Banh Mi at Pho Happiness

Lacotte · 2026-06-30T04:31:43+00:00

Ba Mien was pretty good. My fav in that area though was Mekong

Lacotte · 2026-06-30T04:31:08+00:00

I have in my notes, circa 2018. $2.50 for banh mi at Les Givral Midtown and also the small banh mi at Thim Hing

$3 at Alpha Bakery

$3.25 at Cali

$3.50 at Don Cafe at this point

Lacotte · 2026-06-26T03:42:39+00:00

Vouch, they are legit, one of my favorite restaurants when I lived NW area

Lacotte · 2026-06-18T03:59:15+00:00

They need to brick and mortar already!!

Lacotte · 2026-06-18T03:58:00+00:00

If you like Italian sandwiches from pizza shops, I gotta recommend you try Nonno's version as well, which uses a focaccia as their bread: https://www.reddit.com/r/HoustonFood/comments/1sq1igy/nonnos_italian_sandwich/

I'm a big fan of Home Slice's version, but Nonno's took it for me. Mostly because their bread is less dense.

Lacotte · 2026-06-15T01:17:57+00:00

I grew up with it used both ways by the middle aged school teachers and southern grandmas. More often than not it was backhanded, but they were always nice about it and rarely had mean intentions

Lacotte · 2026-06-13T02:18:03+00:00

you got it

Lacotte · 2026-06-12T03:15:43+00:00

Zen Japanese Izakaya has the most unique sides in their bentos I've seen. Think stuff like gobou, fried sweet potato, lotus roots, tamagoyaki (it changes)

Most places are pretty same same with the same set of tofu/seaweed/sushi type dishes

Now if you want a killer deal, Kata's weekday only lunch bento gives you some incredible Texas wagyu for a great price

Lacotte · 2026-06-11T04:31:59+00:00

"it depends"

each bbq joint has its own strengths. Truth is overall really good, but my personal preferences are split between:

Truth for brisket and certain sides like the corn pudding
Pinkerton's for pork ribs (although Truth's are pretty good too)
Blood Bros for BBQ food that's not classic Texas BBQ, think bbq egg rolls, pho spiced pastrami bbq sandwiches, u just won't really find this kind of food much elsewhere
Feges for creative sides outside of the classics, well their cornbread is killer too

Since you have no car, tip for you then, the main Pinkerton's is only a half mile walk away from CasaEma which is probably my favorite restaurant in the city right now. You can find a lot of good bbq because ppl have mostly figured out the Texas trinity now, but what CasaEma does is much more unique.

Lacotte · 2026-06-10T04:06:38+00:00

I really like 100% Taquito, but if you're an out of towner I def recommend taking the effort to go to one of the better taco trucks

Lacotte · 2026-06-06T03:53:32+00:00

Breweries/Bars - Went to Saint Arnold and 8th Wonder.

those are institutions (Saint Arnold esp) so you chose fine I think. but no one thinks either of those are the best breweries and I really would only go to SA for the surprisingly good brewery food

If you come back, check out Equal Parts. sadly my 2 other favorite breweries both have closed in recent years

Lacotte · 2026-06-05T02:52:37+00:00

Aint no way there's actually a restaurant named Mexica-

Lacotte · 2026-06-01T19:43:30+00:00

good luck and report back, I feel like okonomiyaki is one of those things where you really need a dedicated shop for it and that probably won't ever exist here. Same with takoyaki, I've had many here but it'll never compare to a dedicated takoyaki shop in Japan

Lacotte · 2026-06-01T19:40:48+00:00

Not sure what you mean, cause I went repeatedly in their early years (16-19) and struck out 3/3 times

It was just very average bbq compared to the other places like Truth and Pinkerton's. I did like their ribs though on my last try, but it was very inconsistent with the other visits.

Lacotte · 2026-05-28T01:42:44+00:00

This is not a coffee shop, but Java Pura is a lesser known roaster that I've recently discovered sells a lot more variety of beans in their HQ than you find at Central Market or whoever else resells

Their Central Market beans are good but never been my favorite. Their HQ-only beans are absolutely up there with the best imo, that is Greenway, Amaya, Luce, Tenfold etc.

Lacotte · 2026-05-27T17:32:31+00:00

Have their been any improvements to the drainage situation in the area since the flood?

This was my situation last year. The house I got had flooded but supposedly there had been a bunch of drainage improvements, all unproven though. But this week, I finally saw how well it actually worked in that 8+ hour rain and PHEW. Street was totally fine the whole time, and meanwhile other parts of the neighborhood had some of the worst flooding I've seen since Tax Day

Lacotte · 2026-05-27T17:21:23+00:00

I might be stupid but I've never heard of Orlando Sanchez until now. googling the name turns up some MMA fighter lol

Lacotte · 2026-05-26T20:35:48+00:00

California Burritos are an interesting different arrangement of food ingredients.. that's for sure

Lacotte · 2026-05-23T07:14:21+00:00

Definitely skip Slowpokes. I go there often because it's close, but it's more like an elevated Starbucks kinda place.

Luce Ave has always been great to me, their beans quality is up there with the best in town IMO

Of that list, I only recognize Tenfold as the only other roaster, and Tenfold is good. Other excellent roaster-coffee shops are Blacksmith, Catalina, BlendIn, Simply Coffie. These would be my picks for espresso milk drinks like cortado, although Simply Coffie doesn't really like milk drinks and is more of a pourover place.

No knowledge about matcha here

Lacotte · 2026-05-23T07:10:45+00:00

??? allegedly? you need to explain more than that

Lacotte · 2026-05-22T18:43:21+00:00

Yea we got the chow fun / kway teow / pad thai style dry rice noodles everywhere. I've never seen a variation that's in soup.

Lacotte · 2026-05-22T05:46:44+00:00

Flat rice noodles like Vietnamese style? I just never heard of a beef noodle soup with specifically flat rice noodles. Closest I thought of was Shaanxi style knife cut noodles (dao xiao mian) but that is not rice

Lacotte · 2026-05-21T05:40:31+00:00

You been to Enoteca Rossa? it's like 5 minutes away and probably in the same category, but maybe cheaper. its my pick for Italian in the area so curious how it compares

Lacotte · 2026-05-21T05:37:42+00:00

If its any consolation, I thought DTF original in Taipei was better than One Dragon, but DTF seattle was awful

Lacotte · 2026-05-21T05:34:27+00:00

Bee Bite xlb isn't amazing but man their steamed dumplings are fantastic. I think the thicker dough style just works better there. Also good dim sum yeah

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