Dining and Entertainment
Where’s the best Pizza?
July 12th, 2010 categories: Dining and Entertainment
There are numerous criteria in which you can judge pizza including its … crust, style (NY, Chicago, deep dish, brick oven), toppings (variety, quality, quantity, distribution, proportion), value, and the atmosphere its served in.
Where’s the best pizza in the Spring Texas area? In my opinion, the best all around pizza is served at Grotto’s.
Grotto’s pizza is baked in a brick oven and the result is a crisp yet soft crust. Crisp enough to have some crunch while yet soft enough that you need to fold the pizza for the first couple of bites to prevent the toppings from falling off. The toppings are evenly distributed and balanced so that one ingredient doesn’t over power the rest.
During Grotto’s Happy Hour which is Monday – Friday 3 – 7 pm the pizzas are $6 which is an excellent value for a high quality pizza. The happy hours prices are only honored in the bar area. The atmosphere is friendly and upscale. But if you are looking for a place to have a romantic, quiet dinner this is not the place. As the restaurant can get quite loud during peak dining times.
In the Spring Texas area, we have enough pizza joints both chain and local establishments to satisfy whatever your personal criteria are for the best pizza. You can find out the favorite pizza of other Spring Texas residents at Yelp.
Due to the FTC regulations requiring bloggers to disclose any freebies or payments they receive for reviewing products I include the following:
Disclosure: Grotto’s has not paid me to write this post about their pizza nor have they promised me free pizza or drinks.
Read also:
- Who has the best cheese fries?
- Where to get great oysters on the half shell
- Who has the best Mexican food in Spring Texas?
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Who has the best cheese fries in Spring Texas?
January 24th, 2010 categories: Dining and Entertainment
Cheese fries have to be the best pig out and comfort food of all time. They probably have a gazillion calories and a high percentage of fat content but they are so good that I don’t know how anybody could resist them. At least not all the time.
If you are going to eat cheese fries you want them to be really good otherwise they are just wasted calories. A good example of wasted calories is Sonic’s cheese fries. Their cheese fries are limp fries with a small amount of cheese sauce on top. After you have eaten the first layer all the cheese is gone and all that remains are fries. Even the fries with the cheese are not that good.
So who has the best cheese fries in Spring Texas? Cheddars. Before Cheddars opened its doors for business at 21001 Interstate 45 in Spring Texas in spring of 2009, Outback Steakhouse had the best cheese fries. But that was in the past and now the best cheese fries are at Cheddars.
What makes Cheddar’s cheese fries so great? For starters, you get a lot of cheese fries for a very reasonable price of $5.99. But price isn’t everything. If they don’t taste great, it doesn’t matter how reasonable the price is.
The fries part of the cheese fries are crispy and thin but not too thin like Steak n Shake’s fries. Next they are covered with two types of melted cheese. Not cheese sauce but melted cheese. Plus there is enough cheese to have cheese with the first layer of fries and the bottom layer of fries. Then they are topped with crispy bacon and served with ranch dressing.
Crispy fries with enough melted cheese to cover all of the fries with crispy bacon and ranch dressing makes Cheddars the place for the best cheese fries in Spring Texas.
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Where to get great oysters on the half shell
December 6th, 2009 categories: Dining and Entertainment
Oysters on the half shell … it seems either people love them or think they are slimy inedible objects. I am one of those people who love, love, love oysters on the half shell.
Finding reasonably priced and good oysters on the half shell in Spring Texas is not quite as difficult as finding a pearl in an oyster but its close.
My search for good oysters on the half shell has ended with my recent discovery at Pappadeaux. On the criteria of taste, size, and price, they receive all “10″s from me.
The oysters are the right combination of silkiness and grittiness and are accompanied by the traditional cocktail sauce and a ponzu sauce. Their size vary from small to large. The Texas gulf oysters are currently on Pappadeaux’s menu at a can’t be beat price of $3.95 a dozen. A great price especially for the quality of the oysters.
Pappadeaux’s has two locations within 12 miles of my house in Spring Texas. Because of its upscale atmosphere my favorite of the two location is the Woodlands location at 18165 I45 Shenandoah TX 77385.
Just before I slurped them down, I took a photo of one of the two dozen oysters I enjoyed on our recent visit to Pappadeaux’s. The photo was taken with my iPhone so the the picture does not do the oysters justice.
Great oysters on the half shell at Pappadeaux is another reason to live in Spring Texas.
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Due to the new FTC regulations requiring bloggers to disclose any freebies or payments they receive for reviewing products I include the following:
Disclosure: Pappadeaux’s has not paid me to write this post about their oysters nor have they promised me any free oysters. Bummer!
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Who has the best Mexican food in Spring Texas?
July 24th, 2009 categories: Dining and Entertainment
I have heard that to true purists there is a difference between Mexican and Tex/Mex food, but this Gringo certainly does not know what it is. What I do know is what I like and what I like are cold, frozen margaritas, crisp chips, chunky red salsa, creamy green salsa, tasty fajitas, and loaded nachos. These are the criteria by which I rate all Mexican restaurants.
I can not claim to have eaten at all of the numerous and I do mean numerous Mexican restaurants located in and around Spring Texas but I have eaten at enough of them to know which are the best.
Here’s my list of the best Mexican / Tex/Mex restaurant for each of the following categories:
Best Happy Hour: Chuy’s- $3.50 Margaritas and a FREE loaded nacho car from 4 – 7 pm weekdays is why Chuy’s has the best happy hour(s).
Best Creamy Green Sauce: Chuy’s - If you like ranch dressing with a kick this addictive sauce is for you.
Best Red Salsa: Pappasitos
Best Chips: Chuy’s
Best Frozen Margaritas: Chuy’s
Best single chip Nachos: Pappasitos
Best bar atmosphere: Gringo’s
Best Fajitas: Pappasitos – The meat is so tender it almost melts in your mouth.
Best overall Mexican restaurant: Pappasitos
Who do you think has the best Tex/Mex or Mexican food in the Spring Texas area?
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FREE FOOD at Chipotle
June 12th, 2009 categories: Dining and Entertainment
The new Chipotle restaurant at 10905 Louetta on the North side of HEB Vintage Market is getting ready for its grand opening on June 19th, 2009.
As a business promotion and to introduce itself to the community Chipotle is going to give away FREE FOOD on June 17th. The particulars on the FREE FOOD are an entree, chips, and a drink for everyone that stops by on June 17th from 11 am to 7 pm.
Chipotle’s FREE FOOD promotion sounds like a great way to introduce its products to the people. But wait didn’t another company have a similar promotion recently that back fired?
Yes. That’s right. Just last month to introduce its new grilled chicken KFC ran a FREE FOOD promotion on the Oprah Winfrey show. The only problem was the demand was much greater than KFC had anticipated and they stopped accepting the coupon for the FREE FOOD. The promotion turned into a PR nightmare for KFC.
On two separate occasions, Rick and I went to a local KFC restaurant in Spring Texas to redeem our coupon for FREE FOOD and on both occasions we left hungry. On the first visit we were told the wait was over one hour so we left. On our second visit we were told due to overwhelming demand KFC was no longer accepting the coupon. Again we left without any FREE FOOD and we have not been back since.
Our Spring Texas Real Estate blog is not nearly as popular as the Oprah Winfrey Show so I figure it is safe to spread the word about Chipotle’s FREE FOOD promotion. But if due to overwhelming demand you don’t receive any free food, please still use our real estate services and don’t boycott us.
As for Rick and I, we are going to wait a couple of weeks before visiting Chipotle’s new restaurant and when we do visit we will just pay for our food. So there will be no FREE FOOD for us this time. Wait a minute, come to think of it we didn’t get any FREE FOOD at the last FREE FOOD promotion either.
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Pizza Fusion OPENS at Vintage Park
January 28th, 2009 categories: Dining and Entertainment
On a recent Tuesday evening, Rick and I visited the newly opened Pizza Fusion at Vintage Park. We specifically chose a Tuesday evening because on Tuesdays and Thursdays Pizza Fusion has a $7 bottle of wine promotion. And these days the price of wine in a restaurant usually runs $7 a glass NOT a bottle.
At 7pm, we arrived hungry for pizza and thirsty for cheap and hopefully good wine. What we were not expecting was a packed house. All of the tables were full and so were the seats at the bar. But since we were determined, we gave them our name with hopes of a seat opening up within 30 minutes. To keep our minds off the delicious looking pizza, we departed to run an errand. Upon our return, the restaurant’s tables were still packed but we found several seats available at the bar and we quickly proceeded to snag ourselves a place.
We asked our waiter / bartender about the $7 bottle of wine special and he said they have Red and White wine available. Since we were going to have pizza, we chose the Red wine which was a Merlot. Then our waiter provided us with a menu and asked if it was our first visit to Pizza Fusion. We said “yes” and he proceeded to tell us the Pizza Fusion story. And boy did we have a lot to learn.
The owner of the Pizza Fusion frachise at Vintage Park is Chris Toman, a local Klein High School graduate. As the story goes Chris wanted to open his own business and Chris’s wife is passionate about recyling and organic foods. Thus the idea came to Chris to try to integrate his wife’s passion into his new business. Chris did his research and decided to open a Pizza Fusion franchise which is the first location in the State of Texas.
Pizza Fusion is a full-service restaurant specializing in organic, vegan and glutten-free pizzas. They use the freshest all-natural organic ingredients from the toppings to the sauce to the dougn for their pizzas. And the pizza dough is also glutten-free.
In addition to preparing healthy food for their customers, Pizza Fusion is also serious about the environment which is reflected in their mission statement of “Saving the Earth, One Pizza at a Time!”. One of the many ways Pizza Fusion is helping to save the earth is through the use of only hybrid vehicles for their delivery vehicles.
After hearing the organic and glutten-free story, we were a little apprenehensive as we wondered if the pizza could and would actually taste good or would it taste like we were eating a cardboard box. Since we were still hungry, we thought we would give it a try.
We decided to order a medium (18″x9″) Founder’s Pie. The pizza was on the menu for $16.00 and described as “Naturally raised chicken, organic tomato sauce, Gorgonzola, Mozzarella, Kalamata Olives, and red onions on a multigrain crust”. Even if it was organic the pizza still sounded yummy. We just hoped it would taste yummy too.
After about 15 minutes of watching sports on the 52″ tv screens and sipping a wonderful Merlot (did I mention the wine was organic too), our pizza arrived hot from the oven. It looked delicious with its bubbling cheese and thin crust. And after several bites, we decided that pizza could actually taste delicious and be good for us. And yes we did finish it all. There was nothing left to take home.
We had a wonderful evening filled with good pizza and good wine in an comfortable, casual setting. We want to tell Chris Toman “Thank you for broadening our palates and we will be back to see you again soon”.
Pizza Fusion joins a growing list of new tenants including PotBelly Sandwich Works, Cheeburger Cheeburger, Shogun Grill, Brix Wine Cellars, and Fish City Grill. All who are trying to make a go of it at Vintage Park, an upscale 84 acre mixed use development conveniently located at HWY 249 and Louetta.
It may be too early to consider Pizza Fusion a success, but the cash drawer certainly was ringing up sales the night we visited. So next time you are in the mood for pizza give Pizza Fusion a try. Who knows … you may even be helping to save the Earth.
Pizza Fusion is located at 118 Vintage Park Blvd. Bldg G. Ste A. Houston TX 77070. Their phone number is 281.251.7323.
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Fish City Grill OPENS at Vintage Park
October 16th, 2008 categories: Dining and Entertainment
The other night my husband and I decided to try the Fish City Grill for dinner. The Fish City Grill is located in the recently opened Vintage Park.
All summer long we have been eagerly awaiting the restaurants (Brix Wine Cellars, Cheeburger Cheeburger, Fish City Grill, Shogun Restaurant, Mia Bella, Peli Peli, and Pizza Fusion) to open their doors for business in the Vintage Park shopping village. Currently Potbelly Sandwich Works, Cheeburger Cheeburger, and now Fish City Grill are all open.
Fish City Grill is the first restaurant to open in Vintage Park’s Piazza. The Piazza was designed to be reminscent of an Italian shopping promenade with dramatic landscaping and fountains to be enjoyed by diners dining al fresco.
About the restaurant ….
My first impression of the interior of the restaurant was “this has a warm cozy feel”. In addition to a small bar with pendant lighting and a couple of TVs, are 10 booths and 10 tables. There was sufficient room between the booths and the tables to carry on a conversation without the diners at the next table hearing every word.
About the wait staff …..
The wait staff were friendly and attentive and seemed to enjoy their jobs.
Their uniforms included black Fish City Grill t-shirts. Printed on the back of the t-shirts was the phrase ”Due to intense wine thoughts all thoughts are temporarily grounded” or “If you are drinking to forget please pay in advance”.
About the food …..
Since it was our first time dining at Fish City Grill we asked our waitress for a suggestion. Our waitress said she didn’t eat seafood so the dish she recommended on the menu was the Louisiana Pot Roast. My husband and I thought this was a bit odd because why would anyone who does not like seafood work in a seafood restaurant?
That left us on our own for selections so we decided on some starters first in order to give us more time to consider the menu options.
The Fish City Grill started us off with a FREE sample of their Oyster Nachos which is a speciality of the house. We each received a tortilla chip with a fried oyster that was topped with chipotle tarter sauce and pico de gallo. The only improvement this dish needs is a replacement of the tortilla chips. They were round, lacking flavor and distracted from the fresh flavors of the other ingredients.
Off the Starters menu we ordered Fried Pickles, crisp dill slices served with ranch dressing for $4.59. I tried my first fried pickles about 5 years ago at B.B. King’s restaurant in Memphis TN and immediately fell in love with fried pickles. The Fish City Grill served us an enormous platter of thin and crispy pickles that we would definitely order again.
For our entrees, I chose a house salad with Blue Cheese dressing. I probably should have chosen something else but after all the fried pickles I really wasn’t very hungry. The salad was fine just “nothing to write home about” as my mother would say. It was crisp, fresh and a decent size for the $2.99 price.
My husband chose the eight piece fried Oyster Dinner that was served with apple cider slaw and new potatoes for $8.99. He said his food was “Great” and he did finish the meal without any assistance from me. He thought the new potatoes could be better and not so plain if they were kicked up a notch with some Cajun or Old Bay seasonings.
Next time we are going to order off of the Daily Chalkboard Specials and maybe try something that’s not fried.
Check out the Fish City Grill for yourself and let us know what you think by coming back and posting your own review in the comments section below.
Fish City Grill is located at 110 Vintage Park Blvd Ste Q Houston TX 77070. Their phone number is 832.717.4742. If you would like to view Fish City Grill’s menu before you go click here.
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Recently opened Vintage Park announces Summer Events
July 29th, 2008 categories: Dining and Entertainment, Events and Activities
Vintage Park, an upscale town center shopping center, announces its first Summer Events schedule. On the following Saturdays, August 2 and 16, September 13 and 20 from 4 – 6 pm enjoy live music plus additional entertainment for the kids at Vintage Park.
The recently opened Vintage Park is located at the HWY 249 and Louetta intersection in Northwest Houston. Careful attention to detail has been paid in the construction of the Mediterranean architecture structure including hand-laid pavers, stone columns, clay tile roofs, and hand painted murals.
Vintage Park’s first tenant of Potbelly Sandwich Works opened its doors in December of 2007. Since then construction has been completed on additional buildings with more tenants moving in including Imagination Toys and Shoes, Eminence Fine Furniture, Starbucks, Alan Murphy Salons. And its newest tenant Cheeburger Cheeburger.
A good old-fashioned Cheeburger and malt in a replicated 50s and 60s diner is waiting to be enjoyed by you at Cheeburger Cheeburger. This is Cheeburger Cheeburger’s first location in the great State of Texas and we are proud for it to be located in Houston.
The center of activity at Vintage Park is certain to occur in its Piazza. Designed to be reminiscent of an Italian shopping promenade with dramatic landscaping and fountains to be enjoyed al fresco by diners. None of the restaurants overlooking the Piazza are open as of yet. Mia Bella an Italian restaurant has secured space at one corner of the Piazza. Shogun a Japanese restaurant will occupy space in the opposite corner of the Piazza.
I can’t think of too many better things to do on a Friday night than having an enjoyable dinner in a wonderful atmosphere with my husband. So if you are one of the workers working on this project, please hurry up and finish. Because I am hungry and am ready to eat.
If you want a quick drive home after a night of shopping and dining at Vintage Park consider the neighborhoods of Champion Forest, Champion Woods, Memorial Northwest, and Gleannloch Farms. They are all within a short 10 minute drive. Begin your search for Spring Texas homes and discover the great homes available in these and other neighborhoods. If you have questions or are ready to begin viewing homes, give us a call at 281.300.3141 or 281.804.8626.
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55 Degreez Wine Bar opens in Spring TX
March 10th, 2008 categories: Dining and Entertainment
Without any fanfare and only a large Now OPEN banner, 55 Degreez Wine Bar has quietly opened in Spring TX. I was immediately curious about what was behind the darkened windows of its mysterious store front.
After I walked in and was able to adjust my eyes from the bright sunshine to the darkened bar I was amazed. I thought for sure that I had just been transported from Spring TX to a hip, cool wine bar in downtown Houston and the lack of a TV told me that this was NO sports bar.
The interior is decorated in a Moroccan theme with plush fabric draped on the ceiling, red chairs, and a L shaped granite counter top. The bar’s lighting of pendants, glittery chandeliers, and tea lights sets the mood for an evening of casual conversation while enjoying the nuances of wine.
My husband and I sat down at the bar and perused the extensive selections of wine by the glass. Unable to make a decision on an individual glass, we both opted to have a wine flight. A wine flight is a 2 ounce pour of 3 different wines of the same style for $15.
My husband chose a Merlot and I chose a Pinot Noir flight. I was served a pinot noir from Oregon, Napa Valley, and France. The mixture of tannins and blackberries in the Napa Valley Pinot made it my favorite of the three.
55 Degreez has a nice selection of what they call “Small Plates”. The Small Plates range in price from $7 to $15. Cheese plate with house artisan cheeses with olive oil bread, grits and shrimp, mac & cheese, and crab cake are just a few of the selections.
My husband decided on the Sliders for $9 which were described as sirloin mini burgers with smoked tomato and confit truffle cheese and apple smoked bacon. I on the other hand chose the Pizza for $11 which was described as a sausage, shaved garlic, smoked tomato sauce and red pepper pizza.
Upon the arrival of our food selections, I instantly knew that my husband had made a better choice than me. On a stainless rectangular plate, he was served two small sirloin burgers on fluffy buns with a side of crispy golden fries wrapped in a white cone and placed in a stainless vase. In between bites, I asked him to describe the food and he simply said “Yummy”.
My sausage pizza on the other hand was less than memorable. The crust had the distinct taste of cardboard and I was more than disappointed because this was no gourmet pizza. The $0.99 frozen grocery store pizzas tasted better.
Would I be back again to visit? Absolutely. But next time I will be ordering the Sliders.
55 Degreez Wine Bar is located between Starbucks and Fuji Hana in the HEB Shopping Plaza at 7316 Louetta in Spring TX. Their hours of operation are Tuesday – Thursday 2 – 10 pm, Friday 2 – midnight, and Saturday 1 – midnight.
Stop in on Friday or Saturday for their Happy Hour from 5 – 7 pm and then stick around for the live Jazz that performs from 8 – 11 pm.
The Wine Bar is located within 5 minutes of the heavy wooded and established Spring Texas neighborhoods of Memorial Northwest, Champion Forest, and Wimbledon.
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Area Chef competes on Food Network’s Iron Chef program
January 24th, 2008 categories: Dining and Entertainment
Kent Rathburn, the chef at Jasper’s in the Woodlands, Texas, has just completed one of the most stressful shows of his life. The local chef recently competed in the Iron Chef America program on the Food Network. In the ever popular, Iron Chef program, world class chefs battle the legendary Iron Chefs of America: Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, Masaharu Morimoto and Cat Cora. 
Its all hush, hush on which Iron Chef Mr. Rathburn chose to compete against, what the secret ingredient was, and who was the winner of the competition. We will just have to tune in for the airing of the program at 8 pm CST on February 24th to find out “Whose cuisine reigns supreme”.
Jasper’s, which describes its cuisine as Gourmet Backyard, is hosting several events in conjunction with the airing of the program. On February 24th, Jasper’s will be hosting a “watch” party in the restaurant’s bar, located at 9595 Six Pines Drive. Attendees can sample complimentary hors d’oeuvres.
For the ultimate dining experience tie-in for the airing of the Iron Chef America program, consider making reservations for a six-course dinner on February 25th at 6:30 pm. The dinner will be hosted by Chef Kent Rathburn, Randy Woolridge of Quintessa and Steve Raszkin of Silver Oak. Diners will feast on dishes featured on the program. The price is $125 per person plus tax and 20% gratuity.
Reservations can be made be contacting Donna Tanner at 866.953.3111 or donnat@abacus-restaurant.com.
And the winner is…….
I was not able to catch the original airing but I was fortunate enough to catch a later airing of the program. Now for the details and results on the battle between Kent Rathburn and his brother Kevin against the Iron Chef:
Iron Chef: Bobby Flay
Secret Ingredient: Elk
Both competitors prepared 5 dishes. Bobby Flay’s dishes were 1) Elk with mint, carrots, and haberno 2) Elk osco bucco with tomatoes 3) Texas style elk burger with barbecue sauce 4) Spice crusted elk tenderloin with a gratin of cheese and quail egg and 5) Elk rib-eye with fig sauce, tomatoes, and chili.
The Rathburn brothers dishes were 1) Elk carpaccio with peaches 2) Seared medium rare chili rubbed elk tenderloin with sweet potatoes and queso 3) Elk meatballs with cabbage and sage 4) Fajita marinated elk loin and 5) Manchego gougeres stuffed elk liver.
Winner: Kent Rathburn and his brother Kevin beat Bobby Flay with a score of 50 to 46. They tied on presentation and originality and won in the taste category. Congratulations Rathburn brothers!
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