brucesw

From back in December: Not outstanding but there aren't a lot of alternatives for sliders in Houston. They slightly burnt my buns and onions which I didn't care for. I think I'd prefer the buns steamed. Seems like the place has gotten quite busy. I recommend the tots. Interesting comments in Walsh's review by the guy from Reef re: hand-cut vs. frozen fries.

Las Hamacas - Honduran restaurant, Gessner @ Harwin I had a very pleasant surprise at a taqueria in Baytown recently, an excellent piece of fried chicken that accompanied an order of enchiladas rojos con pollo. I've been meaning to try the pollo frito on the menu on another visit but haven't yet, but when I saw on b4 that Las Hamacas' fried chicken is something to try, I headed over. There are 4 of these around town. As noted in the reviews on b4, the jukebox can be quite loud and seems to get louder with each selection, then resets to a lower level. Nevertheless, I recommend sitting as far away from the jukebox as possible. I did not experience any of the excessively flirtatious behavior that was complained about by some female posters on b4!!!??? I had the Baleadas Sincilla ($1.50) - a hand-made thick flour tortilla with queso, refritos rojos and crema. It was very good. You can get this with meat, egg and avocado for a buck more (Baleadas Especiales). The pollo frito was a surprise - a smallish leg and thigh portion on a very generous pile of banana chips (both bananas and plantains appear in different dishes on the menu - these were bananas), topped with a Central American curtido, mildly pickled slaw, with both green and purple cabbage, with a Thousand Island/Russian tasting dressing, served warm. It was good, although the chicken had obviously been pre-cooked and kept warm under a heat lamp and was quite dry. It was also quite a mess to try to pick up and eat. I'll probably try other things here but may pass on the pollo frito again. They have the Sopa de Caracol - Conch soup ($13.00) a bowl, as well as a crab soup (sopa de jaibas - $8.25) that looked good in the pictures. There is a website - las-hamacas.com

I've been having to spend some time in Baytown recently and was very surprised to come upon Nio's Roti Grill and Carribbean Bakery on Business 146 at E. Defee. I was even more surprised when the lady behind the counter said they'd been in business for 8 years. Food is served from a steam table; there is goat, oxtails, beef, chicken, chickpeas, potatoes and I think fish. This is not jerk, it is curry. Roti in India/Pakistan means flat bread, in parts of the Carribbean that bread is used as a 'skin' for a sort of Carribean burrito. For $6 bucks I got a roti about the size of a 3 pound chicken, looking not unlike a legless, wingless chicken ready for the oven, about half chicken, half potatoes. The chicken, oxtails and goat are all prepared and served bone-in. It was pretty good and I was glad I got to try one. The lady was reluctant to put much of the hot sauce on mine - it contains Scotch Bonnet peppers. I could have gone back to the counter for more but didn't; next time, I'll demand some more. This is not destination dining but if you're in Baytown and needing a nosh, it's one of the more interesting options and you could do worse!

Wild Kitchen on Stella Link does a similar burger that I think is a little better but they've been inconsistent. Good fries consistently, not excessively greasy. I tried the fish and chips at Wild Kitchen first and was not impressed but went back months later for a burger and thought it was pretty good. Fresh never frozen meat, 4 and 7 oz patties, single or double. All the best burger joints seem to be a long way away from my part of town.

I was over on the east side Sunday and stopped off at El Volcan, a taco trailer at Telephone @ Wayside, in the parking lot of an Austobuses depot and in front of Taqueria Los Paisanos (in estilo Monterrey). Pollo asado is the thing announced as their specialty on the sides of the trailer and I ordered a half chicken. I got to watch most of the prep through the window. The chicken is held in a warming oven, taken out and heated up on flaming grill, then wrapped in foil and heated some more - it was about 10 mins prep time and it looked pretty good. There were also some foil packages on the grill that I never figured out what they were since I didn't get one. I was the only customer waiting but several people came up to pick up orders they had phoned in and the guy was on the phone pretty much of the time. In addition to the chicken I got a medium sized roasted onion, some lime wedges, a roasted pepper, apparently one of those TAMU jalapenos with almost no heat, a generic green salsa that tasted like it was probably out of a can or jar, and 3 corn tortillas for $6. I rushed home to enjoy. I had stopped off a few months ago at one of the El Norteno trailers on Long Point that was written up in Robb Walsh's taco truck blog last year and had some awesome pollo asado ($10 for whole chicken). This was a little disappointing compared to that although it wasn't bad. It was actually better as a late night snack, chilled. Signs on the trailer indicate they also serve salchica mixta, fajita, burritos, al carbon, hamburguesas and apparently platillos from Los Paisanos. I may try something else here some time. I also noticed another taco trailer about a half block away which had D.F. in the name -- I've seen a number of these around town but have yet to try one. I'll heartily recommend El Norteno if you're on Long Point and this is okay if you're on they southeast side and need something to eat relatively fast.

Coquitos, Comida Hondurena, 6121 Hillcroft, between High Star and Gulfton. I had seen this a couple of weeks ago and was attracted by the sign showing they served Caracol, the Honduran conch soup (translated as snail on the menu) with coconut milk. Unfortunately they did not have it to serve when I was there. I asked the waitress, who spoke pretty good English, for a rec and she suggested the chicken soup, sopa de gallina, so I went for that. It was a very large bowl with part of a breast, a drumstick (both bone-in), large chunks of carrots, plantains, yuca and potatoes plus large pieces of cabbage leaves. The broth was very savory and the soup very filling with all those starches. You almost needed a knife and fork to deal with the large pieces but all I got was a soup spoon. This was served with plain white rice and 2 very thick, hand-made corn tortillas. It was a very satisfying meal, $6.99 for the soup; they don't serve tea so I had horchata. The restaurant doesn't look very promising from the outside but it's pleasant enough inside, reminiscent of Cafe Pita + but not as ornately decorated. Parking in front is very cramped. They did not have a copy of the menu to go but I remember some things I want to try on subsequent visits - pastelitos, an appetizer consisting of snack sized fried pies similar to Argentine empanadas, mondongo - the Honduran version of menudo (there is another restaurant across the parking lot called Mondongo), and something which included rice, plantains and coconut milk and something else, mixed - revueltas. I also noticed shap-suey con pollo and shap-suey con pollo y camaron on the menu and soy sauce on some of the tables. There must have been some Chinese influence in Honduras' culinary history. The food is not spicy; you do not get chips or salsa but there is Tabasco on the tables. I plan to try some other Honduran restaurants like Los Hamacas on Gessner @ Harwin.

I went to LBBB right after I learned about it a couple of months ago but for the sliders and pork tenderloin sandwiches, minor obsessions of mine. I'll have to go back and try the regular burgers. I do agree with your assessment of Tornado. Went there ca. August when I stumbled across it and wrote it off. Went back after the raves and still don't care for it. Probably the greasiest fries I've ever had. I've never been to In 'n Out but if this is what they're like I don't need to look them up the next time I'm in CA.