Laredo Taco Company at 7-Eleven in Grand Parkway Marketplace

I love Laredo Taco Company, and stopped in to check out the newest one in our neighborhood.  There are now five(!) Laredo Taco Company locations within 3 miles of my house, including two in the Grand Parkway Marketplace area.  This one is near Kuykendahl on Spring Stuebner.  

I ordered a favorite--the Street Taco platter with carnitas and fajita tacos, accompanied by a fountain drink and a parfait.  The carnitas were excellent as always, as were the tortillas--made fresh in the store.  The carnitas, even though they were not the Bravas (spicy) version, still had a kick.  I had the rice and corn for sides--the rice was pretty salty but quite tasty.  The parfait was good for what you get at a convenience store, a generous amount of nice creamy pudding.  I got a fountain drink, and everything was working smoothly.  They do have Mexican Coke and other bottled drinks if you want something a little elevated.  The service was very friendly and polite.  I have to rate down here a bit, because I did not get what I ordered--only got the carnitas tacos.  I really can't eat four tacos so this is not a disaster, but I want what I order.  Still, the whole thing was less than $10, and you really can't do that anywhere else.  Gotta love 'em. 

My Yelp Review

Cuda's Milkpot

This truck has moved to the Gosling Express food truck lot on Gosling Road.  I went the other night and tried them out.  Had the fish and shrimp basket, with mac and cheese, banana pudding, and their super sweet tea.

The basket has two swai fillets, fried shrimp, hush puppies, and fries.  The cornmeal batter on both items was done very well, crisp on the outside and inside was cooked just right.  The fish was nice and tender, and the shrimp had a snap.  The breading has a kick, it is peppery as well as salty.  Very tasty.

The fries had a nice seasoning mix, reminded me of Tony Chachere's cajun mix, which is great for fries.  Fries suffer when they sit in a takeout bag, and these did, so I don't judge on texture.  The hush puppies were just a bit sweet, and nice and fluffy on the inside.  I don't always eat them but these were good.  The banana pudding was a bit disappointing.  It was pre-packaged, and the vanilla wafers, bananas and pudding all mushed together into one kind of mealy texture--not that appealing.

The super sweet tea is definitely worth a try.  It lives up to its name--must have 5 or 6 tablespoons of sugar per cup.  A lot of lemon as well, not quite an Arnold Palmer but you can see it from there.  A delicious complement to the meal.  Overall the place is for sure worth a try.

My Yelp Review

Kohinoor Indo-Pak Restaurant

We love Indian food and are very excited to have this new option in the neighborhood.  It's probably too early to give them a serious review, but I'll do it anyway.  The menu changes daily and is written on a clipboard--also posted on WhatsApp if they remember.  They have plans for a more formal restaurant soon.

I stopped in the other night for a family dinner--we ordered chicken tikka masala, chicken malai boti, palak paneer, Jeera rice, somosas, and plain and garlic naan.  

The chicken tikka masala was delicious, with a very rich, savory flavor, as good as I have had anywhere.  The palak paneer (a creamed spinach with slices of tofu) was excellent, also on par with the best I have had.  The richness in both dishes was amazing.  The chicken malai boti is a kebab item.  The chunks of chicken were very spicy and had great flavor.  The somosas were also very good--quite spicy, with a good hard fried shell that had a satisfying crunch.

The Jeera rice is supposed to be a kind of cumin rice.  I didn't get much flavor from it.  It worked well as a base for the sauced items, which was good because you do not get any plain white rice with the entrees.  Order the Jeera rice if you want rice to go with your meal.

The naan was a little disappointing--kind of hard and chewy.  Good flavor, we still ate it.

The store was very busy the night I came in, and it's still somewhat chaotic inside.  They don't start cooking until sometime after 1, so it is definitely for dinner.  Right now it's an adventure, but I'm glad we took it.

My Yelp Review

Balanced Foods

This is a storefront that sells healthy packaged meals--kind of like My Fit Foods used to, and many others.  I came in the other day to check them out.  They have a variety of offerings that one often finds on a health food menu--chicken, turkey, salmon, and one lean beef item (The Happy Gilmore tenderloin) that I decided to try. It's tenderloin cuts with mashed potatoes, vegetables and a little BBQ sauce.  I would say the meal was well prepared and tasty--the beef was tender, the mashed potatoes tasty.  The veggies were done al dente or even crisp--not like southern style mushy.  For $12.74 you can do worse, for sure.

A note here on safety.  They do have a dine-in space, but they are not using it now.  However, when I went in the tanned and fit young woman that waited on me was not wearing a mask, nor did she have one handy.  Customers I saw leaving also did not wear one, so I would take that into account when risking entry.

My Yelp Review