if you like Que Huong , try Pho Ngon on Bellaire & Wilcrest. North side.

the menu is not as extensive as QH, but i find the execution often times much much better

I've been. and i recommend you to skip. Terrible.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/8266...

i would not recommend samba grill even for my enemies. been there twice. the food was SLOW and below average twice. not we're-too-busy slow, but unbearably and unexplicably slow. service was good.

2nd time, service was horrible. no settings, no utensils, waiter absent and dismissive, even though the restaurant was not busy. misplaced orders. and the food that did come was again SUB PAR.

not the worst food in houston, but by far the most disappointing

went back to Pho One for lunch today. didnt want to stray too far from the office.

1/2 Shrimp Spring Roll: not the standard order cut in half, but small rolls. shrimp was small and sauteed yellow, not halved or butterflied. never seen it like that. missing that long chive like herb (dont know name).

Pho special took a long time to come out. Inexplicible for a pho restaurant. The menu barely had any meats and thus the same story for the special: had chewy dried out brisket and big chunks of tendon. No tripe, fatty flank, etc - the good stuff.

Herb dish didnt have razorleaf/sawtooth herb!!! But it had cilantro. wtf? The killer however was the broth that came out extremely clear. Barely any fatty bubbles to speak of and thus no body. Ive had watery-er/worse broth, but overall this pho is now down to the bottom quartile to third of my list.

It behooves everyone to take that extra drive down to Bellaire...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mlKYN...

i'd kill for the broth

Himalayas for Pakistani (Hillcroft & 59)

Kirans for upscale british-indian (Westheimer near rail road tracks)

LITTLE SHEEP MONGOLIAN HOTPOT. corner of Fountain View & Westheimer.

This is a chain. But my god is it a glorious chain. The broth is out of this world. I asked for the recipe and they said there's innumerable spices ground into it. I like the combo split-pot of spicy & normal broth because the spicy will do some damage.

They said it is possible to purchase their spice packets, but it is not the exact same as used in the restaurant

mexico's deli has perhaps the best taco not in a taco truck in this city. al pastor is gorgeous.

Christie's... very bland, average food, IMO

Rudi's... not great food, but a great environment. especially on Wednesday with live german music. Beware, they're often PACKED.

Rudy's is consistent and good.
Luling City Market on Richmond (not to be confused with City Market in Luling) is good often.

Pappas and Goode are just crap

Neither are on the level of Franklin's or Louie Muellers... but not many places are.

fantastic stuff.... but the FADI'S across the street is just as good

having had pho in literally hundreds of places... diff cities, states, even countries (poland and uk, interestingly enough)... i cant say Pho One is very special or memorable. probably average or slightly average for all the places in houston. which is unfortunate, because i live around the corner, so its more convenient than bellaire.

its not bad. its just not noteworthy

for my money theres better at pho saigon (bellaire location; there are 3 with the same name in the city), and the one next to HK supermarket in the HK supermarket complex... forgot the name

here is a good writeup of the pressed duck

with accompanying photos

http://fxcuisine.com/default.asp?lang...

i cant watch his show - he is too annoying.

yes, i realize he may not be like that in real life, and his persona is an act to boost rating, but THAT is the very fact that annoys me: his shows are too melodramatic.

why not a butane burner for portable? you can get them for 15 bux with a nice carrying case from a chinese market, or 30 max elsewhere.

ABSOLUTELY try GRILLED OYSTERS.

for raw oysters, i love them plain or with a bit of lemon juice. no tangy cocktail sauce to confuse the taste buds. good oysters has a complex saltiness from the juice/water. bad oysters have no taste... for these perhaps the flavor develop once you start cooking them:

grilling oysters is a matter of throwing them on a grill until they just *start* to open and steam out. you *can eat this plain and theyre great like that, or with a slurry of lemon juice, salt, and pepper. vietnamese people also make this sauce that i simply cant recall its composition..

to respond, the pottery and other wares are reusable. im aware that indians use varaq. (and im no fan of that either). surely the golf and silver are extremely thin, and of trivial actual value. it is just the notion of putting something in the dish for purely ostentacious reasons - like you said - that doesnt gel with my own sensibilities. (one dish, neat, but multiple? very over-the-top)

sorry to get personal. again, everything else looks spectacular, and i wouldnt hesitate to get a seat there if i happen to be around; but theres no such thing as a Perfect meal, right?

food looks great, and seems like you had an awesome time. im partially annoyed and offended at putting gold flakes on food, though. seems like the most pretentious display ever

shame that norwegians have to pay 8$ a beer and dont have much in the way of selection - in restaurants 90% of the time its either ringnes or hansa-borg. sometimes youll find frydenlund. as far as my tastebuds remembered, they pretty much all tasted the same --- 5% pils, neither particularly good or bad.

aass, as mentioned here, is generally considered better, but they have a terribly small market share. in grocery stores you'll be able to find a nicer selection, and you can find styles like julol and bayerol (amber/brown). aass also makes a wheat ale that happens to be very very decent.

now hop on over to sweden and youll find a much nicer selection. i ran through a store and picked a wild 12 pack (not necessarily sweden-exclusive) and liked a few, though their names escapes my mind

i use a 10" saute pan in place of a frying/omelette pan. only difference is straight sides vs sloped/curved. dont need the curve. the saute has a lid; although its shallow sometimes i use it to braise; less chance of spilling liquid when i move it around; etc.. (though really moot points since i just saute on it most of the time)

alton brown has a nice section on the difference materials. without going into the Whys, what it boils down to me is a) never bother with non-stick b) go with anodized alum or cladded stainless steel (layered fully, not just at the base).

i went with an SS for my pan, because its easier to see stuff develop on its surface rather than dark anodized alum. for cooking non-stick, i use my cast iron. its heavier, a bit more unwieldy, takes a tad longer to care for, but its indestructible and good for taking a beating, extreme heat situation, batch browning, etc. plus its CHEAP. so no biggie in procuring an SS and CI pans together. (i end up using both equally)

if granitic materials are indeed formed the bottom of the ocean then we'd also need economic means of recovering this material.

granites are igneous sourced and formed in intrusive plutons so they are/were subject to heat and pressure, but actual formation of granites are results of slowww cooling (allowing time for growth of large visible crystals)...

however, marbles--formerly (sedimentary) limestone deposits--are classified as metamorphic, as are "slates" (noun as well as adjective describing its main attribute)

practically speaking, you are right -- we'd never really "run out" of this stuff. of course with any natural resource there are questions of quality and accessibility

24 years of MSG intake and no migranes.
reading this thread = major headache.

my dad cant tell a sauce pan from a stock pot. the only times that hes ever in front of a stove is to fry an egg on a round alloy cooking vessel. its just an egg, on garlic-infused oil. how come he does it better than i? recently i found out - he sneaks a pinch of those magic granules on it. mmmmm msg

like aelph said - theres only 1 way to find out....

Hi,
Anyone know a good place to get my Messermeister Meridian 10" chef sharpened?

There is a 2-year old thread on here about it, but there seemed to be very little confidence in the responses.

As far as I know, the MM knives have a more acute edge than the common german knives (wustoff, henckels) and i'd rather not some kid throw it for 5 minutes against a grinder...

Do you have other fruit beer recommendations? I've never come across a fruit/berry "flavored" beer that I liked. My bias kept me away from trying the exxxpensive belgiums. Leine is hard to find here and the only style they offer isnt too impressive

among my favorites:

Julius Echter
Live Oak (regional and non-bottled in Texas only)
Weihenstephaner
Schneider Weisse
Koenig Ludwig

slammer here: Aventinus wheat icebock ("eisbock")..12% abv and delicious..from the people who brings you schneider weisse

not a big fan of any american wheat (aside from live oak). doesnt have the body or depth of the germans. also, no lemon wedges in my beer please!! =)

Are there any places in Houston that is similar to FOC but without the price?

Erawan on San Felipe has good Thai
BBQ is Luling city market on Richmond avenue
Mexican.. dont know about authentic.. but cheap fun tex mex is at Chachos on Westheimer

beware:

sandwiches 1) do not come in the original sandwich style (cold meat/"thit nguoi")
2) they are 5$ (2.5x the cost... but 1.5x the length)
3) not a sandwich shop..so itll take longer if youre only there for the sandwiches

if anyone else knows where to get VN sandwiches near the Galleria do post

As recommended, Bellaire is where all the authentic places are. Sinh Sinh, in particular, is good.

There's also some kind of "Palace" place around that area that has very authentic Sichuan. I found it from a search on this website.. give that a shot

being the most prominent "craft" brewer, theyre what people think first when upgrading from the big macros. thus theyre highly regarded by many. similar to the layperson's perspective of a Corvette without regards for the TVRs, Paganis, and Maseratis of the world

Ive given Sam Adams a shot many times. Ive bought different mix packs to try as many as I can, especially when the local marts have a sale.

To me, they just dont have a depth or complexity. The initial mouthfeel is what the style is SUPPOSED to taste like, but then it just continues very flat.

Your Tastebuds may Vary...