thank you.
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The latest from Benjamin Berg.
Letās see - thereās Tex-Mex, Tex-Czech, Tex-Orleans right off the top of my head. Now thereās Tex-Cantonese.
I remember @Lambowner has been to the steak place; Iāve wanted to go to the butcher shop/deli but have never gotten around to it. Anybody been to any of the other Berg restaurants?
A Houston Guide to the U.S.ās First All-You-Can-Eat Dookki Tteokbokki Experience (msn.com)
The dish is new to me in addition to the restaurant.
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https://www.chron.com/food/article/houston-kroger-hispanic-store-18366112.php
Sounds like it will be more easily accessible to people not from that part of town than the Mi Tienda nearby on Spencer Highway. The best part of Mi Tienda has been the food court; otherwise, plenty of places around town to get everything else.
Mentions of Mi Tienda and La Michoacana but not Fiesta!
Howās Fiesta doing in your area? Itās crazy how they couldāve captured all this market with roots in Houston going back decades, and yetā¦ now not even a mention!
The Fiesta near me has had its ups and downs, but might be at its last gasp now - they let their produce section really deteriorate which was a big draw. So they tore out their fresh tortilla center and replaced it with nothing interesting, then replaced the checkout counters so that customers really have to sack their own groceries. I drive right past Fiesta to get to El Rancho Supermercado. Definitely recommend them, if thereās one near you!
Thanks for the tip on El Rancho. I was getting a flyer a couple of years ago but havenāt seen one recently. Looks like they took over a shuttered Randallās on W. Bellfort; if Iāve got the location right, itās right at S. Kirkwood. Looks interesting. I do most of my shopping online now but will get out to check it out.
2 Fiestas near me - an older (formerly Kroger from the 60s), smaller store. Took them several years to fix all the problems they inherited. Nicely lit, convenient, but small. Havenāt been in several years but produce was sometimes excellent, sometimes pathetic. Very small International Dept. No bakery or seafood.
Larger store further away but still within easy reach, older Weingartenās, larger but hasnāt been updated in decades. They took over a space next door (former Walgreenās) to expand during the time a South American company was owner but that owner abandoned the market and nothing has ever happened. That owner did a fantastic job on the old store on Wayside that was also a Weingartenās, then the S. Main @ S. Post Oak store that wasnāt that old and really didnāt need it. Isnāt the chain owned out of California now?
Yeah, really sad, but the long-time owners who also owned the distributor and Food Town stores locally just didnāt keep up with market trends. I still go to the big one on Hillcroft from time to time; was in the larger store near me a couple of weeks ago for the first time in several years. They need room to expand the bakery and produce departments. HEB put in a Joe Vās a block away and itās always packed but Fiesta still does a good business from what I can tell.
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Another Asian restaurant, favorite among celebs is closing in Houston (msn.com)
So what happens if China Town empties out and just shuts down 
We just pack our bags and move out to Katy.
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Iām pretty surprised about Pho Binh By Night, but restaurant competition on Bellaire is vicious. I wonder how many food businesses are just on the 4 1/2 miles from Dairy Ashford to the Sharpstown golf course?
A long time ago, I think I read something about how the businesses in the Bellaire Chinatown area are owned and leased, there was some detail that was different than most other areas of the city and it kept the area mostly full and vibrant. I cannot remember what it was, though, not even enough details to know what to search for again. I think I read about it when the Thai Xuan Village condos/apartments were in the news, maybe 20 years ago, maybe I read about it on Swamplot since it was about real estate, or maybe some feature article in the Houston Press. Does that ring a bell with anyone?
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Thatās not ringing a bell with me. Iāve read that there is a lot of competition because of the influx of new residents-who-might-become-restauranteurs, largely from California. Iāve also read that when a place changes management/ownership, often the English sign on the building isnāt changed, only the Chinese signage.
I donāt follow the business side very much but your bit sounds like something that might have been in the Press. Mai Pham sometimes writes along those lines, or, going back further, Walsh.
Yes, Iāve had that happen to me twice with a favorite place and itās so confusing! The first was Yummy Kitchen at the green-tiled-roof Metropole. It used to be Taiwanese, and the owner was an older woman who also waited the tables. They had an unusual front door setup (a freezer curtain hung just inside the door, to help keep their AC bill lower), and they had the very best gua bao. Suddenly that womanās gone and we didnāt even get to say goodbye 
, and they are serving Sichuan under the same name. It was a few doors east of Mala Sichuan Bistro - perhaps vacant at the moment.
The second time it was Happy Valley aka Qinās Noodle Kitchen, at the two-story Dun Huang plaza. They kept the same English name, and kept the same menu, but it was under a different owner with totally different recipes for the menu items. Pre-change, they had an amazing é¦č¾£ä¹¾ęéŗµ or āxiÄng lĆ gÄn bĆ n miĆ nā - or as I pronounced it, āC-10ā - and the noodle toppings totally changed with the new owner. I canāt even find a recipe for it, except via Chat GPT, perhaps because Iām missing an important word dishās name - Google insists itās ramen, which it was not. 
That location is now Toyori.
Do you eat at the places off Bellaire very often? Any favorites?
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Yeah, Iāll be stealing that. 
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Donāt get out much anymore and have stayed pretty close to home. I remember the first Mala Sichuan. I had done a ātourā of known Sichuan places in the couple of years preceding and I was excited to find it. I remember a Taiwanese place along there but not the name I was getting into noodle places, especially those that made their own when some health issues hit, prior to Covid. I hit up San San Tofu and Pine Forest Garden regularly for vegetarian Buddhist. Jang Guem was my favorite Korean, plus Myong Dong over on Bissonnet. Golden Dim Sum with friends. Banana Leaf and the other Malaysian that popped up right across the parking lot. San Dong. Having trouble remembering names here! It seems like another era and, well, it was.
A group of this board went to the original Cooking Girl in Montrose and La Mien.
Still have a hunger for noodle and dumpling places - whatās your go-tos these days? I see Chowdown in China Town has apparently become a closed group and Iām not on Facebook.
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Wow, like you I was going to San San, Banana Leaf (which like all Malaysian restaurants in Houston is missing $$$ by not offering the theatrical and popular teh tarik!), Alanās Deli for ālunch plateā and roasted meats in a no-frills place at Dun Huang plus several of my favorite Hunan places are in that same location (imo Spicy Hunan is best, Hunan Bistro across the parking lot is 2nd best!).
For fancier meals, I liked Sinh Sinhās Vietnamese dishes and Crawfish & Noodles. But mostly I liked the small places with short lunch menus. It was my habit to scout out new places in Chinatown, but when the pandemic hit I stopped completelyā¦ and never really picked it back up for various reasons. Mostly I cook at home now.
Dumplings are an exception. I think San Dong still has the best, but I found out about their somewhat-secret second location 
and thatās where I go now. Itās inside 99 Ranch, the one thatās in the old Fiesta building on I-10 at Blalock. Thereās a food court, and San Dong is there. Same menu, same everything.
Bonus tip for you: If you go to the San Dong inside 99 Ranch, you can pick up San San tofu while youāre thereā¦ itās on ice in a bin in the produce section. Iāve also seen it at the Sun Wing supermarket, which mysteriously goes by a different name in Katy: KS or Katy Supermarket. 
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Which spots and dishes are your favorites?
Youāve been blessed with a Dough Zone, 2 more to come.
They started with a couple of restaurants East of Seattle & have expanded to Oregon & California. Respectable xiao long bao as far as I can tell, and I love the kale salad with sesame dressing.
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Small world, eh? But I have never heard of Alanās. How long has that been there? And I know nothing of Hunan cuisine so Iām reading up and may venture out. Would be good to get back into exploring more but like you Iāve gotten in to making do at home. I canāt handle big restaurant portions any more.
Have never been to that Ranch 99. Went to one down on 6 in MoCity/Sugar Land. Not any closer to me. Are the San Dong dumplings there ready to eat or take home and prepare? I know you can/could get them at the original shop, which is closer to me. (Been so long since Iāve been there Iāll have to look it up to find it).
I had learned about the teh tarik while checking out a Nyonya place down on 6 also. I was trying to hit all the Malaysian places I could find. The owner was very helpful and answered a lot of questions. He didnāt do it but may have had someone on the staff - I donāt remember. I know I never ordered it but I was only there at lunchtime 2 or 3 times. Gone now.
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I learned about Alanās a couple of years before the pandemic, but I donāt know when they opened. If I remember correctly, the ownerās first business was the take-away BBQ duck/chicken/etc. at the Welcome grocery store (Bellaire at Ranchester next to the HPD storefront). They had success with that, and so opened Alanās to have another take-away location but also with a small dine-in area.
The San Dong dumplings at 99 Ranch are ready to eat, but Iām pretty sure Iāve seen people get it to-go: they package broth and dumplings separately (for the dumplings in soup). If the Bellaire location is closest to you, thatās probably the best one - for sure the one at 99 Ranch doesnāt have those shelves of take-away buns, noodles, and dumplings that are already packaged up; for already-packaged, the 99 Ranch location only has the cold-case containers of seaweed salads, pigs ears, some pickles, things like that.
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Update on Kim Son CafĆ© on Kingsride across from Memorial City Mall: Apparently, they have separated from Kim Son, they are rebranding under the name Memorial City CafĆ© this month. Whether they will be serving Vietnamese food still or not remains to be seen, but itās not looking good in that regard.
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Houston fried chicken restaurant shutters Northwest Houston location (msn.com)
Goinā back to where they started from? Well, same building, anyway. I never made it to the 18th street location tho it was probably closer to me than the Museum District, provided you could survive 610 W and not miss another moved exit ramp.
Parking was not good at the original location on Binz and thereās a Barnabyās in the same building now, I think.
20 Houston Restaurant Openings to Know Right Now (msn.com)
Eater Houston - a list for the whole year, actually. This HO thread missed a few!!!
Now - on to 24!
