west20th

How long do you think it will take for this thread to appear:

"Dallas gets a Nestle Tollhouse!!"

Just wanted to rave a little about McCain's for anyone who hasn't been in yet.

Their selection isn't the greatest, but the prices are amazing. Buddy's Organic chicken is less per lb than CM (which is, in turn, less than Kroger or Randall's). Also, a girlfriend of mine called and ordered a pound of fresh shrimp from them last week. They peeled and deveined it for her and it was still less than the frozen bag shrimp at Kroger. It was even less than Airline.

In this thread, we talked about shopping there for convenience even if it was more expensive. Well, seems like even those who may not want to pay for the shorter drive will have a reason to stop by McCain's.

I also bought some nice balsamic and some cheese there. I do wish they would expend their cheese selection and get some fresh veggies in!

There has been some really good suggestions for McCains on this forum. I think I'll drop buy and leave them with this web address. I'm sure they would appreciate the constructive criticism and the fact that so many want them to succeed.

Or how about the Houston Enrons.

"well folks our hometown Enrons lost a tough game to the Cards 5 to 4. No wait.....the official Enron scorekeeper re-worked the numbers and Houston wins 6-5....Yeeeeah......"

I hope Houston Dynamo's stadium is used to it's full potential.

If the Houston Dynamo builds it's own stadium with it's own money no one would have the right to complain about who they sell the naming rights to. But even suggesting that an ISD build them a stadium and saying that is not using tax dollars, well that is a new low and I can't believe they have the Huavos to even ask.

Well, you gotta admit - Dyna Mo would be a great name for a drag queen, or a team mascot.

Why not both?

And the team fight song could be Frank Zappa's Dinah-Moe Humm....imagine a whole stadium singing along!

Hmmm....great idea. The head cheerleader could be a drag queen called Dyna Mo and the squad could be the Dyna Mo Humms. Aaaaaah, I miss 'ol Frank. Off topic a bit here (OK, a lot) but the classic Nightline show was the one on censorship of music. On one side of the debate (against) were Frank Zappa and Donnie Osmond. On the other side was Tipper Gore. Poor girl didn't know what hit her. When Frank posed the question to Tipper "if your daughter doesn't know what a weenie is how will she recognize a weenie wagger?". Poor Tipper was a bit stunned. It was hard to prepare for a debate with Frank Zappa I guess.

See the Houston Neighborhoods->The Heights->More Target Info thread.

Jethro on "The Beverly Hillbillies" couldn't decide whether he wanted to be a brain surgeon or a fry cook.

....or a double naught spy.

I hope that nasty concrete furniture in the lobby is the first to go. Wonder what the price per/sf would be? 150 maybe?

I agree about the prepared foods. While the selection of oils and vinegars is great, I only need to buy those items every so often. I would love to see them do some cold, prepared salads- the kind of things I want to grab on the way home from work...

Too many people go to a restaurant when it 1st opens, get angry and never go back. Nice to know there are some people out there who understand the growing pains of a new place

I wonder if this would be feasable for McCain's Market. Make a Caninos run in the AM and set up a produce and flower section in the front, like those markets in NYC. That is assuming they aren't planning on tables out front.

McCain's Market has a small coffee bar. They also have a small selection of pastries. Like anywhere, I'm sure if they do well they will expand their offerings!

Yes they should do well. They need to expand their hours and prepared foods. They will have to establish a lunch trade to survive. Can't wait to check out the new Thai Spice. I'll give them a few weeks to work out their opening day bugs out.

Potted meat sandwiches and peanut butter/jelly sandwiches were standard fare for me in my school, sack lunches loooooooong ago. I had Spam when I didn't have potted meat. Strangely, I liked both of them. Glad I didn't know what was in the potted meat. I guess that was before the ingredients had to be posted on the can. Please don't tell me what's in Spam. I still like it.

Spam:

Ingredients:

Chopped pork shoulder meat with ham meat added.

Salt (for binding, flavour, and firmness)

Water (to help in mixing)

Sugar (for flavour)

Sodium Nitrite (for colour and as a preservative)

Nothing nasty about the Spam ingredients. I like it too. Fried w/eggs. Yum. Here are some Spam haikus in honor of the pink meat (authors unknown).

"Slow down," she whispered

now guiding my trembling hands

"Turn the key slowly."

Silken pig tofu

The color of spanked buttocks

Blushing at my knife.

Now, to spread the potted meat on the RITZ!

Potted Meat:

Mechanically Separated Chicken, Beef Tripe, Partially Defatted Cooked Beef Fatty Tissue, Beef Hearts, Water, Partially Defatted Cooked Pork Fatty Tissue, Salt. Less than 2 percent: Mustard, Natural Flavorings, Dried Garlic, Dextrose, Sodium Erythorbate, Sodium Nitrite

Yuuuuuuuummy!

Went to Shade for New Year's Eve dinner and noticed a Thai Spice sign on the corner of 19th and Nicholson across from Collina's. I have never eaten there, does anyone have an opinion?

That is great news. Thai Spice is really good. There lunch buffet is excellent, costs a little more but well worth it.

Went by yesterday and the hours on the door said "Sunday - Closed". I understand and appreciate that many folks are opposed to work on Sunday, but for this type of store, I think I would be most likely to visit on the weekends.

Anyway, peering through the windows at the inventory I did salivate a bit. Had they been open, I probably would have made a few impulse purchases.

Typical Heights retail hours. At least they are open 'til 8 on weeknights. Can't wait to stop by and check them out.

You mean John Denver. Didn't he pass away in the 90's

Yes. Right after his last big hit. Montego Bay.

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

It is my belief that it only works if we get our key players to comeback. I am all for the economic injection though. Roger Clemens is a major spokesperson for my company. C'mon Rodge, one more year baby !

Rog is great. Gives us old guys some hope. But at 18 mil a year I think the 'stros would be be better off spreading that money around for some more hitting.

My nephew gave me a tour last week. Looks pretty good. He said they should be open by the end of November.

NMain. Are they going to take the whole strip center?

I agree about the hours thing. My hubby and I like to get an ice cream after dinner. Heck- we don't even get home from work until after 6...

Again, I totally agree. Of course, now that it's opening, all of us talking about it need to be committed to going there, even if the sopresatta is $.50/lb more than CM.

I'll be there quite often for the convenience alone. I'm hoping they have better hours (open to 9 maybe?). Driving through the traffic nightmare of Weslayan & Westheimer pretty much keeps me away from CM even though I really like the store. I won't even mind parking on the street and walking a ways. Parking will be tight there but the exercise won't hurt and it will probably still be a shorter walk than at the CM parking lot.

The article was in a magazine that I picked up at the restaurant "Spanish Flower" several weeks ago. I did look for a website but was unable to find one. The magazine stand is found at the entrance to the restaurant.

Thanks for the info. I'll stop by SF to see if I can find the mag. I did some Google searches on McCain's Market but no hits. Must be the first one, not a chain. Sounds like a mini Eatzi's. Really exciting news.

There is a great homemade ice cream shop on 19th. It's called "Cricket's Creamery". Great place. We go there all the time to satisfy our ice cream cravings.

Crickets is a great place. Great gelato. Great coffee. The hours aren't so great though. Would love to stop there for a coffee after work but I think they close at 6. Most (all?) of the shops on 19th have very inconvenient hours for the working person.

FYI:

According to a local Houston Heights magazine, McCain's Market will be opening in the retail shop center on the intersection of 6th Street and Heights Blvd. The store will offer a butcher shop, fresh fish, bread, soups, salads, coffee, etc.

That sounds great. Exactly the kind of place the Heights needs. Can't wait 'til they open. Does the local Heights magazine you mentioned have an Internet link?

An architect friend of mine said the shopping center on Heights @ 6th is doomed for lack of parking. He doesn't know how they got permitted (he suspects a buddy helped), but no tenant buildout can occur without adequate parking. If true, the owner should have realized there are more permits required than just the one to put up the building.

Eventually, if it means enough, they will buy a house nearby and tear it down for parking. But, there is a building behind this one that butts right up to it. Planning is everything.

There is a new building next to it. It's huge and quite nice. Probably slated for offices. Anyway, it definitely isn't a tear-down. The other building (fronting on 6th) is quite nice but seems to be under-utilized. Hope it doesn't become a parking lot.

There seems to be a lot of unoccupied retail space off Heights Blvd, specifically, the intersection of 6th street / Heights Blvd and the shopping center at the entrance to the Houston Heights off 4th street. I did see a new shop in the process of opening called McCain

I love Spanish Flowers. It's Tex-mex and I know that's always greasy, but it's open 24 hours so that pushes it in to the 'spoon' category.

And the vegetable soup that comes with most meals is better than Mom used to make (similar though) and Mom was Slovack. Go figure.

Lankford Cafe in midtown. Try the cheese enchiladas or the cheeseburger. Both might be the best greasiest cheesiest meals you've ever had for the price.

Great burgers. Finding them when they are open can be a challenge though. Love going there for lunch on Saturday. Lucky Burger, while not as good as Langfords, has a really good burger also.

I'm sure some national chains would love to move into the area, but hostility from some of the neighbored groups is stopping them.

True. I've always heard that the Heights association ran off Starbucks. I see their point that the chains may ruin the "charm" of the area but what is worse a Starbucks or empty storefronts?

I just heard from my mom this morning that Kaplan's is closing its doors next month. If you are familiar with this store, if, like me, you frequented this wonderful store since the time you were a kid, and if you knew the Kaplan family over the years, then maybe you can understand how really sad this news was to me.

I suppose it is tough for a specialty store like Kaplan's to compete with Internet buying. I guess this closing was inevitable. But it is like losing a member of the family for me.

That is awful news. The store was one of a kind. Walking in that place was like walking into a JCPenney's with my granmother in the '60's. The Heights is a great place but we seem to have trouble with getting retail into the area.