Houstonist took our sweet time finally getting down to The Lake House in downtown's Discovery Green, and do we ever wish we'd discovered (heh...get it?) this little gem sooner. Aside from its beautiful, modern-yet-relaxed architecture and location in the middle of Discovery Green, The Lake House is an unassuming little restaurant. It's made to fit seamlessly with the rest of the park, classic wood-paneling appropriately reminscent of a lake-side cabin and soaring glass walls showcasing......

Oh, how we wept and wailed when Ming's closed. We rended our garments in the streets, gnashed our teeth and decried the unfairness of it all. How could they move to Austin and leave us without convenient, if mediocre, Chinese food after a long night at Numbers? Never more to mourn, people. A new late-night sheriff is in town: Little Big's. Bryan Caswell, native Houstonian and head chef at the popular Reef, and his partner,......

Tomorrow is officially the day to participate in Dining Out For Life, benefitting AIDS Foundation Houston. This is the easiest ever way to make a donation to a great cause, just go out to eat - you know you're gonna eat anyway, so, make it count - you can pack a sack lunch Friday. Participating restaurants ("eateries") will be donating 33% of your food bill to AFH, well - all buscept the Little Bitty Burger......

After stuffing ourselves silly on Thanksgiving, Houstonist vowed to take it easy on all the eating. We dutifully held our promise for a few hours, until our friend called us for lunch at Southwell’s. We don’t know whether our friend calculated that we would never turn down Southwell’s Hamburger Grill (despite binging just twelve hours earlier). Our friend, the pickiest eater we've ever known, had us at "Southwell's." We’ve been eating at Southwell’s for years......

A recent phone conversation with Houstonist's doctor went like this: Doctor: Houstonist, your tests came back and everything looks great except for your cholesterol. Houstonist: Cholesterol? Really? Doctor: I'm not sure how much you know about cholesterol levels, but what we're shooting for is under 200. Yours is 250. As you can imagine, this has major ramifications, especially for someone like you. Heart disease is the number one killer of women. . . . .......

Good morning, Houston. In place of the usual Morning Roundup, we've decided to offer you some good, all-American July 4 information to begin your holiday. And ours — we're taking the day off to spend with our families and friends, as we hope you are (you may see a few posts today, but we'll get back to our usual schedule tomorrow). Before we head out, though, did you know: There are 30 places in......

No, it's not by driving as fast as we can around loop 610, but it does include city-wide celebrations, all hoping for the same thing: No rain. Here are a few of the events we'll be checking out tomorrow. Where will you be? Tell us, maybe we'll ditch our plans and join you. But probably not. >>Freedom Over Texas Festival Houston's Official 4th of July Celebration. Chevy presents a concert and Independence Day celebration at......

Houston Roller Derby's Burlesque Brawlers are throwing down a great time at a cool location to raise some funds for the team (we keep telling you how costly those fishnets and stuff are - and the ladies do play this sport entirely on their own dime and receive no revenues). Beginning at 5:00 p.m. and lasting until you holler uncle, or the bar closes - you can hang out with the Burlesque Brawlers at Hans......

LAist is experimenting with blogging dates from J-Date, but finds the best men are found offline. Some date vicariously online and that is one reason why porn is big -- really freaking big -- so they ask if they should cover XXX since the heart of it lays in the city's San Fernando Valley. A writer grapples with her food porn photography obsession, another gets censored on Flickr, one gets scooped by the LA......

Need to know just a little bit about something? Ask a dilettante. Is it true that the New Orleans Poboy lot is going to be turned into a Barnes & Noble? You’re getting your Houston landmark bulldozed for crappy chain store story confused. I'm not sure what will be built on the lot where Original New Orleans Po-Boy served up some of the best burgers in Houston. Whatever it becomes, it won’t be as interesting......

Tucked away in a small lot, between tiny parcels of tilled fields and across the street from grazing cows and Hieden Feed & Supply, lies a tiny white house with a neon "Open" sign and an old screen door. This little building had been an eating establishment for several decades before it became Tree's Cafe (named after the owner). Tree told us he took over the place after an older relative had been running......

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo to feature Food & Wine Extravaganza at Astrodome As Rodeo season approaches, and Houstonist pulls out our stiffest Stetsons, rugged Justin boots and tightest Wranglers, we look forward to an event that doesn't require carefully avoiding cow patties. And we're not talking burgers. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo international wine and food tasting extravaganza, Rodeo Uncorked! Roundup and Best Bites Competition, is back for 2007 and is set......

Houstonist loved Valentine's Day as a child - poking all the chocolates in the Whitman's Sampler box Mama Houstonist "hid" on the refrigerator - gotta get the good ones! Now that we are all grown up, things are more serious and any Houstonian in love or like needs to impress that special someone with a fancy or just romantic dinner (flowers, gifts, sparkles, cards - at least a stinking card). If you haven't made the......

When choosing a lunch option, Houstonist usually listens to our food cravings. However, the weather has been in fine form recently so we headed to the great outdoors….err, at least as al fresco as we could get in Houston. So off to Onion Creek Coffee House we went. Located on White Oak Drive between Heights Boulevard and Studewood, this neighborhood café offers some laid-back personality to fit in with the personable Heights neighborhood. If you’re......

Champagne and fried chicken? We’ll take two. The owners of The Tasting Room have brought us the much anticipated Max’s Wine Dive (4720 Washington Ave), opened just a few months ago at the new strip center on Shepherd and Washington. This hip urban joint is far from a dive, though the exposed brick walls, concrete floors and juke box might fool you. The Texas-size bar extends almost the entire length of the narrow restaurant, while......

Houstonist recently lunched at Christian's Totem on Washington Avenue, near I-10. In the spirit of passing along "burger-love" to Houstonians, we had to tell you about this little joint. It has undergone some remodeling of late, but, the burgers are just the same! Huge, juicy fully-loaded burgers with nice crispy onion rings or fries. We've had both the fries and the rings, they are fantastic - it just depends on your personal preference - we......

Houstonist had to get our "burger on" after our first birthday party - had to. So, we phoned in some bacon cheeseburgers and rings for ourself and a co-worker from Pete's Fine Meats on Richmond Avenue. Normally, a "go burger" is kinda listless by the time you get to where you're going with it - this one was not super hot, but still warm enough and juicy. The onion rings were not homemade, however, they......

If you haven't heard yet, the Pig Stand, the venerable Washington Avenue greasy spoon, has closed after 83 years of serving up burgers, onion rings, greasy breakfasts and sloppy Pig Sandwiches (pulled pork and barbecue sauce, if you didn't know). According to the San Antonio Express-News, the problem is rooted in back taxes: The Pig Stand chain has been in financial trouble since filing for bankruptcy reorganization last year, and now the state has......

Houstonist had a pretty nice weekend, enjoying the weather (did you catch the amazing heat lightning on Saturday?), ice skating at the Gallaria, eating cake at Empire Cafe, and having other assorted fun, but one particular piece of exciting news warmed our sleep-deprived soul. The 59 Diner (3801 Farnharm, at Greenbriar/Shepherd and 59) is going to be open 24 hours a day starting today. Long-term readers will know us as big proponents of latenight food,......

Blanco's, located at the corner of Buffalo Speedway and W. Alabama, is known more as a honkytonk, serving up the likes of Gary P. Nunn and Alvin Crow, both of whom we've seen there. However, Houstonians may not be aware of the lunch specials, burgers, quesadillas and other offerings they serve up. Recently, Houstonist went in for lunch to get the standard bacon cheeseburger and onion rings. Difficult to pass up, are the red......

A recent venture to our closest Cafe Express resulted in our sampling the Bleu Cheese Bacon Burger, to which we added avocado (nice addition and enough to share with our lunch companion). Albeit we are not fond of chains, Cafe Express has never let us down for quality and quantity - it is pricey-ish, however. Falling into our "gucci burger" category, along with Pappa's Burgers, but also worth the price, is this particular specimen.......

Houstonist made a botched burger attempt this past weekend at Guy's Meat Market. At first - we were sorely disappointed to learn that you can only get one of Guy's smoked burgers Tuesday - Friday from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. (or - until they are gone). Rats. Well - that's a frenzied drive from work in the making - just to try one of the burgers billed as "one of the best". The......

Houstonist reminds you that we're diligently working to bring you the best information available should you love burgers — the sacrifices we make! To that end, we made our way to Pappas Burger for our usual bacon cheeseburger and onion rings (shown in the photo). Like many of our favorite joints, Pappas is a walk-up — and a crowded one. The waitstaff was extremely friendly, and management visited our table once we were seated......

Houstonist understands the importance of bar food, so we were interested in checking out the offerings during a recent trip to Pub Fiction for a friendly get-together with our bowling league compadres. Pub Fiction is located across Smith Street from the Spec’s Liquor Warehouse in Midtown and has a moderate amount of parking available; inside, it has a hip "nightclub marries sports bar" look, with a wall of televisions and an area for live......

The first in our series of Mom & Pop burger joint reviews takes us to Annie's Hamburgers, 10821 S. Post Oak Road. We tried the bacon cheeseburger (dragged through the garden, of course) and an order of onion rings. And we weren't disappointed! The burger was hot, juicy and fresh, cooked over a gas flame — a similar method to some fast-food restaurants. The bacon topping the gently melted American cheese was thick and crispy,......

Houstonist loves burgers — bacon cheeseburgers, to be specific (and please drag it through the garden, because we love all the typical burger accoutrements, too). Sure, there are larger chain-type burger joints that are perfectly yummy, but we give our props to the "Mom & Pops" that serve up not only better burgers, but also warm fuzzies from supporting local businesspeople. In that spirit, we're kicking off a series of burger reviews. Today, we're listing,......

The sportsfan in us loves Two Rows (2400 University). This small chain offers friendly atmosphere, big TVs, and microbrewed beer of every conceivable color, flavor, and sort. The selection of handcrafted brews changes daily, so you never know what you're going to get, but try the Osage Golden Wheat (light, refreshing, and served with a slice of lemon) or for something a little heartier, the supersmooth Route 66 Amber Ale. Kick back with your beer......

Whatever shall we do with those crazy vegetarians? Houstonist votes you take them to Ziggy's Healthy Grill, (2202 W. Alabama), where you can get them tipsy on the fantastic pomegranate martini and relax omn the patio. You meateaters can enjoy a variety of burgers (including ostrich and venison as well as the more traditional beef and turkey) grilled to order, which come with french fries, sweetpotato fries, or the best onion rings on the planet......

So, you can't actually afford to go to the theater most Friday nights: with ticket prices like this, who can blame you? This Friday night, why not make your own theatrical fun instead? The Houston Improvaoke! group meets every Friday night at Ziggy's Healthy Grill in the Rice Village Alapherd area. Improvaoke is billed as "karaoke for comedians", and is an audience-controlled mix of games and short scenes performed with no rehearsal, just like the......

Earlier this week kissy couples were wading through roses and red tissue paper deeper than an east coast snow dump and singles shook a tiny, lonely fist (no ring!) at it all. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 - Valentine's season is in the can, finally. Austinist is already pulsing with SX energy and posting on the People's Choice Award nominees and the short films that will be playing while the......