Thistle Cafe

We came here because we had a coupon, and ended up really liking it.  There's a nice outdoor seating area that was practically empty.  For starters, the tortilla soup... just the right amount of spicy. 

And a cranberry-goat cheese-candied pecans salad.  Yum. 

The BBQ chicken wrap was good, a nice mix of ingredients.  It came with a side of sweet potato fries. 

The house salad was a little more exciting than a typical house salad because of the feta cheese. 

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360 Uno

Look! It's an Italian cafe!  Oh wait, no, we're still in Texas.

This little shop serves gelato, desserts, coffee, and wine.  The guy at the counter warned me that the cake might be dry and if it was I could bring it back for something else, which I thought was weird.  Why didn't he test it to see if it is dry and if it is, throw it out so that people aren't tempted by that delicious looking chocolate cake in the case?  It was a little dry, but I wanted the chocolate!  

Another shot of the interior:

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Chowing in Houston

We had an amazing weekend getaway last month to Houston- saw a free performance of CATS at Miller Outdoor Theater, went to a free electronic music festival at Discovery Green Park, and attended Japan Fest, which was a free Japanese festival at Hermann Park.  Oh, and did I mention everything was free? :-)

Didn't go too crazy with the eating out- went to a few cute places around the areas we were sightseeing.  CoCo's crepes was a must-visit for me because of my love for crepes.  They had all kinds of both savory & sweet crepes... and delicious fruit smoothies.

Mmmm... spinach and ricotta crepe with a sun dried tomato sauce, and a strawberry mango smoothie.

Must leave room for a dessert crepe!  I was so stuffed but managed to enjoy this anyway.  Nutella & strawberries inside and a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.

How can you not stop at a place called TART cafe?? 

Chicken pesto tart with a side salad.  

Mushroom tart with a side salad.. both great.  Perfect meal after walking around all morning.

Only had room for mini dessert tarts.  Coconut & margarita.  The margarita one was better.

CoCo's Crepes

TART cafe

Hudson's on the Bend

Yum. What an awesome meal.  I'm so glad we snagged two livingsocial.com vouchers for $20 3-course meals at Hudson's on the Bend.  There's no way we would have come here without them!  I still can't believe we got these multi-course meals for just $20 each.  The regular price is $39 for the 3 courses. 

To start off, we were served delicious warm bread with some flavorful butters.

For the first course, we both selected the chipotle lobster bisque with puff pastry.  The soup was flavorful and amazing and the puff pastry was crisp and perfect for soaking up the soup. 

Yes, that is a flower on my meal.  I got the pecan crusted snapper served with corn bread pudding.. it was wonderful.  I wanted to eat a bucket of that corn bread pudding. 

The other entree option was the pecan grilled venison served with ancho mashed potatoes, also delicious.  The presentation of these dishes was just awesome. 

For dessert, we each ordered one of the two options and split them.  We recommend this strategy!  The desserts on the 3-course menu were warm berry flambe...

and chambord chocolate mousse with legs of fudge.  We were practically licking the glasses to get every last bit. 

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