Houston Restaurant Week!

I hope you’ve been working out all summer long. I have, but it’s not so much to look and feel better, it’s more so to prepare myself for my favorite time of year. Christmas? Yes…FOR MY STOMACH!

Houston Restaurant Week (HRW) is in full swing! We are 10 days into it with 10 days remaining. I think we’re at that point where they should replace “week” to “month”. For those of you eating Jack in the Box all the time, HRW runs from August 1^st through the 21^st as a benefit for the Houston Food Bank. You get a delicious 3-course dinner meal at participating (and nice) restaurants all over the city for $35 a person. These restaurants will then donate $5 of each meal sold to the Houston Food Bank. New for this year are the 2-course lunch meals. Same set up for dinner, however it’s $20 a person and you get 2-courses. $3 from each sold will be donated to the HFB for lunch.

The catch to this is that you have to make reservations to these restaurants and let them know you’re coming specifically for the HRW dinner/lunch. In addition, these prices DO NOT reflect drinks, taxes and gratuity. So don’t go into these places trying to pull a $40-a-day stunt and tipping your loose change.

The lineup this year is abundant as it grows each year with new restaurants. The meals? Delicious. Don’t think you’re getting the scrap bologna from the day before. Check out Sullivan’s dinner menu:

(Pick one from each course)

1^st Course

Summer Mixed Greens/Balsamic Vinaigrette

Wedge of Iceberg/Blue Cheese Dressing

Chilled Asparagus Bisque/Chive Oil & Lump Crab Meat

2^nd Course

Filet Mignon 8 oz

Lobster Tail 8 oz

Crab Stuffed Shrimp/Chive Beurre Blanc

Broiled Salmon Fillet/Lemon Beurre Blanc

He's sleeping his hunger off, let him rest.

Roasted Chicken Breast/Picatta Style

Sides served with entrées
Horseradish Mashed Potatoes
Steamed Broccoli
3^rd Course

Warm Bananas Foster Bread Pudding

New York Style Cheesecake

Key Lime Pie

Chocolate Mousse

Isn’t that delicious?? It seriously makes me question my dinner choice for the evening. Actually, not really. Little Caesars will NEVER fail you. I’ve been rockin’ those Hot-n-Ready pizzas since 1994, playboy.

Check out the link below for the full listing of all the participating restaurants along with their respective lunch and dinner menus. If you participate, you’re indirectly feeding the homeless. So if one of them tries to ask you for money for food, you can tell them “no way smelly cat, I’m about to go eat a lobster bisque to feed you so hang tight and stay alive for another 4 weeks” (or however long it takes for the money to trickle down…let’s face it the heat is going to kill him, not the lack of food. Whatever.)

Now that you have your meals picked out, go break out those elastic-waist pants your parents bought from Weiners because you’re going to need them. (Actually don’t do that. I just had the sudden urge to reference Weiners. I used to get my Lacoste shirts from there when I was little…for $10! You can’t even buy fake Lacoste from Traders Village for $10. Those were the days…)

http://www.houstonrestaurantweek.com/

Hey sexy pants, where you heading? CiCi's?? They're not on the list.

Sucks for you, Washington Resident

One of my favorite Houston-centric music blogs (The Houstonist) recently shut it down. This was my go-to source of new music on the scene in Houston as well as upcoming concerts that I may not have heard of otherwise. They do have a new site (Htownrock.com) but I haven’t had a chance to see what they’ve got going on there. I was hoping they would break down some of the bands playing this weekend, but no dice. What’s this weekend? The Houston Press Music Awards of course!
The Houston Press has been on it lately with trying to get Houston in the mix of cities with a good live music scene. First it was the Free Press Summer Fest ala ACL, now comes the Music Awards on Saturday August 7 with a SXSW set up. Tickets are $15.00 (+$1.81 Fee) online up until Saturday. You can purchase tickets at the door for $20. The main event is at the Bud Light Stage located at Washington Ave. and Silver Street. The other venues are 10 different bars
located along Washington. The parking lots are at Memorial Drive & Houston Avenue or TC Jester and Schuler (A complimentary shuttle will be available with the purchase of a wristband).

This event sounds like a lot of fun for people who are attending, probably not so much fun for anyone who lives on Washington or anywhere in the direct vicinity. I have a feeling the traffic situation is going to be double worse than usual.

The headliner is going to be Matt & Kim at the Budlight Stage at 9pm. That’s awesome seeing as they’ll also be at ACL, except you only have to pay $16. That’s like finding a non-scratched/urinated on/stained Michael Kors purse at Marshalls. You can’t pass it up. Seeing as there are 60 bands playing throughout the day starting at 2pm and they’re basically Houston bands, we decided to sacrifice our dignity and computer memory to go to each of these band’s MySpace pages and pick out the bands we felt would be worth our times checking out (I seriously think some of these MySpace pages will slow down some of the fastest computers in the world. Less is more people!).

Below is a quick breakdown by time of some of the bands we’re most interested in trying to catch:

2:00 PM

Ozeal- Funk/Soul-They have a cool sound. They’ve been nominated for best R&B/Funk/Soul artist and best male vocals in this years Houston Press Music Awards

Footpie-Reggae/Rock-Because they’re giving out pies (not true).

Yoko Mono-Rock/Latin/Funk- Interesting bunch here. The lead singer sounds like Cedric Bixler-Zavala , lead singer from the Mars Volta. Although he seems to be doing more singing in Spanish and less yelling. Who knows.

Free Radicals-Funk/Nu Jazz- Don’t be afraid of bands with big band sets. History has proven for us that you can’t go wrong with big piece bands live. They’re also 7 time winers of Houston Press Best Jazz.

Tax the Wolf- Spanish/English progressive rock

2:55pm

Preemo-Hip/hop- latin- This cat (can’t believe I just used that term) sounds different. Good different.
Ellypseas- They have so many genres involved in their music, it’s gotta be worth it.

Changoman- latin, funk pop rock-Because he’s a monkey man!

Last soul descendents- trip hop, nu jazz- We’ll probably be at this one at this time seeing asFelipe heard it and yelled, “TRIP HOP! HELL YES! THERE!”. He’s more experienced in the trip-hop/drum & bass genre but apparently if it’s done right it’s incredible. He’s gotten me to like House music, so why not make that jump?

3:50PM

Robert Ellis and the boys-Acoustic-For the ladies…

Female Demand-Rock- Multiple sources reported that these guys playing live will rock you so hard you’ll pee yourself. I may be there to conduct scientific research.

James Caronna-Because his “studio” looks eerily similar to a house living area.

4:35PM
Espantapajaros-Originally from Buenos Aires, now call Houston home. You can talk about Argentina with them and why they have long names like other South American bands like Aterciopelados

The Small Sounds-They were at Free Press Summerfest and apparently had a good show.
Fat Tony-A guy who’d let a bunch of nerdy RICE kids “dance” next to him should be enough reason to go see him. Plus in one of his songs he says, “I’m at Pappadeux, with a lot of hoes”. He’s got my vote.
B L A C K I E-Hip-hip- you’ll catch some fresh rhymes.

5:30PM

Hollywood F.L.O.S.S. – hiphop- Has been voted before as best underground hip-hop in Houston.

Los Skarnales- Cheaper than seeing them at House of Blues…as are the drinks.

Here is the official Houston Press Music Awards Website with a list of all of the bands playing and their locations:

http://microapp.houstonpress.com/mas2010/lineup.php

Don’t go peeing on anyone’s yard!

An open letter: Galleria Quinceañeras

Dear Quinceañera, damas and chambelanes,

I can’t take it anymore. I don’t understand it. I felt someone has to say something because surely, no one is.

Why in the world are you and your “court” going dressed up walking around The Galleria in your dresses and terrible suits? I understand you have time to kill, seeing as the church services were earlier in the day and the dance hall on Harwin (aka El Salon) isn’t available for your party until 9pm because the bbq function currently in progress doesn’t end until 7, but there are other ways to kill time. In fact, I went ahead and made a list of things you should not do:

1. Go to the galleria.

Yeah, see that wasn’t that bad of a list was it? At this point, I totally wouldn’t judge you if you went to Red Lobster right after the church service (ok actually I would, especially since your tia sitting at the end of the table is stuffing the cheddar biscuits in her purse like there’s a black market for them. Someone should tell her she can get a box).  Heck, old school Exhilarama at Memorial City is a better option if it was still there.

"Excuse me, waiter? More biscuits please. My purse ate them all so quick!"

Look, all I’m saying is, as a Hispanic you’re terribly embarrassing to me and the rest of us around you. Eating at McDonald’s in the food court doesn’t really celebrate the coming of age/becoming an adult like one would really want to. It comes off so ghetto even ridiculous LULAC doesn’t want to go anywhere near defending your choice of options (I have no proof of that). The super fresas (see: daddy’s girl, mama’s boy, typically rich, snobby) shopping from Mexico are laughing their ass off. I’m tired of having to tell people that The Galleria walkathon y’all do is not traditionally part of the ceremony. I’m at the point where I just say, “Oh who knows, they don’t do that in Mexico. They may be Central American”…which I’m not making up cause you could be? Hopefully?

Just find better options to kill time until el salon is ready for your party. You won’t be any less cool if you hang out at home and wait. At least this way you can sit in your new 1997 Ford Mustang bought from a car dealer on Shepherd–which by the way your dad got a really good price for it because the guy at the dealer was a Tigres fan and seeing as your dad is a Rayados fan, the dealer promised $2,000 off if your dad would burn his Rayados hat, which he did. (see: Mexican soccer rivalry ala Yankees/Mets).

¡Chicas! ¡Chicas! Por favor, save it for after the game!

For your sake and ours, I prefer to watch MTV Tres on tv, not while shopping. Actually, I hate anything MTV sooo…whatever.

Tu Amigo,

Felipe

So a T-Rex walks into a bar…

I think it fell between the Triassic and the ending of the Jurassic period that dinosaurs were going out clubbing and drinking Heineken. I haven’t been in school for awhile, but I’m almost positive that’s why the Houston Museum of Natural Science hosts mixers and elixirs during the summer.

Mixers & Elixirs

It’s usually a good mix of young people really dressed up like they’re ready to hit the clubs and more casual after-work types who are looking to try something different and see a live band. It’s a really good place for people watching, and to catch cougars trying to make any guy under the age of 26 dance with them.

Speaking of dancing, we usually go see Molly and The Ringwalds, excellent eighties cover band, especially since I have a special place in my heart for eighties music. (Anyone ready to go see Spazmatics when they start up again at the new location?)  We haven’t made it out this summer, but we plan on definitely being there for the final and our favorite show, Grupo Ka-Che.

The entire dinosaur/shells & fish sections are open for the event so you can grab a few drinks and wander around looking at the exhibits while the band is playing. One thing that I don’t like about the fact that the exhibits are open, is the fact that people seem to completely forget where they are and start acting crazy and leaving candy and empty cups right next to T-Rex. I’m pretty sure they haven’t found any fossils with “SOLO PLASTIC RED CUPS” embedded on them.

Every time these dinosaurs get hungry, they turn into divas.

It seems as if the entrance price for it keeps going up, but it’s a must thing to do during the summer atleast one Friday. We’re holding out for Grupo Ka-Che, who have become a staple at the event as the closing act.

Also, while you’re there you should check out the Hubble 3D movie. It’s pretty neat and why would you not want Leonardo DiCaprio narrating to you for an hour about stars exploding?

Leo in Space!

$14 members, $17 non-members

Cash bar

Here are the up-coming shows:

July 16- Fab 5

July 23- Grady Gaines & The Texas Upsetters

July 30- Yelba & Latin Fire

August 6- The Chromatics

August 13- Grupo Ka-Che

Visit the Museum’s Website for more information: http://www.hmns.org/generic/mixers.asp

Awwwww FREAK OUT!

Tropical storm Alex is creepin into South Texas and the newscasts are FREAKING OUT! I hate the news, period. Newscasts remind me a lot of the people you DON’T want to be friends with, and that’s the overly dramatic person and the wet blanket and they’re rolled into one which is double worse (that’s getting trademarked so it’s real and it’s mine).

Overly dramatic person causes a big scene for nothing. It’s like you’re at a bar and it’s so crowded you accidently step on this guy’s shoes and he freaks out cause they’re his Jordans and he’s all like “WTF watch where you’re going, you just creased up my J’s!” and you’re like “My fault, except you’re out on Washington so why the hell are you wearing your original Air Jordan XI’s. Go home, get yourself some Sperry’s and roll up your khakis like the rest of us.” That’s how the news is with this storm right now. CHILL OUT YOU’RE GIVING PEOPLE HEART ATTACKS!

Dress for Success on Washington

Wet blankets, we all know her…and I say her because it’s always a girl(there’s a difference between wet blankets and tools, and as much as a guy can be a tool I have yet to meet a wet blanket guy). You’re out with friends and y’all are drinking and having HILARIOUS conversations and then wet blanket chimes in by saying, “Are y’all tired of being here as much as I am? Let’s go watch Arrested Development at my house, I have like…a bunch of popcorn and diet coke and I really want to see George Michael.”

Come on over...wet blanket. Leave your friends.

THAT’S what the news is. You come home from a good weeknight out with friends and turn the news on to just see what’s going on and you freak out because they’re telling you there’s a small wave that just left the coast of Africa that could develop into something so you might as well make hotel reservations in Austin so you have a place to stay. THEN they top it off with some undercover investigation in the work place regarding molestation and so now you’re going to bed freaking out about not having supplies for the storm and not making hotel reservations in Austin and then you wake up the next morning curiously afraid while trying to determine which one of your co-workers is going to attack you on your way to the restroom/breakroom/stairwell/car/lunch/copier/printer.

Newscasts suck.

Ranting aside, there are some upsides to a storm coming:

1. The cool “Storm is forming in the Gulf” TxDot messages. I love those, I don’t know why. I guess because it makes me feel like a badass for living in a place where these incredibly deadly weather formations occur and I have to prepare.
2. Less Amber Alerts for missing elderly on the TxDot signs. Look, I am all for what they do and I hope I never have to be in a situation where I need to use one, but ever since they starting adding elderly people missing, it’s seriously…every other day. Do you know how much of a downer that is for me going to work knowing no one can find grandma/grandpa? Maybe it’s a good thing you can’t find them, because that means that:
   1. They’re not where you left them the night before, so they’re alive…maybe
   2. They’re probably driving up to Branson. Do you know how many Branson commercials I saw this weekend? 7. What if nana just said, “f-it, this place sucks I’m going to Branson!” so they jump in the 1999 Crown Vic and go north.

In all seriousness, hurricanes are awesome but they will bitch slap you and your house and your power lines…and seeing as there seems to be a lot of people that we’ve met from the north moving in to Houston that have never been involved in this kind of thing, I will try and get a list posted on things you need to have around until November. Yes…November. Don’t worry, I have no shame walking into Kroger and picking up the ABC 13/KHOU11/FOX26/UNIVISION45 storm guide and sharing it with you all.

Until then though, don’t freak out…just enjoy the supposed strong winds and rain we’ll be getting later this week.

By the way, that new guy has been eyeing you since you sat at your desk and I heard his background check came back inconclusive…so, watch out.

Go with friends. Lock/Hide your belongs. Don't talk to new employees who failed background check.

All dogs go to heaven…and some may fly while alive

First of all, I want to apologize for our unintentional hiatus. We’ve been pretty busy with weekend trips, and kick starting a new ‘healthier lifestyle’ involving working out and eating better, resulting in a lack of time to keep up with our weekly adventures about town.  As it turns out, eating healthier and working out every day takes quite the commitment. Do you know how many happy hours we’ve turned down this month? It’s a terrible feeling. This kick start was to get our bodies back into shape and our eating habits in order. We have a month to go before we become more lenient on our meals and get back to normal eating and scale back to workouts only 3-4 days a week.

Because of our new routine, we’ve been bringing our lunch to work.  However, I left my nightly packed lunch last week and decided to meet a friend up at Barnaby’s Café for lunch. I had heard about Barnaby’s from a few people and finally got the chance to try it. Barnaby was the owner’s childhood sheep dog/pal and I love a place named after a pet, especially a dog (See Raising Cane’s). Per the cartoon depiction on the website, I haven’t independently verified if his dog had wings before he became angel dog. Also, if I ever own a dining room furniture store, I’ll name it after my dog now…because she likes to poop in the dining room inside and not outside.

Barnaby The Dog

(Insert appropriate transition from poop to food)

Anyways, my friend told me that I had to try something that came with the honey mustard dressing so I chose the House Club Sandwich, which also happens to be one of  their famous sandwiches. I’m typically not a honey mustard type person, but this honey mustard is delicious!  The honey mustard is slightly spicy compared to your everyday bottled honey mustard. Also the fries were hot, crispy, and seasoned to perfection. They were your regular thick cut fries, but if they are done well, like they are here, then nothing compliments a sandwich better.

Honey Mustard with Club Sandwich

My friend took a recommendation from the waitress and tried the chicken salad. The chicken salad is made with a pesto and served on a toasted wheat bread. I only tasted it, but from what I sampled, I’ll definitely be trying it in the future.

The waitress we had brought us complimentary cupcakes as a thank you for being so patient with the long wait time for our food. The chocolate cupcake was pretty good but the carrot cake cupcake was amazing. Again, there was some sort of secret spice added that gave it a different flavor. My sources tell me that the slices of cake that they serve are huge and you should definitely order the carrot cake.

Chocolate Mini Cupcake

A warning- Barnaby’s is a very popular place for the lunch time crowds during the weekdays. I would suggest trying to get there around 11:30 or after 2:00pm if you don’t want to wait for too long. If you do decide to go during that time and want to fit in, wear business casual attire and bring a sheet a paper with a bunch of numbers on it in a manila folder and pretend it’s super important. Ooo maybe stamp “CONFIDENTIAL” on it to make it super awesome.

They have 5 locations. You can visit the website http://www.barnabyscafe.com/ to see the exact locations, menu items, and hours.

30 minute parking? No.

Sarah and I went to go check out Exit Through the Gift Shop . It’s a pretty interesting documentary (or movie…we love us some indie stuff) with great footage of famous street artists putting up their work all over the world in the middle of the night. We were a bit disappointed with the fact that we didn’t get more details about Banksy’s thought process of his art, but as it turns out I think we did.

A lot of the footage is filmed through….screw it here’s the NYT summary:

“The film follows Thierry Guetta, an amiable Frenchman who lives in Los Angeles and videotapes everything — or so we’re told. When Mr. Guetta and camera eventually tunnel into the world of street art — he was introduced to the scene through a cousin, the Parisian artist Space Invader — his enthusiastic recording melds nicely with the artists’ desire to have their otherwise ephemeral work documented. He captures that scene’s luminaries, like Shepard Fairey and Swoon working on rooftops and in alleys under cover of night.

It seems to be a natural fit for a documentary. But Mr. Guetta’s nonstop footage turns out to be unwatched (he has boxes and boxes of unlabeled tapes) and even when he cobbles something together after years of shooting, largely unwatchable. “He was maybe just somebody with mental problems who happened to have a camera,” Banksy says in the film.

So Banksy decides to take control of the material himself — or so we’re told. Robbed of his camera and prodded by Banksy, Mr. Guetta, meanwhile, morphs into a street artist, inventing an alter ego called Mr. Brainwash and staging an opening exhibition in Los Angeles that turns him into an overnight sensation, all of which is captured in “Exit Through the Gift Shop.”

There’s a lot of speculation that this whole “documentary” is a Banksy hoax. Which, thinking about it know with that in mind makes a lot of sense. I think it does a good job of making us think about how absurd some art can go for, the way society catches on to something (usually crap) and decides to throw money at it to have it, and how much work actually goes into Banksy’s street art.

If you’re not familiar with Banksy, check out his website to see his street art. He’s famous for his stenciling and graffiti writing but will sometimes branch out to altering famous paintings on canvas and physical art.

Last year we were in New Orleans with some friends (hey let’s do that again) during Halloween and I was driving at night and coming off a freeway ramp when I noticed Abraham Lincoln stenciled and pushing a cart and I knew it had to be Banksy (especially since I had seen it on his website). He did several pieces in NO to commemorate the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Some of the pieces relate directly to the hurricane and its aftermath while others are targeted at the legacy of Fred Radtke, a NO anti-graffiti guy known as the “Gray Ghost” for his practice of painting over graffiti in gray paint—regardless of the color of the underlying wall. I couldn’t believe I spotted Abe in the middle of the night. The next day we went back out there, not knowing what street it was on or anything, but we knew the general area and found it. You can check our picture of Abe out along with some of his other work in NO below.

Some speculate he’s done a couple here in Houston, but I haven’t verified that myself. I’d like to know where they’re at physically if still around. His street work now lasts less than 2 days in the UK in public, and the city of NO painted over a lot of his work, although some were covered and protected with pexiglass.

Everyone is saying this is the best documentary of the decade/ever/this year…but I think it was just good. Had some nice laughs but nothing completely mind blowing. I’m sure it’ll help you appreciate the concept knowing that it’s probably a hoax and will allow you to think of it deeper while watching it than getting hooked into the story.

It’s playing at River Oaks, so check them out for times. And don’t park in the 30 minute parking spots. Just don’t.

Movie Rating: Austin

Abe in New Orleans Nov.1st 2009

Then and now image. Most have been painted over or put TI posters over them.

Baby, when I used to love you

I love food..and that’s all there is to it. And as of the past week, I miss food…sort of.

I’m starting to think John Legend’s “Used to love U” is loosely based about me and my current relationship with food and restaurants. I’ve been sticking to a work-out this week along with its nutrition plan and although I enjoy what I’m eating, I miss going out to restaurants. I miss the misery I’m in when I leave a Chinese buffet or that disgusting cheap feeling you have after not knowing what you want to eat so you end up at McDonalds for a delicious 10pc nugget meal with bbq. I’ve had no cokes/caffeine or beer this week. That’s not really part of the plan, but I figured why not try and see how long I can go without it. However the weekend is approaching, so if you put a 12 pack of Pacifico in my lap  it will be gone very quickly. I guess I’ll just have to adjust my calorie intake for the rest of the day. The funny thing is though, as much as I miss it I don’t really miss it. I’ve realized how addicted I had become to eating at restaurants and to caffeinated drinks. I’m not saying I’m completely changing my eating habits, because after this 60 day “detox” I’m pretty sure I’m going to stuff my face…in moderation and maybe less. Afterall, I am saving some cash by bringing my lunch to work and staying home for dinner.

Since I knew I was getting myself into this last week, I decided to eat terrible the whole week. Luckily, I found this awesome place out in Sugar Land during lunch called BB’s Beef & Hot Dog. I guess technically it’s in Stafford but whatever. They do Chicago style hot dogs and beef sandwiches. Oh, and I ate there Monday, Wednesday and Friday of last week.

Monday:

I walked in, had no idea what the hell any of the stuff on the menu was. The lady working the front clearly knew this and laughed and began explaining to me what everything included. I asked her what should I first try as a newbie to this stuff and these two guys eating on the counter stuffing their face jumped in and said “Italian Beef…Delicious!” To which I replied, “Stay out of my life, creeps”. Actually that didn’t happen, I’m pretty friendly. I said, “SIGN ME UP!” but it was pronounced less wholesome and more cool. As I waited I was dropping Chi-town references, talking about Common and Lupe Fiasco and then I realized their TV was playing on repeat a History Channel episode on the John Hancock Center. Fastforward to my Italian Beef sandwich and this thing was off the mother-effing chain. I was eating it in my car so I’m pretty sure if someone was watching me they would have thought I was crazy cause I kept saying that over and over. The beef tasted slow cooked, the bread was dipped in the beef gravy/sauce/juice so it was a little moist but not to the point where it was falling apart and the peppers added a nice flavor to it, not very overpowering. I was hooked at that point. It came with fries but they weren’t all that. I think I ate 2. Doesn’t matter because I had to make sure I had room to finish the sandwich. At this point I decided to come back on Wednesday.

Halfway through it I remembered to take a picture

Wednesday:

Decided to go for the chilidog. Could this be the James Coney replacement I’ve been looking for? Nah, it wasn’t. But it was still good. Decided to get the onion rings this time and they were good, standard rings. Nothing special other than a nice compliment to a chilidog. Chilidog…crazy Chicagoans, where I come from we call that a #1 all the way, no chili-cheese on the fries with a Dr. Pepper. I’m a little hungry so let’s add the extra coney for $.99 cents.

Good...but not replacing my Coney all the way from JCI

Friday:

Went back, got their Maxwell Polish. The sausage was awesome, with mustard and again the peppers. I apparently need to give peppers my number because we need to get together more often. At this point I felt like a complete fatty, having gone there 3 times in a week. And at that point I realized I should probably do this workout/nutrition routine for the next 60 days.

Carmalized onions not too bad

If you’re in the area, check them out. They’re at 11611 W. Airport Blvd. Suite B or you can check out their website http://bbsbeefandhotdog.com/home

It looks like they just got started, and there’s nothing more I enjoy than finding small mom & pop shops with awesome food. I’m giving them a Houston rating based on the Italian Beef sandwich, so  start with that and work your way down the menu. Some advice though, don’t try that in the same week unless you know you’re going on a health kick the following 8 weeks.

If anyone wants to tempt me with a case of Pacifico or XX, Budweiser or Tecate with pizza this weekend…please, by all means do so.

BB’s Beef & Hot Dog

Rating: Houston

Art Car Parade

What do you do when you see a car driving around covered in McDonald’s toys and fake grass? First, look around to see if you’re in Austin, TX. Second, find out if this weekend is the annual Art Car Parade.  And you’re in luck! It is this weekend and it’s free!

via orangeshow.org

Starting in 1988, Houston Art Car Parade is the first and largest art car parade in the world. The very first art car parade took place on May 14, 1986, when 11 vehicles participated in a parade down Montrose Boulevard within the Neartown area. I recently found out that the art car parade was actually started “after the International Festival asked the Orange Show to organize a parade to build on the success of the New Music Parade. The Orange Show agreed to produce an event dedicated to art cars.” (via Orange Show website). That is the reason that the art car parade was usually held in conjunction with the international festival. I’m not sure why they decided to change it up and move the parade to later, but I think it might allow more people to visit both events.

Car shown in previous parade

I appreciate all of the creativity, especially the cars that seem to have taken months of design, engineering, and manual labor to create. I am sometimes confused by the subject matter (I once saw a car covered in naked baby dolls, which still haunts me to this day) but that’s not really the point. I’m glad that there are activities in town that are family friendly, free and encourage creativity.

In other exciting news, Dan Aykroyd will be grand marshal riding in the parade this year! Apparently they’ve been trying to get him to be in it for quite some time. It’s exciting that he chose Houston to make himself relevant again. So get out your Blues Brothers costume (so you can sweat profusely) and make him feel welcomed. He hasn’t decided if he’ll be riding in the Ghostbusters-themed or the Blues Brothers Themed car, but I’m hoping for the latter. The suspense is killing me.

Not Dan Aykroyd

Calendar

-  Friday, May 7, 2010 Main Street Drag starting from Hermann Park @ 8:15am.

- Friday, May 7, 2010 Art Car Sneak Peek at Discovery Green @ 6:00pm.

- Saturday, May 8, 2010 Official Parade @ 1:00-3:00pm Allen Parkway.

For more information and pictures visit the official Website – http://www.orangeshow.org/en/cev/15

Also, don’t miss out on Cindy Crawford signing autographs at the Rooms-to-Go opening on I-10 near Gessner. I understand you have to promote your furniture line….but really? She’s one of the world’s most famous models and now she’s doing furniture store openings? That means she’s no better than Mattress Mack. How the mighty have fallen…

Slurring Slurring-Ohio-Slurring Slurring

So when we went to Disco Green, I saw this guy wearing a cool UH shirt. By the end of it, I was like “Okay I gotta ask him where he got it.” So I walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around, double fisting a beer and mixed drink. The conversation went as follows:

Me: Hey man, I like your shirt. Where’d you get it from?

Guy: Ummm…(looks at sky)…you know UH website blog sports basketball club?

Me: Yeah! (Actually thinking, “Damnit, I’m never going to find out”)

Guy: Old post had link….t-shirt came from Ohio…slurring slurring slurring

Me: Cool, thanks bro.

Sarah: You understood that?!

Me: Hell no

However I did get enough key words to put into the wizard box that is Google: Ohio, UH, Phi Slama Jama, t-shirt and poof! Homage was there. Part creation of Mark Titus, who became popular blogging about sitting on the bench playing for the Ohio State basketball team. Not really going to get into detail regarding the site or him, seeing as the only thing that matters is this t-shirt. That’s actually my jealousy coming out for someone in Ohio thinking of this instead of me. Regardless, they were cool enough to do it so you should check them out more on your own and score yourself this t-shirt. It’s super soft.

Oh, and did I mention that when I opened the package, New Kids On The Block trading cards were thrown in as an added bonus??? They were all there: Jordan and Jonathan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood. Quality bonus…quality.

T-shirt Price: $24 plus shipping