» Hello lovies! Here are clips from eating and hanging out in New Orleans and the greater Houston area, Texas City, Galveston, League City, and Kemah. From going to grocery shopping, a plethora of Asian fusion restaurants, TexMex, and a wedding! This one is for all my foodies! Come kick back and live an ANNventure through my eyes.
❥Places Visited ‣ Whole Foods ‣ Uchi Sushi & Hibachi ‣ Voodoo BBQ & Grill ‣ HEB ‣ Kroger ‣ Bambu Desserts & Drinks ‣ iBubble ‣ Pho Hai ‣ The Drink Station ‣ Kemah Boardwalk ‣ Red Sushi | My Yelp Review ‣ Tofu Village ‣ Juice Box ‣ Tea Bar & Organics ‣ Free Birds World Burrito ‣ Golden Corral ‣ Shabu House | My Yelp Review ‣ Sweet Paris ‣ Yamato Japanese Restaurant ‣ Taqueria Restaurant Vallarta (to go) ‣ Sharetea ‣ Kim Son Reception Hall
❥ What I'm Wearing If you have any questions, write a comment and include a timestamp so I can help you!
♥ Follow me for instant updates! ♥ ‣ Snap me MakeupANNimal ‣ Catch a live broadcast http://periscope.tv/MakeupANNimal ‣ Double tap my Instagram! http://instagram.com/MakeupANNimal ‣ Like me on Facebook! http://facebook.com/MakeupANNimal ‣ Send me a tweet! http://twitter.com/MakeupANNimal
‣ Business Inquiries makeupannimal@gmail.com Music Provided by NoCopyrightSounds http://youtube.com/nocopyrightsounds Foria - Break Away Different Heaven – Far Away Electro Light – The Ways (Feat Aloma Steele) Jim Yosef – Eclipse Waysons – Eternal Minds
⏩ Hello lovies! This is a vlog of my last two trips to Texas combined. It is still shaky because it's recorded from my S5, so please bear with me! Also, I wanted to come on here and say I attended Houston creator day on the 18th! It was fun and I will post a vlog soon.
🎥 Previous videos:
Saving $$ at Sephora | Collective Haul: https://goo.gl/oTcGs0
August Favorites 2015: https://goo.gl/WsVhgV
Houston Travel Vlog: https://goo.gl/pMDKji
♥ Restaurants Visited ♥
Benihana on Westheimer, Downtown Houston
Benihana was a pleasant experience. Known for being the original teppanyaki joints, this please did not disappoint (minus the lack of fire, some people just have to ruin it for everyone). We started with the Sumo roll. Perfect for those who love the perfect amount of sauce drowning your roll, with a warm feeling from it being baked. From the Tappan menu, we ordered the Deluxe Treat with Filet Mignon and Lobster, along with soup, salad, and ice cream and orders of shrimp fried rice. All of our tappan items were exemplary of what hibachi food should be! I especially loved the lobster. It was succulent, buttery, and sweet. Imagine the best snow crabs pre-dipped in butter with the soft yet springy texture of perfect lobster. Since it was my boyfriend's and my birthday, they sat a Benihana chef's hat upon my head, sang me happy birthday, and stuck a chocolate Pocky stick in my ice cream! Next year I'll be sure to be signed up for the Chef's Table to receive a $30 gift card each on our birthday!
Tea Bar and Organics on Bellaire, China Town Houston
This is one of the boba places are are open a litter later than the rest on Bellaire. This place is mediocre. Drinks aren't packed with flavor which can be a good thing based on your preference. Sometimes your drink is served in a mug, other times in a paper cup. You receive a discount for to-go, but not if you dine in and they give you a to-go cup. Weird. Just another place where service is inconsistent. I only come here when it's late and I want boba.
Taqueria Vallarta on Palmer hwy, Texas City
If you're ever in Texas City looking for authentic food, this is your place. Very humble establishment with a focus on food without frills. I left satisfied with plenty of leftovers.
Masa Sushi on W FM 646, Dickenson Texas
Their lunch specials are extremely affordable. The bill will not hurt your pocket at all. But you get what you pay for. The sushi itself is average and the sushi rice is not seasoned to my liking. Service is always great and I always leave full. Great place for a quick lunch with lots of decor to look at.
Tan Tan on Bellaire, China Town Houston
This is another late night restaurant I visit just because it's open. I frequent this place often because I can't get enough Banh Bot Chien, or um roughly translated, fried batter (in an omelette served with special ponzu-like sauce). Hot pot is decent, we enjoy the Vietnamese style with a variety of meat and seafood. Service is very rough though. Don't expect to be attended to very much.
Basil House on Palmer hwy, Texas City
Decent place in Texas city to get Vietnamese and Thai food. Nothing mind blowing, but satiating.
Honey Bee Teahouse on Bellaire, China Town Houston
I am normally satisfied when I come here with taste and service, but last time it was a bit odd. My egg pudding tasted rather soapy. Other than that, the menu is vast and the atmosphere is bright and very bee themed. It's a busy place but an okay place to study if you don't mind the traffic.
Russo's New York Pizzeria W FM 646, League City Texas
This. Place. Russo's hits all the points I want in a NY style slice of pie. Great cheese, crispy underneath and thin. We ordered by the slice and topping. The only downside... It leaves you running to the bathroom when you get home. Yikes!
Jimmy Changa's on Gulf fwy, League City Texas
This place is modern "Fresh Mex." The place looks geared toward fun and family with a jungle gym, free ice cream, and plenty of booth options. Decor has cute pops of monkeys with bananas. We the taquitos with queso and avocado ranch. SO. DELICIOUS. Great app and very filling. By the time we got to our entrees we were nearly full. We got the pollo marisco with a delicious but rich sauce. We also tried the 9ine layer Mexican lasagna. It was packed with that "Mexican" flavor and a little overpowering. Picture that taco beef you had in school between layers of pasta and cheese.
♥ What I'm Wearing ♥
LIPS: Anastasia Beverly Hills liquid lipstick in “Craft” http://goo.gl/6A1ESZ
NAILS: China Glaze “Secret Peri-Wink-le” http://goo.gl/d9rJnF
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⏩Hey guys! It's been a while since
I've vlogged! This is my first food vlog so I'm new to explaining
what I'm doing while trying to live my life. Mostly shot on my
Samsung S5! This was my last trip to Houston and I'm always asked
about recommendations on where to go. Luckily, I have family who
lives there so I'm always trying new places! I also go quite often so
I plan to continue these in the future, hopefully shorter and more
steady!
Tan Tan on Bellaire
Tan Tan is one of those restaurants with that you just can't stay away from once you're hooked. Known for their Banh Bot Chien and terrible service, I always find myself here. My last experience took the cake. Meeting people in Houston is a task. We waited for my cousin to arrive and when he was 5 minutes away, we put in the order for our hotpot. The entire time we were wondering why the portion was so small compared to last time on top of the price going up. When we received the bill, we found out that they only put in the order for two! We repeatedly told our server it was going to be three and she kept treating us like it was just us two (two place settings when asked). No bueno for two hungry guys and a foodie. But the food is just so good when it's done right! The struggle.
Kung Fu Tea on Bellaire
Look guys. This place is bomb. I went three times in this trip! I've had a lot of bubble tea in HOU, but this place has great drinks. The boba is perfectly sweetened, and I normally don't care for boba. Milk tea, yum. Taro slush, yum. Egg pudding, SO YUM. Will be back.
Whataburger
You're probably wondering why I chose to vlog about Whataburger. It's a franchise that I just don't have close to me. My cousins introduced me to the A1 Thick & Hearty. This looks like it'll clog your insides but it will touch your inner fatty. So rich and hearty. The sauce. My gawd.
Smashburger
I JUST came from having a bad experience from a Smashburger in New Orleans, and I was really disappointed in a Houston location as well. I received flack from a cousin of mine for being so basic, and he was probably right. My other cousin and I were just hungry from our grocery run. The chipotle seasoned bun was aromatic, but very disappointing
Pho Ve Dem on Bellaire
This place was okay. Standard bowl of pho with a little something lacking. Pros are that they open a little late and housemade durian ice cream if you're into that thing!
Tea Bar & Organics on Bellaire
This is a boba type place that opens a little late. If you dine in they give you your drinks, shaken, in large mugs to enjoy. I walked away with a taro with egg pudding. Their egg pudding is not perfectly silky with a little bit of a stiff texture on the outsides. I had my very first milk tea here years ago. Decent for studying.
Killen's Barbeque
This place is rated #2 best barbeque for a reason. I thoroughly enjoyed their meats. I admit I'm not much of an expert on BBQ, but this packed some flavor. My cousin and I loved their coffee sauce and while it sounds peculiar, it's definitely worth a try. I loved the brisket but my cousin did not. Next time I would pass on the pinto beans, it wasn't really what we ordered anyway.
Sushi King on Kirby
It's really hard to find good sushi in Houston that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I'm used to a certain price point and quality and that combination hardly exists here. Sushi always feels more expensive and less filling. This place was decent. I loved the ferris wheel roll for sure. The cowboy roll was also good and everything else was just meh. Ambiance was classy but the clientele was not as much so.
Juice Box on Bellaire
My must stop place in Houston. A part of me dies when I don't get a chance to come here on a visit. Despite the name, they are known for their Thai shaved ice. Perfectly shaved ice that's nice and fluffy with various fruit and condensed milk. The combination is just divine. I recently started to add flan and it has the perfect texture for me. The only con is that the fruit can be hit or miss, most of the time when strawberries are out of season they are very sour. They also sell jasmine fruit teas, hence the name.
Cajun Craven on Beamer Rd
For this Lousiana girl, Houston crawfish takes a lot to impress me. Most places slather the outsides with sauce but the meat itself is nearly tasteless. I've heard that they boil in chicken broth then toss the crawdaddies. This place's sauce was spot on and the meat wasn't too bad. The spicy craven was a little too spicy and salty for my taste, but this place is a definite recommend. Prices aren't too bad either, MKT price was between 6.99 and 7.99 at the time.
Comedy Showcase on Fuqua
A recap of how this works: pay the price of the ticket depending on the day (weekends or bigger headliners are more expensive) and you must purchase two food/drink items per person. We ended up getting fried appetizers and it was so heavy. Drinks were fairly strong, but I'm weak so hey. We had a "Last Comic Standing" runner up as our headliner and he was very entertaining. There were two smaller comedians to warm up the crowd. I would definitely do it again, but next time I would just get drinks.
Yo Yo's Hot Dogs in Rice Village
Yo. These are the best hot dogs you will have in your life. Open Thurs-Sat, it is a little hot dog cart run by a hard-working [Korean?] man. His timing is impeccable. He toasts the buns, uses delicious Nathan's hotdogs, and tops with curry ketchup, kimchee mayo, honey mustard, cream cheese, perfect caramelized onions and [store bought] fried onions. Because of him, I always top my hotdogs with mayo, sriracha, ketchup, and mustard now; TRY IT. Also don't be discouraged by the cream cheese. It takes on a savory flavor and the texture is like a nacho cheese when melted. Ugh. So good. Unfortunately this time mine was ordered before I got there so I didn't get to vlog his process. =(
Ruggles Black on Kirby
OMG. Houstonians will always tell you all Ruggles are the same. INCORRECT. Ruggles Black is a classy/club vibe version of Ruggles with a Vietnamese executive chef. I am used to going to Ruggles Green, a comfortable cafe with lunch-type food and great white chocolate bread pudding. The boyfriend and I came dressed in gym clothes. We felt so out of place and awkward. The markup for the food was SO HIGH. $20 for a bowl of pho? I'd better be able to feed my whole family with one bowl. I will tell you that the duck pizza was amazing. It was reminiscent of banh mi with the pickled carrots,with a great hoisin sauce concoction and something I've never seen before: poached egg on a pizza. We also had brussels and some sort of either miso or yuzu tuna (it wasn't memorable), and the flavor profiles were so similar to the pizza also being Vietnamese fusion. The white chocolate bread pudding just did not taste the same being in a different setting and probably at a higher markup.
Gordough (from Austin, TX)
My cousin brought this home from a food truck when he went to Austin. By this time, I was so full of dairy from visiting Kung Fu so many times, I couldn't take anything else indulgent. I did enjoy the pudding doughnut, but I can't really form an opinion when I only picked at them.
I do intend on visiting Houston again soon, but I don't have a set date! Stay tuned, and next time I'll try to improve my vlogging skills.
