The Big Frank Challenge

The owner of Crapitto’s has opened another place called Frank’s Chop House.  This week they are actually doing a promotion called the Big Frank Challenge.  Basically they have a foot long, all-beef frank that’s steamed, topped with caramelized onions, cheese and Frank’s chipotle and ancho sirloin (no-bean) chili that is served on a freshly baked SlowDough Bun and comes with a side of cole slaw.

Frank's Big Frank

The challenge is for any customer who orders the Frank’s Big Frank and eats the entire meal will receive it on the house (normally priced at $9).  This promotion on will only last from Monday, March 1st to Friday, March 5th during lunch and you have to finish EVERYTHING.  Not only will you get a FREE meal but those who finish the challenge will also get a commemorative t-shirt!!

Frank's Chop House Commemorative Shirt

Frank’s Chop House

3736 Westheimer
Houston, TX 77027
713-572-8600

Crab Cakes Eggs Benedict Challenge #1: Sorrento

Sorrento Brunch Menu

Sorrento is a restaurant that I have always loved.  Their food has great flavor and their atmosphere is very romantic.  On Sunday, February 21, 2010, I got a group together to start my crab cakes eggs benedict challenge.  The service was amazing.  They greeted each and every one of us to get our names and told us about the restaurant… made you feel at ease for first timers.  During brunch they even had a pianist that was playing classical music as well as music from musicals like Evita.

Bread Selection

Even the bread selection that came around had so much to choose from.

Sorrento Mussels

My friend Matt Chow had recommended the mussels so I had to give that a shot.  The tomato based sauce it came with was full of flavor and definitely worth the $12 price tag.

Sorrento Jumbo Crab Cake Eggs Benedict with Hollandaise Sauce

Sorrento: Soft Scrambled Eggs with Smoked Salmon, Creme Fraiche and Caviar

Next came the main dishes to which definitely satisfied the brunch hunger.  The crab cakes were definitely jumbo lump crab and with poached eggs oozing over it, how can you go wrong.  The soft scrambled eggs with smoked salmon was also quite a good dish with a lot of flavor from the salmon and creme fraiche.

Overall, this is definitely a place I will hit up again.  The bottomless belinis and mimosas helped too =)

If you have time, check it out:

Sorrento Ristorante Italiano

415 Westheimer

Houston, TX 77006

For reservations, call (713) 527-0609

Tiny Boxwoods

Tiny Boxwood’s

Chalkboards are awesome

So are giant clocks

Guys in fedoras

Fresh out of the oven cookies

The “French Picnic”

Breakfast foods (yup, that’s a Steak & Egg Pizza back there),

& Giant cups of coffee!

Tiny Boxwood’s
3416 West Alabama
Houston, TX 77027
www.thompsonhanson.com

Cova Wines Steak & Shrimp Night

For a while now, I’ve been hearing how the food at Cova Wines is made from a great gourmet chef.  I recently found out that their steak and wine nights have been gaining so much popularity that they decided to make every Tuesday Steak and Shrimp Night (Cova Wines on Washington Ave. ONLY).

Cova Wines (Washington) Steak Night

You get a 10 oz. New York Strip, grilled shrimp and herbed potatoes for only $14.99!!  Most people that have gone to steak nights are used to the ribeye.  The ribeye is usually favored because let’s face it … fat = juicy and flavorful.  This New York Strip was AMAZINGLY juicy and had so much flavor coming out of every bite at medium rare.  The shrimp had a great amount of flavor and that green stuff on top added a nice tang to everything.  I can honestly say right now that Cova is now my favorite steak night place.  I already had high expectations from hearing about how great the gourmet chefs are at Cova but surprisingly, it still surpassed my expectation.

I will be out there frequently from now on so please feel free to come out and join me.

Cova Wines (Washington Ave.)

5555 Washington Ave.

Houston, TX 77007

www.covawines.com

Sorry Tuesdays @ Hideaway, I still love your 16 oz ribeye steak + loaded potato + salad for $12 and Rick Lee, you are an awesome Chinese jazz singer…. but right now … I have to do this for me…. it’s not you, it’s me… I’ll visit… sometime.

Oporto Happy Hour

Oporto Food and Wine Bar (www.oporto.us)

I recently heard that Oporto has a happy hour so I went out and checked it out.  For those of you who don’t know, Oporto Food and Wine Bar is right across from Costco on Richmond and it specializes in Mediterranean style tapas.  They supposedly have the largest Portugese wine collection in the city.  The environment is definitely a nice cozy date night kind of place with a pretty intimate setting for atmosphere.  The parking sucks during prime time because so many people venture to this strip but the main thing that pulled me here was the $3 tapas from 5-7pm.  Here’s a little sample of what I got:

Brie, double cream, soft (France)

Oporto actually has a pretty good selection of meats and cheeses in small servings so if you’re ever just interested in a place for cheese, meats, and crackers with your wine, you should definitely check this out.

Crab and Avocado Crostini

The Crostini was pretty good although I was hoping it had more flavor… just add lots of lemon.

Queso de Cabra

I am a HUGE fan of goat cheese so rolling it in walnuts and baking it into a tomato basil is always a great idea and on top of that it was served with fresh garlic bread.  This was probably one of my favorite dishes of the evening.

Empanadas Oporto

These were the empanadas that were spiced ground beef in a puff pastry, served with a marmalade.  Not too shabby if you’re looking for something simple.

Empanadas

This empanadas dish was a Mediterranean spiced beef or curry chicken in a light pastry served with green herb aioli.  The curry was pretty good and it went well with the aoili but I think it definitely could’ve been much better with a flakier and crisp outside instead of soft.

The slider that they gave us was pretty juicy but it wasn’t the best slider I’ve ever had.  The meat was great but everything else adding to it just didn’t seem to seal the deal.  I think the most interesting part about it was the potato wedge that was shaped like a pickle.  In the dim lighting, most people really thought it was a pickle…. okay that story wasn’t that exciting… but you get the idea.

Overall, I still really enjoy the setting of Oporto and some of the food is pretty good.  If you enjoy tapas, $3 tapas for happy hour with drinks like Sangria, Caipirinha and Mojitos, this is a nice place to have a good snack.  If you’re in the mood for a movie, Edwards is just right behind Oporto so it can be pretty convenient.

Oporto Food and Wine Bar

3833 Richmond

Houston, TX 77027

www.oporto.us

The Hunt for the Best Crab Cakes Eggs Benedict

Crab cakes eggs benedict… for those of you who don’t know what this GENIUS concoction is, it’s essentially an eggs benedict where instead of having an english muffin… there’s LUMP CRAB CAKE!  With a poached egg and hollandaise sauce oozing over a lump crab cake, how can you honestly go wrong.   So I need your help, if you have ever heard of this concoction at a restaurant for brunch, please let me know so that I can form a tasting brunch tour in search for the Best Crab Cakes Eggs Benedict.

So far I have found:

• Hungry’s Cafe
• Sorrento Ristorante Italiano
• Jaspers
• Masraffs

Smashburger

There’s been a lot of burger joints that have surfaced that have been brought to attention by many people.  In a place where we are always trying to find the next Fatburger or the next In N Out, we have a couple choices to choose from: SmashBurger, Mooyah Burger & Fries, and Five Guys.

Personally, one of my favorites out of the new burger joints has got to be Smashburger.  One of the reason why I love this place is because not only can you make your own burger, but you can add a fried egg and put it on an egg bun as well!

Above you’ll see I got the Texas Smashburger with a fried egg, guacamole, mushrooms, … and after the picture I went and added chili too.  The burger and everything added is always full of flavor but for those grease fearing people, this may not be the best choice for you.  A lot of the way I eat … fat = flavor and Smashburger definitely is one of them.  Their Smashfries are nice because they are tossed in rosemary, olive oil, garlic and some other herbs but they definitely some of the greasiest I’ve ever had.  Typically, I would stay away from the fries if your cholesterol level is high.  The only other thing that I would like to add is that most of the extra fixins are $0.99 each.  For the amount that they put on the burger, I would definitely say it is not a good bang for your buck.  For example, I feel like I should bring my burger to Wendy’s and use that $0.99 for a full small cup of chili instead…. at Smash, it seems like the extra chili is just a spoonful and that’s it.

For more information about Smashburger, check out their site at www.smashburger.com.