Dekker’s Mesquite Grill

Dekker’s Mesquite Grill is a little gem in the Flusher area. We’ve been here on several occasions with and without kids. They have a great outside sand play area for the kids. On the weekend they have bands play so when the weather is really nice it’s great to sit outside. They don’t take reservations so be sure you get there before the crowd, because once people show up it’s hard to get them to leave.

This time we started out with Spinach N’ Cheese Dip $9 (Spinach, bacon, and our cheese blend melted to gooey perfection with crispy tortilla chips.) as well as Calamari $12. The spinach dip was really nice and thick and creamy and I would recommend trying it. As for the calamari it fell short. I did appreciate that the serving sizes are larger than most places so they are great for sharing.

D had to try a cup of their Poblano Soup $5 which was on their list of specials. The soup hit the spot and we both agreed it’s worth ordering again.

For the main dish we each ordered something off the specials I had a Red Snapper with Ettoufe topping $35 and D ordered the Redfish $33 also adding on fried asparagus for $4. Both of our dishes where excellent and cooked really well. We where able to take home leftovers with the portions being so large.

This is a great date night, family restaurant, group setting all rolled into one. Can’t wait to head back.

Double Horn Brewing Company

While up at Lake Travis we ventured over to the near by town of Marble Falls, Texas to have lunch at Double Horn Brewing Company.

Everyone started out with a sampler of their beer $6.95. I recommend getting one of these to try out everything they have on tap before ordering a full pint.

As an appetizer we ordered The Southwest Trio $8.99 (Freshly made tortilla chips served with Mom’s secret salsa, spicy queso and made to order guacamole) as well as the Onion Rings $6.99 (Lightly breaded large white onions stacked high and finished with a sweet chili sauce). I enjoyed the fact that they offered a trio instead of all of the items separate. The guacamole was really nice and fresh. My only complaint was I wish the queso was a little thicker. Honestly this had to have been some of the best onion rings we have ever had. The coating was really good and they weren't greasy. I also liked the sweet chili sauce that came with it to make it a little different.

For the main courses I ordered Surf and Earth $8.99 (Romaine lettuce, candied walnuts, seared cabbage, fried shrimp, served with your choice of a sweet chili sauce or a cajun remoulade). I thought this dish was really good, it totally didn’t come out like I thought it would look, but it tasted fantastic. I was also surprised at how fresh the shrimp tasted and how large they where.

D ordered the The Green Chili $9.99 (Hand-formed beef, green chilies, lettuce, tomato and white cheddar, chopped with shoestring onions and a green chili sauce). We didn’t care that they list of an assortment of sides and ask what you would like. D picked the sweet potato fries and they never mentioned it would be an extra 89 cents.

Our friend’s ordered DH Chicken $9.99 (Charbroiled chicken breast, pesto mayo, lettuce, tomato, bacon and avacado served on a bolio roll) and Bangers and Mash $11.99 (Jalapeno pork sausages served with gorgonzola mashed potatoes and house made porter gravy). Angela said her sandwich was really good and she would order it again. The bangers and mash was a little different. The dish was good except the gravy ruined it a little.

Overall I would go back, the food is a little higher priced, but for a brewery I think it was top notch in quality so you get what you paid for.

Smashburger

We recently had a new Smashburger open up near our house and I’ve always heard good things about this place so I had to give them a try.

Be sure to search online for coupons because I keep seeing ones for buy one get one free or % off. If you sign up for their email list they send you a coupon for a buy one get one free entrée which is a pretty sweet deal.

I had a coupon for a buy on get one free chicken entrée so I ordered the Crispy Buffalo $6.99 (Frank's® RedHot® Buffalo sauce, crumbled blue cheese, lettuce, tomato and mayo on an egg bun). I wished they had tossed the chicken in the sauce rather then just pour a little on the sandwich. It was cooked good just nothing special. Since I’m pregnant and can’t have the blue cheese they where kind enough to swap it out for something else so I picked the pepper jack cheese.

D ordered the Spicy Baja $6.99 (Pepper jack cheese, guacamole, lettuce, tomato, onion, spicy chipotle mayo and fresh jalapenos on a spicy chipotle bun). He said it was ok and he’s glad he didn’t get it as a burger because it wouldn’t have been as good. He wasn’t sold on it, but said it was ok. 

The best thing was the fries. They have these Smashfries $1.99 (Tossed with rosemary, olive oil and garlic) and they where amazing. I really liked that they weren't greasy and had a nice flavor from the rosemary.

I think I will go back for their burgers next time and see if they turn out better then our chicken sandwiches. I think it’s totally worth your time if you have a coupon.

Cheesecake Factory

One of my favorite places is the Cheesecake Factory. I enjoy their large menu of options and for the price you get a good amount of food, and of course there’s the cheesecake!

While we looked over the menu they bring you 2 mini loaves of bread. Of course the pet peeve of mine is cold butter and they give you cold butter. I had having to smash fluffy bread with cold hard butter. Anyway, the bread is yummy, but don’t filly up on that.

D ordered the classic Mojito $9.25. He said it was good, but not worth almost $10.

He also ordered the lunch portion of Miso Salmon $13.95. This was a good dish, we just had to mix the sauce in with the rice, because the rice was a gummy clump, otherwise the fish was cooked perfectly and seasoned well.

I ordered the lunch portion of Lemon Chicken Piccata $11.95. You can’t really mess this dish up. Everything tasted really good. I liked that they buttered the noodles so they wouldn’t clump together. I almost had too many noodles for the amount of chicken, but it was still tasty.

Today it was my choice to pick out a slice of cheesecake and I went with the Coconut Cheesecake Topped with Coconut Cream Custard, all on a Chocolate Macaroon Crust $6.95. OMG this is amazing!! It’s not overly rich like some of their cheesecakes. I would order this again in a heartbeat.

Of course we’ll be back, we’ve never had a bad experience here.

Texican Cafe

We recently bought one of those half priced groupons for Texican Café which is on the way up to our lake house.

D is on the green chili kick since we had our trip to Taos so he was excited to see their menu around green chili month!

We started out with the Hatch Queso Cup $4.99. I would order it again, the green chilies really hit the spot.

D started out with a Large Margarita on the rocks $6. This was a good deal and actually tasted really good like a margarita should, not filled with sweet and sour, you could really taste all of the flavors. I would venture to say this is in our top 5 favorite margaritas.

Of course with the green chili theme D ordered the Green Chili Enchiladas $14.99 $4 was added on because he did one fajita beef and one fajita chicken. The sauce was fantastic and we would recommend this plate to anyone. The extra $4 was a little high, but worth it if you would rather the fajita meat.

I went with the Texican Dinner $10.99 (The Works! One crispy beef taco, one beef “El Paso” enchilada, one pork tamale, Mexican rice, refried beans, guacamole, pico de gallo and chile con queso.) I loved the sauce on the enchilada and the plate is just right if you want to try a little of everything.

Honestly I can’t wait to go back here. The service is fast and the food is fantastic!

Truluck’s

Surprisingly we have never been to Truluck’s, but they have been around forever. I had made reservations for 6:15pm, but we arrived early to try out their Cocktail Hour from 4:30pm-6:30pm. They have a really great bar menu that’s half off along with 25% off all bottles of wine and half price cocktails. We decided would would be back for sure to take advantage of this again. You could make a meal out of the large portions we saw them bringing out and have a few cocktails.

We ordered a Mojito (regular $11, but only $5.50 for cocktail hour) and Truluck’s Margarita (regular $11, but only $5.50 for cocktail hour).

We also tried the Crab Cake Sliders (regular $18, but only $9 for cocktail hour). I loved the flavor of these. The sweet roll is toasted and a fabulous compliment to the crab cake.

After a great starter we couldn’t wait to taste the food in the restaurant. The bread was so nice and warm and you get more then one tiny ball of butter which is nice and soft.

For the first course D ordered the Ice cold Watermelon & Local Tomato Gazpacho $11 (with jumbo lump blue crab). This is a great starter dish which is nice and refreshing.

I ordered the Creamy Lobster Bisque $8 (with fresh lobster and horseradish goat cheese). I asked for them to leave off the goat cheese, I like goat cheese I just didn’t really know how the horseradish would be in it. The bisque is by far one of the best I’ve had. There was a nice heat to it from the seasoning and I could have had a never ending bowl of it.

Since they are known for having the freshest crab we ordered 4 medium Fresh Pacific Stone Crab Claws $18. They where nice and fresh, but not as sweet as I thought they would be. The dipping sauce was really good with it.

For the second course D ordered the Cioppino $28 (a feast of seven fishes, fresh fish, shrimp, mussels, calamari and blue crab simmered in a tomato and herb broth). I was nervous when he ordered it because we haven’t found a good one besides the one we had on our trip up north. To our surprise it tasted really close to that one so he was on cloud 9 which brought back a lot of memories for us.

I on the other hand was not as excited with my second course. I ordered the Crab Alfredo (blue crab, king crab and snow crab in a rich pecorino sauce tossed with fresh pasta and topped with tomato and basil). My first bite tasted like raw pasta. The waiter offered to take it back and bring another one. A few minutes later he came back saying that the chef says that’s they way it taste because it’s fresh pasta. REALLY? I make pasta at home it doesn’t taste like raw dough when it’s cooked. I think he was being lazy. So I ended up ordering the Beef Rockefeller (tenderloin medallions topped with creamy spinach fondue, fried oysters and loaded potato cakes). I didn’t really care for this dish the flavor was just off. The best part was the potato cakes which where really good.

Dessert was a much better experience. The Sugar-Free Coconut Cream Pie (with shortbread crust and vanilla whipped cream) was amazing. You couldn’t tell that it was sugar free. We also got their famous Carrot Cake (with cream cheese icing, warm butterscotch and spicy Texas pecans). I wasn’t a fan of the butterscotch on there, but I would order it again because the cake itself was really good.

Overall I would go back for sure. Except for my main course everything was really good and seasoned well. Their prices are a little high, but totally worth every penny. I recommend going during their cocktail hour and trying their food out that way, they have a nice assortment on their bar menu.

Post Oak Grill

Post Oak Grill is another place we haven’t been in ages. It has that old charm to it that makes you feel like you’re going back in time. We where greeted with an assortment of bread while we looked over the Restaurant Week menu.

For the first course I didn’t really care for any of the choices and the waiter was kind enough to offer any choice off of the regular appetizer menu. I went with the Calamari which was really good. D chose the Ceviche Tostada (Snapper, shrimp and crabmeat cured with fresh lemon juices and cilantro, California tomatoes and Texas Serrano peppers).

For the second course we both picked the soup of the day (roasted lobster  crabmeat bisque with cognac essence). It was ok, nothing too special, but I did like the cognac essence you could really taste it.

The waiter then brought out the Intermezzo which was a papaya crème de cassis. I loved the flavor of this and could have eaten a big bowl of it.

Time for the third course. I chose the Surf & Turf (center cut filet mignon, lobster imparial, jumbo asparagus and white cheddar potatoes in a light cabernet sauce). No complaints with my dish everything was cooked perfect and seasoned really well. D chose the Crab Meat Crusted Flounder Filet (with mushroom risotto, tempura asparagus, topped with orange habanero citrus sauce). We would order this dish again, it’s cooked perfect and the flavor was fantastic.

Last course of dessert. The waiter recommended the Strawberry Three Color Chocolate Mousse Cake (with homemade chocolate sauce) and we are glad he did. The mousse cake was nice and light and still gave you that chocolate you crave. We also got the Bananas Foster (with cajeta vanilla homemade ice cream). The dish just melts in you mouth it’s soo good.

Overall the portions are just right so you don’t feel like you have to roll out of there at the end of the night. I can’t wait to go back this is a nice little gem in Houston. I don’t have a price comparison because they don’t list prices online, but we paid $35 a person for the 4 course meal for Houston Restaurant Week.