10.26.2019

The Glutton Tastes Downtown Houston

Houston has great eatin'.
My limitations were:

  1. Be within walking distance of the hotel. 
  2. Satisfy food cravings.

Yelp helped me find some:
I also took advantage of the Hotel ICON's inhouse restaurant, Line & Lariat. A lot.

Here's a gluttony breakdown, day by day [long post]:

Thursday 

Afternoon Tea
Cold brewing teas in my bathroom. (Hibiscus and PG Tips. They both cold brew well).
The hotel only had Keurigs and offered no Black Tea, only one pod of Green Tea.
Which I brewed but didn't drink.
And I didn't have foil to MacGyver refills with my own tea.
Next time, I'm bringing a kettle. Because I woke up WAY earlier than 6am, when they offered the complementary caffeine buffet. Which was awesome, BTW.
 Dinner
Line & Lariat: 
Roasted Brussels Sprouts (had leftovers for later)
Rolls (ditto)
Chile (so delicious that I had it again on Sunday)
Research (important Gluttony activity)
Breakfast looks promising (from Room Service menu).

Friday

Breakfast (and Lunch) at Line & Lariat
My spot. This is where I sat every time I ate in the dining area.
10% discount for artists! Woohoo!
Migas. Did not disappoint.
Made soft tacos for later with the beans and tortillas. (Very necessary).
The waitress gave me a superior Chipotle Salsa, which I poured onto my leftovers.
Midday Sweet
I craved a scone. I got Tres Leches from Treacherous Leches.
OMG!
I made it last all day.
Dinner [I didn't have dinner?]

Saturday

Breakfast
I craved a country breakfast, specifically grits and eggs.
After much Yelping (and a lot of delicious sounding places are closed during the weekend in downtown) I settled on Toasters Cafe. Walking over there was lovely -- I'll post pix in another post.
Surprise! Mexican Coffee with Cinnamon! This when I simply asked for coffee.
 [pulled from their online menu] Shrimp & Grits
Large Pan Fried Shrimp, Andouille Sausage, Onions and Peppers in a Spicy Tomato Based Sauce over Savory Grits and topped with a Fried Egg served with a Biscuit. [WAIT!!!! Where's the biscuit????]

No matter, this was super delicious. I took the toast ToGo, but never ate it. A biscuit would have been more useful.
Midday Sweet.
I was still craving that scone.
On my way back from Toasters, I stopped at (very busy) Boomtown Coffee Main Street Cafe.
No scones (sad face).
Got Cinnamon Cake instead upon advice from a "regular" waiting in the line in front of me.
It complemented the free Hotel Icon Caffeine Buffet coffee, but was no scone.
[No photo]

Dinner at 9:30pm
Behold the long awaited sad salad.
Sad because I ordered it at 7:30.
I couldn't order room service (room phone dead) so I got an art fair helper to spell me and I ordered this from the bar.
"Do you want this sent up to your room so you don't have to wait for it?"
"Sure."
I blithely go upstairs.
Work the fair until 9pm.
No salad appears.
Back down to the bar.
"Where's my salad?"
"What? You never got it? I went on break and told them..."
Gets salad from kitchen.
Is given no additional tip.
I take it upstairs exactly as you see it here.

The salad itself was yummy.
Not getting it when expected was brutal.

Sunday

Breakfast (and Lunch)
Mas inhouse Migas.
It worked on Friday and I didn't want another Sad Salad situation.
Embellished with Pico de Gallo
Dinner
Got a ToGo cup of Chili from the bar (waited for it). So good! (no photo)

Monday

Breakfast (and Lunch and Later)
La Calle Tacos
Chilaquiles [huge portion that I carted to the airport but couldn't finish].
Esquite (Elote off the cob). So good. Packed into checked bag so Severo could taste it.
Yep. Good eats in Houston!

Linking with
Catherine's #sharealllinkup
Shelbee's Spread the Kindness