Eating in Houston - where to start?

If a friend comes to Houston, where would you take them ... to show off the food and spirit of the city???

The first question would be, what kind of food does the friend like? Or what kind of food do they expect when you hear "Houston"???Houston is a diverse land or people and food ... BBQ ... Tex-Mex ... Country ... Seafood ... Steak???

How about the varying and refined cuisines that make-up the city ... Cajun ... Southwestern ... White Linen ... Soul Food???

Or the flavors which have migrated to 29/95 (our latitude and longitude) through the years ... Italian ... Chinese ... Vietnamese ... Greek ... Indian ... Columbian ... Guatamalan ... Czech???

And where do you go for a really good hamburger (or in Houston's case, a hot dog) ... or a cold one???

So much food - so little time!

When discussing this topic over the past weeks, I thought about the family and friends who have come here and where I've taken them. And where would I take, say, a classmate from high school in Michigan, a displaced Texan living in Philadelphia, or even a visiting head of state?

The first place I would take someone visiting Houston would be - Goode Company BBQ on Kirby Drive. It's quintessential Texan! It's basic BBQ, but also some fancy 'cue (turkey and chicken). There's basic sides, but also nice touches (fried okra and mac and cheese). And then there's Goode's Pecan Pie (I just voted GCPP as my favorite "Comfort Food" in the Houston Press Best of Houston poll). You can eat inside, or out on the covered porch (next to one of the town's busiest streets). They have a couple of other locations and even some company variations (I'll do a report on Houston Food chains later), but the original location says - "Welcome to Houston."

For Tex-Mex, I'd head down Navigation Boulevard to the original Ninfa's Tacos al Carbon. Mama Ninfa is gone and the Laurenzo sons don't have anything to do with the operation any more, but it's a Houston favorite and one of those "Bucket List" places where you have to eat. Sure, there's other places that have better this or that, and we'll talk about them at a later time, but if you only had one place for Tex-Mex in Houston, this would be it.

For good o'l country cooking, like a chicken fried steak or friend chicken or even pot roast. some mashed potatoes and gravy, good biscuits and the like, I'd take you to Hickory Hollow just off washington Ave. Even their "small" is good sized. They also serve good BBQ and sides, but just staying IN Houston -that's the best CFS. If you want to travel a little, my favorite place for CFS is Vincek's Smokehouse in East Bernard. Like the name says, you'll find BBQ there (and lots of good meat cuts), but they have a great CFS and sides.

A good place in Houston for seafood is Christie's. They have a location in Galveston. In fact. many places in Galveston once had Houston locations. The seafood is fresh there and it's served like the olden days. you can get dressed up or be casual. Now, if you wanted to eat yourself silly with catfish, then I'd choose Sudie's on the Gulf Freeway. Or for a good selection of seafood done right - Jim Goode's Seafood place over on Westpark near the original BBQ location. Oooops ... there's three places ... and if I did that with every food catergory I'll never get through writing.

Texas was (and still is) a cow town. We love our steaks ... as you can tell by all the national chains coming here and doing a great business (even Don Shula is here and doing well at the top of the Hyatt Regency Hotel and Oiler fans have let the Dolphins fade from memory). Truth be told, I don't go out for steak - I grill them myself. Get a great cut of meat ... fix the fire just right ... I'll put my steaks up against anyone's. But to recommend a place to dine besides my house, I'll recommend Perry's. They started with one restaurant and have become a bit of a chain. Not as much as Brenner's and Vic & Anthony's is part of the Landry's chain ... or Pappas has their multi-restaurant chain that includes a couple of good steak places.

Getting a good hamburger is just as easy - or difficult. So many places. If I was trying to impress you with atmosphere and environment, I'd take you to Beck's Prime. They have a couple of locations, they have saved huge oak trees in building them, and they have great burgers and buns. But if I was going to impress you with taste, I'd be taking you to Bubba's Burger Shack. Bubba's sits on some right-of-way property just off the SW Freeway at Westpark and Chimney Rock. Bubba's keeps things pretty simple with burgers and burgers - 8 different ways to order.. NO FRIES, onion rings or even tater tots. They do have a baked potato, jalapeno potato salad, and bags of chips. They also have buffalo burgers. If you ever eat a bison hamburger, you'll have a hard time being satisfied with "just beef" ever again. I eat here about one a year and it's the same thing.

The Houston palate has expanded ... and it's come from the east. Recipes have crossed the Sabine River from Louisiana and my personal favorite is Zydeco Louisiana Diner. They have great recipes, authentic flavorings, and generous portions. The only problem is, they're only open for lunch Monday through Friday. For places that are open longer, I like Mandola's Ragin Cajun. There's the original on Richmond Avenue (inside the loop by the railroad tracks) and several neighborhood locations.

But if you ask me to take you to MY FAVORITE place to eat in Houston ... that would be Collina's Cuccina Italia on Richmond at Wesleyan. It's nothing fancy - just good food, great service, good prices, great atmosphere. Collina's started with 8 tables in the fall of 1993. It's now grown to 30 tables and several other locations. Paul Hill uses family recipes for dough and pasta and sauces. The menu isn't too complicated and I can say that in 16 years I've had everything on it and a few off the menu chalkboard items. Our family has celebrated milestone birthdays and graduations here, as well as eating before and after Houston events, and just having fun. One of the catches is a throwback to when HISD headquarters and Poe Elementary were across the street ... they couldn't get a liquor license so it's BYOB. Collina's now serves beer and wine, but you're still welcome to bring your own for $1 per person (bring as much as you'd like!).

Well, there's a start on places where I take people to eat in Houston.

Which camera should I buy?

This is one of those questions where you have to decide what you want and need in a camera. What are you going to use it for ... Travel pix? Sports and action? Indoor hobbies?

It's like asking ... what car should I buy??? There are hundreds out there, both cars and digital cameras.

Here is the web-site I used when I taught photography in high school and I still use it in private classes ... it's not biased toward any one camera or brand and has some great decision assisting functions.

go to ...

http://www.imaging-resource.com/

go down the left side and look for the "Compare Models" and "Find the Best Camera For You" links. Both will help you make a decision.

Compare Models helps if you have an idea of what camera you'd like ... or a price range. You can chose up to 16 models, but keep it to about 5 or so (your computer model and connection speed will decide how fast this works). The website will post them on a single page. Then you can compare item by item. Again, this is what I make students do. What's important in a camera to YOU? I like things like Image Stabilization, ISO range of at least 1600, a higher level of Optical Lens Zoom rather than digital lens zoom, and a rechargeable battery. Others may prefer AA batteries and want a camera that's waterproof. Choose and click away. In the end, the site will also give you some buying options. I'll discuss that in a moment.

Find the Best Camera For You will open another page and take you to a site called MyProductAdvisor.com ... but don't be afraid. There are buttons at the top to click - answer questions to set your parameters, then click on "Make Recommendations" ... and in a few moments, you'll have some choices to compare.

You can also see "Dave's PIcks." Dave is the owner and camera guru and spends plenty of time using and writing about the cameras. They have really tekkie explanations, and they have reviews in plain English. It gets "straight to the point" as the copy says ... click on a section and see what they suggest. There are categories called Mom, Sports, Grandparents, Beginner, Budget, Most Popular, Megapixel and Most Popular This Week.

imaging-resource.com has a great monthly newsletter. You can click on the box on the right-hand side of the main page and subscribe. I read it and make notes. Spend some time at their web site and click around.

soooooo ... Canon versus Nikon versus Olympus versus the others ... ???

Personally, I have used Olympus and Canon digital cameras and like them. Olympus makes good single lens cameras and they were the first two I owned. I bought them because I saw the images produced by Deb and Neal and Johhny ... they looked the best and they had Olympus models (back in 2001, 02 and 03). I sold the middle camera (a Super Zoom as it was called) but still have my original 3-megapixel clamshell that I took to Alaska and the Pacific NW in 2003. It STILL takes great outdoor pix ... but I'm not going to use it on sports or action or family portraits. It came in handy a few weeks ago when the Xsi was in the shop.

Canon makes a good digital SLR and I'm on my second. I have experience in all of the models - from the original one I owned and we had at the high school to all the new ones. I currently have the Xsi and my best friend has the T1i. The T1i does HD video. I've also had good experiences with Canon repair. Yes, if you use your camera a lot (or if it's used by teenages in high school), it will need "repair."

I've seen the new Nikon ads and I'm intrigued with the model with swivel screen. I rarely uses the screen as a viewfinder, but there are times it comes in handy.
http://www.ashtonsdslr.com/?cid=usat09hold3000

I always shoot through the viewfinder because I think you can hold the camera steadier holding it closer to your body than using the screen at arms length!

You can look at all of the cameras locally at Best Buy and other places. I'm a Sam's Club member so I go there.

I get shopping info from ...
http://dealnews.com/digital-cameras/

If you subscribe, they'll send you daily info on camera prices (and other things if you ask) and you can make it specific to a camera brand. I've been a subscriber to DealMac and DealNews for 15 years. I've bought a number of products using their price alerts (over $10,000).

My favorite places to buy on-line are ... in order of preference ...

http://www.abesofmaine.com/

http://www.buy.com/

http://www.buydig.com/

I've had good experiences with all three places. I'm not getting any commissions from them or from DealNews or Imaging Resource for mentioning their pages here. If you have a good or bad experience with any of them, please let me know.


FINALLY ...
Here's a tip for entering sports stadiums. Many prohibit taking video. I've had several screeners ask me - "does that camera do video?" Learn to quickly say "NO!" or they'll ask you to take it back to the car or check it at guest services. The irony is - the 7 year old camera DOES take video, the newer (and more expensive) Xsi does NOT. If you do slip up and get rejected, go to another entrance ... practice your answer (no, no, no) ... and try again (again ... experience!!!)

Digital versus Film

I get asked many times if I take film pictures ... or not ... and why I like digital.

I took my last serious film photo on the top of the Seattle Space Needle on July 17, 2003.

It was memorable for two reasons. One - it was a rare day in the Pacific Northwest when you could see all three mountains from the top - Rainier, Hood and Olympus. This was my third trip to the Emerald City and the first time we had the visibility to see one, much less all three. Reason two - I was interviewed about being a tourist in Seattle and it was featured in a front page article on Sunday, July 20, 2003 edition of the Seattle Times. Okay, I've taken film pix using those Kodak underwater cameras since then, but those pix of "The Mountains" were the last photos on film with my Canon A-1.

No, I don't take film photos anymore. But that being said, I know that my 35 years of taking film pix up until 2003 (i started with a Kodak Instamatic and black and white film in the 1960's) gave me a tremendous background to go forward in digital. I, and many others of my generation, know the things we had to go through in taking film pix. We learned bracketing, over and under exposure, pushing ASA, and other tricks and tips. All of those elements combine to help me take better digital images. We couldn't see our immediate outcome and only had to guess we were doing the right thing to get a good photograph.

This doesn't mean you have to know and understand all of those items. But taking pictures is like anything in life - the more you know about what you are doing, the better you are going to be.

Why do I like digital? I like the immediate feedback. I can look in the viewfinder and tell how I need to adjust my exposure to take a better picture. I can see if someone's eyes were open or closed. I can tell if the flash was too strong or not enough. I can see mergers, lack of focus, and camera shake.

I don't have to worry about running out of film. I have a 16 GB class 6 HCSD card for my Canon XSi. At 12 megapixel resolution, that will give me about 3,000 pictures. If you drop your resolution to 6 MP .,.. which will be good enough for 4x6 standard prints and anything you want to post on the web, you'll be able to snap 8,000 images. I have two 16 MP cards and two 4 MP cards. I'm set. If you're using a smaller capacity card and you "run out," then you can go back and delete pix to make room. That's NOT something you could do with film.

Another reason I like digital is that you can change ISO and white balance from frame to frame. Again. that is NOT something you could ever do with a film camera. Shooting film, you were stuck with 200 Daylight, 400 Black and White, or 64 Kodachrome for 20 or 36 exposures. It's one of the reasons we had two (or more) camera bodies - for the different kinds of film. Now, if you are shooting in the State Capital in Austin (as I was recently), you can set you white balance to incandescent, then florescent lighting(depending on the room you're in) ... and when you go outside, you can shoot the building in full sunlight and take pictures of statues using the shaded sunlight white balance settings - changing your white balance (and even your ISO settings) from frame to frame to frame.

You don't have to have a mid-level or high end Digital SLR to be able to do this. Most digital cameras allow you to change ISO and white balance (if you read the manual or have someone show you how).

So point, frame, click ... check it ... and take a better photo!