Visiting Houston: April, 2016

Friday, April 29, 2016
I love when people come to visit!

pool day in Houston, Texas

Not only do I get to spend time with out-of-towners who I love and miss dearly, but I get to show them what's so awesome about Houston! (umm, see above pic, re: going to the pool in April.). I started the "Visiting Houston" series in February, documenting the fun times we had (hint: there were lots of restaurants and LOTS of food involved) when my cousin Amber came down for a visit.

And now I have a new installment in "Visiting Houston!" Last weekend my visitor was none other than my best friend Courtney, who flew in from New York. We had a fantastic weekend of spending quality time together at fun spots around Houston and over awesome restaurant food. Here is how our weekend played out!

Friday

I picked Courtney up from the airport, and - with no time [and sunshine] to waste - we drove straight to La Grange to enjoy food and drinks on the restaurant's gorgeous patio.

cocktails and queso at La Grange - a restaurant in Houston, Texas

Pictured above is the Carlos Danger cocktail - aka the only margarita I've ever truly loved - and their gooey delicious holy queso with guacamole!

After we were finished, it was time to hit up another fun Houston restaurant patio!

(and eat more food).

Vietnamese fries at Boheme - a restaurant in Houston, Texas
truffle mushroom pizza at Boheme - a restaurant in Houston, Texas

If you haven't enjoyed food and drinks on the patio at Boheme yet, you are seriously missing out. Courtney and I sipped on some wine and shared the restaurant's incredible Vietnamese fries (topped with hoisin, sraracha, garlic mayo, cilantro, and crushed peanuts), as well as the truffle mushroom pizza. The fries - which I firmly believe are some of the best in Houston - were incredible as always. The pizza had a different more textured variety of mushroom from what I've had there in the past. I didn't like it as much this time, but it was still certainly enjoyable. Courtney liked both, but I think she favored the pizza over the fries.

Next up, we dropped Courtney's bags off at our apartment, and picked Jon up for drinks at Lei Low.

shark head cocktail at Lei Low - a tiki bar in Houston, Texas

If you are looking for a unique, strange, insanely enjoyable bar with fun drinks, Lei Low is it. This tiki bar is located in Houston's Heights neighborhood in a small, nondescript strip center that also houses a convenience store. The neon sign outside of the bar simply says, "RUM," and when you walk through the doors, you are transported to 1960s Hawaii. The drinks are always sweet, often on fire (literally), and sometimes feature a shark head eating a banana dolphin smoking a cinnamon stick cigarette (if you're lucky). I've had many messy nights there - one time I pretended to be a bouncer and carded everyone who walked through the doors, because I'm a classy broad - but it's always a total blast. Don't worry, I kept my 'ish together...this time.

Saturday

Saturday morning, Jon, Courtney, and I grabbed a bottle of champagne, and headed over to Kraftsmen Cafe for a good, hearty BYOB brunch!

BYOB brunch at Kraftsmen Cafe - a bakery/restaurant in Houston, Texas
BYOB brunch at Kraftsmen Cafe - a bakery/restaurant in Houston, Texas

The quaint Houston Heights bakery/restaurant is adorable and homey, the food was delicious as always, and if it's BYOB it's always okay in my book! We loaded up on big breakfasts (I ordered the same thing I had last time, the woodsman omelet) to prepare us for the rest of the day!

After brunch, we snuck in some pool time, cleaned up, then headed out to Minute Maid Park!

Astros game at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas
Astros game at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas
Photo: Courtney

Courtney is from Boston and is therefore a huge Red Sox fan, so we were excited to find out the Astros were playing the Red Sox at home that weekend! <~~(Just kidding, we *sort of* planned Courtney's trip around it). Even though the roof was open and all of us got what was just short of third degree sunburns, we had a total blast!

Next up, dinner:

quesadilla at El Tiempo - a Mexican restaurant in Houston, Texas

Every time Courtney visits (and frankly, anytime anyone visits), we have to take her to El Tiempo because - as she says - their fillet fajitas have ruined all other fajitas for her. (I tried them prior to becoming a vegetarian, and I stand strongly behind her statement). We usually go to the restaurant on Washington Ave, but since we were downtown already, we ate at their EaDo location off of Navigation. The food (queso for the table, spinach quesadilla for me) was perfect as always!

Then we went home and watched The Incredibles because Jon had never seen it, and life's too short.

Sunday

Sunday morning Courtney and I went clothes shopping to a few cute Houston boutiques, but not before getting some important nourishment.

breakfast tacos at Torchy's - a restaurant in Houston, Texas

Torchy's Tacos' breakfast tacos really are fantastic. I ordered two of my usual suspects from the restaurant - The Independant and the Dirty Sanchez. I'm telling you, I consistently see stars when I eat them.

After that, we grabbed groceries to prepare for a cookout at our apartment with my parents. I was having too much fun eating good food, drinking good wine, and enjoying my family and best friend, that I completely forgot to snap pictures! But I did get a shot of the yummy oatmeal raisin cookies my dad made next to some snarky napkins my parents gave Jon for his birthday a few weeks ago.

homemade oatmeal raisin cookies

It was a fun, awesome weekend, and I only wish it could have been longer! As I said, I love getting to show folks from out of town my beloved city of Houston and everything it has to offer - from fantastic restaurant food, to beautiful weather [ahem, most of the time], to fun events around town. Getting to do all of that with my best friend made it all the more amazing!

BFFs at La Grange - a restaurant in Houston, Texas
Snapchat: newishcityhou

^ Photo taken pre- the Houston sun turning my BFF into a lobster.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

> Back to Top