioning walls decorated with deer heads and other game, dark, and very uninspiring space. I was half right. There were deer heads and other gamey animals on the walls, felt much like an authentic cabin in the woods. However, there was one section, full of windows, on one side, the bayou, lots of greenery, which gave it a really nice woodsy feel with lots of sunlight. Our waiter said guest can actually walk in the bayou area just on the other side of the windows and that people actually get married there, wink wink.

I had the NY strip steak with fries. I actually had to call our waiter back and ask if the fries were supposed to look this way. He came back with a fresh plate of long fries. The steak was not the best I've had, probably on a scale of 1 to 10, I give it a 5. The fries were crispy and tasty. I finished off my meal with a pumpkin cheesecake. I'm not a cheesecake fan, but this cheesecake was delish! Crust was yums, cheesecake didn't taste too pumpkiny. My dining mate had the Crab Risotto, it was a bit too crabby for me, but he liked it. The atmosphere cozy, very log cabin like, service was excellent, our waiter, Mike was fun, friendly and very accommodating.