NABI – Houston‏

by Jenn UnCorked on January 27, 2012 in Food, Lunch, Reviews with 1 Comment

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Hi Friends,

I do have a soft spot for sushi places. I am always on a quest to find a place that is fresh, won’t break the bank and just a good vibe. Fortunately for me, NABI is just that. Woohoo a new restaurant to add to the mix. I had the pleasure of meeting Chef Ji Kang who is such a great, down to earth spirit. When speaking with him I can see how much he really loves what he does. He is all about his patrons. This is very refreshing to see from a chef who was trained in New York. His pricing is very fair, so much so I could frequent NABI a few times a week. This made me very excited because sushi places can get very pricey. Chef Kang is aware of the other competition coming to town, and wants to ensure the right message is conveyed to all patrons and future ones. He is a neighborhood establishment, where people can be regulars and have great food at a reasonable price.

My visit was at lunch time and I wanted to try more kitchen items. Ji was in agreement as these items are truly what will set NABI apart form all other Sushi/ Asian food restaurants.

I don’t usually dine alone, so this was a first for me, truly I was a little lonely wishing I could share this experience with friends as I usually do. I kept engaging Mariah the lovely server as Chef Kang was in the back working his magic. Can you picture me eating alone… it was a tad difficult so I took to twitter. You know how important meal sharing is for me. Anyways, back to the food. First item out was the chili edamame. This lovely little starter had flavors of toasted/ roasted chili that stayed on the bean. What a sassy way to kick of my lunch with out totally killing my taste buds. I moved on to tartar tacos and WOW! Fresh fish combined a little crispy taco to give the perfect crunch texture. Again, super fresh and fishiness to the dish at all. This had a bit of tang as there are Fuji apples mixed in along with some pine nuts.

The next two dishes stole my heart and still make me have cravings. Very rarely do dishes leave me speechless, but these sassy little brisket pot stickers left me me in awe. First of all as I told Chef Kang, I a not a fan of the slimy texture pot stickers tend to have. So when these came out and were slightly crispy, I just could not stop eating all three. Had I been sharing, my fork would have punctured any hand trying to take one from me. YES, major right? Well that is because they were THAT amazing. The brisket as I learned, is cooked for 24 hours. Simmering and absorbing the delectable flavors of the green chili. My Mexican side is pretty giddy with every bite I take. Now the rival dish for my affection is the pulled pork steamed buns. Hee-hee buns, and they are so tasty! Oh la-la just a marvelous combination of sweet and tangy pulled pork. Stick some round pickle slices in that bun and wow what a fun little party Chef Kang creates. This is a must try dish.

Closing out my tasting was the fried chicken. Ji puts such a great spin on this Southern Belle of a dish. The sauce has just enough kick with some sweet spots all mixed in and rubbed on top of the fried chicken. Truly a fun dish and sure to break the ice on a date as it’s a bit messy.

What a fun time I had UnCorking NABI. I see great things for this venture. Make sure you go try it out and tell them Jenn UnCorked sent you for some good old buns! As a matter of fact, I need to go back for the sushi part of the menu. Take a look at their website and remember they have awesome lunch specials, a great happy hour and also open for late night bites.

Till next time, Cheers and Provecho!

NABI neighborhood restaurant
1517 Westheimer Rd. Houston, TX 77006 | Tel:713.526.8866 | M-S:1130a-12a Sun:5-10p
http://www.nabihouston.com

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Hello Friends! Happy New Year’s Eve…

by Jenn UnCorked on December 31, 2011 in Holidays with No comments

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I want to thank you all for your support. It has a been a phenomenal past four months since I launched this venture. I raise a glass to you all… And stay posted as more amazing stories and events will come in 2012!

xoxox- Jenn UnCorked

Texas Tamale Company–Houston, TX

by Jenn UnCorked on November 11, 2011 in Dinner, Food, Lunch, Reviews with 1 Comment

Hi Friends!

If you follow my site and have read my past articles you will know I am half Mexican, born and raised in Mexico City eating tons of authentic food! Well my Abuelita (grandmother, may she rest in peace) used to spoil me every Christmas and make me special tamales de azucar (sweet tamales) as they were my favorite. They were the best most amazing treat in the world. So going into this tasting brought back a lot of wonderful holiday memories for me.

Drove out to Texas Tamale Company to pick up my cooler with high hopes that these would be tasty treats! I arrive and everything is ready for me and I see the amount of food and immediately enlisted two friends to help me as this is a family size meal. If you know me personally you know I love to eat; constantly and always have food on the brain. However, I can’t afford to have someone wheel barrel me around if I hot a food coma, so instead I share the love. I should mention the TTC has a small area where you can eat on premise or get all this delicious goodness to go!

Cooler open and the spread set up we ventured to try one of each type of tamale first. ( For my first time tamale tasters… please do not attempt to eat the corn husk exterior, this will not be party in your mouth so unwrap the tamales then eat.) Plates filled with chicken, pork, beef, spinach and bean tamale the tasting begins. Almost like a wine tasting with so many varieties. I can’t seem to get enough of the chicken. At first I eat it bare to get the true taste and texture of the tamale. I am please and want more. I then move on to the queso and chili and proceed to dip all tamales. My friends are equally happy, they are loving on the pork. Honestly the spinach and bean were not my most favorite, but I think its great they have a vegetarian option. I tried their rice and beans, both of which were very authentic. Following this I open their salsas and dip the tamales in both. My favorite was the red, it had some heat of Jalapeno and Pepper. All three of us were full and there was still a good amount of food left. I made one of my friends try the breakfast tacos with bacon and they approved. Secretly I was happy they loved the pork tamales more than the chicken as that means all chicken left overs for me. I must say I was pleased with pork and beef as well. They all taste amazing with the queso which I could not stop eating. I know you are probably thinking queso is not authentic and you are right it is more of a Americanized concoction. But I don’t care as it is cheese. I have not met a cheese or form of cheese I did not like so it gets a special pass in my book.

With the holidays right around the corner, this means family gatherings and parties. Here is a great option to the “what will we serve” question. The pricing is great and very economical especially for the amount of food you get. I had a wonderful time UnCorking Texas Tamale Company and I am thankful to those who took part in the tasting. They owe me their first born child for sharing but you know it comes with food tasting perks.

Till next time, Cheers and Provecho!

http://www.texastamale.com
Texas Tamale Co.
The Mexican Deli
3340 Fountainview
Houston, TX 77057

Lola Coastal Mexican–Denver‏, Colorado

by Jenn UnCorked on October 10, 2011 in Cocktails, Dinner, Food, Travel with No comments

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Hi Friends,

Beautiful, this word is used frequently during this dining experience with one of my best friends. We come in for brunch on this warm fall Sunday morning. The evening before I had the pleasure of meeting some key members of LOLA at Great American Beer Fest. I was given the opportunity to attend the Farm to Table Pavilion. Only 12 breweries and 12 restaurants were invited to participate and LOLA happened to be there.

I will admit I cheated and looked at the menu before arriving, and the Pulled Pork Benedict caught my eye. I tried to shake it, keep an open mind as there were several other brunch options, but no I had to have the eggs bennie. My lovely friend had a terrible time deciding, I almost broke down and said “one of each”. However I did not see a wheel barrel so I opted for exercising self control. The difficult decision was made and an order of the Grilled Shrimp Huarache was placed. With this difficult task behind us, the focus became the drinks.

My Sunday brunch struggle is always mimosa or bloody… well this time, I said BOTH. I started out with the ULTIMATE Bloody, and I kid you not (see picture) it was the grand pumba of all bloodies I have ever tried. Yes, that is bacon, cheese, olive, baby pickle, banana pepper, asparagus and a tasty shrimp as the garnish. This bloody is made with habanero infused vodka and what a naughty Mary she is. The ultimate flavor packed, morning pick you up, all in one glass. Now on to the dainty part of the drinking, the mimosas. We had several choices of flavored mimosas, I tried pinkberry and my friend had peach. I loved mine as it was crisp, refreshing and fruity. My friends was good too and tasted peachy but not too overpowering.

The first dish in our beautiful meal came out; Lobster Deviled Eggs. What a phenomenal twist to the deviled egg. Very fresh, and great flavor combination. I scraped the plate and practically left it clean enough to use again. Finally the main dishes arrive. Jaw promptly drops at the sight of both meals. The aromas are splendid and make me giddy and excited to dig in. Love at first bite with my Pulled Pork Benedict. I have never seen this combination before and it was brilliant. The pork was succulent and very flavorful, the hollandaise sauce was just perfect as well as my eggs. Silence takes over the table. We both kept looking at each other bite after bite and the expression on our faces spells out “beautiful”. My friends Shrimp Guarache is glorious and filled with re fried beans, pico scrambled eggs, onions and fresh avocado all coming together for a fantastic flavor party. Plates nearly empty, bellies fully satisfied and nearing full capacity I think, this can’t possibly get any better. Well I should know I would be wrong as a plate of doughnuts is placed in front of us. I may be full, but I will always find room for dessert. I sometimes think we should all start our meals off by eating dessert. These scrumptious little nuggets of cinnamon sugar goodness just melt away in our mouths. Beautiful, absolutely beautiful, each bite we take at brunch.

Hands down, this is the best brunch I have ever had. Not only was the company stellar, the food was simply beautiful.

Till next time, Cheers and Provecho!

LOLA Coastal Mexican
http://www.loladenver.com

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Remembering Steve Jobs

by Jenn UnCorked on October 6, 2011 in News with No comments

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Hi Friends,

I know my page is about food, wine, beer and travel. However, how do you think I share this with you all? Via my Mac, my black Apple Mac Book and my iPhone. I’m a loyal user and fan for years. I found a commencement speech Steve Jobs gave at Stanford in 2005. Technically this was my graduating class, and seeing as how both my brother and father attended Stanford, I feel connected to this. I wanted to highlight some of what he said and hope it provides you some inspiration.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Till next time, Cheers and Provecho!

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