sheeats

Taking the long way to a friend's house this weekend, I passed Timbergrove Point on 11th. I don't recall noticing it in the past, which is odd since I love me some Country Kitchen (which is right next to it). Either way, it's a gated "community" (really more like a subdivision, since communities tend to have a park or a pool or some kind of "communal" activity/aspect) filled with the scariest McMansions I've ever seen in Houston: http://www.har.com/HomeValue/dispProp.cfm?ADDRESS=urban%20woods&CRITERIA=Y They're all about four feet away from each other. No yards. No trees. No driveways. Just a mass of two-story tall brick homes all on top of each other, like something out of Brazil (the movie...). There's only one entrance/exit in the whole tightly-packed maze of houses, so if there were a natural disaster or fire or something that would necessitate a mass exodus, they'd all be screwed. The streets are so narrow and tight that I can't imagine how a fire truck or ambulance would fit down them. Your windows look directly onto your other neighbors. And for a gated "community" there is absolutely nothing "communal" about it -- I kept thinking that if I drove in crazy circles long enough, I'd find at least a lap pool or something. It was like a nightmare. Has anyone else seen these? Or did I have a bad hallucination yesterday?

FYI, the results of Battle Pizza: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/eating/2009/07/food_fight_battle_pizza.php SPOILERS: Pink's won. Then Star. Then Romano's.

"No admission fee for the park"? That sounds bad already. I remember when the Houston Zoo was free, and the kind of people that attracted. If something is good, it's worth charging for. Helps keep the crazies out, too (to an extent...).

Haven't seen much on this in Houston. Although it happened outside of Austin, Damian Mandola is quite the fixture here. He founded Carrabba's, D'Amico's and Damian's Cucina Italiana: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/eating/2009/07/farm_living_isnt_the_life_for.php http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/2009/07/07/0707mandola.html Good fences make good neighbors. When will people ever learn that?

FYI: The three contenders are going to be Star, Romano's and Pink's. Star got 20 votes, while Romano's and Pink's were tied at 14 each. Runners-up were Dolce Vita with 11 votes, Russo's with 10 and Brother's with 8. And then about a bazillion votes for every other pizza place in town. Yeesh.

Just called 3 Olives. They verified that Bistro 829 closed last week for good. No plans for it right now.

Obviously, if they couldn't even give someone two months to implement or effect change. I'm not siding with Ray Sim, but...damn. Two months? To me, that's a clear indication that NO ONE over there knows what they're doing (i.e., they shouldn't have made that hire in the first place). *sigh* What a clusterf***.

FWIW, you aren't the only person who's mentioned Double Dave's. I hear it all the time, all over the place. I think when I saw it on here that day, it was the veritable straw that broke the camel's back, that's all. And you're right that "started" was a poor choice of words. I've changed it to the far more correct "engaged in." No hard feelings?

Hurricane Ike has claimed another victim: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2009/07/island_bowl_galveston.php Where's the nearest bowling alley now, I wonder?

FYI, the "poll" is up over at the Press and we're up to 90 entries so far. Looks like it's tentatively between Pink's and Star Pizza at this point: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/eating/2009/07/food_fight_we_need_your_help.php

The Domain was having an open house when we drove through the place this weekend. Not sure about the lofts, though. And what I'm really curious about is whether or not those super-expensive "brownstones" are ever going to sell. On a related note, RA Sushi looks like it's almost ready to open. Had the patio furniture out and everything. I love their corner location, overlooking the main square and the fountains; great little perch up there, even if the food is moo.

The food sounds amazing; I can't wait to go for myself. http://blogs.houstonpress.com/eating/2009/06/what_is_pul-a-pul.php The fact that there's a biergarten doesn't hurt either.

Frenchy's Chicken is celebrating their 40th birthday this weekend: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/eating/2009/...es_40_years.php They're having two parties, one at the Kirby location and one at the original location. Hell yes, I'm gonna be there!

This thread has totally decided the Food Fight for next week. It's Battle Pizza, biznatches. I'll set up a poll and have folks choose the two they want to go head to head. We'll have those two delivered to the HP office and get after it.

Here's the post I referenced earlier with the final list of restaurants they chose: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/eating/2009/...rs_dives_tv.php There were seven restaurants in total. Should have been eight but Himalaya had to back out. Shame.

Double Dave's? DOUBLE DAVE'S? Why is that abomination even on the list?!? Good grief. Double Dave's is for people in the far exurbs who think Cheddar's is fancy Saturday night date dining. SORRY. Double Dave's has some of the rankest, nastiest pizza I've ever had the displeasure of tasting. /rant over My vote goes to Dolce Vita. (Shocker, I'm sure. )

Stumbled across it when looking for information about a townhome community we were looking at for our first home. Been here ever since! (Although more for the food than anything else... )

B4-U-Eat's newsletter confirmed the closing, too. So sad - I never got the chance to eat there and I always wanted to.

Well, I guess I should be the first to welcome you to HAIF in that case. Welcome! You'll like it here.

That's the thing... In this map from HoustonHeights.org, the southern boundary is I-10: But in the Heights' very own bylaws, they say that the boundary for the Heights is such: "The geographic area shall be bounded North Loop 6910 on the north, North Durham Drive on the west, Washington Avenue on the south, Studewood on the east, and North Main on the northeast." So which is it?

While the commenters over at the Chronicle are -- with very few exceptions -- socially retarded and verging on illiterate, I found this little spat on Alison Cook's most recent review to be interesting: http://www.chron.com/disp/discuss.mpl/dini...ok/6495227.html Here we have a couple of very proud and very snotty Inner Loopers angrily refuting claims that Washington Avenue is part of the Heights. Anyone want to weigh in?

Over 100 times a year, no less! You'd think the heat would put a damper on our activities... http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/20..._sex_survey.php Hope everyone is doing their part to keep this important title intact.

Awww, I love that book. It was the first ever cookbook that I bought for myself, while traveling through Louisiana when I was 13. Good memories.

IIRC, it was Neuhaus Chocolates. Anyone else remember? KatieDidIt? Pumapayam?

Oh, bless their hearts. They tried... But...yeah. It's still pretty retina-scorching. And don't get me started on their incredibly shoddy search features or the fact that they constantly move articles and change the basename, so any articles you link to that are more than a few weeks old don't work anymore.