Favorite Eats - Houston

When I come back to Houston there is always a list of favorite places where I want to eat. None of them are 'fancy' places but the food is something different than what we have in San Miguel and it is delicious.
I must have bagels from Hot Bagel. It is a kind of funky place with mismatched tables and chairs, stacks of sections of the newspaper left around, good coffee and the best bagels. You may see a business man in a great looking suit or a runner who has just finished up the morning run, the laborer in jeans and T-shirts or the tattooed, pierced co-ed, the contractor with a cell phone glued to his ear or the writer busy scribbling in her daybook. You might be thinking a bagel-Starbucks kind of place but it has a very different feel.
Last night we had pizza and pasta from Romano's. Pepperoni, sausage and anchovies, just thick enough crust, great tomato sauce topped with cheese.....mmmm....perfect. One of our favorite places for pizza for a long time. Behind the counter you'll see the owner tossing the dough and making the pie. The pasta sauces are fresh and really delicious. Some busy Moms stop in during the day to buy jars of their sauce so they can put together a quick dinner at night.
I met Ellie for lunch at Empire Cafe. I found Empire right after it opened. It is another kind of funky place in a re-purposed building which I think may have been a gas station in its first life. They have added outside dining under an awning and some umbrellas. The food is a nice variety of soups, paninis, and pastas. If that doesn't fill you up, they have marvelous cakes and desserts. Good coffee and teas. Great place to meet friends and linger over lunch.
I've had to go to Goode Company Seafood two times. This place serves good Gulf Coast seafood. All of it is good but I love the oysters on the half-shell, the seafood gumbo and the shrimp cocktail called the campechana. It is served in a tall soda glass and has shrimp and crab mixed with a tomato sauce with chunks of tomato, onion and peppers. There are chopped jalapenos on the side if you want to spice it up and light, crispy tortilla chips surround the plate.
The seafood gumbo is the best I've ever had except for the gumbo that son #2 makes. It is in a rich roux and has shrimp and oysters. I don't know how anyone eats a bowl of this gumbo and anything else but they do.

There are still some favorite places that I wanted to get to but I'm running out of time. I'll have to work on the list when we come back at Christmas.