Les Givral's Kahve

This is pho.



Pho is complicated stuff. It's a Vietnamese soup/stew comprised of clear broth, rice noodles, meat, onions and various aromatic herbs. Don't let that simple description fool you; there's a lot going on in a good pho. And the pho at Les Givral's on Washington is great.

First, a note on atmosphere. Les Givral's is eclectic. There's just no other way to put it. Take, for example, this thing built around the doorway separating the dining room from the counter:



I don't know what this is, but it's there and it works. That's kind of how the food is too.

I don't know what exactly goes into the broth that the pho is built on. It smells slightly like nutmeg. The soup is served with a large plate of extras, some that I recognized: basil, cilantro, lime, jalapeno, bean sprouts. I decided to go for it and chucked a bit of everything into the bowl. What resulted was a beautifully synchronous chaos. Any given bite might be spicy, or sour, or savory, but together it was all very tasty.

Pho is also surprisingly filling. I ate a little over half the bowl before I felt full. My only complaint is that the sliced chicken that they use in their pho is a little hard to eat. Shredded chicken -- the kind used on the sandwiches -- might be easier to eat with a spoon. That minor complaint aside, you're not going to find such a satisfying and nutritious meal for $6.45 anywhere else in the city.

My husband had a sandwich with barbecued pork. Like the pho, the sandwiches are packed with fresh ingredients (carrot, cucumber, hot peppers) and are very affordable ($2.75 ... I'm not kidding). However, they're a little dry for my American/must-have-mayonnaise taste, so I'd rather stick with the pho.

Les Givrals is a must-do if you're on Washington Avenue around lunchtime. Word to the wise: if you're going for lunch, go early. We arrived at 11:40, walked up to the counter, and had the food delivered to our table fresh and hot in ten minutes. When we left at 12:30, the line for food was literally winding out the door. People are starting to catch onto this little gem of a place.

Porch Swing Pub

Yet another place I wasn't planning on eating ...

A small group of friends and I went out on Saturday night, looking for another bar that I had visited once before. Unfortunately the parking situation around that place was no good, so we headed to the Porch Swing Pub.

The seating at Porch Swing can't be beat. Outside there are two large, semi-covered patios with at least 4 big screen TVs. Inside, there is a very nice bar with some tables, pool tables, and more TVs. Even the ladies room was large and clean. This was definitely one of the nicer sports bars I've ever been to.

My girlfriend and I both had grilled buffalo chicken sandwiches.



The chicken was all white meat, with a slightly spicy sauce that was cooled down by lettuce, tomato and blue cheese dressing. Everything tasted fresh and well-cooked, and the fries were nice and crispy. Was it anything special? Not really. Was it good bar food at a very decent price? Yes.

Our server was a friendly college-age girl who was doing a very good job handling a large crowd. Everyone seemed well-meaning and happy, even when it started to lightly rain. My only complaint is that Porch Swing delivers exactly what it advertises: every TV had a college football game on, and therefore my husband and my friend's boyfriend were pretty much MIA the entire time. Overall, Porch Swing is a very nice college/sports bar with great outdoor seating, but it's probably not the place to go if you want to spend any time with your men.

Daily Grill

I didn't really want to have dinner at The Daily Grill. We were in the Houston Galleria on a Tuesday night, and the restaurant I wanted to eat at was empty. For some reason, being the only person in a restaurant makes me uncomfortable, so we sought out food elsewhere and kind of stumbled upon Daily Grill.

I started my meal with a pomegranate martini. My drink tasted more like juice than alcohol, but it must be loaded with it, since it cost $13. To pay that much for a mixed drink you have to be a little tipsy. Fine drink, but not worth it.

My meal was far better. I was craving fish, so I got the fish and chips.



The fish was lightly breaded and fork-tender. It was served with lemon wedges and vinegar (which I didn't even have to ask for) and serviceable french fries. Very satisfying meal. My husband had a ribeye and he was very happy with it as well.

We decided to have a dessert at our waiter's suggestion. We shared the strawberry shortcake. The chef was very generous with his strawberries and real, fresh whipped cream, but the real standout of the dish was the extremely flavorful strawberry syrup that lined the bottom of the bowl. Truly heavenly, it more than made up for the fact that the biscuit was a little too thick and too dry.

Service at The Daily Grill is exemplary. Our server was attentive and helpful without being pushy. There were a lot of little touches we weren't expecting: the server scraped bread crumbs off of our table with a knife, the manager came by to check on how we were doing, the bus boys quickly moved used and empty plates almost as soon as we were done with them. As far as service was concerned, The Daily Grill is more like a fine dining restaurant than a place in a mall.

Unfortunately, The Daily Grill also forgets that it's in a mall when it comes to prices. Everything was just a little too expensive (except, of course, for my $13 drink, which was MUCH too expensive). Don't get me wrong -- the food here is good. I just don't think that The Daily Grill will be my first choice from now on when I'm shopping and need something to eat. Chances are, if I'm in the mall, I've probably spent too much already to afford a pricey meal. And at $13 a pop, I'll NEVER be able to drink enough to justify it to myself.

Taco Milagro

I wanted to try Taco Milagro because to its name alone. Miracle Taco? Really? That takes cojones. I was all for it.

The outside seating area at Taco Milagro is fantastic. There are tons of tables arranged around a very nice pool. Unlike most other outdoor eateries this time of year, we had no trouble finding someplace to sit. It was a beautiful Friday night, and all kinds of people were there: men in business suits; families with small children; nervous-looking first dates. The people watching and fabulous weather alone were worth the price of dinner, which is a good thing, since the food wasn't.

Let's start with the margaritas. Taco Milagro has a full bar inside, but if you order a margarita with dinner, it comes out of a big vat behind the counter, the kind that other places use to serve sweet tea. I went in with the belief that the best margaritas were usually made, at the very most, by the blender-full. I left with that belief intact. My margarita just wasn't very good.

My husband ordered a mango margarita. I made fun of him for it, but his drink was actually much better than mine (and prettier too):



For dinner I went with one of my staples, bean burritos. This is what I got:



Nice to look at, but unfortunately these tasted exactly like the burritos I make at home (when I spread canned refried beans on tortillas and microwave them). The rice and beans on the side were very good, but let's face it -- no one goes out to dinner just to have rice and beans. It just felt like very little effort went into the food at all, from conceptualization to the actual ingredients, and that's always disappointing.

Overall, this was the kind of Mexican food you might get in the "Mexican Village" section of an amusement park. It was edible, but it wasn't authentic, and it certainly wasn't memorable. In a town full of great Tex-Mex, those kind of offenses are pretty much unforgivable. The only real stand-out here was the Mango Margarita, which hinted at how good this place could be, if only they would try just a little harder.

Berry Hill

Berry Hill's original location is located within walking distance of our home, but that's not why I love it. I love it because of this:



Berry's Hill Original Fish Taco is not the best fish taco I've ever had. It's the best taco, period. It's about as simple as you can imagine: two flour tortillas wrapped around battered fish, shredded red cabbage, cilantro and a "special sauce" that may or may not have addictive properties. Be forewarned: if you order one, you'll be back for more. Pair it with a beer, or one of Berry Hill's very decent margaritas, and you have the best little meal you could ask for.

Berry Hill has lots of outdoor seating on a very nice covered patio (with plastic walls that pull down when it rains). Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of seating inside, and there's sometimes a funky sewage smell that lingers around. Nothing that prevents you from eating, but in the interest of full disclosure, I felt like I would put that out there.

The Counter

The Counter is a brand-new burger joint in the building where my husband works. The concept seems to be a futuristic diner. The walls are white and light blue, with stainless steel tables and chairs and round hanging lights. A very inviting bar takes up a large portion of the front of the room, and there is a small patio outside (although on a beautiful day like today, you probably won't be able to find a seat on it).

The ordering process at The Counter is clever. After you're seated, the hostess gives you an order form to fill out, and then you hand it to the waitress. They call it "BYOB: Build Your Own Burger", and the selection of toppings and sauces is huge.



The possibilities for building your burger are pretty much endless, but I wanted to taste (and review) the burger, so I kept my toppings simple: bean sprouts, mayonnaise, tomato and lettuce on a multigrain bun.



Let me start by saying that I made two mistakes here. First, I ordered my burger cooked medium, and the center was so pink that I didn't feel comfortable eating it. My husband ordered his medium-well and the color was much more appetizing.

Second, I didn't order a regular hamburger roll. My roll was too thick and tasted like it wasn't quite fresh. Not stale, but not the soft roll I was expecting. Again, my husband went the sensible route here and got a regular hamburger bun, which was a much better choice.

That said, I didn't love this burger. It wasn't juicy at all, which didn't help the bun. I couldn't eat a large portion of the middle because it was undercooked. The sides of the burger, which were well cooked, were tasty, but I didn't feel the love in this burger. It wasn't terrible. But it just ... wasn't great.

In a way, The Counter reminds me of something I saw on Top Chef a few years ago. It was restaurant wars, and one of the teams decided to do a "high class diner" featuring "the best burger you've ever had." The judges didn't think that their burger was the best burger they had ever had. You know why? Because the best burger you'll ever have won't be cooked in a trendy, clean, high-concept place in a brand-new building. The best burger you'll ever have will be cooked on a dirty griddle in the back of a little shack in a small town somewhere.

The concept and styling of The Counter are very cool. But the food can't live up to the concept, and that's never a good thing.