Reunited

Back from vacation this past week and priority scheduled Twist for lunch. I admit I did text him some of the more significant events during our trip, but still needed a welcome back lunch.

Settled on Warren's. something about it was different. Couldn't decide in what exactly. Finally agreed that maybe it was cleaner?  Twist went for the special; chicken sandwich. I had an off the "menu" grilled cheese. Warrens is the only place I have found to date that can do a grilled cheese right. I.e. not with a panini press. Plus they have good pickles. 

What's to say. It was a nice grilled cheese. The mushroom soup of the day also delightful. I would even go so far as to say it was homemade? Had a kick and fresh mushrooms. Another bonus: iced tea was not brown but a lovely orange the way it should be. 

Had a nice chat. Good to be back. 

3.5 recommended. 

Curry Madness

Field trip with Twist!  I am always jonesing for Indian and Twist suggested Ponticheri in Upper Kirby. Another Awesome co-worker find. Even though she wasn't there is person she was there in spirit. Awesome had her baby and is currently having lunches daily with Awesome Baby. Mazel tov!!

So first up. I was loving this place. Great decor and vibe. You walk in and are greeted by a delicious and lovely baked good counter. Note the gorgeous rainbow toasty thing with heirloom tomatoes.

And it smells great there too. So I didn't know what Frankies were and ordered an okra one that sounded awesome. But then I got it and it was a wrap. Still good but I was wanting something to dip naan in.  My fault. I'll know next time. I also got an order of samosas and naan.

Samosa was spinach with some paneer. Mmmmm. Heaven. Nice crispy outside.  Good curry. You only get two which is kind of a bummer. Three would be good.  For $7 2 doesn't really seem like good value.

The okra Frankie above unwrapped. This was spi-cy. Nice mix of tomato and okra. I wasn't in love with the sweet chutney but it was ok. My preference would have been for some tomato kind of sauce.  I was expecting something like sauteed like a masala just put in a naan wrapper.  This was a little dry as is.   I needed it saucier overall. But nice crunch and flavors. You want to know what was good? The omelette Twist had was wonderful. Nice grill flavor on the meat. Good mushrooms and tomato here too. Super good portion. He ate it all. 

Kitchen sink omelette

After we got back Ducky Momo gave me the what for for going to Pondicheri without him.  Based on one reference to Fried Chicken Tuesday Dinners I was supposed to know that he wanted to eat there.  Go Figure.  However, I would go back any day of the week.  I am always on the prowl for Indian food.

 

Good debrief with Twist.  Caught up on lots of office news and gossip.

 

Pondicheri, is a 4 microwave and recommended

 

 

Something New . . . .

Still busy as hell today but had time for lunch that was from somewhere other than downstairs.  Turned out that some people went to lunch without even bothering to see if I might want something or want to go.  Twist also unavailable tied up with something and working through lunch.  Bummer.

Not sure how I came up with this but wound up ordering take out online from Bombay Pizza Co.  Went there once, geez, probably 2 years ago and liked it but it seems no one else does and no one goes there anymore.  Got a paneer kati roll with mint cilantro chuntney (way better than it sounds).

SO HAPPY!  Loved my roll.  Although half way through found a hidden pocket of rogue cilantro and had to go in and do a surgical strike to remove most of it.  Mental note: when getting again ask for light or no cilantro.  Again people, A LITTLE GOES A LONG WAY.  And I mean a long long way, like into next week.

Naan was good, paneer was good.  next time I'll try chicken.  Full and happy.  I had looked at desserts when ordering to see if they did mango lassis.  Sadly, no, but surprise! They have lemon bars.  I'll have one please.

Bar turned out to be pretty freaking big.  Great flavor but the consistency is a little chewier than I think it should be.  its not really like pie consistency, its pretty dense filling like someone got carried away with cornstarch or something.  And, actually now that I think about it more vs just eating it I'm starting to get a little gagged by it.  Maybe this is a one off.  I'll have to try it again.

to recap: Paneer roll, awesome! 4 microwaves and recommended.
Lemon bar, meh. could be better.  a 2.5 for now and I'll put a hold on lemon bars until I can revisit and see if they are always like this.  If so they will be NOT recommended.



Update: Accompanied Twist to Wendy's for his lunch and was rewarded with a chocolate Frosty.  How awesome is that? I ate it b/c I had only had like 2 bites of the lemon bar before it started to gross me out.  Feelin' preetty good right now.  On another subject: I can report that I have lost 44 pounds since this time last year.  Few more sessions of boot camp ought to do it.  HOOYAH!

Backstreet's Back . . .

Work lunch today with Twist, Boss Lady, and herbivore co-worker I will dub Veggie Tales. Lunch was an interview with potential hire at Backstreet Cafe off Shepard in River Oaks. Never been there before. Now, I am in love.

Darling patio and charming sun room that opens out to patio made for very pleasant atmosphere. Day before Twist and I had done a menu breakdown both zeroing in on the jambalaya as potential lunch choice. I did, however, say that if there were any seasonal crawfish specials I would have to go that route. Indeed, today's menu included the seasonal crawfish cheesecake. How gross does that sound? Totally, right? I thought so too but my curiosity got the better of me. Even the waiter was like, "wha?" when I ordered. It came with a nice little green side salad that I sucked up. The cheesecake was really more like a quiche but not as eggy. Very light and fluffy. And very freaking AWESOME. I can't even really articulate the symphony of flavors and the execution of this dish other than to just say it was really damn good. Really. The crust was light and flaky. I ate the whole slice and wasn't too stuffed or full. Just the perfect amount. The red pepper sauce it was in was even good and I believe my distaste of red pepper has been well documented here.  It was simply, The Shit.

Twist did in fact follow through on the shrimp and ham jambalaya.  I didn't hear him raving about so will assume that it was ok but not the best until I hear otherwise from him.  Veggie Tales got the lump crab salad.  I toyed with getting that but I just kept thinking it was an actual salad and picturing lots of mayo.  Oh how wrong I was.  Behold:

crab salad

No lettuce and mayo there.  Looks pretty pretty pretty good if you ask me.  I cleaned my plate and felt so good that I decided I would be ordering dessert (by the way, I'm back at aquatic bootcamp so figure I can have dessert if I want to, especially b/c I swam about a mile last night and did umpity-ump push ups and jumping jacks).

bye-bye crawfish cheesecake

I have a pecan pie thing--Backstreet had it on the menu. Boom. Done.  Everyone else was a loser and got no dessert and I didn't offer to share.  Get your own damn pie.  You see it wasn't a slice either.  It was a cute little tart-y pecan pie.  Again- wow.  Perfect toasty pecans!  Good pecan to filling ratio and good filling.  Now, I am a purist and don't like chocolate in my pecan pie.  This did have some stray bits of chocolate so those bites were kind of a bummer, but it wasn't enough to render the whole thing bad or to be too noticeable, which I appreciate.  And, before I forget, may I give my compliments to the pastry chef at Backstreet?  Or whomever makes the pies.  This is far and away some of the best crust I have ever had the pleasure of eating.  Light and flaky, not too rich.  Nice body and set off the filling well.  My personal preference would have been to have a dollop of some vanilla cream or homemade whipped cream on the pie rather than ice cream. but then I don't like ice cream on my pie.  Don't really get it.  Those 2 items should just go separately.  Maybe that's just me.

Pecan pie

All in all I would say the lunch was a rousing success.  Food was awesome, the weather was awesome, the sun room was awesome.  I gave Twist some Wendy's coupons and think I am finally out of the doghouse with him-also awesome.  and it's Friday-awesome!  Oh, and my daughter, Precious Perfect is 3 today.  Not quite as awesome but still pretty cool.  She is my greatest joy and my greatest challenge on a daily basis.  Go listen to Sting's "All Four Seasons in One Day"  that is my kid.  God help us all.  Happy Birthday baby!

I give Backstreet Cafe a 5 and a Hellz yes! Recommended.