Benjy's Houston

It has been awhile but I am back to food blogging!

Benjy's is located in on the edge of Rice Village and another location in Washington, known for their modern American cuisine and delicious happy hour dishes and drinks. I went there this past week with two of my girlfriends for happy hour. Then again for brunch with my parents.

Benjy's happy hour is everyday from 4-7pm. $5 dishes & drinks, what a good deal :) I suggest you to go early if you don't want to sit under the burning sun & humidity of Houston, which is where we sat - the lounge. The feel of the place immediately change after we walked onto the second floor, hip music, good looking people in suits, and a rather relaxing environment to mingle.

Mushroom Pizza with fontina, pine nuts and truffle oil

Benjy's brunch is Saturday and Sunday from 11am - 2pm. A range of the traditional omelet selection, specialty sandwiches and salads, paired with mimosas & martinis. Not to my surprise, when we got there around noon, the place is packed, before we ordered they brought us cute salty mini muffins. The food is amazing and the serving is huge, but I personally think its a little too much for brunch. I was definitely a happy yet sleepy camper after my huge french toast meal :)

Crispy Calamari with edemame dipping sauce - I must say, this is so much better than Kona's

Crepe with mushroom and ricotta cheese, snow peas, pine nuts and carrot puree

Famous crunchy french toast w/ fruits, potatoes, eggs and chicken sausage

Crab and asparagus sandwich w/ forest mushrooms, eggs and smoked paprika hollandaise

BBQ short rib sandwich w/ pepperjack topped w/ fried egg













Benjy's Rice Village
2424 Dunstan

South Congress Cafe

I went to this Cafe a long time ago randomly with P because we saw so many people in there for sunday brunch. This is probably the BEST brunch place I been too. We have never eaten here for dinner before so we decided to give it a try. I was so sad when I found out they have 20% off dinner on Sunday - Wednesday, and... we went on a Thursday boo.

South Congress Cafe is a hip, modern and classy restaurant. Once I walked in, my mood is always immediately lightened up. Maybe because it reminds me of the places I eat at in China every time I go. If you want an table for dinner, reservations isn't really needed. But, if you want an table for brunch, better expect at least an hour of wait time. I been trying to go back to eat at this place every time I'm in Austin and I never get too because it is soo packed! Thats okay because South Congress Ave. is filled with unique shops for you to browse around while you wait.

What we ordered for brunch (a long time ago):
-Came with cute bite size corn muffins with whipped butter. I think I got half full from just eating these.
-I ordered my all time favorite breakfast:
Egg Benedict South Congress Style w/ Crab Cakes - served with smoked gouda potato pancake, seasonal fresh fruit and topped with hollandaise sauce then topped again w/ two crab cakes topped w/ homemade quiche and crispy prosciutto
*seriously, this is the best egg benedict I had. EVER.
-P ordered:
Wil Boar red Chile Pozle: spicy hot new mexico red chiles, traditional seasoning and tender wild boar. served with shredded cabbage, diced onions and orengano
*P didn't like it much, he said it tasted funny
-For dessert we ordered: Bread pudding
Kind of dry, didn't really like it after having the amazing white chocolate bread pudding at Ruggles

What we ordered for dinner:
Appetizer: Lamb Lollipop Trio - lamb chops, finished with cilantro aioli, mint puree, homemade habanero jelly and crispy onion rings.
*Usually lamb meat tastes really weird but South Congress definitely did an awesome job cooking it. The creamy cilantro aioli sauce is my personal fave, mainly because I like creamy sauces. The habanero jelly is P's fave, he likes spicy stuff. The mint puree didn't really taste like mint, it went weird with the lamb. On the other hand, the onion rings were amazing!! not too oily, just perfect.
Main course:
Goat Cheese & Bacon Stuffed Quail - quail stuffed with goat cheese, applewood bacon and grilled, paired with fingerling potatoes and brussel sprout hash and a balsamic blackberry sage gastrique
*I only ordered this because it has bacon in it, I LOVE loveee bacon. Better than a thought, the goat cheese and bacon kind of over powered the taste of quail. love the balsamic dressing, definitely toned down the creamy taste of the goat cheese
P got Duck something risotto (it was the special of the night) - risotto with butter squash, asparagus, shitake mushrooms, shaved parmesan cheese and simmered in white wine and white truffle oil, covered with pulled duck meat.
*He loves rice, must have it every meal haha. It was super gooood! the parmesan cheese made the risotto creamy, the veggies made it extra delicious, and the duck meat is just... perfectly cooked, not dried, just perfect :)
We definitely did not have room for dessert, we got most of the risotto to go because I couldn't even finish my quail so I made P eat one!

Now for some mouth watering pictures -

Best Herbed Butter ever!

The stuffing - Kind of looks gross, but its yummy! :)

Yums.

South Congress Cafe
1600 South Congress Ave
Austin TX
www.southcongresscafe.com

xo, A

Cheese Berry

Whats so unique about cheese berry you ask? Well! As an fobby Asian I am, I lovee Italian food, the cream heavy pasta, the yummmy thin or thick crust pizza with tons of cheese on top, the deliciousss mouth watering dessert. mmm! But sometimes, I just want some plain, yummy Asian food, and if you didn't know already, Asian people don't really make Asian pizza. Cheese berry offers an infusion of BOTH! the pizza with oriental toppings. Pizza toppings in the range of kimchi, black peppered beef and even curry. These yummylicious flavors will definitely tickle your taste buds. :)

This cute restaurant is located in the Golden Food market in Chinatown, Houston Texas. 

I ordered:

Sweet potato fries - came in like a cone shape deal its pretty cute, freshly made, super crispy, but there wasn't much of a sweet potato taste i feel like. 

Bleu Cheese Chicken Poppers - again you could totally tell its freshly made, it was steamming when I cut it in half. This small popper definitely has a kick to it, it is super spicy. Love it.

Kimchi Bulgogi Pizza - SUPER GOOD, lovee the thin crust, love the kimchi pieces, love the bulgogi pieces. A definitely must order if you are going there for the first time.

Time for picturess!

Cheese Berry

9888 Bellaire Blvd, # 102, Houston TX 77036

http://cheeseberry.com/

Thanks to Vivien for suggesting this place :)

xo A