Ah, Nielsen's Deli - home of Houston's most luscious, and best ever homemade chicken salad and one very mean deviled egg. For over 55 years, Nielsen's has been the Afton Oaks area's source for deli sandwiches and salads, homemade desserts, stuffed jalapenos, luncheon trays, finger sandwiches and homemade soups. This lunchtime jewel is located on Richmond Avenue, just inside Loop 610, near the Galleria. It's convenient from downtown too, peeps! Open 7 days a week,......

It's party time! Folks in Tanglewood had a picnic-style party to celebrate the demolition of 5506 Russett St. (5537 got it too), where the owners are going to build a new home. It was an eerie farewell complete with champagne, snacks, and the oohs and aahs of the little kiddos when the bulldozer smashed into the roof of the 5,500 square foot teardown. Is anyone really trying to sell this house? The person who......

Good morning, Houston. Does all this rain make you feel like crap? There may be a medical reason: It's called non-allergic rhinitis, and it can be triggered by changes in air pressure — you know, the kind that accompany bad weather. Rhinitis symptoms are a lot like those that come with allergies: congestion, sinus pressure and post-nasal drip. Decongestants, saline washes and nasal sprays can help, but the only thing that'll really make you......

If there's one thing we've never heard Galveston compared to, it's The Hamptons. Houston's Clear Thinkers was equally surprised when they encountered this comparison in a New York Times article. We guess it makes sense, since there has been a boom in beach-house building and buying among Houstonians in the past several years. Has the world finally "discovered the Gulf Coast?" We'll see. This blog says that we'd be better off watching for hurricanes, not......

And so we have some final-ish alignment options for Metro's University light rail line: All of them would begin at MetroRail's Wheeler Station on Main Street and head west along Richmond Avenue for some distance, and all would avoid Afton Oaks, which has been a loudly squeaking wheel in the planning process. But that's pretty much where the similarities end: • The first proposal would turn south on Montrose Boulevard, then west on an elevated......

Post-election, there's a potentially interesting situation shaping up on the transportation funding subcommittee of the U.S. House Appropriations Committee. That's the group, remember, that OKs federal transit funds — it's the one U.S. Rep. John Culberson sits on, and it is his membership in that subcommittee that allowed Culberson to deal a strong blow to Richmond light rail plans this summer. But here's what may be interesting: With Democratic control of the House, newly elected......

There's news today from the Chronicle on Metro's proposed University light rail line: Metro Chairman David Wolff met with the Chron's editorial board this morning and said he could "live with" an alignment that would take the line from Main Street west along Richmond Avenue, then south at Greenway Plaza to Westpark. It's a Metro compromise between keeping part of the line on Richmond and avoiding Afton Oaks and residential areas between Greenway and the......

About 350 people turned out yesterday to hear Houstonians tell the Metro board what they think about the route of the proposed University light rail line, and the message was a resounding "We're not sure what we think." Metro's plan to run most of the line along Richmond Avenue rather than Westpark, as originally proposed, has drawn concern and continued to do so Thursday: Whatever the board decides late this year, it should "keep the......

Residents and business owners along the proposed University light rail line will meet with the Metro board today to give their opinions on the line — and it looks like there's a lot of opposition, at least as it's reported in the Chronicle. "It will destroy small businesses all up and down Richmond that can't survive the construction period, as happened on Main Street," said Chris Seger, of the Afton Oaks Civic Club. "It......