albertnurick

This saddens me; it's my absolute favorite house in Houston. I grew up in Meyerland, and my parents knew the folks who built the house; they attended several parties there. They always referred to it as "The House of Formica"; I guess in the 60's Formica was a space-age product. I remember going through the house once as a child, and being amazed by the huge round room. What a truly unique space.

(I actually looked into purchasing the house before I moved to the Woodlands, but the $700K+ asking price seemed more than a little absurd.)

I heard a similar tale when I did a story on the Balinese Room shortly after it reopened. They attributed it to the original Balinese room:

http://www.thedeliciouslife.com/feature.cf...y=16&Page=9

Yes, I knew Phil. He passed on several years ago.

Speaking of Margaritas, here's a bit of trivia about the origins of the Margarita.

Santos Cruz stands behind the mahogany bar at the

Great news; Americas on Post Oak has a wonderful interior, and I'm really looking forward to what they do here. I just wish they'd get going. They didn't do a very good job covering the windows, and it looked like they've done nothing so far.

It surprised me, but I actually like Texas Roadhouse. I'm generally not a chain guy at all, but I find the food there to be considerably better than I expected it would be.

Americas is said to be opening in the Fall in the Waterway area, right next to the Goose's Acre. No progress on the space, though.

Any other restaurant news?

I'm not a big chain fan, but we enjoy Texas Roadhouse. The food's better than you'd expect, the prices are reasonable. I much prefer it over TGI Friday's or Applebee's.

I've always said that Landry's does mediocre better than anyone. It's a real shame what they've done to some of Houston's best restaurants: The Grotto, La Griglia, Anthony's (closed as part of that deal), Pesce, Brenner's, all of Kemah, etc.

The problem is that they've got a big chain mindset, but want to run high-end restaurants the same way. I this patron's opinion, it doesn't work very well. I've dined at their flagship restaurant, Vic and Anthony's, and felt that is was a mediocre steak house with high-end pretensions.

I for one would not mourn their being bought by someone else.

I'm so bummed George's moved so far out Westheimer. I loved it right there at Hillcroft. They made this one dish with italian sausage and a ton of goat cheese and sort of a vodka sauce that was just out of this world good.

My favorite local places are:

Veronas Italian Cuisine (Gessner / Westpart - Lebanese owned REPRESENT (I'm not lebanese, I just wanted to sound as cool as Puma)

Fajita Flats on Fondren (The food isn't the best but it is just a fun place to hang out. They need new chairs tho. The beef and shrimp diablos are GREAT.)

Jasper's in the Woodlands Town Square.

Uni Sushi in Woodlands Town Square

The center George's was in was literally dying; they had very little traffic, and poor street visibility. The new place is always packed; they're doing very well, and look like they'll be in business for a long time. George and Dave are great guys. Heck, we drive there from the Woodlands on occasion.

Other places I really like (but didn't mention before):

Jasper's - probably the best restaurant outside the Loop

Uptown Sushi - best sushi in town, but quite a scene on weekends

Daniel Wong's Kitchen - best Americanized Chinese food I've found. Be sure to try the gumbo. Seriously.

Amici - worth the drive to Sugarland for superb Italian

Pico's - serious Mexican food in a fun environment

I'm still searching for great Italian up north, but have had no luck. The Grotto in the Woodlands is a shadow of what the Westheimer store was under the Vallones.

I used to go to Fajita Flats all the time when I lived in Meyerland, but one day the exposed ceiling insulation rained down on our food, and the manager didn't seem to be concerned. Haven't been back since.

Yep. Another unique Houston restaurant is now destined for mediocrity.

We prefer modern. We almost always end up buying from Finger's.

Nice furniture, good prices, good service. We had one bizarre incident with an entertainment center; it was damaged out of the box, and their warehouse staff opened up the 15 other identical models they had -- all were broken. They ended up giving us the floor model at a discount, after fixing (without being asked) a tiny chip.

Ikea has some nice stuff as well, although some of what they have is pretty junky.

I liked Cantoni at first, but upon closer inspection, it's very stylish cheap furniture. At those prices, particleboard should be a no-no.

If you want serious modern furniture, Roche-Bobois is a wonderful place. But it ain't cheap.

I'll second Thelma's and Williams. And odd as it may sound, you've GOT to try the catfish and dirty rice at Thelma's. As good as her BBQ is, her catfish may be better.

Some of my faves, at different price points:

Tony's

Farrago

George's Pastaria

Christian's Totem

Churrasco's

Barnaby's

Thelma's

Across the Street

I remember going to a burger place in the late 60's or early 70's where you phoned in your order from the table. It was called "Round the Corner". Your phone rang when your order was ready to be picked up. I think it was on Hillcroft...Food was great. I went to one in Denver a few years ago and I think they are still doing good business..

Here's one in the Woodlands:

Spectacular. A nice step up from the Lifeforms Treehouse I'm in now.

Even with the scaled-back plans they've still not made progress. Any bets as to whether or not the developer EVER gets this off the ground?

"Expensive" seems to be the word that most of the new urban fans forget. Look at Midtown, look at the Woodlands Town Center, and the common factor you see are some of the highest rents in the area. Thus the retailers who are attracted are those who can generate the revenue to pay the rent. You won't find funky little boutiques or small, quaint restaurants.

Instead we have a mix of upscale stores, upscale restaurants, and a theater. Not a bad thing, but it does tend to bypass George Mitchell's vision of The Woodlands as being a place for those at all income levels. Fortunately the Woodlands isn't all a new urban fantasy world.

The Woodlands is a very successful hybrid. You have real neighborhoods where people know each other, and have yards for their kids to enjoy, and room to park their cars, and houses that range from affordable to extravagant. You have parks and nature trails. You have a lovely faux downtown, albeit an expensive one.

But does this ever happen with New Urbanism? Has anyone looked at home prices in Seaside, Florida lately? Two million dollar townhomes. Cheap housing is a one bedroom cottage... for 1.4 million. Other listings: 1,500 square feet for 2.3 million. In a small town out in the middle of nowhere, Florida.

Speaking of La Pavillion ... is Tony's still around? Remember it was somewhere on 'the Boulevard' too? I never ate there (always heard how expensive it was/is).

Tony's is in a new location in Greenway Plaza, and it's a gorgeous building. The food is still amazing. And in an odd coincidence, my company built web site:

Tony's Website

Best street name in Houston: Seuss Dr. (Off N. Braeswood, just W of Kirby)

Amen about the bizarre street names in TW. In general pretty insipid. I will admit that the name of the street I ended up buying on played a big role in getting me to look at a not-very-well-photographed house; I thought it would be funny to live on Twisted Birch, so I looked.

Does anyone remember the name of the "upscale" Chinese place on Post Oak north of Westheimer (not Hunan). Uncle Tai's maybe?

Uncle Tai's Hunan Yuan. Upscale chinese, notable for their HOT dishes. Mid 80's, if I recall.

I love this thread. I was fortunate enough to have parents who loved to dine out and took me with them, so I tried many of these great places before I was old enough to really appreciate them.

Someone mentioned the Velvet Turtle; wasn't that off 59 just outside of Hillcroft? I remember going there with my parents, probably late 70's or early 80's.

Another place I've not seen mentioned was La Pavillion; IIRC it was just inside the Loop over near Post Oak. First place I ever had bearnaise sauce.

The photo of Los Troncos was amazing. Anyone have one of Albert Gee's Poly Asian? We were regulars there; the mynah bird up front was an old friend of mine. LOL.

Yeah, but you're not an urbanist snob, TheNiche.

They're always trying to put down anything that doesn't fit into their utopian views. The problem is that most families don't want to live in an urban paradise, and many of the other folks who'd like to can't afford it.

It really torques 'em off that people who live in non-utopian areas are actually happy with their environment. LOL. We just aren't enlightened enough.

Are they 24 hours?

In my quest to move from a 60's semi-modern Meyerland Ranch, I looked all over the Houston area. I wanted a real mid-century modern house, but didn't like any that I could find and afford.

I looked all over the area. The instructions to my agent were to find something truly interesting. If it was too weird for most of his clients, I wanted to see it.

I'd not been in the Woodlands for a decade, and drove out. The first homes we browsed were a new Lifeforms subdivision - the houses were tiny, but I instantly fell in love with the inspired floorplans and amazing use of space. I ended up purchasing a LifeForms Treehouse, circa late-80's, in Indian Springs. The back yard backs up to a greenbelt, and it's got a half-dozen 80' trees, and countless smaller ones. Almost all of the non-landscaped parts of the yard was covered in flagstone, creating a park-like atmosphere.

The interiors are wonderful. Pecan floors had been installed, lots of ceiling fans, and more windows than I've ever seen in a production house. I had to change my style a bit; mid-century seems to harsh for this house. Fortunately, Danish Modern works very well - Lifeforms put in a great deal of wood detailing, including some gorgeous hardwood cabinets and built-ins.

Here are some photos. (The interior shots are from when we were looking at the house - the furnishings are NOT my idea of attractive. LOL.)

Yes! That's the second one I was talking about.