Papa Peter's Steak and Seafood

This place first leased their space at least 2 years ago. I despaired of their ever opening, and am glad they got the doors open. We stopped in the other night for a nice dinner out. Got the gator bites for an appetizer, the King Ranch ribeye with asparagus and a side salad, and the fried catfish with a loaded baked potato. We had a Moscow Mule and raspberry iced tea for drinks, and finished with the carrot cake. We also got hush puppies--more on that below.

Usually I start with the food, but this time I need to start with the service. The people were friendly, enthusiastic and helpful. But there were a lot of issues, too many to gloss over. 1) We came in the side door from the back parking lot. There's a booth right next to this door, and that's where we were seated. You don't want this spot. Every time new patrons entered we got a blast of hot air, so we were a bit sweaty for the meal. 2) When we were seated we were asked about drinks, but not appetizers. The drinks were dropped off without an opportunity to add anything. We were ready for our mains when I got the chance to order the appetizer. So it delayed things. A minor miscommunication. 3) When the order came to the table it had fried crawfish instead of catfish. So I ate my steak while they corrected the order. Awkward. 4) I never got the side salad mentioned above. Would have asked but I forgot about it. We did get offered something to make up for the order mistake, and settled on hush puppies.

The food was a mixed bag. The gator bites were great--done perfectly with a tasty breading. This is not easy for gator, it dries out quickly. The server told us you can get other preparations if you ask, and recommended blackened. Would get that next time. The steak was decent. The ribeye had a lot of gristle, which is not unusual for that cut. It had a nice dollop of butter on it. The asparagus that came with it was great--nicely seasoned and done perfectly. The catfish was a large helping, three good-sized filets so there was plenty to take home. The breading was good. The fish itself was slightly chewy and fishy, just OK. The potato was fine. The hush puppies arrived after the mains. I'm glad we got to try them, they were very good--crispy but not hard outside, fluffy inside, and slightly sweet. Would order a dish with those for sure.

The Moscow Mule was OK, kind of heavy on the lime. I asked about mocktails but they don't have those, so I got raspberry tea. The raspberry tea was sweeter than I expected. When I got a refill I was asked if I wanted sweet or unsweet, and I asked for unsweet. But either there was no option or what I got was in fact the unsweet tea. Either way it hit the spot--I finished two glasses. The raspberry is quite strong. I liked it. The carrot cake was drizzled with a sweet caramel sauce, so it was sweet on sweet. I like a sweet dessert, so this worked for me. Can't tell if the carrot cake was homemade, it was dense like a purchased one but quite tasty.

Why am I even giving this 3 stars? The friendliness and good intentions count, and the bright spots tell me that there are better things on the menu. Maybe we just had bad luck on the service.

The interior is nicely decorated in a Texas theme. The bathrooms were clean and ready. Papa Peter's seems to be positioned as a mildly upscale value place, about like Outback. Is it better? Can't say that. For about the same price you get two sides with an Outback entree, with solid quality. And while I liked the gator bites, I do love the blooming onion. But I can see that lots of folks do like Papa Peter's, and I hope they do well.

My Yelp Review

Del Tejano

This business has changed hands--relatives of the previous owners purchased it. It is now named Del Tejano but the menu and recipes are the same. We came in to give it a try under the new owners. We got a chicken gordita, a chicken tostada and the Parrillada Regia plate. We finished with a canoa.

The gordita and tostada were good representations. The gordita was tasty and the tostada was firm enough to pick up, though it was fully loaded so that was awkward in a good way. But the star was the Parrillada Regia plate.

This plate comes on a sizzling fajita skillet with beef, shrimp, sausage and a pork chop as proteins, grilled onions and peppers, and rice, beans, tortillas, avocado and pico de gallo on the side. The beef was good, the chicken fine but slightly on the dry side, the sausage had lots of flavor, and the shrimp was well cooked. But I recommend this plate for the pork chop. It's a thin chop but it was cooked just right, done but nice and tender. There's a very narrow window to get chops right, and most places miss it, but this one was great. The portions of the proteins are about right for one taco, I would call it a sample plate. But it's under $20 so I think it is a great value as well as a good dish. Am getting that again.

We may have failed to appreciate the canoa. It's a fried plantain topped with whipped cream and cinnamon. My wife thought it was too sweet, and I thought it wasn't sweet enough. Your mileage will obviously vary.

The place has been fully decorated since my last review and is quite attractive inside. The bathrooms were clean and ready. Service was good. I think the place will be successful under the new owners.

My Yelp Review

Starbucks at Panther Creek

 I decided to have a light lunch at this location on a moderately busy Saturday.  I got a bacon, sausage and egg wrap, a slice of lemon pound cake, and their new horchata frappucino.

The wraps and sandwiches are not made there, and they are microwaved, but having said that it was a decent wrap.  Maybe a little light on sausage but the outside was more crisp than I expected.  The lemon pound cake is very good, a nice treat to go with your coffee.  I usually get a mocha frappucino but the horchata one is just as good and a nice new flavor.  The coffee makes the horchata taste somewhat close to the mocha, but there's a noticeable difference.

Service was friendly and prompt.  The interior is quite nice.  Some of the places in the Panther Creek Shopping Center have a bit of a tired look, but this place fits the area vibe without being shabby.  Nice outside seating under the trees.  The restrooms were clean and ready.  Two identical all-gender restrooms, no gender based waiting. There is a long statement on them about being for customers only, stemming from a lawsuit from several years ago.  The tables are comfortable, though I only saw a couple with outlets so there could be competition.  It's a Starbucks, and it's fine.

My Yelp Review https://yelp.to/wmdmgLRaTP

Nomad Eats

We tried out the latest food truck in La Plaza de los Food Trucks, behind the Gosling Express on Gosling Road. We got the grilled wings and the grilled chicken shawarma plate.

The wings come highly recommended and I can confirm that they are delicious. The truck has a flame grill (they say charcoal, but the cook was cooking inside the truck and I hope they are not using charcoal that way) and the wings were cooked just right on it. Tender with a nice char. We got all four sauces with our meal and they each bring something different to the food. The harissa sauce is aggressively spiced, you really taste the harissa. The Nomad Sauce is a spicy mix that I believe also has some harissa in it, though not as much. The garlic sauce has plenty of garlic. And there's ranch for the rest of you.

The chicken shawarma was cooked very well with authentic spices, topped with the harissa and garlic sauces. It's a nice big portion so you can share or save some for later. Both of our orders came with saffron basmati rice. It was nicely cooked and quite delicious. You can mix the sauces with it and enjoy it that way too.

The truck has a nice selection of Mediterranean foods. They have lamb on skewers and as chops. They also have a burger and chicken tenders for those wanting comfort food. They have some specialty drinks on the menu (hibiscus, Mangonade, and a Nomad tea) but those were not available when we came. Service was friendly. The food is cooked to order so be prepared to wait a bit. Definitely worth a try.

 

My Yelp Review 

Jeremiah's Italian Ice at Kuykendahl and Rayford

Jet's Pizza subdivided their space and a new location for Jeremiah's Italian Ice is now on the end. I stopped in the other day and got a layered Blue Raspberry and vanilla ice cream treat.

It was a good one. Hit the spot with what I was looking for, including a nice helping of sprinkles. The staff was friendly and I got my treat quickly even though it was busy. The space definitely feels narrow--there are tables but I don't know that you could get a wheelchair past them to the single bathroom at the back. The bathroom was clean and ready. It's nice to know there's another ice cream option in that area. Jeremiah's is the main alternative to the many yogurt shops around here and they do a good job.

My Yelp Review

Waterfalls Cafe Tomball

This is the latest location for this local chain. We stopped in to try it out on a Friday evening. We got the Benny Benedict breakfast (they serve breakfast all day) with hashbrowns and the chicken fried steak platter with fries and green beans. Finished with beignets.

The Benny Benedict is an eye-catching platter. It's two eggs benedict on top of a full chicken fried chicken serving cut in half. So it's a massive amount of food, you're in good shape if someone wants to split it. The eggs were very tasty and the breading on the chicken fried chicken is perfect for this--it is very crisp so it holds up to the moisture of the eggs and sauce. The hashbrowns were good too. Definitely something to try.

The chicken fried steak is well known at Waterfalls but I had never had it. Can't wait to get it again. Many places serving chicken fried steak compete for the largest portion. What I want is the best portion! This is a generous serving, and it's the best CFS I've ever experienced. The breading is very crisp, which complements the sausage gravy really well. And not a hint of gristle! I can't tell you how many times I have gone to a famous CFS place and gotten a massive serving, but the breading has gone soft under the gravy and resulted in a big gooey, pasty mess. Not this time. The fries were excellent, they are breaded and nice and crisp. Would go great with a burger. The green beans have what looks like a good size piece of crisp bacon crumbled in them--very flavorful. The food has good flavors but the textures really stand out.

There were a few misses that keep me from giving them 5 stars. They were out of lemonade so I couldn't get my usual lemonade and iced tea mix, and the fountain Coke was just OK. The beignets were made fresh and tasted good, but they were on the greasy side--maybe time to change the fryer oil.

The interior is inviting but unpretentious--the furniture might be used. The bathrooms (gendered but identical) were clean and ready. Waterfalls Cafe is only open for dinner on weeknights--on weekends they are breakfast and lunch only. But we will be back.

My Yelp Review