When I punched in my Amex on WordPress for blog hosting last year, a very pessimistic side of me screamed “great, another purchase destined to gather dust, a venture awaiting to be filed under what-was-I-thinking”. But I guess wonders never cease because I’m still here! Sixty-two articles, 168 comments, a gazillion spams, and 1 hater later, I’m still writing!!! This is a milestone that I just realized today as I got an email from WordPress, wanting to know if I want to renew my subscription. To which I say, “hell-to-the -yeah”!
One of my many food mottos: Life is uncertain, eat dessert first!
I’ve adapted a vegetarian diet for the past two weeks. Eating “clean” always makes me feel better. It is a type of diet that I know can’t sustain for long periods but I figured that for as long as majority of my meals are meat-free, I should be ok. As a result, I’ve had a fun adventure exploring the meat-free world—it’s not as painful as I though it would be!
This weekend, however, D and I decided to indulge our carnivorous cravings, so we have to make a difficult decision on which steakhouse to go to. I say “difficult” because we are in Houston, you can’t turn a corner without seeing some type of steak or barbecue place. It takes a lot of thought and discernment to know which place is worthy to fall off the vegetarian horse. So I turned to Zagat and Gayot, my trusted food critiquing bodies. I found Vallone’s , which is consistent among the top ten. The likes of Eddie V’s, Mortons, Capital Grille, Mccormick and Schmick’s have been around awhile and while all are wonderful, we wanted to try someplace new. So Vallone’s it is.
Ambience is typical high-end steakhouse, lots of wood and leather and an impressive see-through wine collectionThis is very inventive and modern. Gone are the days where they parade their meats in a bed of lettuce and ice.I started with a Strawberry Basil Rickey — cool and sweet—just like me! Haha!Appetizer – Smoked Salmon “Pizza” – crispy potato, chive crème fraîche.
This was a lot bigger than I expected, but absolutely divine! Sometimes I wonder why I still am surprised with Texan servings…
I had Pepper Crusted Ahi TunaOf course, D had steak. He had a 12 once filet mignon with Bianca sauce and lump crab meat.It was cooked to perfection! We marveled at how evenly the surface was cooked.
I was still hesitant to get off the vegetarian horse, so I ordered fish. I actually had a mini-cheat last week with “adobo”. I discovered this Filipino restaurant that delivers. They had chicken adobo so ordered it with my halo-halo. I got so guilty after the first bite, I took it home for Beans, who promptly inhaled it.
Dessert – Bananas Foster Pie with Cinnamon Rum Ice Cream — this is a winner.
This does not look very attractive but it really is good. The crust is unbelievable. I don’t usually eat the pie crust because it’s just added calories, but for this, I made an exception. The cinnamon rum ice cream is home-made; very rich in flavor.
So despite the misstep of ordering fish in a steakhouse (what was I thinking???), it was a wonderful dinner. Like I said, this restaurant is among the newer steakhouses in Houston. I am pretty sure it is going to be around for a while!
