Not much one can write about the enormously popular Cheesecake Factory is there? Most of my readers are probably familiar with the concept, very close if not identical to the Chili’s /Fridays idea.

The Cheesecake Factory is consistently decent. And always crowded. And they do have a great selection of totally over-the-top decadent cheesecakes. Which the Critic did not sample on this occasion.

As our Houstonian CookieMan puts it: “huge portions of overpriced mediocre food”.

The Critic wouldn’t be that harsh on the poor Cheesecake Factory. Maybe it’s not the “gourmet” experience, but it is a reliable place to have lunch or dinner. Many so-called upscale dining spots in Merida strive – with little or no success – to attain this level of consistency. Maybe that’s what makes them interesting…

In the photos: fried cheese balls (if memory serves the Critic right); some adventurous (for this kind of restaurant) dates wrapped in bacon – very good; a taco salad; a greek salad; and a nacho close-up.

In between all these Houston restaurants, what Merida restaurant would you like to see reviewed here, to keep things local and focused?

The Critic would love to hear your suggestions!

The Critic went from popular Texas favorite Luby’s to Pappas Steakhouse in one day, driving around in Houston.

First, lunch at Luby’s. The Critic had always heard of Luby’s but never actually been. Thinking it was one giant all-you-can-eat buffet featuring deep fried southern food, the Critic was surprised to find all kinds of real food, healthy and attractive and definitely not all-you-can-eat! The grilled salmon was excellent as were the accompanying veggies and the Better Halfs’ salad was fine. The Critic will re-visit Luby’s, definitely!

Later that day, in a fit of steak craving, the Critic and the always acquiescent Better Half visited Pappas’ Steakhouse on Westheimer near the Galleria area. Having been there before, they knew what to expect and boy, was it good!

The Critic had a daily special for an appetizer; a delectable partially de-boned quail while the Better Half had the soup of the day, leek and potato. As a main course, a perfectly grilled Rib Eye and a special Texan Venison steak with a Huckleberry sauce and sauteed chanterelle mushrooms. Perfect! There was barely room for a dessert but the Gooey Pecan Pie had to be tried. As a friend in Vancouver would say: to die for.

Since Houston is really in Mexico, it should come to no ones surprise that there are a gazillion Mexican restaurants in Bush-ville, catering to every possible permutation of Mexican food lover, from the sublime to the ridiculous.

The Critic, the BetterHalf and a local (let’s call him CookieMan) had the opportunity to sample such a Mexican restaurant; the Tampico Seafood Restaurant down on Main Street in Houston. After passing by other Mexican places with names like Flores Mexicanas and Teotihuacan, the trio arrived at Tampico.

This restaurant, lit up by neon so bright that the half-blind Critic was unable to capture the actual name of the restaurant with a new camera, is huge! It seems like the original room was added to a number of times leading to a jumble of rooms all interconnected somehow. The Critic and Co sat on the deck outside, where smoking is still permitted in a civilized gesture that the authorities in Vancouver could learn from.

For appetizers, there was queso fundido (melted cheese) with chunks of shrimp and tostones (fried platano macho aka banana chips) with a guacamol-y mayo dip.

The main course is whatever you want it to be and so the Critic ordered Red Snapper, shrimp and scallops. Everything was dusted with what seemed like fine red pepper dust and was extremely tasty. Served with rice, the food was too much and some was left over at the end.

CookieMan ordered a flan, just to try it, and seemed very pleased with it.

Along with some real and truly refreshing Micheladas to start, this was a taste of Mexican seafood in Houston, served by very friendly latino personnel.

Recommended.

In the Galleria area, where so many Yucatecans love to come and shop, the Critic found this great sushi restaurant in an upscale outdoor shopping center just off the 610 which is much like what City Center strives to become in Merida. Alas, it’s probably not to be, but that is the subject of another post, at another time.

Let’s call this shopping center Uptown Center for lack of a better name – it might actually be it’s name, actually. There’s all kinds of upscale boutique and eatery action going on: from Crave, the extremely fashionable cupcake bakery to the Potbelly Sandwich Works restaurant. And Uptown Sushi, the subject of this review.

The place itself evokes a Jayne Mansfield vibe, as the Critics’ Better Half pointed out. Discreet lighting, comfortable booths, draped lamps and wall treatments are everywhere in creamy white and salmon colors. The music is 70’s and the wait staff is Japanese, while the sushi chef is, of course (this is Houston) a Latino. The Critic and his BH sat at the sushi bar, which is set up in such a way that one can’t really see what the chef is doing, which is unfortunate in the Critic’s sometimes humble opinion.

Two rolls were ordered, along with an absolutely amazing Key Lime Pie martini. You have to order this delicious and refreshing martini should you find yourself here! The rolls were house specialties: the Lickety Split roll and the Don’s Roll. Exceptional and imaginative, the flavors appeared on the tongue like actors on stage, one after the other, perfectly choreographed. If that sounds pretentious, it probably is, but if you slowly savor each piece of these creations, you will understand where the Critic is coming from!

Then the Better Half ordered some specialty sushi, which is in the next photo – at the front is sushi with smoked salmon, strips of mango, topped with masago which has been prepared with wasabi. In the back, scallops with avocado and the wasabi masago.

Fantastic sushi!

Highly recommended should you be in the area and are looking for great sushi. And not as expensive as the Critic had feared: the bill, with the martini and a couple of hot teas, came to $60 USD.

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*last is first refers to the fact that this restaurant was one of the last restaurants on this trip, but since the Critic has camera issues at the moment, the photos available were these ones.

A quick note to my loyal readers… yesterday afternoon went for a late lunch/early dinner at Nectar, which has recently been ‘reinaugurated’ as they say in these parts.

The Casual Restaurant Critic is happy to report that the food is still excellent. Duck chimichangas, tzic de venado on a toston of fried bananas, tender sirloin steak with a roasted cranberry sauce, fettucine in a chipotle cream, and other goodies were had.

My only critique would be that they change their welcoming script. As the party was being seated and menus were presented, the head waiter informed the table that they were showing off their new, revamped menu. “Yes” he continued, “we took off the more expensive items and left the ones that are not so pricey.” Well the Critic knows enough not to go to Nectar to save money and so this comment was just dumb. It would have been better (ITCHO) to mention the new items on the menu and emphasize that a lot of the old favorites are still there.

Oh, and always, serve the ladies first. And fix the coffee machine.

3 appetizers, 4 main courses, a glass of red wine and 3 Perrier waters – $1400.

The Casual Restaurant Critic had been yearning for the opportunity to visit this imposing new restaurant on the Prolongación de Paseo de Montejo for some time. With it’s sleek, modern look, valet parking and a giant Buddha out front, it definitely looks promising!

So the Critic, Better Half and MiniCritic went for lunch last week. The restaurant is indeed beautiful: the decor, the finishes, the details are all absolutely fantastic. The personnel seemed a little casual and distracted but nevertheless, they were friendly enough upon arrival.

The Critic decided that a table in the regular section would be alright; opting not to sit in the Teppan Yaki show grill area.

From the menu, the appetizers:
Edamame – described as steamed Japanese peas. It should be noted that edamame is not a Japanese pea, but a soy bean. Oh well, no big deal.
Caesar Salad – a selection of different kinds of salad greens, with a Caesar dressing etc.
Scallops breaded with Parmesan Cheese

When the appetizers arrived, the Critic and Co. realized why they called the edamame ‘peas’. These were indeed peas, of the Chinese ‘snow pea’ variety. Not only were they not soy beans, they were not steamed either! Rather, they were stir fried with pork that tasted a lot like bacon! A vegetarian would have had a heart attack. Thinking there was a mixup, the Better Half asked the waitress if these were the edamame. She assured the table that they indeed were. The Caesar salad did not really have a selection of different greens and the scallops, while crispy did not have a hint of Parmesan cheese. They were served on a white sauce with some cooked greens which looked interesting enough but was nothing to write home about (or even on this blog about) in terms of taste. The MiniCritic asked the Critic what the sauce tasted like and the Critic replied “white”, which about sums it up.

For a main course, there was a Rib Eye for the Critic, a stuffed quail for the Better Half and a pasta for the MC. The pasta was fine, the stuffed quail featured a very tasty sour-y sauce but the Rib Eye was not a real Rib Eye, in the Critics’ Humble Opinion. It’s texture and taste was much more along the lines of a thick yet bland arrachera, in that rubbery, marinated, ham-tasting kind of way. Not good. And the accompanying Thai rice was… cold. Ugh.

Desserts were not had.

The Critic would not could not (in a box) recommend this restaurant in good faith, unless perhaps someone could put in a good word for their Teppan Yaki area or just to have drinks. The actual room, as mentioned above, is over-the-top beautiful, the service is just so-so and the food is really quite bad, considering the investment in the actual building. What are the investors thinking? Maybe it’s a money laundering operation; that would make sense.

Happy eating!

View from the lobby towards the rooms

The Critic got the chance to escape Merida’s insufferable heat with a weekend at the so-called Riviera Maya; the hotel was the Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda, which is advertising heavily in Merida and offered a reasonably priced all-inclusive package.

The cantankerous Critic hates all-inclusive hotels because generally speaking, the food sucks. On one occasion, at a Best Day ‘Resort’, whose advertising slogan was ‘exceeding your expectations’, the food was all fried, boiled and tasteless.

Well, surprise, the Blue Bay DID exceed the Critic’s meager expectations, after the initial shock of being in yet another huge resort with 1000 people.

The Critic had tried to make reservations beforehand via email for one of their specialty, reservation only restaurants, but was informed that this was not possible. So, as expected, upon arrival the Critic was told that there were no spaces available in any of the specialty restaurants except the Carnes (Meats) and only at 6:00 pm.

There was a very limited salad bar and so the Critic ordered his Rib Eye without much hope. But, the steak was very good, without of course delving into La Recova territory, and served with a small potato and a half corn on the cob. A promising start!

Breakfast the next day was buffet style and everything you would expect was there, in quantity and also of good quality. Fresh eggs to order, all manner of ingredients for your favorite omelet and even smoked salmon/lox and cream cheese.

Throughout the day, drinks are available everywhere and you are not limited to cheap ‘well’ brands; all the good stuff is there from Red Label JW scotch to Herradura Reposado Tequila.

That evening the Critic and Co had reservations for the Italian specialty restaurant and this really was excellent. The highlight, apart from the actual room itself, was the extensive selection of antipasto, olives, cheeses (Pecorino!) and quality cold cuts. The main dishes, pastas all, were excellent as well. The Tiramisu dessert was a let-down; basically a three layer sponge cake.

Service throughout the resort was friendly.

The Critic would recommend this place for a quick 2 day getaway.

Real Feta, green and black lives & other goodies to snack on…

In the baroque Hotel Santa Lucia, located near (you guessed it) Santa Lucia park, there is a little cafe that the Critic found quite good in previous visits.

On this occasion, the Critic was dismayed to find the Cafe just a tad run down. The service, by a somewhat disheveled but still friendly waiter was good – no complaints there – as was the food which was not only tasty but also fresh and hot. Even the rolls were warm! The Greek salad ordered by the Better Half looked delicious, as did the fettucine with shrimp ordered by a Belgian Waffler.

The run down part was the actual place itself. There were stains on the walls, the air conditioners were visibly filthy, signage was haphazardly hanging behind the bar and all the desserts in the dessert fridge were from Costco. None of this would be particularly upsetting except for the fact that when the hotel and restaurant opened, they were both exquisitely presented with an eye to every last detail. There is no way that waiter would have been sporting that bed-head and definitely Dianne Krall singing jazz standards would not have been competing with the TV over the bar showing the archetypal Mexican western complete with gesturing priests, scurrying nuns, self-esteem challenged little boys, pistol waving facial haired cowboys and the crowning moment; the macho vaquero singing atop his horse in the wilderness.

The Critic wonders if there has been a change of ownership at this hotel? The original owners were/are much too finicky to accept this, one would think. Enjoy the photos!

• Sopa de Lima
• Greek Salad
• Shrimp Pasta