The Original Neal's Restaurant

We first visited Neal's many years ago, before the reboot.  Mr. Neal himself is a pretty interesting character.  But we found the food bland and did not go back.

I just tried it again for lunch recently--had one of their specials on the board, a fried pork steak with sides and dessert included.  Got grilled zucchini and mashed potatoes for the sides.

The fried pork steak is really chicken fried pork loin, served with cream gravy.  And it's quite good, nice and tender with a very crunchy, flavorful outside.  There's enough seasoning in the gravy and breading to notice--mostly salt, but that's fine.  I would order chicken fried steak here.

The zucchini was OK, it had some seasoning and a little texture left.  The mashed potatoes were interesting.  They are real (I asked), but they were very smooth and just a little watery--they eat like a box mix.  So if you like box mix (and I know some people do) then you would be OK with these real ones too.  I ate them but would probably get something else next time.

For dessert I had the banana pudding, and it was a very good finish--sliced bananas and a cookie (not a nilla wafer, something else) all together.  Everything is served at once (even though the waiter was attentive and refilled my drink twice), but the bowl kept the pudding from warming up too much.  I don't know if they do this for dinner service.

The service was first-rate throughout--polite and attentive.  The restaurant was pretty empty but I've eaten in empty places before and not gotten good service so I don't take it for granted.  The bathroom was clean and ready to go.

This puts it back on my list as a place to think about.  If a group wanted this kind of food I would suggest Neal's over Cotton Patch, even though they don't have chicken fried bacon.

My Yelp Review

El Chaparro at Kuykendahl and Gosling

We have been to the other El Chaparro a few times, and decided to try this one.  We went later on a Saturday evening--the place was full but we still did not have to wait.

We ordered several Tex-Mex standards.  First off, fajitas--every restaurant says they have the best ones, but these do stand out.  The beef is tender and very flavorful.  They include a serving of clarified butter, which I have seen with seafood before but never beef.  I love clarified butter with pretty much anything, so this worked for me.  I liked the standard beef fajitas better than the combination I got the last time I was there.

Next up, seafood.  We ordered Betty's Shrimp, which was a tasty combination of sauteed shrimp and vegetables.  The shrimp were nicely done.  The vegetables were more "southern style", pretty thoroughly cooked but not falling apart and well seasoned.  It came with cilantro rice, which was very good--I prefer it to the standard Tex-Mex rice.

We also got a combination enchilada plate.  The presentation was very nice, with each one well separated on the plate.  These were fine but did not stand out.

The restaurant offers free soft-serve ice cream, but we ordered a couple of desserts--sopapillas and chocolate cake.  The sopapillas had plenty of sugar and cinnamon.  They were a bit heavy for my taste but were fine--came with a nice garnish of whipped cream.  The chocolate cake is made in-house.  The taste was good, but it was a bit dry.  They serve it with a garnish of vanilla ice cream, and it actually would have been perfect with more of it.

Service was fine, particularly with the restaurant being pretty full.  The ambiance is somewhat dark inside and the decor is mostly TVs, showing a very wide variety of programming--women's golf and reality TV in addition to the usual soccer/Astros stuff.  They have a wide variety of alcohol offerings, which we did not try but heard good things about.  Overall, we were very happy with the meal and will be back.

My Yelp Review

Star Stop 98 (Exxon at Kuykendall and Gosling)

I often stop here for gas, they have the best prices in the area for Exxon.  Went into the store for a bite to eat this time.  Not a great idea.  First of all, the place was pretty stinky--possibly some sort of plumbing malfunction, coming from the restrooms but pervading the store.  I went ahead to order from their tacqueria, though.  Had a fajita beef plate.  Not worth braving the smell.  The fajita beef was marinated to the point of jerky, very dry, tough and astringent.  Refried beans were kind of chunky.  Rice was just OK, not good enough to save the meal.  I didn't eat much of it.  I will say this--the salsa was very spicy, if you are looking for that then this could work, if they have other items on the menu that are better.  They do have a seating area, not pretty but plenty of room and would have been fine except for the smell.  I'll definitely be back but will stay outside.

My Yelp Review

Hunger Stop at Harvest Natural Market

Harvest Market has been through many iterations of their food court--the latest version is called Hunger Stop.  I checked it out recently to see if it would actually stop my hunger.  It did, but in a somewhat sad way.  The store was pretty empty, and it took awhile for the counter guy to find me.  While I waited I looked over the selection.  There was a small selection of diced vegetables etc under saran wrap that I assume was for the "build your own salad" option.  There were some whole rotisserie chickens sitting out, and a steam table with mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, and a rice mix.

The options are very limited, and ordering anything they had to make from scratch did not look promising, so when the counter guy came by I asked for a half chicken and 2 sides.  He was very helpful, warming the chicken in the pizza oven for me.

The vegetables were pretty rare--I could not stab the carrots with my fork.  The rice was sticky and overdone.  But all that said, it was not inedible, actually OK.  The chicken was tender and flavorful, even the breast.  $9.99 is the list price for a whole one and it's not bad if you want to take one home.

But overall the experience was kind of sad.  The food court is a shadow of its former self.  It's hard to recommend eating from it when you have a good coffee shop (Cafe Artesano) in the building and a very good food truck (Primo's Venezuelan) right outside.

My Yelp Review

Fatima's Pupusas and Snacks

This very cute food truck recently opened along Spring Stuebner near Gosling.  Had lunch there the other day.  It's a promising food truck but I will probably have to try some other items next time.  I ordered a burger and fries.  The fries were thick but had a nice crisp outside, they were done enough.  The burger was not too good.  A prefab patty that was kind of tan inside--sign of a cheap one.  Way too much lettuce and not real great bacon.  I had a nice pineapple agua fresca with it.  Finished with a chocobanana, a banana dipped in chocolate and frozen, which was refreshing.  They have a lot of items on their menu, including many interesting fruit snacks.  The service was friendly and polite.  I wish good things for them, but don't get the burger.

Update: Have gotten a lot of reaction to this item on Nextdoor. Consensus is that I should have tried the pupusas. According to the comments they are some of the best in the area. Lesson learned, get the special on the first visit!

My Yelp Review

Second update: This review is for the recently (a few months) rebooted food truck. Not sure if the brick-and-mortar location further east on Spring Stuebner is still open. I stopped in to try their new iteration--got a sampler with a pupusa (fajita), a taco (al pastor), a gordita (chicharron) and a Mexican hot dog. Washed it down with a jamaica agua fresca and finished with some churros and ice cream.

The pupusa was very good, a nice combination of fajitas and beans. Combined with the pupusa makings and fried on the grill it made a nice savory treat. The al pastor taco was OK--the meat was a bit chewy but with the salsa it had good flavor. Not sure about the gordita--it's two firm shells around your filling. The chicharrons were rich and indulgent as they should be, but they were not easy to eat on the shell. Probably my favorite item was the Mexican hot dog. A hot dog with all the traditional Mexican trimmings--crema, ketchup, jalapenos, and a little parmesan. The bun was toasted on the grill. Perhaps just a bit stale but it didn't fall apart. All these items are available on their own for a smaller meal, and I think the hot dog is a great deal.

The churros were freshly prepared and looked gorgeous--a nice golden brown, crusted with cinnamon and drizzled with caramel sauce. The outside was great, nice and crisp. Unfortunately the inside was squishy--they had been filled before frying, and that always leaves the interiors too moist, lots of what tasted like undercooked dough. It's better if they sacrifice a bit of freshness and fill the churros after cooking. The jamaica was great, though.

What stands out for me is the upgraded menu. Well organized and lots of new choices, much more professional than the first go-round. All in all it was good but a few too many execution errors to really rate it highly. Definitely worth trying though.

Yelp Review for Food Truck