A Glutton's Tour Through Houston, Day 1

Burp. (And thanks to Robyn for the inspiration for the title.)

My youngest sister and I met each other in Houston this weekend to accept a posthumous professional award on behalf of my father (my other sister is joining us today). The awards ceremony not being until this afternoon, Robyn and I decided to explore the Houston dining scene.

First stop....James Coney Island. OK, OK. Not your normal "dining tour of Houston" stop. But if you know someone from Houston (who doesn't still live here), ask them about "JCI" and see how much they rave. They were, of course, delicious and brought back lots of memories. "It was exactly as I remembered it," said Robyn. "I kind of wondered what people were thinking of us, taking photos of hot dogs."

Next stop....Moeller's Bakery in Bellaire. Talk about memories.....Sunday meals at our grandmother's house weren't complete unless Moeller's famous petits fours (pictured) were on the table. They simply melt in the mouth. We also sampled some molasses cookies, cheese straws, and macaroons.

Before heading to dinner, we stopped at Chef Bryan Caswell's Reef for drinks. Chef Caswell is a James Beard award nominee this year, and Reef (pictured, just before dinner service) is his flagship seafood restaurant just outside downtown. "I had a delicious pear martini," said Robyn. We wanted to try some food too, but we had other destinations on our agenda.

After enjoying our drinks, we headed to dinner at Kata Robata. I've written about this restaurant before (see http://tinyurl.com/3bl2zdu). I enjoyed it so much that I told Robyn we had to go back for dinner.

Our choices this time included miso gyoza, pork belly don (a rice dish), chawanmushi with salmon roe, hamachi kama (tuna shoulder), and donuts filled with red bean paste. Our MO for the weekend was to order several plates and share them, so we each tasted everything. "I was struck by how many Japanese were in the restaurant," said Robyn.

Chawanmushi is a Japanese egg custard and takes some time to prepare. But it was worth the wait....smooth, creamy and rich. I had never tried hamachi kama (pictured). After figuring out where the meat was, we discovered it was rich, fatty, and delicious. The donuts with sweet red bean paste were a perfect end to the meal.

Our day 2 included stops at the Empire Cafe, Chef Caswell's brand-new El Real Tex-Mex, and Indika, all in the trendy Westheimer/Montrose area. More on that tomorrow.