My dad and I will be flying into Houston in a few weeks. We'll have 3-5 days of stuff to do but possible a few days of down time. We'll have a rental car so we can get around and I'm able to go full throttle to match the local 90mph plus traffic. He likes history things as do I. We both like car things. Looking for a not a lot of walking but more drive there and enjoy. Also good food would be nice. Not going to let him do fast food like he wants to.
I enjoyed this.
Most aggressive drivers outside of the middle east are in Houston. I hate driving there.
Buy Aerosmith tickets.
Leave?
yupididit said:Most aggressive drivers outside of the middle east are in Houston. I hate driving there.
A lot of Houston drivers are from the Middle East.
Time for my Houston review. Some of this I've already shared with others so bear with me.
1) Driving
You know how when you see a Texas license plate you assume it's a bad driver? Imagine a city full of them. That's Houston. You can have someone going 50 in the fast land on the highway and at the same time have someone weaving in and out of the slow lanes doing 90. I was surprised at the amount of correct turn signal usage and also surprised at the number of people that just drove around with their turn signals all ways on. The city was pretty easy to get around and I was able to learn it quick enough. We stayed in the West University area but I found that maintaining lanes was very fluid on city streets. That may be because it appears they never repaint the lines. Overall it wasn't as bad as I expected but no way would I have let my dad drive there.
2) People
I found the natives very friendly. Not deep south friendly but friendlier than most large cities. I only met one gruff person and you could tell that was just his personality. I gave him a hard time and his coworkers thought it was funny.
3) Things we did
We didn't have as much extra time and I also didn't want to wear out my dad too much. On Wednesday we hit the Johnson Space Center and did the extra charge Mission Control tram. Highly recommended. To sit in the actual (well the actual viewing room behind it) room that did the Apollo missions to the moon was amazing. It was also cool trying to figure out how many languages people were using around us. For the people watchers like me the space nerds are a funny group to watch.
Thursday morning we went to see the 1940 Air Terminal. It was very cool to look at the architecture. Nice Art Deco look. The Museum was definitely a pardon our mess thing but we both enjoyed it. I got in free as a veteran. Not often I get a discount while my 73 year old father doesn't. I'd recommend it if you like early aviation or Art Deco architecture or both like me
After that we headed to the Military Museum of Texas. Took a while in traffic because of a wreck. Get there and the gate is closed. Google says they're open. Their website says they're open. Their voicemail says they're open. Not so much in person. We got to see a side yard of Humvees and Deuces and a half. Would not recommend.
This morning we went to the Museum of Fine Arts for their Rembrandt to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the Armand Hammer Collection exhibit. It was kind of a eh whatever thing as we saw the sign on the building while driving by the other day. It was berkeleying amazing. To be able to stand feet from the art done by these masters was dumbfounding. To be able to see the 3d brush strokes. I can't describe. It's there until January 21st if you want to see it. We didn't have time to visit much of the rest of the exhibits but I loved the architecture and the tunnels connecting everything.
Ok enough typing for now as my battery is getting low. If I find a place to charge I'll continue with my food reviews because everyone knows I love my food.
AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) said:yupididit said:Most aggressive drivers outside of the middle east are in Houston. I hate driving there.
A lot of Houston drivers are from the Middle East.
Dallas has Houston beat for car accidents. Houston is only number 8. We tied Atlanta for Number 1.
Most of the license plates I see on my commute are from California, New Jersey, Georgia and Florida. They come from everywhere.
I'm back! Seems I had to walk 30 get away to find a plug.
This is going to be different than my normal food reviews. My dad and I have very different taste so most of these restaurants were compromises from the beginning. Also if you're Southern and sweet tea is right below your family in your heart, be aware Houston seems to be on the line of yes sweet tea to no we don't have sweet tea. I'll be giving a sweet tea rating because of that. I'm only going to review the non fast food. Some of these are local chains and some are Western chains we don't see East.
First up is Snooze Eatery at 3191 W Holcombe Blvd.
We ate here twice. The first time I had their breakfast burrito with Verde sauce. Nice kick. Made my lips tingle but flavor not heat. The second time I got their corned beef hash. It was actual corned beef mashed with grated potatoes. It also was good. Now the bad. My dad ordered fried eggs both times. He likes his yoke cooked through. He told the waitresses both times yet they came out runny both times. He's not the type to complain. The first time he just ate it. The second time he mentioned it to the waitress but said he would eat it. She just gave an excuse. Also they overcook their bacon. It has a strong smoke flavor already so over cooked with that smokiness didn't work. Their biggest down fall is they don't have sweet tea. Ok fine tell me and I'll order something else. Instead they just put sugar in the glass of unsweetened tea. This is a cardinal sin to a southerner. No don't do it. Tea rating 0.
Adair Kitchen 5176 Buffalo Speedway
We ate here on Monday evening. Monday's are an off night for restaurants so I wasn't expecting much. I ordered their Korean glass noodles expecting a little heat. Came out with not much other than a soy glaze. Not bad food not great. They did have bread pudding which always makes my dad happy. When I ordered sweet tea the waiter said they only had unsweetened tea and I immediately ordered a beer. They get a 7 on the tea scale for not trying to fake it. Afterwards I told my dad it was a place that if someone wanted to meet there I would but not a place I would suggest. He agreed.
Black Bear Dinner 2481 Gulf Fwy S
Upon walking in I said myself this is just a fancier Cracker Barrel. After eating my impression was confirmed. Not much else to say. Sweet tea rating 7. It was sweet tea.
Capt Benny's 8506 S Main St
My dad said he wanted seafood. I found a place that looked really good then said wait that's not what he wants. "Dad you want fried seafood?" "Yes, but not Red Lobster. I haven't been happy there the last couple of times." I didn't tell him this but you should never be happy with Red Lobster. Ok I figure I'll take one for the team and pull Capt Benny's out of a hat. I mean if you want fried seafood you can't go wrong if there's "Capt" in the name. We walk in and I'm greeted by what looks like a neighborhood dive seafood place. Waitress opens with "You want beers or any other drinks?" I'm starting to like this place. My dad surprises me by ordering his seafood platter broiled instead of fried. I order the crawfish etouffee. It wasn't the best but it was damn good. I wouldn't be embarrassed to order it again. The sweet tea was barely sweet. Next time I'll get a beer. Tea rating 4.
Bodegas Taco Shop 1200 Binz St #160
My dad hates spicy food. I love spicy food. This creates problems when eating together. I was really surprised Wednesday when he told me to find a Mexican restaurant and just order for him. I had the Enchiladas Verdes and I ordered Beef Fajitas for him. I told him that he probably didn't want to eat anything but the beef, bell peppers, and onions. He tried the pico de gallo before I could stop him. Learned from his mistake and washed it away with a Mexican Coke. I learned that he had never had one so we fixed that. The enchiladas verdes was really good. I'd put it right below my favorite place in Jacksonville. No tea rating as I also had Mexican Coke.
Star Pizza 2111 Norfolk St
At this point my body was rejecting all of the eating out so I ordered a salad. My dad got pizza and I tried the crust as that's the true test for a pizza joint. It was good. I'd go back. Biggest knock on them was they brought a Chicago pie to a nearby table and dared to call it pizza. Everyone knows that's not pizza. Tea was ok with a 7 rating.
Prima Pasta 6811 Kirby Dr
Again I deferred to my Dad's wishes and found an Italian restaurant. Got my hopes up when I had trouble understanding the staff because of their Italian accents. I ordered baked spinach ziti and chicken soup instead of a salad. OMFSM. First off the soup was wonderful. The depths of flavor they got into what is normally a throw away part of the meal is amazing. The baked ziti was wonderful also for such a basic dish. The sweet tea was of a level that my Grandmother would have been proud to have it for her Sunday dinner. Tea rating 10 and the best meal of the week for both of us.
Fat Boy's Restaurant 22598 Community Dr
Our first choice of lunch on the way out of town ended up being right downtown. We didn't want to mess with parking so I hit Google real quick and thought how can you go wrong with a restaurant named Fat Boy's? This is my Dad's everyday every meal (breakfast/lunch) southern dive dinner. Bunch of 80s and 90s Chevy trucks in the parking lot. I ordered the open face roast beef sandwich. I know I got a little fancy for a southern dinner. It comes out with two pieces of Texas toast, mash potatoes plopped on top, slices of deli roast beef, and covered in brown gravy. It's salty but it's supposed to be in a southern dinner. Tea was decent with a rating of 8. If I were in the area I'd eat there again.
One last section.
The Games
We played two games this week. First was who could get to the lobby first to meet when we went places. I started coming down 20 minutes early just to win. Dad won twice. I won all the rest for the overall victory.
Next game was who would pay for stuff. My dad always wants to pay. For e v e r y t h I n g. He won most restaurants because he actually gets angry if you sneak and pay behind his back. Unfortunately for him he has no clue on how to buy tickets online so I got most the sight seeing. I also got most of the parking because it's easy to win that if you're the one driving. I'll call this one a tie.
That is how I spent 6 days in Houston.
I'm glad that you made it out alive.
sounds like a good time overall. I LOL'd about adding sugar to unsweet iced tea.
I've been off the forum for a bit so i missed this,
for other people in the future,
Lone Star Flight Museum is worth checking out.
If you're a Lord of the Rings fan the Hobbit Cafe is a must see, good food and fun themed joint that been around for decades.
If you're into Art the Menil Collection has some interesting pieces of history and art on display for no cost.
Egghaus cafe is my go to breakfast joint when in town, and they're attached to the Heights location of Kings Beirhaus which is a fantastic german restaraunt.
Food and beer is fantastic at St Arnold brewing near downtown.
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