Vic & Anthony’s Steakhouse

We don’t get to go downtown much anymore, but when we do we try to hit a few places on our list to try, and this has been on our radar for a long time. Vic & Anthony's is so fancy, I felt like a who’s who there. As you walk in there’s a nice display showcasing their meat and lobster tails.

We decided to go all out since we had a sitter and could enjoy the night away from our little man. D ordered a Julet $13 made with Buffalo Trace Bourbon and I stuck with a glass of wine.

The pictures are going to be a little grainy due to using my cell phone and not bringing my good camera to dinner.

The bread just melts in your mouth and I loved that they had soft butter.

For a starter we ordered the Bacon & Bone Marrow Crostini, Smoked Salt & Okra Jam $18. I would order this again and again! OMG I’ve been waiting to try bone marrow so I didn’t know what to think going into it, but let me tell you if done right it melts in your mouth like butter. The okra jam I didn’t think I would like, but it’s sooooo good. The whole dish is just perfection at it’s finest.

We also ordered a Jumbo Lump Crab Cake $20 (Finished with Jumbo Lump Crab in a Chive Beurre Blanc). This is one of their popular dishes. It’s really good don’t get me wrong, but for $20 a crab cake it’s a little steep. The sauce is really good, I would have licked the plate if we didn’t have bread haha.

Lobster Bisque Finished with cognac $11 is also worth a try and silky smooth.

I ordered the Filet Mignon 8oz $41 adding on the Jumbo Lump Crab Oscar Topping for $15

D got the Filet Mignon 8oz $41 adding on the Bone Marrow Bordelaise $7. The picture is dark, but this is a rich and lick the fork clean dish.

We also ordered a side accompaniment of Au Gratin Potatoes $10 and Mac & Cheese $10. Again a little steep on pricing, The potatoes where cooked in duck fat, so you know they where tasty. I think I would get them both again anyway.

And if we didn’t have enough already we ordered dessert since we didn’t know when we would have the chance to come back. The Crème Brule was amazing and Bread Pudding was just ok. It was really dense, but the ice cream we really good and house made.

I told you we went all out! We did take home pretty much half of everything except the starters and dessert. The attention to detail is spot on and if you have the budget it is worth a try, but being in Houston there’s many steakhouses to try.

Willie G’s Seafood & Steaks

We intended on trying out Willie G’s as part of restaurant week until we got there and found that their Three Course Meal was better looking then the one wanted.

While we decided what we wanted we ordered a round of drinks. I chose to try something different and got a Texas Ruby $12 (Deep Eddy Ruby Red Vodka, Fever-Tree Club Soda, St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur, fresh lime). Overall it wasn’t bad just a little different.

We always like to order and swap plates so we can try more things so we got each of the starters, a cup of gumbo and a Caesar salad. I didn’t care for the Gumbo and it didn’t seem to have much seafood in it. D really liked it so he got to finish it. The Caser salad is nothing special. You couldn’t taste much of the dressing and the croutons where on the stale side.

We also added on a Jumbo Lump Crab Cake $15.99 and a cup of Lobster Bisque $7.99. The crab cake was good, I just thought it was way over priced for what you got. The bisque on the other hand is oh so yummy!!!

On the entrees we ordered the Blackened Salmon (Topped with crawfish etoufee) and the Shrimp Scampi (with a garlic white wine butter sauce and angle hair pasta). On rare occasion we actually just finish the dish we order which is what happened here. I didn’t care for the green beans which needed to be cooked longer and I didn’t care for the fish. On the other hand while mine was good D didn’t care for the sauce which was a little too buttery.

Dessert left us with one of each listed a key lime pie and a cheesecake. Both where really good.

Would I come back to this location? Probably not, it’s just over hyped and over priced for the low quality of food you get. I may come for happy hour and have a bowl of bisque, but it’s not worth going out of my way for.

Longhorn Steakhouse

We recently had a Longhorn Steakhouse open up on our side of town. Even though it’s a chain restaurant we have never been to one before. Honestly before we got there I was already thinking it would be a “just ok” kind of place like Outback Steakhouse, but I was pleasantly surprised. Once inside the decor is really nicely done in Western style. If no one was there I would have thought it was an upscale place, but they designed it that way on the family friendly casual side.

Of course looking at the menu there is a ton of choices. I wasn’t expecting the best quality or quantity with the prices being lower. While we waited to order the waitress brought over some honey whole wheat bread and butter. I could have used another container of butter, because they didn’t give you much to use, but they never brought me more every time I asked.

I did really like our waitress Jessica V. She was very outgoing and helpful since it was our first time here. One new pet peeve I have is them asking if you want a cocktail or appetizer right when you sit down, even asking if you have ever been here before. I just wanna look at the menu for 1 minute. She talked us into trying the Firecracker Chicken Wraps $8.49 (We call these Firecrackers because they are bursting with flavor! Spicy grilled chicken and cheese wrapped in a crispy flour tortilla, served with a cool Avocado-Lime dipping sauce.) They where good, but there wasn’t much chicken in them. I did like the sauce and ended up dipping my bread in that once we where out of butter.

For the entrée I chose the 8 ounce Rancher's Sirloin $15.49 (A juicy, grilled sirloin topped with applewood smoked bacon, a sunny side up egg & bordelaise sauce.) Each steak is served with choice of side, salad. The Caesar salad was ok, not the best or worse I’ve ever had just not memorable and a little lack of flavor. As the side I upgraded for an extra $1.59 to Steakhouse Mac & Cheese (Corkscrew pasta, four cheeses & bacon.) Normally I ‘m a filet girl, but I thought I would branch out and try something new. Sirloin has a real strong meat taste to it so I see why they had sauce, egg and bacon to it. Overall it was good, but not something I would pick again. The mac and cheese was really good.

D ordered the 12 ounce Ribeye $19.49 (Cut fresh, juicy and flavorful.) and as a side chose the Sweet Potato with Cinnamon & Butter. His steak was really good and better then most restaurants.

Overall for a nice meal on a budget this is a good place to go and you can bring the kids. We’ll be back again to try some of the other things they have to offer. Before you go check out there website and fill in your email to get a free appetizer.

Cravings Grill

This is one of those strange places because they have a lot going on with the menu. They claim to be an Asian Fusion place, but when you look over the menu they have – Sushi, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Sandwiches, Teriyaki, Salads and American. I think because it’s located more in the country they have to keep the regular plain folks that like a good burger or chicken fried steak, but their also trying to grab the more adventures ones that like a good Asian dish.

Overall it was a good place and the prices seemed reasonable with other Asian style places we’ve been.

We had a Groupon that we bought for $10 which allowed us $20 of food, which is worth trying the place.

First we started out with some sushi, Spicy Tuna Roll $6 (red tuna, spicy sauce) and Sunrise Roll $9 (smoked salmon, avocado, mango, cream cheese, crunch topping, eel sauce). We both really liked the sunrise roll, except it’s a little too big for one bite.

D ordered the General Tso’s Chicken $10.95 (Select cuts of premium chicken battered with light and crisp tempura, deep fried until golden, tossed in a red Generals sauce with crushed red pepper, green peppers and onions. Served with your choice of steamed white rice or Chinese fried rice blended with carrots and peas.) The dish was ok, I think we’ve had better General Tso’s at other places. The best part was the fried rice it’s really good.

I ordered the Angry Beef $11.95 (Wok prepared select cuts of beef, Sukiyaki mix of onions, carrots, fresh red and green bell peppers, Sriracha hot chili sauce and crushed red pepper all tossed in a brown sauce served with your choice of steamed white rice or Chinese fried rice blended with carrots and peas.) This dish was really good and packed full of flavor. I would recommend ordering this one for sure. There was enough for me to bring half of it home for lunch the next day.

 

I would come back for sure and try some of their other items.

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.