Food – Page 7 – Snapshots & My Thoughts by Ailee Petrovic

Food October 2, 2013

Houston Food + Drink Awards

Alison Cook just published her Top 100 Restaurants of 2013, and I was inspired to post my own “awards” of such. I came up with my own categories and picked winners (listed below). I’ve still got a few places that I’m dying to go to in the city, but these are my favorites to date. We are so blessed in this amazing foodie city (speaking of, read this article).

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Best Happy Hour: Anvil

Best Mimosas: Backstreet Cafe

Best Ladies-Who-Lunch: Tiny Boxwood

Best Girls Night: Canopy

Best Guys Night: Beavers

Best Lunch-to-Go: Relish (salad pictured above) and Zoe’s Kitchen

Best Dinner Atmosphere: Sparrow and Underbelly

Best Intimate (and Hipster) Vibe: Roost

Best Healthy Options: Harvest Grille

Best “Skinny” Cocktails: Cyclone Anaya’s

Best Sunday Brunch: Buffalo Grille and Rainbow Lodge

Best Farm-to-Market: Haven

Best Views: The Grove Rooftop and Brenner’s on the Bayou

Best Porch Area: Cedar Creek

Best BYOB: Jonathan’s The Rub and La Vista

Best Romantic Date Night: Mockingbird Bistro or Glass Wall

Best Asian: Uchi

Best Indian: Indika and Pondicheri

Best Italian: Coppa, Dolce Vita, and Giacomo’s

Best American: Benjy’s

Best Mexican: El Tiempo

Best Mediterranean: Island Grill

Best Middle Eastern: Maryz

Best French: Phillipe

Best Southern Cooking: Lucille’s

Best Bar Food: The Tasting Room

Best Bar(s): Anvil, Bar Boheme and Mongoose vs. Cobra

Best Coffee: Antidote and Catalina

Best Frozen Yogurt: Pinkberry

Best Vegetarian Options: Baba Yega and Field of Greens

Best Tofu Dish: Ruggles Green

Best Quinoa Dish: Latin Bites and Relish

Best Falafel: Brasil and Barnabys

Best Veggie Burger: Adair Kitchen

Best Brussels Sprouts: Benjy’s and Uchi

Notable missing from the list (and high on my list of places to go): Oxheart, Triniti, Revival Market, Radical Eats, RDG, Ouisie’s Table, Da Marco, Hugo’s, and Irma’s. Anyone up for dinner?

Bon appetit!

Food September 23, 2013

Weekend Food Adventures

I love trying new restaurants. I got to knock out three that I’ve been dying to try for ages this weekend – Mockingbird Bistro, Underbelly, and Latin Bites. My thoughts on each place are below!

I met two of my good friends, Paola and Guillermo, at Mockingbird Bistro on Thursday to celebrate their recent engagement. I ordered the Organic Beet Salad, which was great. As a beet lover, I will always order a beet dish if it’s on a menu. This one definitely did not fail to deliver. The spicy walnuts were the perfect touch to the dish. The service was amazing – our waiter brought a Congratulations dessert plate without any of us even mentioning the occasion! He must have been very attentive!

I’ve been to Underbelly for drinks before, but not for a meal. The menu is not super conducive to vegetarians, but the atmosphere makes up for the slim pickings. We ordered the eggplant appetizer (amazing), and then I got the Crispy Market Vegetables, which was a bowl of green beans (slightly strange, although they tasted great). The best parts about the evening were meeting Chris Shepherd (Executive Chef) and bragging on one of my good friends, Bryan, who did some of the art work on the wine menu (illustration and Bryan’s bio on page 10 here).

At Latin Bites on Saturday, I ordered the Quinoa Salad. It was heaven on earth. The ingredients include crispy quinoa, poached quinoa, carmelized cashews, mint, mozzarella, choclo, fava beans, avocados, tomatoes confit and passion fruit dressing. It came with baby iceberg lettuce wraps – one of my favorite dishes in Houston. See their dinner menu here. My only complaint about this amazing Memorial gem is the logo. As a typography nerd, it kills me.

Food September 9, 2013

Catching Up on Life

Last week was beyond busy with work, which left absolutely zero time to take a mental break and blog. So, to catch up…

> Our engagement pictures were recently featured on Style Me Pretty’s Little Black Book Blog here

> I finally ate at Coppa and Roost (twice) after they’d been on my “must eat at” list for ages and obviously had to add them to my Best of Houston: Restaurants and Coffee list

> We had the best time in Durango: hiking, ziplining, river rafting, and cycling – house above, more pictures soon!

> Celebrated Pierson’s first birthday and Bryan’s 25th! I love birthdays so much.

> Bought this striped chair for our entryway – final pictures of the Manor to come soon!

> Purchased tickets to The Book of Mormon for next weekend… seriously cannot wait

> Found out that we’re going to be Door Openers at Passion 2014 in Houston

> Headed to San Francisco for a day (here now) – fourth time in this beautiful city in 2013 and cannot complain about that

Food August 26, 2013

Rainbow Lodge

As part of my mission to eat Burrata cheese at all of these Houston restaurants, I decided to meet a good friend of mine, Paola, at Rainbow Lodge on Sunday for brunch (99 cent mimosas? yes, please). I had never been before, but had wanted to go for ages, so jumped at the opportunity to check it off the list. As I walked in, I felt like I had in fact been there before. I quickly remembered that I recognized the restaurant because I had seen it on photographer Taylor Lord’s blog. She shot a wedding there last year, and I loved every detail. In fact, little did I know at the time, but I would end up in the same Crepe de Chine BHLDN dress! I was grinning ear to ear when I pulled up the pictures again and saw that.

The food was incredible. The Heirloom Tomato Salad was heavenly – the Burrata cheese was perfect, as were the wonderfully affordable mimosas. The 100 year old cabin home turned into hunting-style restaurant is an amazing spot for Sunday brunch or date night. The views are amazing – windows all around. The vegetarian options are definitely limited, but that’s what I expected from an upscale game lodge eatery.

City Guide August 23, 2013

Paris City Guide

There is definitely no city in the world I love more than Paris. Growing up, it was always my dream to move there and spend my time strolling the bustling streets, speaking French with strangers, sipping coffee at a bijoux-cafe and wine on the Seine. In 2010, I got an internship in the City of Lights, and after a two week stint at the Cannes Film Festival, I made my way up north to Paris, where I spent the next three months adventuring (and blogging every day). I was fortunate enough to have one of my best friends, Andrew, also working there – by complete chance. We made a pact to adventure every single night – never to waste a moment in the most exciting city in the world. I honestly did not want to leave, so in 2010, after I graduated from The University of Texas at Austin, I went back with my family. Again, in 2012, Sasha and I made our way to Paris, at the end of our vacation to Turkey and Greece. I genuinely think that being a tour guide in that city, which was once my home, is my favorite thing in the world. If you haven’t gone, you must. And when you go, I suggest you try some of my favorite things to do.

Food

Best Falafel: L’As du Fallafel (Le Marais)

Best Mediterranean: Chez Marianne (Le Marais) and Beytouti (Hôtel-de-Ville)

Best Romantic Dinner: Le Cafe de l’Homme (Trocadéro)

Best Casual Dinner: Le Pause Cafe (Bastille)

Best Lunch Cafe: Cafe Le Buci (Saint–Germain–des–Prés) and Le Restaurant (Luxembourg)

Best Dinner with Views: Restaurant Georges (Hôtel-de-Ville)

Best Dinner for People Watching: Le Bonaparte (Saint–Germain–des–Prés)

Best Frozen Yogurt: MyBerry (Le Marais)

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Drinks

Best Coffee + People Watching: Les Deux Magots

Best Peaceful Coffee: Telescope Cafe

Best Smoothies: Le Paradis du Fruit

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Sightseeing

Best Neighborhood to Get Lost In: Le Marais

Best Walking Tours: Paris Walks

Best Boat Tours: Bateaux Mouches

Most Extravagent Gardens: Le Palace de Versaille

Best Peaceful Park: Les Jardins de Luxembourg

Best Views of the City: Sacre Coeur

Most Iconic: Eiffel Tower (obviously)

Most Gorgeous “Square”: Les Places des Vosges

Best Way to Get Around Town: Velib

Best Church: Eglise Saint Germain des Pres

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Museums

Best Indoor Museum: L’Orangerie

Best (Mainly) Outdoor Museum: Rodin Museum

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Shopping

Best Boutiques: Le Comptoir de Cotonniers and Kookai

Best Department Shopping: BHV

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Accomodation

Best Hotel: Hotel Bel-Ami

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Nightlife

Best People Watching Bar: Le Petit Fer du Cheval

Favorite Night Activity: Drinking Wine on the Seine

Other Favorite Night Activity: Sitting on the Champs de Mars, watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle

Favorite Bridge To Sit on at Night: Pont des Arts

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Some of my favorite pictures below from 2009, 2010 and 2012… time for another trip soon, especially as I’m reading The Paris Wife and am so nostalgic!