La Casita

This place has been open in the Shell station at Kuykendahl and 2920 for a few years now, so I thought they might be doing something right.  I came in for lunch on a Saturday and had the La Casita burger--I've often had good luck with burgers at Tex-Mex places.  The La Casita burger is supposed to come with ham, pineapple, jalapenos, and a special sauce, as well as the usual toppings.  I didn't get the pineapple, but it was still pretty good--the thin-sliced ham was a good substitute for bacon.  The double patties were perhaps slightly overcooked, but the moisture in the rest of the burger made up for it and I feel safer eating burgers well done.  They gave me two bottles of sauce and ketchup for the fries--I tried the "red" sauce on the burger and it was quite good.  The fries were spot on, thick but with a crisp outside and tender inside, and nicely seasoned.  Means they keep their oil clean and changed.  There are  no drinks on the menu, but it's inside the Shell station and there are plenty of traditional Mexican options.  But you should bring an opener for those.

The restaurant is lacking in aesthetics--the gas station is a bit run down.  The tables weren't clean when I came in but a staff person was wiping them down while I was there.  The bathroom was better than I expected given the rest of the place--reasonably clean and functional.

The restaurant is open for breakfast and lunch, and there are a lot of traditional options as well as burgers.  I got the overall impression that they are doing something right, and would definitely try them again.  Probably for take out.

My Yelp Review

La Casita Burger and fries

Las Tortas de Pamela at Harvest Natural Market

The Harvest Market food court confuses me--is it one restaurant with a broad menu, or several?  The website and signage show them as separate, but inside there's one long counter and usually only a couple of people behind it.  I have previously reviewed Kitosana (their Asian entry) and El Kourmet (Venezuelan).  El Kourmet is gone, and in its place is a Mexican entry, Las Tortas de Pamela.  I stopped in the other day to try them out.

We got off to an unfortunate start with a signature item, the lamb barbacoa, not being available.  The fellow behind the counter offered me a gyro instead. I didn't come for a gyro, so I ended up with a fajita beef burrito, the tres leches cake and a chocolate shake.

The burrito was a choose-your-ingredients job, which makes it hard to comment on the flavor.  But the individual elements were good--the beef was tasty and tender, and the other ingredients were good and fresh.  The salsa was good and looked homemade, though it was a bit watery for me.

The tres leches cake was ok, but ordering it confused the staff.  I think they got one out of a case and cut it for me.  I tend to expect that what is on the menu is what I can get, with exceptions for occasionally running out of things.

I'm knocking my review down a bit due to cleanliness.  I ate on the grocery store side of the food court, and none of the tables were clean.  Since this was relatively early in the lunch service I'm thinking they had not been cleaned in more than a day.  I have a fairly high dirt tolerance but some would be bothered.  This is not necessarily a knock on Las Tortas de Pamela, if they are indeed separate, but Harvest Market needs to address it.  The people who served me made every effort to be polite but there were communication issues.

You'd probably be best off ordering a torta, since that's their titular item.  The build-it-yourself part would work fine with a Mexican sub.  But there's no reason to go out of the way to eat there.

My Yelp Review

T-Jin's China Diner at Grand Parkway Marketplace

I stopped in to try out this new Chinese option in our neighborhood.  The place was empty and well-staffed, and everyone seemed ready to serve.  My waitress struggled just a bit with English, but her manager helped her out and we were all good.

The menu has all the usual Chinese restaurant staples, and not much that looks unique at all.  I got the China Town Stir Fry off the lunch menu as I had not seen that elsewhere, but it's a standard combination of beef, chicken and shrimp in light brown sauce.  I had it with an egg roll and wonton soup.

The soup was fine, three smaller wontons instead of one big one so easier to eat.  The egg roll would be called a spring roll elsewhere--very thin skin and mostly cabbage.  The stir fry was competent, but I would have thought the shrimp were something else if I hadn't been told.

There's not a lot to recommend the place unless you're right there and wanting Chinese.  It does have some attractions as a compromise choice--there are healthy options, and the place has a liquor license (beer and wine).  The inside was clean but extremely simple--I only saw one piece of Chinese decor, but they are just getting set up.  The bathroom was clean and fully functional.

 For me, it's definitely not going to push out Ming's as our neighborhood best.

Did you ever wonder how many Chinese restaurants there are, and how they come to resemble each other so much?  According to this article, there are more than 41,000, which is more than the big three fast food chains combined.  And they seem just as consistent.  But there's not one large company dominating the whole supply chain behind them--it's a combination, and the restaurants network through newsletters and staff exchange.

My Yelp Review

Tony's Street Tacos - Review in Northampton Newsletter

This review appeared in February's Northampton Newsletter and other neighborhood newsletters in the area:

Hello neighbors!  My family and I have lived in Northampton for 8 years and are very proud to call it home.  We fell in love with the mature trees and large lots, and have enjoyed our beautiful parks, active neighborhood life, and friendly people.

Our family enjoys going out to eat and watching food shows, and I dabble in cooking.  What I particularly enjoy is going somewhere I haven’t been before—I get a real charge out of anticipating what some new place will be like.  I’ll bring the best of what I find to you here, starting with Tony’s Street Tacos. 

Tony Gomez and his wife Dora opened their restaurant on Root Road (formerly Northampton Pizza) in October 2017.  Tony is the chef, and Dora is the general manager.  Tony’s food looks and eats like Tex-Mex, but it is actually from Mexico City, with American, Italian, and Chinese influences.  When I first visited, Tony had me sample the brisket--it was wonderful, nice and tender even in the lean parts, and well-seasoned.  Tony makes good use of the pizza ovens he inherited, cooking the brisket in them for six hours before serving.  I had some cilantro rice and grilled onions with it on a taco.  The shrimp taco came with three nice plump shrimp and some very good slaw, with jicama, cabbage, and other items to give it a good crunch.  I ordered the special Diablo sauce, which he made on the spot—it’s 99 cents extra and well worth the upcharge.  It’s a great combination of garlic, asiago sauce and pico de gallo.

Tony came to the US in 1990, and got his start in Santa Cruz restaurants washing dishes.  He asked for and received training as a prep cook, then in 1995 started working for the Marie Callender restaurant chain, eventually moving to Texas to take a kitchen manager position.  They have been back and forth between California and the Spring/Woodlands area, where Tony has managed food service for Famous Dave’s barbecue, BJ’s Roadhouse, and PF Chang’s.

On my second visit I had an empanada, a new item that will be part of their expanded menu.  It was an absolutely delicious rendition.  The pastry crust was perfectly done—slightly flaky, very flavorful, and melted in your mouth.  Mine was stuffed with chicken, very tender with a delicious sauce.  A queso fresco sauce topped it off.  They are well worth asking for.

Tony’s food has a master’s touch, and he has a lot of experience teaching others to prepare food as he does.  They have enjoyed tremendous success in Northampton, and are planning expansion and franchising.

McDonalds at Rayford Crossing

Whenever I publish a fast food review I get people asking why I bother to critique fast food.  It's industrial food, formulated and supplied to be as similar as possible across all locations.  So here are some reasons why I review fast food:

• I like it.
• You eat it too, and you have choices in where to go.  You might want to know.
• The chains change their menus once in awhile so there might be something new to try.
• Locations do vary.  It's good to know what to avoid.

The last time I ate at a McDonald's was at the one in the Walmart at 2920 and Kuykendall.  That's the kind of McDonald's we hear about from people who don't like it--indifferent service, poorly made food, sticky tables.

This McDonald's is completely different.  Non-McDonalds art on the walls (hotel art, but hey).  A variety of comfortable seating with a TV.  Table service. Free wifi.  It's like they want you to stay for awhile.

I was greeted by a friendly staff person who walked me through ordering on their kiosk.  These started coming out about 6 months ago, apparently they just got theirs.  I ordered off the Signature Crafted Recipes menu--you can get several condiment combinations with grilled chicken, fried chicken patty, or a burger patty.  I got the sweet BBQ bacon on an artisan bun with fries and a coke, and a sundae for dessert.  Sat down at a nice clean table to wait for my food, and watched it progress on a monitor.

While the ambiance was way above average for a Mickey D's, the food was still the same--up and down.  The fries were delicious as always.  The sundae was pretty good soft serve.  I stay away from McDonald's burgers because they microwave them and they come out tough and tasteless.  But this chicken sandwich wasn't too wonderful either.  It seemed overdone.  The sweet BBQ is the McRibs sauce on the sandwich.  And I've never been a big fan of McDonald's bacon, it tastes like Canadian bacon and is chewy.  I had it on an artisan bun, yet another choice in assembling the sandwich.  It wasn't terrible but not special.

I don't go to McDonald's very frequently but would go back to this one just for the shock factor of being in a McDonald's where I actually didn't feel like I wanted to hurry out.

My Yelp Review