brucesw

Well if you happen to be in my neighborhood anytime soon, stop by and share some pancake!

Here's a couple of recent lunches I've had. I haven't been getting out much because of the heat and a persistent problem with my car but I made it over to my favorite Salvadoran tamaleria and (over) ordered a la carte: Rigua (corn pancake), empanada de platano, tamal frita (deep-fried tamal de elote) and tamal de pollo (chunks of tender stewed chicken and potatoes). There was Crema Salvadorena on the side for the rigua and tamal frita. I like tamales very 'wet' and these are the best Salvadoran tamales in town and among the best tamales of any cuisine. Yesterday I made it over to a Korean restaurant that I have passed by repeatedly without realizing the building was even occupied. Talk about off the radar. The sign is faded beyond readability and the door is hidden toward the back on the side, the windows all plastered over to keep out the afternoon sun. Among those in the know, however, there are raves about the seafood pancake - Hae-Mul-Pa-Jun on their menu; there are also warnings that there's no air conditioning but I found the place comfortable at 11:30. Still, I got the food to go. On the appetizer menu it was pricier than most entrees, the reason being, it was humongous, 3 or 4 pounds worth at least, enough for a family of four to have 2 if not 3 meals. Shrimp, oysters, mussels, scallops, squid and surimi are listed although I have yet to encounter either of the last two - but I've eaten less than a quarter of it! Moist with a nice crust this was simply great. I had some reheated for breakfast this morning and again for dinner tonight and it was good that way too. I sure hope it will survive freezing because there's no way I can finish this all off anytime soon. And more of the pancake.

I think I’d love to shop daily but it simply isn’t practical where I live (Houston). A few years back there was a small grocery just 3 blocks from me, more the size of a 40s or 50s grocery store than today’s mega-markets. I went 2-3-4-maybe sometimes 5 times a week and loved it. I knew where everything was, the produce was dependable, they carried all the basics with an adequate selection. I made special trips elsewhere for special items but at my regular store I could get in and out quickly. That was important to me and still is - the length of the shopping trip. No matter how often I shop, I seldom purchase more than 20-25 items at a time and I don’t like to be wandering up and down the isles for 45 minutes, browsing, picking up this and that pushing a huge, full cart around. I always go with a list and don’t browse - really cuts down on impulse buys. Every once in a while I’ll plan on a browsing trip to check out all the aisles, look for new items or things I’ve never tried but mostly I do that at ethnic and specialty stores. Today there is a grocery store even closer to me but the produce is iffy and the selection of basics is not that great; I seldom go there. I’d rather drive a couple of miles further and get dependable produce so I do tend to do larger shopping trips and try to plan well enough to go only twice a week at the most.

Hi Bruce. Thanks! I have made my own, but I got these at Mi Tienda on the Spencer Hwy. I only have a few left so will be going back soon. I got the 36 count bag, froze them, and just thaw as many as I need at a time. They really are a step above the usual grocery store offerings. Mi Tienda also has really good flour tortillas. Ah yes. I forgot about Mi Tienda. I've been a couple of times and it's very impressive but a long way from me. I usually just get mine at a tortilleria near me. Buy a whole pollo rostizado you get the usual rice and charros plus salsas and a pound of their fresh tortillas. Better than store bought but they don't look as good as those.

Those do look great robirdstx. Do you make your own tortillas? Those look better than the usual store-bought.

A thick, hand-formed, filled corn tortilla, typically about 4" in diameter formed by slapping back and forth between the palms of the hands, griddled on both sides. Once it cools enough to pick it up, you put some of the curtido - a mildly fermented Central American cabbage and carrot slaw - on top and fold it up and eat it like a soft taco. It's similar to a quesadilla but the filling is completely enclosed.

I went 8 days in all; it was not that much of a stretch for me. Here’s a rundown (I posted about the first two days above). I’ve been eating very light because of the heat so some of the meals were just snacks. For day 3 I had a Sabitch Baguette at Saba’s Kosher Café (Dairy) - grilled eggplant, hard-boiled egg, Israeli salad (diced cuke/tomato/bell pepper) with hummus and hot sauce (Yemeni Skhug is what they use I think) on a toasted baguette. Very good and very filling. Day 4 - one queso y loroco and 2 queso y ayote pupusas, plus curtido muy picante and salsa picante. Squash pupusas are not that common. Day 5 - samosas from Savoy Tika Kabob Restaurant and Grocery (Pakistani) - potatoes and peas and spices, plus garlic chutney and date/tamarind chutney. Day 6 - jury duty - made a wrap at home with markouk from Cedar’s bakery, vegetarian shrimp (made from milk whey protein), lettuce, cucumber and daikon. Day 7 - Dabeli at Shiv Sagar. On the way out the door saw the sign advertising the Gujarati thali lunch special at Neeta’s in the same shopping center so I went back on day 8 for that. Neeta’s was the only place all week I hadn’t been before. I typically hit one or two new places a week because I like trying new things/places. That was one problem with the week - it got a little boring and predictable for my taste. I made the same mistake at home; other than the wrap, I relied on well-used recipes for gazpacho, greens, soups, etc. when I should have been trying some new things to keep it more interesting. I can’t say that I learned much. I didn’t think I’d have much trouble doing it and didn’t. I had serious meat cravings only once; on the way to jury duty in the afternoon on day 6, I passed the exit I would take to Frenchy’s, our local Creole fried chicken place that is much better than Popeye’s, and thought briefly how good some fried chicken would be for dinner. I took a different route home to be safe. I was surprised at the diminished cravings for sweets, maybe because I didn’t really have any spicy foods, except for the curtido at the pupuseria, all week? For day 9 I pan broiled a fish filet at home then went to try a sample of the chili at a new honest-to-goodness chili parlor in my neighborhood (chili parlors are very rare in Texas these days) but on day 10 I went back to Pine Forest Garden for a couple more plates of the Buddhist vegetarian fare. That place will be a favorite.

A couple of weeks ago, after reporting on a vegan restaurant on my blog, I observed that I sometimes think about becoming a vegetarian in Houston, not for ethical, religious or health reasons but just because the vegetarian restaurants here are so plentiful and the food so tasty. I never thought about doing it on a dare but I’m in on this. Actually, I started last Wednesday so here’s a start on a belated progress report. My main meal is lunch, most of the time away from home. I don’t do much cooking. Wednesday - lunch at Cedars Bakery, Harhoura veggie pizza wasn’t very successful. Just diced tomatoes, onions and bell pepper on a thin pita, cut in narrow wedges and so thin it drooped when picked up and the toppings fell off (no cheese). I’ve had better stuff here and never tried this before. I should have tried the Haloum pizza which looked in the pictures like just haloumi cheese and tomato sauce. I did pick up some of their markouk, tissue paper thin flat bread that I’ve used several times since at home.. Thursday lunch - I asked a friend to meet me at Pine Forest Garden, one of several restaurants in Chinatown that follows Buddhist cuisine precepts. It’s one of his favorite places but I’ve been only once and wanted some guidance on what’s good. We did the buffet and had way too much food. With his help, I got the good stuff but it turned out he didn’t know the names of most of the dishes (the buffet is not labeled) or what was in most of them. For home meals I laid in a ridiculous amount of produce on Thursday from Fiesta for gazpacho, greens, salads, squash soup, plus tons of fruit. I eat a lot of fruit and currently have in-house grapes, kiwis, 3 kinds of apples, oranges, bananas, peaches, nectarines and plums. I’m going to have trouble eating all this up before it goes bad. I bought as though every meal was going to be at home and also like I bought 4 years and 135 pounds ago when I first started eating a lot healthier to lose weight and had a much bigger appetite.

Nicer chest freezers (i.e., more expensive) will have ridges from which to suspend baskets and will come equipped with such baskets, I think. An old Sears chest that my folks had for over 30 years had two levels of baskets that slid back and forth and below that, 3 sections with fixed, vertical dividers. The thing was huge. I bought a budget chest freezer from Sam's, one of the best purchases I ever made. It came with no baskets although it did have a ridge along the front and back just below the lid from which baskets could be suspended. It was an Estate brand which I found was made by GE as I recall, so I looked at equivalent GE models, tape measure in hand, and bought a couple of baskets made for those models that that fit mine perfectly. Then I did what others have done, found other baskets that would fit. In my case, mostly at a local store called The Container Store that specializes in organizing equipment, baskets, boxes, shelving, etc. Similar products will be available at Target, WM, BB&B and Amazon, probably, with less variety to choose from. I've never been diligent enough to maintain an inventory but I do have a system of separating what goes where. I have one basket on the lower level devoted to sausages, mostly from Texas smokehouses; another is other frozen meat products, beef, pork, chicken, etc. One of the top baskets is where frozen, home-prepared dishes go, another is frozen vegetables, legumes, etc., that are used more often and I want to get to quickly. If I was more of a cook I'd need a bigger freezer for stocks, etc. Mine is small enough that when I need to find something, if I remove all the baskets there isn't that much left to sort through. Things still get lost and forgotten, though, but I find them when I defrost it periodically.

Sri Lankan Beef Curry Didn't see the show and never had it but is this it? Sounds good.

Good report, Jackie, except I think that picture of the banh mi didn't show how much meat there was. I placed my order right after hers but didn't get my food for an extra 20-25 minutes; they were turning people away just ahead of me, saying they had run out of this or that, and I was getting worried. But finally my name was called and I rushed over to join Jackie. There wasn't much of the sandwich left but it looked like there had been a lot of very good looking meat in there; for $4, a pretty good deal. Those type sandwiches average $2-2.50 around here but sometimes for that price you get skimpy meat or dried out or over-cooked meat. I thought that truck (Rolling Hunger - Mexican/Korean/Vietnamese) was the best thing I discovered there. I was really disappointed we didn't get to eat at Oh My Gogi (Korean). I'd eaten at several of the trucks before but that's the one I most wanted to try. A lot of the trucks coming on the scene now are only going out in the evening for the bar crowds so I'm going to have to wait until they get established enough to maybe set up some lunch dates. Those mediocre 'Belgian' fries made me think maybe one of these times the Houston group gets together we should try one of the Belgian restaurants. They're both just about 15 blocks from El Real so it would be the same trek for each of us. I was still hungry after having only the fries, one hush puppy and the small quesadilla so later I went to a new truck out near me - a mini New Orleans Streetcar that serves New Orleans po-boys. I had been once before. This time I tried the Roast Beef (with gravy) - not bad, not as good as the best in town but that place is a 50 minute round trip away and this one is just a 10 minute round trip.

I tried the paper bag method but never achieved a consistent result. I never started a fire but I did char the bag and burn the kernels or wind up with an unacceptable amount of unpopped kernels. Then my microwave died (2 weeks after the warranty ran out) and I haven't had one since January of last year. So I went back to the stove top. Took some experimentation to find the best utensil but I use a steel skillet with a vented lid from a pasta cooker, most recently using peanut oil. Makes enough for me and I can get almost every kernel to pop. I prefer corn without melted butter so cooking in oil is better, anyway, or it's too dry to hold any salt. Haven't had any in several months, though. I got tired of picking the hulls out from between my teeth. This thread is severely tempting me. I go back and forth between Orville and WF's organic corn. One time, one tastes much better than the other and then I'll get some of one variety that just tastes like cardboard. The best popcorn I ever had was shared by a co-worker who brought back bags of the stuff from a visit to Nebraska, where she grew up. She gave ziplock bags to everybody in the office. It popped up beautifully and was fluffier and tastier than any I'd ever had before or since. She said it was because the kernels were fresh and hadn't dried out, so the trick seems to be getting your hands on as fresh kernels as you can. The next best corn I've had was some of the stuff from WF.

I have two WM Neighborhood Centers near me, in one direction 4 minutes away, in another direction 5 minutes away. The latter is a nicer store but I go to the closer one most of the time, for staples, frozen foods, dairy, OTC drugs and produce. I do not buy meat there, especially beef or fresh seafood, but I buy very little beef anywhere. They don't advertise 'Always the Lowest Price, Always.' anymore and they aren't but the other supermarket chains here have either abandoned this part of town or operate only older, dirty stores. Kroger and Randalls (Safeway) both abandoned this part of town long before WM moved in. They and HEB have been consolidating older neighborhood stores into huge supermarkets and none of them is near me. I have an awful HEB, two mediocre Fiestas and a huge Foodtown within about 8 minutes. Foodtown's produce requires a lot of picking over to find good stuff and their generics are mediocre; prices, however, are on a par with WM and HEB. I keep thinking sooner or later HEB is going to close the one store they have left but it is their one store with a large Kosher section so they have something of a niche and I guess are quite successful. The nearest WF is 40 minutes away at best, round trip, and CM is even farther so I go to them only for special items and I save up my trips there and try to bundle up with other trips to save on gas. I will occasionally run out to the Fiesta just 3 blocks away for emergency last minute needs but prefer to save my trips to Fiesta to one of their huge, well-stocked stores. I have been pretty satisfied with WM for several years and grateful for the Neighborhood Centers so I don't have to go to a Super WM - I dislike the big-box stores regardless of the chain. That is up until recently when the produce took a nose-dive. After several unsatisfactory hauls I tried the other WM Neighborhood Center which always had a slightly larger produce section with a little more variety; it had obviously gone downhill, too. I have yet to have a need to go to a Super WM but I suspect it's a market wide thing rather than just these two stores. WM's prices have definitely been going up in recent years. I have already taken advantage of a trip to visit an elderly relative in a suburb to make a stop at a very nice HEB, 60 minute round trip otherwise, and stock up on fresh produce. I guess I will be having to look for opportunities to do that regularly from now on, especially for fresh produce.

I've gotten conflicting advice from plumbers over the years about c&f of disposals: run chicken bones through, don't ever put chicken bones in. Coffee grounds, egg shells - yes, coffee grounds and egg shells - worst thing you can put into a disposal. The host of a call in home-repair show offered the observation that plumbers make a living by coming out to fix your plumbing problems. Why should they give you free advice that will eliminate the need to call them? I think the mechanism involves hammers, not blades, actually. There's nothing sharp in there. They pulverize waste, they don't slice or chop it. Still doesn't make it okay to stick your fingers down there when it's running, of course, but there is nothing to be 'sharpened' by putting bones or ice down there. I never understood how that worked, anyway. My knives don't get sharper from cutting harder objects. There should be no problem with carrot peelings or egg shells with a new disposal but the big enemy over time is water. They rust out. This will happen whether you use it to get rid of waste or just run water through it. The tank will rust and it will start leaking, or, as has happened to me more often, the grate rusts and larger and larger particles pass through. The grate, underneath the revolving hammers, controls the size of the particles that will pass through. As it rusts, the holes enlarge. Last time I changed out one with that problem, 20 + years ago, whole, cooked artichoke leaves were passing through and had created an 8" clog of the drain hose leading to the main drain pipe. They had been totally unaltered by the hammers. My advice is, if you've got one, use it. It will wear out sooner or later anyway and then you can decide, based on personal experience, whether it's worth replacing or you want to have the drain reconfigured back to a regular drain set up. Mine (Insinkerator) rusted out and stopped up about three years ago. Water takes forever to pass through so I've got a marble cutting board over that sink and I get by without it. I don't plan to replace it but just haven't gotten around to calling a plumber to reconfigure the drain. BTW, besides artichoke leaves, don't put corn husks, corn silk or banana leaves down one, either, probably even if it's brand new. We get a multi-lingual flyer several times a year from the City (Water Department) saying never put any kind of fat down a drain, disposal equipped or not, neither liquid nor solid fat.

I noticed when I moved into this house (built 1968) 19 years ago that the exhaust fan over the cooktop was pretty useless. I thought it was just because it was so gummed up with grease but accidentally discovered one day the real problem. In the attic I almost lost my balance on the rafters and knocked the vent pipe from the kitchen to the roof off and when I went to reinstall it, discovered there was no hole through to the kitchen. The builder had installed an exhaust fan, cut a hole in the bottom of the cabinet, put in a vent pipe up to the ceiling, then another in the attic, but never cut a hole through the kitchen ceiling. I ripped the exhaust fan out and started looking into replacements, which I needed anyway, but found lots of user reports online of inadequacy so I just blew it off. I didn't like the idea of a permanent fan in the kitchen window partly because it would probably mean the loss of lots of cool air in the our blistering summers. I did buy a clip-on fan at Home Depot or Lowe's, thinking I could clip it to the window frame or the nearby cabinet when needed but I could never get it positioned where it did anything but blow the smoke up against the wall so I gave up. Someone needs to make a fan mounted on a gooseneck that can be contorted into position when needed, moved out of the way when not. When I have a smoke problem I have to open the back door, sometimes the front door, sometimes a dining room window, plus turn on the bathroom exhaust fan which actually helps a lot. I try to avoid cooking anything that is likely to create a lot of smoke until in the evening. Re: The smoke alarm problem. I have a battery operated smoke alarm in the den, around the corner, which occasionally goes off. It's hanging above the fireplace, which i never use. I just climb up on the hearth and unhook it from the nail and place it on the writing table temporarily and it shuts up. When I had my alarm system upgraded a few years ago, I had monitored smoke detectors installed but in the kitchen they put a heat detector. It is totally unaffected by smoke, only goes off if there's actually a fire; I don't think it would be affected by flaming something in a pan but I don't remember exactly what they told me about the threshold for setting it off. I think most fire codes only require smoke detectors in the bedroom area and they are not recommended for kitchens or utility rooms. I don't know if there are unmonitored heat detectors available but that would be the solution to the smoke detector problem.

How timely! I haven't heard much about these around here in the past but saw a sign when pulling out of the parking lot of the grocery store this morning for this one. This church is right down the road from me but the sign for the fish fry is easily missed; I'm looking forward to trying it.

I'm not going to be much help on this. I don't do Tex-Mex very often and know very little about Sugar Land restaurants at all. Here's a list from a local restaurant review site of the options - there are probably a few not listed. Of those listed you'll see a Pappasito's - that might be the best choice (see above reply about Pappas - again - better than average for chains). The Ninfa's is part of a separate chain operation out of Austin and not related to the El Tiempos or the original Ninfa's on Navigation and is mediocre. Casa Ole is an awful local chain. Lupe Tortilla is another local chain with mixed reviews as are Gringo's and Los Tios; I've never been to the first two and my only visits to Los Tios were years ago and I wouldn't recommend it. Others I'm not sure about. Berryhill Baja is a local chain and is okay but is not Tex-Mex, obviously. I'm not sure about Mission Burrito, i.e., whether that means Mission style burritos as in San Francisco style. Huarache Azteca Express was awesome but is closed and wasn't Tex-Mex anyway. Of the ones I see on that list I might try Cafe Adobe - I've heard good things about other locations but have never been. There are others on this board who will know Tex-Mex better than I do and may know Sugar Land; hopefully they'll weigh in. Edit to add a link for Cafe Adobe - the menu looks pretty good to me and they do brunch, I just can't speak from experience never having eaten there.

Disclaimer: Houston is not home to great barbecue. That being said, and since you asked, out-of-staters are often happy with what we have to offer, even places local bbq fanatics consider so-so at best. A poster from SF recently lauded the Pappas BBQ stand at IAH Terminal E on CH. Pappas is a big local operator of multiple formats so could be considered a chain but their places are better than average chains. I mention the one at IAH since time may be of the essence. There is also a Pappas on S. Main near Reliant, within walking distance, in fact, although forecasts are for temps approaching 90, unseasonably warm and undoubtedly muggy. The next closest bbq to Reliant would be Goode Co. on Kirby, about 10 -15 mins from the stadium considering traffic is probably going to be really heavy. Goode Co. comes in for a lot of disdain from local bbq experts but is our most famous name joint and where a lot of tourists wind-up. I haven't been to either Pappas or Goode in at least 5 or 6 years and wouldn't even mention them except for your requirements. The best bbq in town is Pierson and Co. on the near NW side, off Loop 610. It would be about 20-25 minutes to Reliant along the West Loop to the South Loop - I should say that will get you to the Reliant exits on the South Loop, not necessarily into the lots and into the stadium. Pierson's has very limited seating in house. El Tiempo is a very good rec for Tex-Mex should you decided to indulge. It is the family of Ninfa Laurenzo who is credited with launching the fajita craze back in 1973 from her original restaurant. It is a bit pricey for Tex-Mex. The Washington Ave location is regarded by most as the best. Mama Ninfa's on Navigation is where it all started and would be another possibility; it is a pretty small facility, however, and will likely be very crowded. Cajun would be another regional possibility you might consider. I would recommend Mardi Gras Grill, not far from the El Tiempo on Washington. There is a Pappadeaux right across the S. Loop from Reliant. That is another concept from Pappas, above; it's actually a better Pappas choice than the Brisket houses, but another Cajun relatively close to Reliant would be Beaucoup's, on OST (Old Spanish Trail/US 90-A) about 10 minutes from Reliant. I haven't been to any of the Pappas restaurants in at least 6 or so years. Houston is the best city in the state to sample international cuisines so if you're interested, just ask. Edit to add Google Maps page for Pierson's since their website is apparently lapsed.

I'm loving this... getting a guided tour of a place I know and learning something new! Benno's is one of my favorite stops on the Island; I've heard of Fish Tales and The Spot but never stopped but Katie's is brand new to me. Keep up the good work. Looking forward to more.

El Ultimo may be closed on Sunday; many taco trucks are. Tocambero should be open. Christian's and Lankford will both be closed on Sunday. I don't eat burgers very often and haven't been to either of those in a couple of years; I was reading on another board someone whose opinion I value who says to forget Lankford, anyway. Places in Little India tend to start serving latish -- 11:30am or 12. I'm pretty sure Himalaya isn't open til 11 or 11:30; Shiv Sagar is open a couple of hours earlier - I was there last Sunday about 10am. Spec's will be closed on Sunday by law.

The Wiki article on Guatemalan cuisine indicates they are a type of zucchini. Striped? Sounds like the Mexican squash known as tatuma or calabacita around here; those are typically elongated but plumper than zucchini but can be more oval.

Houston is an immigrant city - not much that's really unique to our dishes. For good burgers, Christian's Totem (original on Washington only) or Lankford Grocery in Montrose (featured on DD&D and will be packed - was before hand; only serves til 3p). But you can get good burgers in OKC, right? Tacos - I mostly frequent taco trucks - El Ultimo on Longpoint, Tacambero behind Canino's produce market on Airline (sweetbreads tacos). If you go to the latter, check out El Bolillo across the street, the best local panaderia with freshly nixtamalized tortillas done the old fashioned way. Niko Niko was also on DD&D and didn't need the publicity beforehand. I haven't been in years. One's A Meal around the corner is better for Greek but I hear the best gyros are at Al's Quick Stop on Waugh just a few blocks away but I haven't tried them. Little Bigs for the fries and sriracha remoulade but that's not my idea of sliders (I'm a traditionalist). Ruggles Bakery for desserts but my favorite in the Village is Pasha for Turkish (doner, etc.). Istanbul Grill, around the corner is more popular and not bad by any means. Hunyh, east of downtown, is getting a lot of talk for Vietnamese but I haven't made it yet. Of course we do have a huge Vietnamese population and lots of options. Little India - SW Fwy (59S) @ Hillcroft - Northern Indian/Pakistani - Himalaya - just go for the lunch special if you can't decide what to order. Southern Indian Vegetarian (my current fascination) - Shri Balaji Bhavan (Udipi - Masala Dosa, Khachori, Thali), Shiv Sagar (doesn't peg itself but I've identified Gujurati and Marathi dishes; Dabelli is excellent). If you need any Indian spices or flours, etc., check out Chandrika Masala next door to SS. Something you might want to consider - oysters. The recent Foodways Texas Symposium in Galveston has been much in the foodie news. Read Robb Walsh's report and followup here with mentions of some places already offering a sample to the general public. I've been seeking out oysters from Jeri's for years but I thought they were supposed to be 'Smith's Point' so I don't know if this is something different. I'm waiting until some places start offering comparison sampling options. Spec's liquor warehouse downtown on Smith has good sandwiches and a great specialty food store, plus a huge offering of beers and wines and liquors. Another foodie shopping mecca is Phoenicia specialty foods way out on Westheimer - Middle eastern, mainly. Many foodies rave about the in-store deli (and new place around the corner in the same Center) but I haven't been wowed and just go for the shopping. It's been called a Sam's Club of spices. Oh yes, back to tacos, you could check out the Original Ninfa's on Navigation (don't go to one of the chain operations, separately owned) - this where the fajita craze launched in 1973 - Tacos al Carbon or maybe Tacos a la Ninfa is the way they'll be on the menu. Tex-Mex - El Tiempo on Washington, run by the descendants of Ninfa with supposedly her recipes. Edit to add: I like Calliope on Jefferson a little better than BB's for NOLA style po'boys, especially the roast beef. Former is run by Katrina evacuees, latter is really Tex-Cajun and has some unique dishes if you're not looking for traditional Cajun/NOLA stuff. You'll find lots online about all of these places except perhaps Shiv Sagar which doesn't get as much foodie love as Shri Balaji Bhavan.

That was my concern. Never had one but from what I know of how they're made it doesn't seem like a product that would do well frozen and reheated. Likewise the frozen palappam that I saw.

You certainly know more than me and I'm just trying to learn, too, so I appreciate your sharing. There do not seem to be many of these restaurants in the US. I first learned of this restaurant after I came across a mini-puttu maker on the housewares shelves of one of the grocers, New India. I had no idea what puttu was but once I looked it up I wanted to try it and began searching for mentions of it on local review sites and message boards and came across this restaurant just a few blocks away. So I was really disappointed when I found they don't serve it. I was browsing the other grocery store yesterday, Discount Grocers, and saw frozen puttu in the freezer section. I was tempted. I wonder if it would be any good? It was a pinkish color but I can't remember what the ingredients listed that might have accounted for that. I was examining a lot of stuff and reading a lot of ingredient lists! They also had the puttu flour but I don't know what I'd use to steam it in. I'm sure New India had the flour and they also had the coconut shells sometimes used. Perhaps I could try the frozen puttu and make the kadala curry myself. I've looked at several recipes online and it doesn't look too hard and I'm sure I could find all the ingredients.

Okay - Beef Wat at Sheba, 'sauteed prime beef simmered in Kay wat and seasoned with special Ethiopian spices.' And I looked right at Yessiga Wat on the menu at Blue Nile and it didn't register. So we're all fixed up here. I've got to check these out.