Kaq-ik at Guatemala Restaurant

3333 Hillcroft, N


For some time the turkey soup at Guatemala Restaurant has been beckoning to me. I've had some very good Guatemalan food in Houston at the now closed Lo Nuestro on Bissonnet (the last time I went, the kitchen had taken a big nose dive) and here at Guatemala and at the Chapinlandia Bakery, but nothing that really seemed to match the dishes discussed on Antigua Daily Photo, a very good Guatemalan blog. I've been following some fascinating posts on Chowhound by a San Francisco woman who is living in Guatemala with her new in-laws and writing about her culinary experiences and it has piqued my interest in Guatemalan cuisine. Recently when the temperature dipped down to the low 90s I thought it was time to have a big bowl of this hot and spicy soup.

According to some accounts, this was a dish reserved for Mayan kings and their guests. Ik is said to mean 'hot and spicy' or to be the word for the ground form of the dried chile cobanero, a key ingredient. Most recipes include several chile peppers and I'd judge from the taste of this one that there were at least 2 or 3 although I couldn't identify any of them as I'm not familiar with them at all.

I thought there might be some guisquil (chayote) in the broth - there's been some in every dish I've had at this restaurant - or plantain or yuca, which were present on just about every dish I had at Lo Nuestro, but this was just what you see, a turkey leg in a bowl of broth. Achiote is used for the coloring; other ingredients include garlic and coriander. There were sprigs of an herb floating in the broth that I couldn't identify; I thought cilantro, perhaps, but looking into recipes online there is mention of samat, another Central American herb, and peppermint.

Whatever was in it this was delicious and very spicy for Guatemalan cuisine. It was served just with the rice and three white tamales, the firm, almost gummy tamales I've had here before. It turns out this is the classic presentation. All you get for an eating utensil is a soup spoon - this is a soup you eat with your fingers (and I went through a wad of the flimsy napkins on the table). To break the monotony of spooning up about two and a half cups of broth, I cut one up of the tamales and dropped it in the broth; it absorbed the flavors the way tofu would but it did help make the process of consuming all that broth a little more interesting.

This is a very simple but very satisfying meal, among the 2 or 3 best Guatemalan dishes I've had; I was elated and the staff was as appreciative of the big smile on my face as I was of the big smile in my mouth from the heat.

Here's a post and discussion of the dish on Antigua Daily Photo.

My earlier review of the restaurant.

Beef Tendon at Friend's Kitchen

9889 Bellaire

Once upon a time (recently) Ziggy Smogdust and I set out to visit Cafe Singapore on Bellaire but found it closed (Mondays). We studied the menu posted in the window and knew we had to come back and try it. In the meantime, we had both mused about spending some time working our way thru the restaurants in the 9800 block of Bellaire, just inside the Beltway. I've been to San Dong, Cafe Fu Fu, and Banana Leaf in there, Ziggy has been to Jang Guem and some others.

We drove back toward town and started strolling along the sidewalk in front of Fu Fu, QQ, and others, reading the menus posted in the windows. Many of the places were packed, a few were closed. Toward the back we came across Friend's Kitchen, a place which neither of us had ever heard of before. Ziggy saw something on the menu he was interested in, a cold appetizer of beef tendon. Sounded good to me; there were some available tables in the place which had a mixed but mostly Asian crowd.


I had never heard of this before but Ziggy had been doing some research on it; it was excellent, with crispy vegetables, cilantro and Sichuan peppercorns. The tendon itself was tender, slightly chewy, and very tasty.

Thank goodness Ziggy was willing to share - I ordered the fried dumplings and shrimp and tofu off the lunch menu. I was very disappointed in both although I think Ziggy found the dumplings interesting - I thought they were not as good as I've had at Fu Fu and San Dong and perhaps were only the frozen pot stickers like you can buy at Sam's. We saw several good looking dishes being served to other customers, however, so I chalk it up to my poor ordering.

Revisit 5/11: I stopped by to get something to-go recently. The menu is still posted in the window like most of the restaurants in that strip so I looked it over before going in. The sign in the window still says Friend’s Kitchen but the business card and take-out menu call it My Friend’s Home Restaurant - Classic Home Style Chinese Cooking. The place was packed when I was there before but had only a few tables occupied this time and I was worried about maybe a change in ownership and decline in the food but they say the name actually hasn’t changed?

Anyway, there are some interesting, exotic dishes on the menu including Qingdao Seaweed Jelly, Wuhan Duck Neck and Cabbage with Jellyfish but I stuck with something more familiar, squid with mustard greens. As a lunch special this was only $4.95, a bargain, and was very good, not quite as good as the beef tendon had been but better than the other dishes I’ve had. The squid (the body, not the tentacles) was firm but not tough or chewy; the mustard greens, apparently pickled Chinese mustard greens, were very aromatic with lots of crisp diced stem pieces to contrast with the leaves. They were also very, very salty. I really liked this despite, or perhaps because of, the saltiness but I watch my salt intake and am not used to this much so I was guzzling water for 24 hours.

I will be back but I think I’ll stay away from dishes with Chinese mustard greens though I really love greens.

Belated Update: I realized I'd never added the following - I went back a week later as part of a tour I was doing, trying to find steamed soup dumplings.

I really liked the ones I had here. The skin was a little thick but each dumpling was steamed atop a slice of carrot, adding both a new dimension of taste and texture that I found very likable.

The waitresses I have encountered on my several visits have all been very nice and there’s been no problem communicating because of a language barrier. B4 has this listed as Shandong Cuisine but there's a sign on the building that says Shanghai Cuisine and there's a story there, too. The restaurant at one time was called Shanghai Cuisine and is still listed that way on some restaurant review sites; Robb Walsh visited it in 2009 and said it was the first Chinese restaurant specializing in Shanghai cuisine in Houston at that time.

I've scanned the take-out menu here. Prices and Dishes may vary at the restaurant, of course.

San San Tofu

6445 Wilcrest, just south of Harwin


This is one of my favorite cheap eats places in Southwest Houston. I understand they've moved into a new, larger location in the last year or so but I've only been going about 9 months. It's not really very close to me or I'd probably go more often.

There's grab-and-go stuff at the cash register, a better selection earlier in the day, shelves of groceries and pharmaceuticals, etc., a small eating area that is frequently packed (mostly Asian customers) and a steam table offering plate lunches and a small selection of vegetarian diem sum.




You get a plate lunch for $5.50/$6.00 including a rice or noodle main dish and sides. It's enough for 2 meals for me and I'd never be able to finish it all so I've just gotten things to go. Everything is very tasty. I picked up a quart of the veggie soup one time, canh chua, which had mushroom pieces, greens, tomatoes and the most blazingly hot chillies I've ever put in my mouth.

I usually get a few pieces of the diem sum, too.


Prices and dishes may vary at the restaurant. Note the limited hours.

Quick Bites V - Sandwiches

For the last month or so I've really been eating against the norm - my norm, anyway. For a couple of years I've been focused on exploring little hole-in-the-wall, mom-and-pop ethnic restaurants and for the last 8 or 9 months, really into street foods. Here recently I've been hitting more sit-down-service type places, even white table cloth places. I just needed a change of pace. I'll probably get around to writing some reviews of the fancier digs I've visited and I haven't given up on the other types of eateries, at least I don't think I have, I'm just taking a hiatus and re-adjusting my aim. And it hasn't been a total abandonment of those pursuits. Here are a few places I've eaten at over the last several months but not reported on.

Tan Ba Le, Baguettes and Fast Food, 11169 Beechnut @ Boone  This restaurant has changed names and is now known as Bo Ne Houston after its most famous dish, Vietnamese Steak and Eggs.


I first saw this place several months ago but only recently got around to trying it. I thought it was new but maybe not. I ordered two banh mi; I saw the long baguettes on the counter and assumed they would be cut in half but it turned out they already had - each sandwich measured 11" in length. This place could up its American appeal by advertising them as foot longs. The bread was lightly toasted just before the sandwich was assembled; I got a pork bbq and a vegetarian one. Both had a very rich mayo, tons of shredded carrots with just a few shreds of daikon, cucumber, cilantro and jalapeno. The meat in the pork bbq was a bit overcooked and dried out; in fact as she was preparing it the server was picking out some pieces and discarding them in the trash. The meat was very flavorful, however. The bread was amazing, I think the lightest, least dense and chewy Vietnamese baguette I've ever had but the sandwich's size was too much for me, I got a meal, a late night snack and a breakfast snack out of these.

As they were putting the rubber band on my first sandwich and starting on the second one I saw their steak and eggs platter come out; the place was doing a good business but I hadn't had to pass by any occupied tables on the way to the counter so hadn't gotten a good look at anything but I immediately thought I'd have to come back and try one of those. When I had first spotted this place I had looked it up on line but found nothing. Now I find that it had been blogged about last fall, specifically the steak and egg dish, bo ne, the house specialty, and I had missed the report or I certainly wouldn't have taken so long to get around to trying this place.

The staff has been very friendly and helpful; the menu board is mostly Anglicized Vietnamese.

My pork bbq sandwich was $3; the vegetarian one was $2.


Parisian Bakery III + Cafe, 8300 W. Sam Houston Parkway South, @ Beechnut in the Viet Hoa Center


Ziggy Smogdust turned me on to these last year. There are two other locations, one on Beechnut @ Wilcrest and one on Gessner @ Harwin. I've been to the Wilcrest location and like this one better; it's a bit cheerier and more friendly and it's also closer to me.

The baguettes here are shorter than Tan Ba Le (8"), fatter though and a little denser and chewier. I got the bbq pork banh mi here, too (and I nearly always get a pate chaud when I go here). What really stood out on this was the huge amount of meat; it was tender, not overcooked, but didn't have as much of the marinade and wasn't quite as flavorful - but there was a lot. There were also a few larger strips of daikon in the toppings, visibly identifiable but not really noticeable taste-wise, which otherwise were identical to Tan Ba Le, the cilantro was pretty bland.

The sandwich was $3, the pate chaud $1.25.

Comparing these two, I'd give the edge to Tan Ba Le, though I'd have to admit it was my first visit. I preferred the bread and that it was toasted just a bit, and, though it was overcooked, the more flavorful meat. Meat lovers might prefer Parisian however I'm sure the sandwiches differ from visit to visit depending on whose making them. I wouldn't avoid either place and it'll be partially a matter of convenience for me which one I go to.

Both the above places sell their baguettes separately. At Parisian, the 8" baguettes are 3 for a $1; each weighs about 3 oz. At Tan Ba Le, a full 22" baguette is $1 and weighs 6 oz.


Saldivia's South American Grill, 10234 Westheimer, just inside BW 8
Saldivia's has moved to 10850 Westheimer


In my explorations of South American cuisine over the past couple of years I learned that some version of a steak sandwich is very popular in several South American countries, in some said to be as popular as hamburgers in the USA. In Uruguay it's called a Chivito but despite the name there is no goat in a Chivito. I saw some awesome pictures of the sandwich online and when I found out we had a Uruguayan restaurant that served one, I had to try it out. Saldivia's, which is very new but recreates an earlier restaurant by the same owner, serves the dishes of both Argentina and Uruguay.

I fell in love with the room and it's rich woodwork; it's the former space of Cafe Malay, I think. Despite the somewhat upscale setting, the restaurant has the feel of a neighborhood cafe for expats and the owner, Gus, is a very friendly guy who likely will welcome you at the door and treat you like a friend.

The sandwich includes a grilled steak, thin slice of deli ham, lettuce, tomato, mayo and a fried egg served on a slightly crunchy and chewy baguette and was very tasty. I think the egg may have been fried in butter; even the tomato stood out - as tasty as home grown. The roasted potatoes were a little tough and chewy. There is chimichurri on the table which I had tried with an empanada and the complimentary mini-baguette appetizer but I found it too vinegary and didn't try any on the sandwich.

I've had the Churrasco sandwich at Marini's and the Lomito, a virtually identical Argentinan steak sandwich at El Gaucho and this is the best example of a South American steak sandwich I've had by a wide margin.

There are some other interesting entries on the menu including grilled mollejas on the appetizer menu. Besides the menu shown online there is a daily lunch special, Monday thru Friday, for $8.95.

As of my visit a couple of weeks ago there was zero signage along Westheimer and the restaurant, hidden in the back row of a strip center behind the Brookwood Gift Shop, is easy to miss.

Saldivia's


City Eats, 4003 B Rustic Oaks Dr., Kingwood (faces West Houston Parkway) - CLOSED



My first taste of Sabrett's hot dogs and the typical condiments and I was underwhelmed. I bought a pound of the wieners to bring home so I could try them with some different condiments and decided I liked the Sabrett's wiener a little better than the Vienna Beef wieners used in Chicago Style Dogs because of the slight smokiness but it didn't have as much snap. I like a Nathan's Natural Casing dog over both Sabrett's and Vienna Beef, however, The Sabrett's onion sauce would take some getting used to - there really isn't that much onion in it, at least as far as bits and pieces. Besides selling the wieners (in strings, not pre-packed and cry-o-wrapped) they carry all the condiments - Sabrett's onion sauce, sauerkraut and mustard - and they also serve Italians. The website doesn't mention it nor did the in-store menu but signs in the window and on the counter said they are now serving Zweigle's White Hots from Rochester.

I went thinking I would be coming home with some of the mustard, onion sauce and kraut, but having tasted the first two, I just bought the wieners. I have to say, I saw a burger being served and it looked pretty good.

City Eats