October 27, 2014

May the Pax Be With You. Seriously.

October 27, 2014/ Madeleine Hook

Greetings Sizzlings! Happy Monday... I know right? Those 2 words just don't mesh.

I spent a lovely weekend in the country with MainSqueeze and ate some delightful treats.

Speaking of delightful treats, you need to know about a new treat in Houston. Pax Americana.

We had a reservation for Thursday night, and my entire week was spent in anticipation. We were a party of 7, so they offered to serve us family style; which is one of my favorite ways to eat.

Here's the rundown of the #nomz. Photos will be below as well. Highly recommend, the staff was super knowledgeable and accommodating, and I love the general vibe of the place. I'll definitely be back.

(Dishes in BOLD are TheSizzles faves from the meal):

Beverage of choice: Evening Land Blue Label Pinot Noir by the glass and the Smoked Old Fashioned. REALLY tasty cocktail with a delightful drunken cherry as a garnish.

FAMILY STYLE DISHES:

Farm Fresh Eggs, scallion kimchi aioli, chilies, herb salad, purple barley

Grilled Honeydew Melon, hazelnut vinaigrette, thyme honey, feta

(not featured on the online menu) Baby carrots cooked in general amazing fashion with some hints of curry and candied nuts. PHENOMENAL. I could eat these with every meal. Call me Bugs Bunny.

(Also not on the online menu) Pan seared tile fish with a magical beurre blanc sauce and root veggies. Honestly, some of the best fish I've had in Houston to date.

(not online either) Enormously humongous ribeye, cooked medium rare. I love steak, and I love slicing my steak instead of hacking into it like a rabid wolf. The spices on the steak were on point, but I think it could use a little work on the sear. STILL a great cut of meat.

Brisket, nine spice, potatoes, soured cream, black garlic, sweet onions

Sanguinaccio Fritters, horchata ice cream, lemon curd, candied pecans

Chocolate Custard, bittersweet chocolate hazelnut cookie, lemon mint sherbert

***Please excuse the quality of the photos, it was super dark and I was too hungry to get technical!***

Please excuse our friend "guau's" obscene hand gesture photo bomb,...

And there you have it, a new "must go" in Houston. We're so lucky to have this burgeoning food scene, And now I'll be getting back to the treadmill...

NEXT UP: music, recipes, recommendations and more!

August 08, 2014

Scallops and Lobsters and Oysters, oh my!

August 08, 2014/ Madeleine Hook

Cheerio Sizzlers! I hope this finds you well, I'm chugging along these days, counting down the minutes for my trip! We're currently at the 6.5 day countdown.

So I need to let you in on a new place in Houston that you should hopskipjump on over to. Like...now.

If you like delightful cocktails, particularly of the Julep persuasion, and if you're a lover of all that comes from the sea, or a bay, or a gulf, river, stream etc, then you must try Julep. Don't mind the fact that I'm a bit biased since one of my close galpals is dating the Chef. Bias or not, this place is great. Adam and Lauren handpicked the cutlery, plates, stemware and helped customize each tiny detail.

I'm not typically a fan of anything on Washington Ave. Like...anything. But alas, Julep was a refreshing break from the hair gel, Ed Hardy and untz untz untz clubs that have taken over that stretch of Houston.

So let us begin. Girl's night at Julep started with a cocktail and ended in a gluttonous seafood festival. (Not pictured were the amazing hand cut fries, fresh hush puppies and East coast oysters).

I arrived parched and ready for a bev, so I opted for the "Sparkling Julep" which is garnished with mint and a lovely sprig of berries. This one is all the umph of a mint julep with some prosecco added for some fizz.

My personal favorite from the night: Creme fraiche topped with smoked bluefish, farro, butter braised radishes, a lovely arugula salad with vinaigrette and ever so thinly sliced beets. This picture doesn't even come close to doing it justice.

Another highlight were the bay scallops served atop a mint/pea puree, and topped with speck and microbasil. The scallops were juicy, sweet and ever so tender. Chart topper.

Because what's a meal without the mandatory artsy intagram shot? We were anxiously awaiting our seafood tower and all we knew is that if clarified butter was an option, this would be gooood.

Le seafood tower. Holy mackerel. Littleneck clams in white wine parsley, gigantic prawns, another serving of the scallops, but this time they were raw and perfectly seasoned. Dipping sauces included a house made mignonette, and two others that I was too excited to write down.

The crowning jewel. Lobstaaaaaah. I can eat lobster all.day.long.

Not pictured was the top tier which had fresh East coast oysters. Delightful

All in all, Julep is destined for greatness, and with Chef Adam Garcia in the kitchen, you know it's going to be an experience.

So, mosey on over to Julep, have yourself a cocktail and slurp down some oysters. You can thank me later. Happy Friday dears, hope it's a great weekend!

April 28, 2014

We Have Great Legs.

April 28, 2014/ Madeleine Hook

Buenos Días amigos! Let's forget that it's Manic Monday and just be grateful. Then you'll have less wrinkles from frowning. You're welcome.

This weekend was action packed at TheSizzle. Friday night kicked off with a bike ride to our usual spot, West Alabama Ice House, and then we met some amigos over at OTC for the Rockets game. Saturday morning we rode our bikes out to Urban Harvest and nommed on a breakfast taco and a green smoothie. This farmer's market is super fun to visit in the morning and a great spot to people watch and sample goodies.

The rest of Saturday consisted of #crawfishoncrawfishoncrawfish, or as my friend's husband's t-shirt says, "That fish cray". By 11 pm, we were sufficiently stuffed, and played Heads Up in the backyard with amigos till we had to get to bed.

Sunday was the Mother of all Sundays. Sun was out, and the bikes were ready to rock. We biked to Lowbrow for brunch. I had the HISD breakfast burrito and 1/4 of a waffle, and MainSqueeze had the leek ejjeh which was ehhhhhh....meh. But I still love this place and highly recommend. My waffle was delightful and so was my burrito.

As we were nomming, we were trying to decide what to do, and we decided on biking to Hermann Park and hitting up the Houston Zoo. I'm a huge animal lover, so obviously I was pumped.

can you spot the baby giraffe? I die of the cuteness.

MainSqueeze's favorite exhibit. The ever so thoughtful orangutan.

We had perfect zoo weather, and as we headed out to grab the bikes, we realized how parched we were. We zoomed down to Cloud 10 creamery to cool off. I had the hibiscus honey sorbet, while MS went old-school with the classic choc/vanilla combo. Both were really tasty and did the trick. However, we were not satisfied. I heard that the new spot next door "Punk's" was worth trying, so we sat at the bar for an adult refreshment and an appetizer to take the edge off.

Pimm's cup & Texas Tea. Pimm's was my fave.

We settled on the BLT sliders which were tasty, but we really wanted to have a go at the "biscuit bar" but apparently that's "coming soon".

We rolled happily on with our afternoon and topped off the night with sushi from AKA, some red wine, and the latest ep of Game of Thrones. What a Sunday, no?

And now we start our weeks well-fed, with happy legs and hearts. Biking around town is such a great way to try new things you normally wouldn't try, and your gams will thank you as well!

I hope y'all had the happiest of weekends! In regards to my Liberty Kitchen experience, a friend went on Saturday and said the Steak & Oyster Cobb salad was worth going back for. So there you have it, I will def be going back! Shout out to us on instagram with your foodie suggestions @thesizzlehouston.

March 31, 2014

M is for anything but Mondays.

March 31, 2014/ Madeleine Hook

I love my job, but I love my weekends, so given the choice between fun adventures and being under fluorescent office lights....I'm going to have to pick the weekend gallivanting. Wouldn't you?

Some weekend snippets/recommendations for your viewing/auditory/olfactory/tastebud pleasure:

VIEWING:

I made it out to Memorial Park on Saturday for a nice 3 mile run, and of course the 'ole ankle isn't up to snuff so it was more of like an injured antelope hobble. But I saw some beautiful Bluebonnets on the way, so that helped.

Later on, I sunbathed like a desert lizard who hadn't seen the sun in months (oh wait, I haven't seen then sun in months) and ended up with an embarrassing raccoon tan. Beverage of choice: Red Stripe. It's a delicious beer that also tastes amazing with a lime. Highly recommend.

Auditory/Ear Snacks:

As I've aforementioned, I'm really into music. If you haven't started following my 'starred' list, please do so; I guarantee you'll like it. Even if it IS a work in progress.

Here are my current obsessions:

The Wood Brothers- "I Got Loaded" just amazing. In fact, I love it so much here's a youtube vid of them.

CLICK HERE to see the latest and greatest songs that I'm currently spinning constantly.

OLFACTORY:

Sunday night I made a trip to Central Market and bought some fresh gulf redfish (recipe coming soon!) and couldn't help but buy myself some lovely flowers. Sometimes it's just nice to be nice to yourself. I highly recommend it. If you're a dude...maybe this is like buying yourself a nice six pack? (though I do love that too....) Anywho, these smell phenomenal. Sorry you can't smell my screen.

TASTEBUDS/#NOMCITY:

Friday night I headed to one of my favorite gems in Houston, Giacomo's Cibo e Vino.

Great menu selection (our friend gave up pasta & bread for Lent and was still totally able to find some delightful options) and their wine list is extensive and amazingly well priced. Amazingly.

I ordered the torteli di bietola which is ravioli stuffed with Ricotta cheese, swiss chard and finished off with a sage butter sauce. I get the 1/2 order because that means there are no calories in it. You didn't know that? You're welcome.

My friend ordered the pasta bolognese and WHOA. Mind blown. It's probably the best bolognese I've had since I left Italy. I'm not kidding. Perfect perfect pasta, and sauce that was 1,000,000% on point.

It's a perfect casual date spot/friend spot/just a great spot in general and when the weather finally decides to be stable, get out on that patio and feast.

MORAL OF THE STORY/YOUR TO-DO LIST:

1.) Try Red Stripe lager.

2.) Listen to cool tunes

3.) Buy yourself something to say "hey, thanks self!"

4.) Go to Giacomo's

As always, leave your comments/arguments/suggestions below! Can't wait to hear from y'all!