Ruggles Green

I'm a huge supporter of green living. My husband and I recycle, we use only natural cleaning products, and we fully intend to compost (once we have a yard). I'm also a firm believer that just because something is natural and healthy doesn't mean it has to taste bad or be very expensive or difficult to procur. Unfortunately, the "first certified green restaurant" in Houston doesn't seem to agree with my philosophy. While the food was alright, getting in was quite an ordeal and the overall experience was not very pleasant.

My husband and I decided to check out the Ruggles in River Oaks for lunch on a Wednesday. The parking lot in front of the restaurant is tiny, and most of the spots are designated "20 minute parking only"* or reserved for the medical spa next door. The lot across the street is also reserved for other businesses, with a sign specifically warning Ruggles customers not to park there. We finally gave up and parked on the road about a block away.

Things didn't get better once we were inside. Ruggles is very small, and though there is some outdoor seating available, they didn't seem prepared to handle the lunch rush. After waiting on line to place our order, we managed to find a booth -- but we were lucky. Plenty of people came in after us and were forced to wait for a seat, or wander around the (crowded, noisy) restaurant aimlessly until they found one. A few customers walked out.

Ruggles was very busy and very noisy. There was absolutely nothing relaxing about the atmosphere at all. I felt rushed and even a tad bit guilty watching other patrons look for a place to sit, and I could barely hear my husband over all of the noise. Not a good place to be if you have jangled nerves, or are susceptible to other people's nervous energy.

Our food was actually pretty decent. I had a vegetable sourdough panini. I don't know if I loved the way the sourdough paired with the goat cheese spread. However, the serving of vegetables (onions, mushrooms and zuchini) on the sandwich was generous and very satisfying. The accompanying fries were also very good. The meal cost $8.95, which is not bad for a filling lunch.



My husband had the cuban pork sandwich, which is a dollar more, and he said that he felt like he didn't quite get enough for what he paid. He was also disappointed that he ordered sweet potato fries but was served regular fries instead. I think any problems with the order were probably due to the pace of the place; it's so extremely hectic in the dining room that I shudder to think what the kitchen is like.

Overall, I would recommend Ruggles for take-out. The food is actually very tasty, and I feel like I need to support anything or anybody who is trying to make Houston greener. I would not recommend going for a sit-down meal, especially around lunchtime. If you're in the mood for a sandwich in a less stressful atmosphere, there are other places available to meet that need.

*We spent about 45 minutes in Ruggles for lunch. When we left the restaurant, we noticed that the same cars were parked in the 20 minute spots as when we got there. If the restaurant is not going to enforce its own parking rules, the signs should come down. That would open up a lot more space in the lot.

Mockingbird Bistro

Occasionally, you find a place that is so comforting, so cozy, just such a great space to occupy that the food seems almost secondary. Mockingbird Bistro is such a place. Tucked inside a tiny little brick building on the corner of Welch and McDuffie, Mockingbird beckons with a beautiful hardwood bar, gold and brick walls, and a sweet little upstairs dining room that almost encourages quiet conversation.

When I say the food is secondary to the atmosphere, I mean that in a very literal sense: the food follows the decor, so that just by looking at the restaurant you can tell what kind of meal to expect. It's going to be high-quality, expensive (but not pretentious), satisfying and comforting. I'm happy to report that the food at Mockingbird was all of those things.

I didn't take pictures (it just felt wrong to disturb the mood with a flash), but I had the onion soup and a warm spinach salad, as well as a glass of the house white. My husband went with the chef's special, kobe beef short ribs. My meal was good; quality ingredients, prepared simply. My husband's meal was truly a thing of beauty. The ribs were so incredibly tender, they pretty much dwarf any other beef dish I've ever had. Ever.

For dessert we shared apple bread pudding with cinnamon ice-cream. This was a very creative take on the traditional apple pie a la mode. The texture of the bread pudding was perfectly dense, and the ice cream had a light cinnamon flavor that tasted great paired with the pudding and alone. Another truly wonderful dish, and worth saving room for.

Service at Mockingbird was attentive. My husband commented that we didn't seem like our waiter's first priority, but I didn't get that impression. We never needed anything for very long before he appeared, usually with a smile, suggestion or joke. His demeanor fit the atmosphere -- laid-back but professional. I feel that if he had checked in on us any more than he did it would have disturbed our conversation and the experience as a whole.

Chef John Sheely has created a very special little bistro on the corner of Welch and McDuffie. From the moment you arrive, you feel like you belong to a special club. A club full of hip, friendly and upscale people who know how to relax and how to eat. Go once, and you'll want to go back.

El Tiempo Cantina

I'm not feeling well today, so I'm going to keep this review of El Tiempo short and to the point.

The food: fine, for the most part. I had chicken tacos, which were composed of tasty, fresh ingredients. We also shared a flan, which was extremely pretty to look at (see picture above) but tasted off. The custard was a little bit grainy with a strange crust on the bottom, like it had either been overcooked or had sat too long.

Service: our food was delivered so quickly to our table that I believe they probably pre-make a lot of popular lunch choices. Once our food arrived, however, our waiter disappeared. Eventually another waiter (or maybe a bus boy) bagged up our leftovers and cleaned off the table.

Price: we paid $33 (before tip) for two taco platters off the lunch menu, as well as cokes and desserts. Not a horrible price for a sit-down meal, but there are better lunch deals out there.

Overall: El Tiempo is alright, provided you have time to spare and don't order the flan. If you're in the mood for Mexican and you're on Washington Avenue, however, there are better options. Of course there are much worse options in Houston as well. El Tiempo isn't anything special, but it's not awful either.

TQLA

TQLA is located in my husband's building, but so is The Counter, so don't think that I'm going to give it a good review solely because my husband's boss collects rent from the restaurant.

But I am going to give TQLA a good review. I liked almost everything about this restaurant. The decor is very pretty and modern; I especially like the almost-neon-orange and black bar. There are two big-screen TVs above the bar which were showing the football game on the night my husband and I were there -- a great alternative to the overcrowded sports bar down the street. Service was a little green, but our waitress was friendly, and we didn't want for anything while we were there.

Let's start with the drinks. The menu at TQLA is impressive, if predictably heavy on tequilas and tequila-based drinks. I had two cocktails. Both were very pretty to look at, plenty strong, and tasted good. One minor critique: the martini glasses that the margaritas are served in are a little bit odd, and the ice is too big and difficult to drink around. A little thing, but the experience was so close to perfect otherwise that I had to mention it.



My husband and I love to do appetizers for dinner, so that's what we did at TQLA. We had the Queso Blanco with Poblano, the Wild Mushroom Tamale and some Beef Empanadas.



This is not your typical Tex-Mex fare. TQLA tends to use some more adventurous ingredients: goat cheese, mushrooms of all kinds, toasted pumpkin. No ingredient seems wasted, however; everything is used for a purpose, and unexpected flavors melded together beautifully. We ate every bite of food and never tasted anything we didn't like. Whoever is in the kitchen at TQLA is clearly ambitious, adventurous, and very talented.

The prices, at least on the apps, were uncommonly low. To eat so well for so little money was a very pleasant surprise. This area of Washington Ave is quickly becoming a local hot spot, and TQLA is a great addition for both the lunch and late-night crowd.

Crescent City Beignets

I have to admit that I don't know much about authentic Cajun food. Etoufee, gumbo, beignets ... all of these things are really more of Ross's territory. But I know what I like. And I like the beignets at Crescent City Beignets.

Crescent City is located at 3260 Westheimer, in a strip mall in the River Oaks section of Houston. The set-up inside isn't really ideal. There is only one place at the counter where food is both ordered and picked up, which leads to back-ups in the line and forces customers to cut into the crowd when their order is up. The entire place has a crowded, rushed feel to it. I recommend either taking your order to go (like we did) or eating outside (although the small sidewalk only lends itself to two little tables).

My husband and I decided to just grab a box of beignets on our way out of town for New Years Eve. Unfortunately, neither one of us knew how big a beignet is. We knew how big the beignet strips served at Crescent City are, as some were displayed behind glass on the counter. Assuming that the beignets were smaller than the strips, because the strips are more expensive, we ordered 12 beignets. Big mistake. We ended up with enough food for four people.



What food though! The beignets are Crescent City are served piping-hot out of the deep frier, sprinkled with powdered sugar that quickly melts and then hardens into a delightful frosting/crust. They somehow were both soft and crispy, with an airy dough center. We immediately scarfed down three apiece, and wished we had room for more (or a means to heat them up for breakfast the next day).

Crescent City has a full menu of Creole and Cajun standards. All of the prices are reasonable, although I question what service is like in a place so small, crowded, and seemingly understaffed. I can't comment on any of that, though, since all we had were the beignets. And they were enough.