Absolve Wine Lounge

My husband and I had a Groupon for Absolve Wine Lounge, so we stopped in on a Saturday afternoon. We like Spanish reds, so we went with a mid-priced bottled from Rioja. The bartender approached our table and told us that he enjoyed another red wine (bugger--I didn't get the name!) more, and offered to give it to us for the same price as our Spanish red. We took him up on his offer and ordered some appetizers.

We started with a customer favorite, meatballs with marinara sauce.



These meatballs were pretty good -- moist and flavorful with a slightly spicy marinara sauce. They weren't as good as my meatballs (as my husband reminded me, I have a terrific meatball recipe, which I never use), but they were inexpensive, paired well with the wine, and certainly beat your typical bar fare.

We had the bruschetta at the same time as the meatballs. To be honest, it was a little bland. Skip it.



We were still a little hungry after the meatballs and bruschetta, so we decided to have some cheese. You get to choose three cheeses off of a pretty impressive list, which are paired with crackers, bread, assorted nuts, grapes and honey. We went with cheddar, cambozola (a blue cheese/brie hybrid) and something called the "Drunken Goat" (a goat cheese cured in red wine). Almost everything on the plate was lovely, although the Drunken Goat didn't have the red wine flavor I was hoping for. Choosing the cheeses and trying something new was fun.



The staff at Absolve could not have been more friendly or accommodating. There was one waitress and one bartender, and except for a dishwasher, who made a brief cameo in the restaurant, they seemed like the only staff on site. I don't know if they have an ownership interest in the place, but they certainly work like they do.

Absolve Wine Lounge is a great place to bring friends or a date. The atmosphere is very quiet and soothing, the wine list is impressive, and the food and the service complete the package. Even without a Groupon, we'll be going back. And that is quite a compliment from a family that loves its Groupons.

Ragin' Cajun

I ate at Ragin' Cajun several weeks ago. I didn't have my camera on me, so our friend snapped a pic with his iPhone, and he didn't send the picture until recently. I'll try to remember as much as I can.

We went on a Sunday afternoon and were a little surprised to find a healthy party crowd. It wasn't super-crowded or rowdy, but there were plenty of people drinking plenty of beer. Seemed like my kind of place.

I had the fried oysters. It was the very end of oyster season -- but I'm pretty sure that Ragin' Cajun serves oysters many ways year-round. My fried oysters were served with a spicy cocktail sauce, fries and hushpuppies. I can't really remember more about them, except that I liked them (as much as I generally like all fried oysters).

Here's what they looked like:



In hindsight, I probably should have ordered something a little more ethnically Cajun. I probably should have also blogged about this while I still had some semblance of a memory of the place. I apologize. I can say this: if you like to drink on a Sunday, Ragin' Cajun is the place for you. And that's enough for me.

El Taco Tote

One thing I've discovered since moving to Houston is my deep and abiding love for breakfast tacos. We didn't really have them in NY, and in Waco I was too busy or tired for breakfast most days. My husband and I have tried a few different places for tacos in Houston, and I can easily say that the best, by far, is El Taco Tote.

(Sorry about the music on their website).**

ETT's breakfast tacos are only $1 apiece and are prepared very quickly using fresh, quality ingredients. You have your choice of a wide variety of fillings: potatoes, eggs, chorizo, beans ... you can pretty much name it. I am not a huge fan of eggs, so my favorite is potatoes and chorizo. The chorizo is stand-out; it's not greasy, too spice, or too bland. Perfect for the morning after a rough night (perhaps at Red Lion). So at the end of the day, my review boils down to this: if you're in the mood for breakfast and you have a dollar and a hangover*, definitely try El Taco Tote.

* Note: Hangover not necessary, but helpful.

** Particularly if you have a hangover.

Capital Grille

How's this for romantic? My husband and I celebrated our first anniversary last Sunday. On Saturday night we ate dinner at The Capital Grille in Houston, the same restaurant that we ate at in Washington DC the night after our wedding. I know, I know, I'll give you a second to do it.

AWWW!

Ok, now that we have that out of the way, let's get to the food.

We started with the carpaccio, a starter we enjoyed last year in DC. This is really one of the most delicious appetizers I've had anywhere. You can taste every flavor clearly: the delicate Waygu beef, the tart lemon vinaigrette, and the spicy arugula salad. The best thing about this carpaccio is that it tasted EXACTLY like the one we had a year ago, so that brought back some great memories. And it's pretty too!



I tried something new for dinner this year: bone-in Kona crusted sirloin with a caramelized shallot butter. The waited recommended it because it is very popular, and the dehydrated shallots in the butter remind him of McDonald's burgers (um...OK.). I didn't let that dissuade me, and I actually really enjoyed this steak.



The meat was cooked PERFECTLY and the Kona crust added a nice smoky flavor and slightly crispy finish. The sauce tasted nothing like a McDonald's burger, but was salty, savory and just a little bit sweet. My only complaint was that the meat had a bit more gristle than I like. Oh, and my husband's order (the porcini rubbed Delmonico) was better. But he ALWAYS orders something better than me, so I wasn't surprised.

We had two side dishes (mashed potatoes and creamed spinach) and a bottle of wine (a 2007 Spanish red, I believe), all of which were predictably wonderful. We also had the berries and cream for dessert, which was a light, fresh, perfect-for-summer finish to our delightful meal.

As for service: our waiter was friendly and accommodating, but he was a large step down from the server we worked with last year in DC. Part of it may just be that we were on our honeymoon last year, and there are lots of good feelings associated with that. Another part of it is that we asked our waiter to check on something for us (whether they had a particular side-dish that we really enjoyed in DC) and he failed to follow through. It may be because we looked pretty young compared to other patrons that night; I feel like servers sometime think younger people can't or won't tip well, or don't know the difference between good service and bad. That may be true of many young people, but it's not true of my husband and I. We were there on a special night, we spent a lot of money, and we expected really good service. That we didn't quite get that is the only (minor) complaint I have about an otherwise really good meal.



Oh, and by the way, hi Davis.