Les Givral Kahve

Cool design, loved how it was bright, open, nice and contemporary design, but it didn't make up for my food.  I got the tofu vermicelli and vegetable spring rolls.  Decent, not good.  My coworkers liked their chargrilled pork sandwiches.  The chicken was tough, really tough, overcooked.  Eh...on Givral's.

Restaurant Week #4 – RDG + Bar Annie

This restaurant now, RDG + Bar Annie, formerly Cafe Annie revamped and on steriods.  RDG are the initials of the executive chef, "Robert Del Grande".  My last hit on restaurant week.  I attempted going on a sunday with a girlfriend, turns out they close at 8pm.  As a matter of fact, most restaurants on restaurant week close early, never knew it.  My second attempt, made with reservations, landed us here on Friday with a group of friends, ready to enjoy this extravagantly stylish restaurant.  I love absolutely loved the interior design, stylish and trendy, impressive.



We order the Faust red wine, very good and only $115 a bottle.  We shared that amongst 5 people, not bad!  I got the Summer Black Berry Salad with Greens and Smoked Cheddar Dressing.  This salad was very good and it had blue cheese, I didn't notice and I hate blue cheese. 



I always find it odd when fine dining restaurants serve skirt steak, but this is what I got.  Wood Grilled Skirt Steak With Tomato Sofrito & Herb Olive Oil / Giant Corona Beans.  I was actually considering the Sweet Potato Enchiladas, but our server recommended the skirt steak.  It was good actually, very good.  But, I had a few bites as I was already getting full, given I had 2 pieces of bread.  Bread was good, couldn't resist.



I got the Chocolate and Coffee Ice Cream Sandwich with Hot Fudge Sauce, which I thought was good, the chocolate cookie was delicious...but I was so full, I about exploded...then I had some...



Raspberry Mousse with Cocoa Almond Meringue Cookie.  The raspberry mousse was so good.  The cookie was bland.



jennifer, denyse, soo



soo and oscar



soo, donny, and denyse



denyse and soo

We also had 2 other folks with us and we all very much liked our experience.  Definitely recommend, but beware, there are some really bad reviews out there.  Also, I lied, Restaurant Week goes on till September 1st.  Enjoy!

Restaurant Week #3 – Hotel Icon’s VOICE Restaurant

Reviews for this restaurant are really good.  Honestly, I'm not quite sure why.  Outside of the opulent  interior design, there was absolutely nothing wow about the food.  The only tasty item from my 3 course meal was the Roasted Japanese Mushrooms.  The Kobe Beef, bland and boring, the Semifreddo dessert, boring and just ok.  All my dining mates agreed, however the person that ordered the Roasted Chicken Breast said his was actually pretty good.  I shall not go into detail about labeling each picture, as I am telling you, it's not worth it.  Three out of four main meals were no delicioso and all desserts were disappointing.  But like I would do, go and decide for yourself.

[gallery link="file" order="DESC" orderby="ID"]

Sylvia’s Kitchen (Woodway)

On my way to Sylvia's Kitchen, I run into a former coworker and he tells me he doesn't like Sylvia's Kitchen because they try to be upscale Mexican.  I can understand not liking the idea of that.  I always think it's weird when Vietnamese restaurants try to go upscale...well that's the whole point of Vietnamese food, it's cheap and good. 

I meet my two girlfriends, Jennifer Griffin-Kim and Sonya, and we sit and they bring out the chips and warm salsa.  The chips are thick and tasty.  The salsa is pretty watery, not a lot of substance and is warm.  I don't know if I was just hungry or what, but I liked the combination of it.  I do notice the order of 2 enchiladas run about $10-14, which I think is fairly normal for dinner.  Maybe not at a taqueria, but definitely any restaurant, chuy's, cyclone anayas, etc.  I order the Mexico City, which is chicken enchiladas with a tomatillo sauce.   The chicken was a little spicy, I thought my order was good.  I'd probably eat there again.  Jennifer and Sonya had the spinach enchiladas and they said it was good, but I didn't like it.  It was pretty slow inside, so the atmosphere was nice for us three to catch up and chat.   I had a pretty good experience, especially since I purchased a coupon valued at $40 for $20, so good food, great company, good experience.

Restaurant Week #2 – III Forks (Downtown)

III Forks is new and gets good reviews, so this was definitely on my to do list.  I decided to go during Restaurant week, the day I was going, a friend said her experience was horrible.  I decided to go anyways, had to see for myself.  There used to be this restaurant downtown, I think the design was a fork or something, so I kept thinking of that restaurant when thinking of III Forks, not a good association to have.   When I got there, I realized this is definitely not that same place, much nicer.



I really had no idea what to expect, but that it's a steakhouse.  I walk in, immediately I like the design.  Very masculine, woody, dark, rich colors, but clean.  I liked the bathrooms, it was like a traditional kind of rich.  Gold sinks and marble tile.



Right as you walk in to the restaurant, you see this hallway made of glass wine encasings.  Very clean, liked it a lot.



Our choices for restaurant week, I got the III Forks salad, Chateaubriand, and Mixed Berries.  By the way, you can't say "Chateaubriand" without making a silly face.  Try it..."chateaubriaannnd", did your pump your eyebrows?  :)



If there had been a description of the III Forks salad, I would not have ordered it.  It's topped with Blue Cheese and that is the one cheese I do not like.  It comes out, I scrape it off the top...oh my Lord, this salad was out of this world.  I mean it's salad, how can salad be so amazing?  This was amazing!  It was the "Walnut Molasses Pecan Vinaigrette"...mm mm mm.



Chateaubriand.  "With Bordelaise Sauce, a Red Wine and Shallot Reduction".  This was actually pretty good, but after about 4 bites it's starts to diminsh on its return.  Now the creamed corn, oh my goodness...that was just pure deliciousness.  So tasty and crunchy even in it's creaminess.  Mash Potatoes were just mash potatoes, but good.



We shared the desserts.  Chocolate Ganache Cake (A Moist Six-Layer Traditional Chocolate Cake with Rich Ganache Icing, Garnished with Chocolate Shavings and Strawberries).  This was ok, in my opinion, but it looks good in this picture doesn't it?  I thought the cake had an odd texture.  It just wasn't...rich and divine like chocolate cake should be.



Texas Pecan Cake (A Six-Layer White Cake with Shredded Sugared Pecans and Homemade Whipped Cream Frosting, Garnished with Chopped Sugared Pecans and Caramel Sauce).  It looks like a hummingbird cake, but it was just ok too.



Mixed Berries (A Collection of Fresh Strawberries, Blueberries, and Raspberries Finished with Raspberry Sauce and Mint Sprig).  Not a great presentation, but this, I think I liked the best.  How can you go wrong with berries and whip cream?

I should have taken a photo of our waitress, she was wearing this little black hoochie-mama outfit.  Apparently, it was the uniform for the female servers.  Now that I think about it, I don't think I saw any male servers.  We were wondering why that was the case, so we decided, steakhouse, downtown, male dominated...ok, we get the hoochie-mama uniforms.  Our service was nothing spectacular, nothing horrible.  Just good ol service.  My experience was pretty good from atmosphere to food and service, I would defnitely recommend III Forks.  You have until August 21 for the Restaurant Week Menu.

Restaurant Week #1 – Flemings

I've always wanted to try Flemmings, just never got around to it, so this was my first hit on restaurant week's list.  I loved the bread that also came with this cheese and butter dip.  It was rosemary bread...so good.  I thought I was only going to eat one, but I had three!  Very good, I liked the cheese spread, the butter spread was ok.



I chose the Flemmings salad (Seasonal Greens, Candied Walnuts, Dried Cranberries, Tomatoes, Croutons, Lemon Balsamic Dressing).  Outside of the candied walnuts, it was a pretty standard salad.  My mom didn't finish hers.



The filet mignon was ok, the creamed spinach I did not like.  It just didin't taste good at all.  The mash potatoes were fine.  Half way through our dinner the manager comes by and asks "How is everything going Ms. Kim?"  That's a first...I've never had a manager come by and address me by my name.  I thought the fact that he went the extra mile was pretty impressive.



The key lime pie was not the best I've had, not even close.  It was sweeter than I like my desserts and tasted decent.  I had a few bites and took it home, I wasn't tempted to finish it, not even the slightest bit.  My mom got the walnut turtle pie, which was way too sweet.  Our waiter was busy, but good.  Overall dining experience was ok.  Not sure what all the hoopla is about, it's definitely not one of the best steakhouses in Houston.

1st

Classic Caesar

Fleming’s Salad

Seasonal Greens, Candied Walnuts, Dried Cranberries, Tomatoes, Croutons, Lemon Balsamic Dressing

 Summer Corn Chowder

With Crispy Bacon

2nd

Petite Filet Mignon

Chicken Breast

Baked in a White Wine, Mushroom, Shallot, Thyme Sauce

 Tuna Mignon

Seared Rare with Poppy Seed au Poivre and Tomato Sherry Vinaigrette

 Sides

Creamed Spinach

Mashed Potatoes with Roasted Garlic

3rd

Key Lime Pie

 NY Style Cheesecake

 Walnut Turtle Pie

Jenni’s Noodle House (Heights)

Jenni's Noodle House.  I've tried long ago and don't remember thinking much of it.  New in the Heights, they have other locations, so me and my coworkers go visit.  Awesome sign...it's all good in the noodlehood, love it!  We walk in, nice spacious, like it so far.







Staff was warm, super friendly and helpful.  They dawned red siracha shirts, cute.



My problem at new places is I never know what to order.  JNH had these photo menus, perfect for visual people like me!  I loved it, I think I wanted to eat everything!  Such a good idea.



They do have the regular menus as well.



I decided to go with the "Teddy's Not Gay" dish (ginger-jalapeno soy sauce loads of vegetables and fresh tofu over buckwheat noodels $11).  They said the owner's friend "Teddy" would order this oh-so specific and uber healthy dish every time he'd come into JNH, thus the name.  I loved it!  Felt like I was at my mom's. It was light, healthy, and tasty...love loved it.



Karen got the $10 Ginger Tofu (Tofu, red onions, jalapenos, ginger served over jasmine rice with side of seaweed salad).  She said it was good and she liked it.



Oscar got the "Infernal Chicken Curry" (Mom's recipe of chicken and potato curry bisque with jasmine rice. Addicts beware $10).  He said it was good...and he is picky and gay. :)



Loved it, highly recommend it!

http://www.noodlesrule.com/

Groupon

If you live under a rock and don't know what Groupon is, it's basically a group coupon offered at half or 1/3 the typical rate.  They offer daily coupons to some awesome, some not so awesome places.  I've used 2 myself and still have a couple more groupons waiting to be used.  Including a 3 hour Thai massage for $99...amazing!  It's a way for these businesses to attract a large amount of business, which they do.  I was responding to one of the coupons I received by replying to the email and thought their response was funny.

You've responded to an automated email and unfortunately a human being does not read these replies.  If you'd like to get in touch with someone from Groupon, visit this link: http://groupon.com/contact-us and we'll get back to you right away.

 Thanks,

Groupon

"a human being"...haha...nice.