02 June 2005
Food and drink roundup (06-02-2005 edition)
Once again, it's time for a food and drink roundup. Actually it's way past time for a food and drink roundup, so much linky goodness will ensue.
Last week Alison Cook ventured out 290 to its version of chain-restaurant row to check out Bistro Paradiso and found it promising. This week she gives an almost poetic nod to Lila's. Good Tex Mex served in a double wide trailer in the old part of Pearland? Alison loves it.
Last week barbecue expert Robb Walsh gave Luling City Market the once over. It's a fascinating read. This week Julia's Bistro on the METROrail Line gets his attention.
Last week Dai Huynh looked at Nirvana and threw in an Indian cuisine primer. This week she looks at what local restaurants are doing to add lighter desserts to their menus.
Peggy Grodinsky gives us the results of a Chronicle taste-test of locally-offered rotisserie chickens. I'm not sure I agree with their choice as winner.
Ken Hoffman gave Dairy Queen's Arctic Rush a try last week. This week he gives IHOP's Big Bacon Omelette a try, and awakens my Atkins...until he reveals how IHOP cheats, darn them.
Joey Guerra looks at local gay dance club, Rich's. As Chris Baker would say, diversity is beauty.
World class, all of it. Enjoy!!
Posted by Callie Markantonis @ 06/02/05 10:54 PM |
31 May 2005
What's your favorite thing to do in Houston?
Sedosi points us to Ken Hoffman's column today about the convention and visitors bureau efforts to promote Houston locally, including a contest:
To enter the convention and visitors bureau contest, go to www.visithoustontexas.com, click on Houston 365 and tell them, "My favorite thing to do in Houston is ... "
Each week, the Web site will feature a "prominent" Houstonian saying what he or she likes most about our city. Mayor Bill White was first up. He "loves to go biking in Memorial Park."
You never get towed on a bicycle.
Hahaha! That's funny!
After the mayor, I'm the next Houstonian on the Web site. It's really a tricky question: What's my favorite thing about Houston?
Go read the column to find out what his favorite thing is.
And let's steal Sedosi's idea:
So, this leads us to the BIG question of the day:
What is your favorite thing to do in Houston?
Mine is to play Danger Train Intersection Bingo.
It might be hard to top that one, but let's give it a try. What's your favorite thing to do in Houston?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/31/05 04:46 PM |
25 May 2005
Houston needs to focus on the right quality-of-life issues
Tory Gattis of Houston Strategies highlights Joel Kotkin's new work, " Urban Legends: Cities Aren't Doing As Well As You Think":
Cities must return to a progressive focus on fixing their real problems--that is, the problems of the majority of the people who live there--not serving the interests of artists, hipsters, and their wealthy patrons. Right now school reform is often hostage to the power of teachers' unions. City budgets, which could be applied to improving economic infrastructure, are frequently bloated by, among other things, excessive public sector employment and overgenerous pensions. In the contest for the remaining public funds, the knitted interests of downtown property holders, arts foundations, sports promoters, and nightclub owners often overwhelm those of more conventional small businesses and family-oriented neighborhoods that could serve as havens for the middle class.
And Tory says:
To be honest, I actually think Houston is doing many of the right things he's talking about. Yeah, we have gotten caught up in some of the glitz: stadiums, convention centers, a hip downtown - but we've also been pretty diligent on improving infrastructure and education.
Actually, we are seeing the local teachers union (assisted by activist groups and the local newspaper) throw up every road block imaginable to Dr. Saavedra's reform ideas for HISD. In the case of Gayle Fallon's group, LULAC and the NAACP, it's not about better education, it's about maintaining power.
As for the other interests Kotkin mentions, Houston has only temporarily "solved" its pension mess by moving it to the Houston Hilton-Americas, which isn't doing so hot; the downtown light rail ($320 million +) has been fueled at least partly by downtown property interests, including Metro's interests; and we have three ritzy new stadiums funded by taxpayers, with the Sports Authority yearning for at least one more.
As one of our commenters so ably put it recently, there are three things that will make a community desirable: good schools, low crime, and low taxes. Houston has many great amenities, but those big three are struggling.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/25/05 08:14 AM |
21 May 2005
Millie Bush is the best dog park
This is pretty neat: the Millie Bush Bark Park has been named the best dog park in the U.S.:
Millie Bush Bark Park in far west Houston has been ranked the best in the nation by Dog Fancy magazine.
The 15-acre dog park, with three man-made ponds, walkways and fake fire hydrants, was opened 1 1/2 years ago by Harris County Precinct 3 and was named in honor of the former president's late springer spaniel.
"Never-say-die supporters waged a five-year campaign to open Millie Bush, Houston's first dog park, inside George Bush Park," says the magazine in its June edition.
"And was this Texas-size jewel ever worth the wait."
Susan Chaney, editor of Dog Fancy, said the magazine took nominations from readers and assigned a writer to evaluate the 60 parks that were mentioned the most.
There are about 700 dog parks around the country, she said.
"The reason Millie Bush Park came in on top is that after the writer had interviewed people about the park, her comment was that they had unparalleled amenities, including three man-made ponds — one that was designated just for small dogs. That was pretty impressive to us."
THIS is world-class! Or is it woof-class?
RELATED: Houston Dog Park Association
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/21/05 02:43 PM |
18 May 2005
Armadillo Palace -- this Friday!
Laurence Simon and Kevin Whited want to check out the Armadillo Palace, and Laurence thinks this would be a great opportunity to have a get-together. So, here we go!
This Friday, May 20th, beginning around 5 p.m., we will be meeting at the Armadillo Palace.
We'd love for EVERYONE* to join us and I have no doubt much merriment and hilarity will ensue. (With Laurence and Kevin in attendance, how could it not?!)
We hope to see you Friday!
*other Houston-area bloggers, blog readers, blog commenters, friends of blogs (FOB's?), etc, etc, etc. =)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/18/05 08:08 AM |
15 May 2005
Food and drink roundup (05-15-2005 edition)
Better late than never, here are last week's food and drink reviews.
Alison Cook lovingly reviews lunch at Da Marco.
Robb Walsh gives Alfredo's European Grill a try. This time around it's obvious. He liked the food more than the staff.
Dai Huynh gives us some snippets of a conversation about wine moods with wine expert Karen MacNeil, author of The Wine Bible.
Ken Hoffman heads over to IHOP to try out one of their new Sourdough Cheese Grillers: the Ham & Brie Sourdough Cheese Griller. It sounds like enough food for three meals, but he makes it sound yummy.
And finally, Gracie Ochoa gives high energy dance club Glo a look.
World class, all of it. Enjoy!!
Posted by Callie Markantonis @ 05/15/05 10:38 PM |
14 May 2005
Art cars to roll this afternoon
One of Houston's quirky events, the art car parade, takes place later today.
The Houston Art Car Klub (HACK) has the details:
An all day event with the largest contingency of Art Cars in the world! Come be part of it all and see just how amazing art can be when given the chance and some gasoline.
Line-up is 10AM - 1PM, the public can come & take pictures & mill around here, too. The actual procession is Saturday from 1PM - 2:30PM, our Grand Marshal is non other than the great philosopher Kinky Friedman!
Be lined up along Allen Parkway; bring lawn chairs, coolers & cameras.
Related festivities are listed here.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/14/05 08:37 AM |
12 May 2005
KPRC-2 breaks out sex offenders by zip code
KPRC-2 has taken time from reporting on the weather dog's diet to break out the number of sex offenders in Houston by zip code.
The story is here.
The Texas Sexual Offender searchable database is located here, for anyone who might be inclined to look up former radio talk-show hosts (or anybody else).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/12/05 10:19 PM |
HPD reallocates resources to deal with MS 13
KTRK-13 reports that HPD is reallocating resources to deal with the MS 13 gang problem in Houston.
That's welcome news, of course, but this part of the report was revealing:
About a year ago, as a result of retirement and layoffs at HPD, there was a reallocation of manpower that removed officers from full-time gang task force duties, allowing them only to work gang crimes part time. HPD admits there is need for such full-time work.
HPD's manpower shortages have not gone away. While it's good news that HPD has shifted resources to the gang problem, that means resources have been shifted away from other areas. Increased crime is sure to be the result.
Unfortunately, we don't see any elected officials exercising leadership in remedying HPD's ongoing manpower woes.
RELATED: Neighborhood residents complain about MS-13, HPD reaction
UPDATE (05-13-2005): Robert Crowe's report for the Chronicle notes that HPD still refuses to talk about the extent of the gang problem with any specificity.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/12/05 09:42 PM |
A world-class city for commerce and careers
Houston may still be short of the elusive "world-class" status that some local municipal leaders, mass-transit enthusiasts, and editorial utopians long for, but it ranks highly in the latest Forbes rankings of Best Places for Business and Careers.
Tom Kirkendall has the details at Houston's Clear Thinkers.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/12/05 11:38 AM |
05 May 2005
Food and drink roundup (05-05-2005 edition)
Once again, it's time for a food and drink roundup. Two weeks of food and drink reviews follow.
Alison Cook traveled south of the city to check out Floyd Landry's newest incarnation, Floyd's Cajun Seafood. Since several blogHOUSTON contributors are big fans of the older, former Floyd's, now called Mardi Gras Cafe, and still home of the best blackened catfish and red beans and rice in town, this review caught our interest. A roadtrip in the near future is definitely in order.
Robb Walsh tried Jim Goode's newest eatery, Goode's Armadillo Palace. I don't think he liked the food as much as he liked his sassy waitress.
Brian McManus pans the Montrose Diner. Surely a journalist at an "alternative" weekly can insert his own WTF.
Ken Hoffman gave Pizza Hut's 3Cheese Stuffed Crust Pizza a try last week and warns that it will only be around for a few more weeks.
Regular blogHOUSTON commenter TP posts a review of Kubo's Sushi Bar & Grill and gives his experience four out of five toilet paper rolls.
Interestingly enough, both TP and the Chron's Dai Huynh have sushi and Japanese cuisine primers up this week. Check out both of them.
Finally, Alison Steingold gives The Whiskey at Hotel Icon a look in this week's bar/club review.
Have a great weekend! With all this world class cuisine, it shouldn't be hard.
Posted by Callie Markantonis @ 05/05/05 10:38 PM |
Gibbons: We're behind you Jeff!
James Howard Gibbons and crew are upset today about the NBA's treatment of the Rockets' Jeff Van Gundy.
Because world-class newspapers that don't have an inferiority complex regarding the state's third largest city just do things like that.
More sober -- if less popular -- perspectives on the matter are offered up by one of the best sportswriters in Texas (Randy Galloway), and from various ESPN.com writers (Marc Stein, Adrian Wojnarowski, and Ric Bucher).
Maybe Mr. Gibbons should leave sports opinion to the sports pages.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/05/05 07:25 PM |
02 May 2005
International festival numbers down from 2003
Sedosi Alhambra calls attention to the Chronicle's postmortem of the Houston International Festival, held downtown again this year after a disastrous experience in the parking lots at the Reliant complex. As Alhambra points out, reporter Paige Hewitt basically wrote that it was really swell downtown!
Nearly perfect weather all four days and moving iFest back downtown drew an "enthusiastic" crowd of at least 200,000 people, including volunteers, sponsors and children 10 and under, whose admission was free, said Robert Sakowtiz, chairman of the festival.
Unfortunately, Hewitt offered no attendance figures for earlier festivals.
Interestingly, the now-defunct News24 site put 2003 festival attendance (the year before the disastrous move from downtown) at 430,000.
This year's festival visitors may well have been enthusiastic, as Hewitt portrays them, but the attendance appears to be down considerably from the last international festival held downtown.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/02/05 10:55 PM |
28 April 2005
Rick Mitchell addresses criticism of I-Fest music
Last weekend, we noted that the alt/Texas country music acts at the Houston International Festival didn't seem as strong as usual.
That could be because Rick Mitchell, who did a fabulous job with the bookings for many years, has not handled the music for the festival since 2003.
In a lengthy letter to the Houston Press this week, however, Mitchell does take issue with John Nova Lomax's criticisms of the festival's music.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/28/05 10:47 PM |
26 April 2005
Council to take up rules on library behavior (updated)
Chris Elam calls attention to a Chronicle report on new rules being requested by the Houston Public Library.
Yesterday, KHOU-11's Dan Lauck also reported on the matter:
The library house rules haven't officially been changed since 1981.
"Quite a bit has changed since then," says the Houston Public Library's Sandra Fernandez.
The homeless, for example, in 1981 didn't view the city library as a public shower.
Now, some do.
"Unfortunately, a few get carried away," says patron Mike Kane.
"They're washing clothes in the sink," says patron Thomas Goutier, "Y'know, dirty socks."
Kane and Goutier come to the central library a couple days a week to read or use the Internet. They've seen the change.
"There was one gentleman who'd go upstairs and it looked like he'd take a full bath up there," says Kane. "I saw him do it several times, and I was not too enthused about it."
It was for the vast majority of its patrons that library officials decided to officially prohibit anyone from using the restrooms for bathing, shaving and changing clothes. .
City councilman Gordon Quan said he is concerned about the way the homeless will be treated if the new rules pass city council Wednesday.
At some point, it seems likely that a court will rule that the homeless have a right to bathe, wash clothes, and otherwise abuse the library facilities generously provided by taxpayers. In the meantime, they seem to have Councilmember Quan as their advocate.
UPDATE (04-27-2005): Council passed the new rules for the libraries. The full list of rules is available here (in PDF format).
UPDATE (04-29-2005): Laurence Simon takes apart the contentions of councilmember Ada Edwards, who opposed the new rules.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/26/05 09:30 PM |
24 April 2005
Food and drink roundup (04-24-2005 edition)
We skipped the food and drink roundup last week, so this installment will include a few extra links.
Alison Cook checked out Romero's Las Brazas located on Highway 6 in far northwest Houston, and found the restaurant to be a real gem. This week, she stayed close to downtown and gave Jenni's Noodle House another try.
Last week, Robb Walsh gave us his opinion of Pronto Cucinino, the area's newest entry in the fast-casual market. This week, he headed over to the city's west side to try Yanti's Restaurant & Bar, and we get another one of his informative cuisine lessons in the process.
Ken Hoffman gives Domino's new American Classic Cheeseburger Pizza a try.
And finally, Mr. C's Irish Pub gets reviewed by the Chron's Lance Scott Walker.
Posted by Callie Markantonis @ 04/24/05 09:47 PM |
23 April 2005
Houston International Festival returns to downtown
In the Houston Press, John Nova Lomax is highly critical of the festival's music bookings. Although Taj Mahal is a rare treat for Houstonians, I'm inclined to agree with Lomax -- especially with regard to the booking of Texas and regional alt-country acts. The festival once shined in booking up-and-comers in that genre and getting them exposure. That doesn't appear to be the case this year.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/23/05 09:16 AM |
20 April 2005
Robb Walsh wins Bert Greene Award
Congratulations are in order to Houston Press food critic Robb Walsh, who was announced last weekend as a winner of the 2005 Bert Greene Award, given annually by International Association of Culinary Professionals.
His 2004 column, Sex, Death, and Oysters, won the organization's award in the newspaper category.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/20/05 09:01 AM |
09 April 2005
Food and drink roundup (catching up edition)
I've neglected the food and drink roundup for a couple of weeks now, so tonight is catch-up time.
Robb Walsh has been trying out the Philly cheese steaks at South Philly Steaks near the UH main campus, and the Korean cuisine of Sharpstown's Sam Bo Jung.
Alison Cook checks in on the much hyped Noé by the much hyped Robert Gadsby, and also checks out La Parmigiana in Cypress.
And finally, Ken Hoffman reviews two new ways for The Fat City to get even fatter: Burger King's Enormous Omelet Sandwich, and Dairy Queen's new CheeseQuake Blizzards.
Enjoy!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/09/05 11:06 PM |
06 April 2005
Restoring the Warwick
Last week, Tom Kirkendall called attention to the purchase of the Warwick Hotel by the owners of Hotel ZaZa in Dallas.
The Warwick is a Houston institution that generates warm thoughts among many longtime Houstonians. Here's hoping (along with Kirkendall) that the new owners will invest in restoring the Warwick to a place of preeminence.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/06/05 08:07 AM |
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