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.

Hickory Hollow

I grew up in a town of 1500. My husband was raised in a trailer-house in East Texas. We met at law school in Waco, which is great town, but is not exactly the cultural center of the Western world. We are not fancy people; we are most comfortable at county fairs, pancake breakfast, and Coffee Stop in Crawford. That said, we felt at home at Hickory Hollow.

Atmosphere wise, Hickory Hollow can't be beat. The space is huge. The entrance is decorated with historic photographs, and the rest of the restaurant is decorated with neon signs and local artwork. There's an indoor gazebo and live music on Friday and Saturday nights. If you want a beer or a glass of wine, you help yourself from the large cooler before ordering at the counter. If you want a sweet tea, you'll drink it from a Mason jar. As soon as we walked in I told my husband that I really didn't care what the food tasted like, this place was perfect.

I guess I was having a bit of a premonition.

We went to Hickory Hollow on the advice of one of my husband's co-worker, who recommended we try the steak. We should have known better, since the menu is mostly composed of BBQ and fried items, but we went with the ribeye platters. We also got to help ourselves to the salad bar, which consisted of mixed greens, cheese, cucumbers, jalapenos, and two kinds of dressing. Not exactly gourmet -- and not exactly sanitary looking -- but not un-tasty either. We ate our little salads, drank our beer, and then the steaks were ready. This is what I got.



The good news: it didn't taste nearly as bad as it looked. The bad news: it didn't look too good. The steak was a well cooked, medium rare ribeye that had way too much gristle. My husband got the same platter, and his steak was much meatier and much more flavorful, so I guess it's hit or miss. The potatoes were serviceable but they didn't stay warm, and cold white gravy just isn't appetizing. My husband got the baked potato, and it was very good, so perhaps I just made a bad decision in a side dish. At the end of the day, this meal wasn't worth the $15 we paid for it.

Service was decent. The girl running the cash register seemed a little frazzled and may have overcharged us, though neither of us felt like arguing about it. You have to go get your food at the counter, but they do bus your tables for you, so that's a nice touch at a casual place like this.

I wouldn't discourage people from trying Hickory Hollow. The BBQ is supposedly very good, and the atmosphere is wonderful and welcoming. I just would discourage them from trying the steak. And the health department may discourage them from trying the salad bar.

Grand Lux Cafe

Grand Lux Cafe advertises having "something for everyone." It's true. We have been there three or four times; the first meal I ate in Houston was at Grand Lux. The size and scope of the menu is easily matched by the size of the space. Grand Lux is huge, glitzy, bordering-on-chintzy, fun and impressive. It can also be a little bit loud and a little bit crowded, especially on a weekend night. Weekday evenings are better -- with less people in the dining room, you can better enjoy the ambiance and the usually fabulous service.

One of the best things about Grand Lux is that whatever you're craving, you can probably get it. The night we went, I was thinking Asian, which can be a challenge if you're not eating at an Asian restaurant. We started with the Duck Pot Stickers.



These were actually really good. The outside of the potstickers were crispy, and not nearly as greasy as they photographed -- it was the perfect amount of greasiness. The filling was a savory, satisfying mixture of duck and mushrooms, which paired well with the warm hoisin sauce they were served with. Very nom.

I ordered the Crispy Caramel Chicken. The menu said the dish was Thai inspired. I don't pretend to be an expert on Thai food, but I've never seen anything like this at a Thai restaurant:



That said, it was really pretty good. The chicken was not nearly as sweet as I feared; it was reminiscent of General Tao's. A really good General Tao's. Would I order it again? Probably not, but that's not because it wasn't tasty. It's just with a menu so big, I imagine there's probably something better I could try.

I wasn't feeling particularly well that night (no worries--just tired, nothing to do with the food), so we skipped dessert. In the past we've tried the Molten Chocolate Cake, and it was AMAZING. You have to order it 20 minutes in advance because they make it fresh, and you can taste that. Definitely worth the extra time.

Cafe Adobe

Cafe Adobe claims to have the best margaritas in Houston. I haven't had enough margaritas here to verify that claim, but I can say that their margaritas are very good. And very strong. My husband and I ate outside on a Friday evening, and between the heat, the booze, and the fact that we hadn't had much to eat during the day (we skipped an appetizer to get a dessert, and the dessert ended up being another margarita), we left there feeling no pain.

First, a note about atmosphere. We sat out on the patio, next to a fountain and some potted plants. The garden accessories helped to block out the traffic and it was easy to forget that we were on a busy road in a major city. It was sunny and warm but not unbearable, and the other people were having a good time but not loud or distracting. Pretty much a perfect outdoor dining experience.

We decided to have a little fajitas with our alcohol. I smelled steak on the way in, and that's what I wanted. What arrived was a delightful little platter of grilled flank steak, well made guacamole and salsa, lettuce, grilled onions and jalapeno peppers. The tortillas were warm, with little black marks that indicated they were probably homemade. We each got two fully assembled fajitas, as well as a bit of extra goodies we made into "fajita salad", out of one large order. I can't pretend that I can remember much of what they tasted like, but I think that they were good. Not as good as the margaritas. But then again, not much could have been.

Red Lion Pub

Full disclosure: I really like Red Lion. We've been there twice, and I already feel like it's my home pub. The people are friendly and the atmosphere is homey and welcoming. So if you expect this review to be anything close to unbiased, you're going to be quite disappointed.

As you might imagine, the food at Red Lion is mostly British pub favorites, with a heavy Indian influence. My husband and I enjoy making meals out of appetizers. Last time we were at Red Lion, we ordered two dishes off their "Nibbles" menu, the samosas and the baked tandoori chicken quesadillas. Thank goodness my husband didn't let me talk him into ordering three things, as the size of these "appetizers" was generous, to say the least.

The samosas were not as good as the one we tried at Blue Nile. The crust was different -- where the crust at Blue Nile was a flaky pastry, the crust at Red Lion was crunchier and deep-fried. The filling at Red Lion was also a lot spicier. Like I said, the portions were gigantic, making the samosas difficult to eat. I couldn't exactly identify what was in either of the dipping sauces, and I didn't love either of them. The samosas weren't horrible, but I probably wouldn't order them again.



The quesadilla was something we were ordering for a second time. We love the fact that this enchilada is built on a crispy pita instead of a tortilla, and the spicy tandoori chicken filling pairs so nicely with the carrot and cucumber "salsa" on the side. This is a very successful melding of Tex Mex and traditional pub cuisine. And it's more than enough for two.



We paired our nibbles with a delicious Belgium white beer on both visits. And on both visits we were treated to excellent service at the bar and in the dining room. Prices are a bit steeper for appetizers than at other places, but so are the portions. Red Lion is worth a little extra. It's an authentic, friendly, fun place that makes you feel right at home, no matter where you're from.