daveg

Firstly, I have to say I'm super excited about the concept. Mac+cheese is one of my favorite combinations of foods.. I've never met one that I didn't like and the varieties that come out of my kitchen are endless. A few months ago I even bought a macncheese cookbook. My only concern is method of service. Please don't do another lola's/dragonbowl counter service thing. If I have to stand in line and order at a cash register I sure as hell don't want to spend $10-15 a plate. Every time I go to Lola's I can never remember to grab cutlery. Regardless.. You have my support! Bring on the cheese and whatever you choose to serve underneath it will be good.. pasta.. veges.. shoes.. lamps.. Just cover it in quality cheese and I'll try it

yeah, I went there yesterday for an early dinner 5pm. The place wasn't that crowded.. but my french toast (yeah, for dinner.. ), while it seemed like it was cooked recently, it was cool in the middle.. maybe they needed to cook it more? The bacon was definitely cooked earlier in the afternoon and was ice cold. The sad part is that the french toast has huge potential, if it was warm all the way through. The bread was exceptional and the custard was good enough. Lolas is so close to home that I'm not going to give up yet. I'll try again in a few weeks. Plus, I think Pinks and Dragon bowl are great.

My impression isn't nearly as negative as angostura's. I see it as a HUGE improvement. The produce selection wasn't significantly better, but everything else was improved. They had a great and vastly improved selection in baked goods, fish (lots and LOTS more fish), meat (they actually have prime, angus, and natural beef!), and organics/healthfoods. There is even a bulk food isle full of nuts and grains! Not my thing, but they also have tons of kitchen junk to get you to impulse buy. I can't really say what they're doing with staffing. When I was there, there were tons of suites/manager types all over the place. Friday afternoon it was samples galore... Hell, the bakery guy gave me a huge piece of cinnamon pecan bread (not sample sized, but real sized!). While I may continue to walk to fiesta for my produce, I'll drive out to Kroger for meat/fish/bread/healthfoods. dg

I live near a shopping cart corridor between fiesta on Studemont and a bunch of apartments near main. On Sundays, there is a constant stream of carts. I'm sure Fiesta is perfectly fine with it as these carts are usually loaded up with 2 or 3 men walking with them. At first it bothered me.. then I just loosened up. It is part of the neighborhood and the diversity that makes it more interesting than living a sterile life over in fall creek. As someone else said, its greener than 3 separate people driving their pickups to Fiesta. As someone who usually walks to the grocery store... if you're going to buy a few 6packs of beer, you gotta have some way to get it home (I usually cheat and drive).

That same guy (I think?) came to my house also on Michaux and Main. Like redscare, I don't give money to ppl door to door even if it is a cute girl raising money for causes I support. He said that he lived on 11st street along. I asked him for literature and told him if he came back later I'd donate online to his cause. The next day or I saw him again while I was hanging out at my friend's house near fiesta.

I went there last week with a group of 6 other friends. We brought beers and all had a pretty good time. The food was tasty but not really the best value. I had chicken fried steak with eggs and cheese grits. Wow, writing it out it sounds even less healthy.. but it really was mmmm good, especially the cheese grits. The girl at the counter didn't have a handle on the menu as she was unable to answer all of my questions (I didn't know what a few things were on the menu, but I can't recall what they were now). Our food came out promptly, but I'm not a fan of the order-at-counter service with waiters bring your food to you. At this price point and environment, I'd like sitdown service. Plus, I don't really know how to tip when I have to stand in line to order and grab my own cutlery. Anyone know if the wages of the food runners assume tipping? Overall, I was quite happy and will return. I can't wait for the right side of the menu to open. Also, anyone know if they're going to get a beer/liquor permit?

I had some siding that was rotted and the entire wall from floor joists/subfloor to the first 2 feet of framing was rotted thanks to previous owner termite damage. Upon doing the inspection of the house a few years ago, there was no noticable damage as it all had been patched up but not repaired. Cheapass previous owners.. fix it right! Unfortunately I did and it cost a ton of money. Atleast I know my walls aren't going to fall down.

I stopped by on Sunday night and chatted with the operator of Lola's. Looks like they're going to try to open up tonight or tomorrow.\ He handed me a menu and it looked pretty good-- upscale diner/comfortish food (can chilean sea bass be comfort food?) Looks like it'll be hard to leave under $15 even for lunch. However, if the food tastes as good as the descriptions, it'll be worth it-- some tasty sounding menu items are there. It looks great on the inside and will have outdoor seating under shade and fans! I'm going to try to check it out later this week.

Thats how I ended up here. I moved here from Austin and drove down bayland and that day bought "A Field Guide To American Houses" so I figure out what I was looking at so I could find more. The biggest thing (as a former Austinite) is the lack of corporate crap. I don't want to live near a smoothyking or Chiles (well, we have one kinda close now). I want a good walkability score(70!) and I don't want to live in one of those "(sub?)Urban Lofts" apartments with Starbucks on the ground floor. The other thing is I wanted a small house. I wanted to live near people who live in small houses. It'd be perfect except that I commute to Bellaire for work =[

You have a great blog! I just read the whole thing and will bookmark it to check out later. I like that when you mention a person you provide some background about them, not just a picture. I kept a blog for my last big trip and really should have followed that style more of introducing the readers to the people I met. Nice work. I'm in the norhill/proctor plaza neighborhood as well.. I think.. Atleast I get the proctor plaza news letters in my mailbox

I went to the Big Mamou last week and ordered the Mamou Salad! Yeah, I know I'm supposed to get something Cajun, but hell, they didn't have pork chops available I became indecisive-- then the girl at the register said goat cheese and I couldn't stop myself from ordering it. I have to say that salad was fantastic! It was a mixed greens/goatcheese/cranberry/rasberry vinegrette ordeal. Yeah, nothing too original, but it was fresh and tasted fantastic. I think I'm going to go tonight again and try something else... maybe

I've always found the people to be helpful enough and quite friendly-- the problem I've had multiple times is they don't open up at 8. Two or three times I've waited until 8:15 or 8:30 and they would still not be open with me having to go somewhere else. Though you better believe that they close the doors at EXACTLY 5. Curious how that works . Not that I wouldn't do the same if I worked there.

Anyone check the Big Mamou out yet? It had a good crowd last weekend. I'm going to try to go in the next few days. My tastebuds are from New Orleans even though I wasn't born there.