Gianna Italian Kitchen

A few weeks ago, we went to Gianna Italian Kitchen in Tomball with my grandparents Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw, who recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

The food was pretty good. We ate some freid ravioli and bruschetta as apetizers, and both were very good. There was a nice salad with creamy italian dressing. The dressing wasn't bad, creamy and tangy, but there was just too much of it. Kimmy and I both ended up ordering their seafood ravioli, which the waitress said would be stuffed with scallops, shrimp, etc. When we got it, it was drenched in thin soupy sauce, and it seemed like there was a lot of salmon in the ravioli, which was fine, just not what we were expecting. A few other people got it too and liked it, we jsut weren't crazy about it. We tried the other things people ordered, eggplant parm and spaghetti with meatballs, and they were both good. The desserts weren't bad either.

A nice place for dinner, but I would definitely try something different if I made it back.

Crawfish!!

So Ryan & I have started to take Lexus out to the dog park on Highway 6 and I really enjoy taking her. She cracks me up and has now become a pretty good swimmer!! Still skiddish around other dogs and comes to check in on Ryan and me everytime other dogs get too close. I think she has pragmatic issues and could use a doggie social group lol. After the first time we took her there, we stopped by a place called Hank's crawfish. I think it's hard to find a place that serves really good boiled crawfish, but this is our place!!!! We love it- wish it had more of the crawfish seasoning but it's a good mix of the way cajun places do it and how Vietnamese people do it. Just spicy enough to make you make that weird spicy noise while you eat it and enough to keep going. This past weekend, when we took her again (I am going to try to take her each weekend or so) and stopped by to pick up some as a treat for ourselves. We were worried that it wouldn't be as good as the first one, but it was still good.




We aren't regulars but this will become my regular place to get crawfish.

Eventful Friday..

So I had a very long and eventful Friday. Too much to write about but we did go to Cedar Creek for lunch! I wanted to have another Ahi Tuna Steak sandwich and so I asked if we could go to Dry Creek. We've been to Onion Creek and Dry Creek, but I didn't know that they opened another one- Cedar Creek. Their menu is very similar to that of Dry Creek's so I still got what I wanted. I like the atmosphere of Cedar Creek more than the other two. It has a lot more room and has nice tvs, fans, fire pit, etc outside. This is a nice place to grab some lunch and sit outside when the weather's nice! We'll be back sometime or another.

1) Ahi Tuna Steak Sandwich- medium rare tuna + spicy cilantro mayo
2) The Duke - basically a buger/frito pie
3) The Dutchess- burger + chili + cheese

Crave Sushi

After running around with kids, tired, and looking like crap, I decided to have my sister-Huong and my sister in law to be- Tina (brother's fiance) meet me downtown so I can try on wedding dresses for the first time. Figured out what I thought I liked in a dress doesn't really work, so I was open to trying on all sorts of dresses... and I did! I tried on several of them! We put down two and were starving by the time we were done. We were going to head down to Azuma, but we passed by Crave Sushi and turned around. I have heard of Crave and have been wanting to go test it out. The place is small, cute, has the whole dim lighting thing going on (which doesn't work well for photo taking), and some interesting rolls. Overall, it's a nice place to go to- I think I am finding that most sushi places are starting to blur into one another. All are going for this unique atmosphere which really just ends up having the same basics but with their own styles and similar rolls with a few of their own. I still like Oishii the best because of the price and because it's nothing fancy. I will take a hole in the wall with good food instead of a nice atmosphere with ok food. Anyways, here is what we had:

1) Gyoza- they pour a lot of the sauce over it already- I kind of wish they didn't but it was still good
2) Spider roll- good - same o same o
3) Pho Sho roll- I was skeptical that a roll could taste like Pho, asked the waiter and he said he believed it did so I gave it a shot. It's a spring roll basically. It has the pretty much raw meat inside with rice noodles, bean sprouts, and hoison sauce, and it gives you just the smallest, itty bitty hint of Pho. It's good as a regular spring roll though!
4) Slow Yo roll- my sisters and I both love the S&M roll at Miyako's and so Huong was trying to find something similar to it. The waiter mentioned that this would be the closest one and it was nothing like the S&M but it was still good. The presentation on this one was pretty and I enjoyed the different kinds of eggs on top
5) Dragon roll- the waiter said this was one of their most popular ones- I think it is a popular one at most sushi places and it was just about the same as other sushi places.

Engagement Dinners

So there were a few but this is the only one I really took photos of.
1) Suppose to be with my dad, my sister, Ryan, and me but ended up being with my two aunts, two uncles, and Lien at a Vietnamese restaurant off of 249 across from Methodist Willowbrook (still don't like going over to that area very much but we might be back)
2) Fish City Grill with Ryan's parents and dessert and coffee at Mawmaw and Pawpaw's afterwards (meh, good enough to try it once)
3) Texas Steamboat House with Ryan's parents and my dad-(just meh- dad wanted to go here)- the waiter did give us a free dessert though so that was nice! Oreo covered Blue bell ice cream

Anyways, this post is about dinner #1. One thing I love about eating at Vietnamese restaurants with my family is all the food!! I love getting like 8 courses and just sharing all of it, although if Chu Long comes along you have to eat faster than you normally would because he can eat anything and everything!

Our menu for the night:
1) crab and fish soup
2) beef carpaccio salad
3) shrimp rolls
4) roasted duck with steamed buns
5) beef with veggies
6) whole steamed fish (always good sauce on these)
7) mushrooms with Vietnamese water spinach
8) salted squid (one of my favorites but a lot of places don't cook it right)
9) taro root dessert

If you have never experienced courses like this then just wait... Ryan and I are looking at at least 8 for the wedding!

We're Engaged - Crapitto's

For those that don't know, Kimmy and I got engaged a couple weeks ago. I asked her to marry me at Sesquicentennial Park near downtown Houston. On a suggestion from Brian, we decided to celebrate that night with a quiet dinner at Crapitto's (which is much nicer than its name sounds). It was near closing time by the time we got there, so there weren't very many people there when we were there, but it seems like they probably do a lot of business there. Kimmy ordered seafood risotto, which was pretty nice, but nothing has been able to compare to the scallop risotto she had at Patrenella's a while back. I was going to order some grilled chicken dish or something, but when the waiter came by and mentioned what the special was, I couldn't resist. It sounded really great, and it didn't disappoint. It was a breaded thick cut pork chop, cooked really nicely, very juicy, with grilled shrimp, penne alfredo (which was actually the best part - probably a perfect alfredo sauce) and some asparagus.