Local Foods - Houston, TX

Restaurant:
Local Foods

Location:
Kirby
2555 Kirby Dr
Houston Texas 77019
The Village
2424 Dunstan Road
Houston Texas 77005

Hours:
Kirby: M-Su 10a-9p
The Village: M-Su 10a-8:30p

Ambiance:
A friend and I went to Local Foods for a little food and conversation earlier this week. Local Foods, as it says so in the name is a local Houston restaurant, serving up a gourmet selection of sandwiches and salads prepared with fresh local ingredients. Local Foods has 2 locations, one at the intersection of Kirby and Westheimer, and the other in Rice Village. The restaurant environment is very casual cool, reminds me of Adair Kitchen; with the hip, old country decor. Just like Adair, you grab a menu as you enter and are given an order number after you've ordered.

What I Ate:
My friend recommended the " Crunchy Chicken." which is a chicken sandwich with nut crumbles, provolone cheese, buttermilk ranch, pickles, and a tomato. Having the option of 2 sides, I went for the Cabbage Slaw which was mixed with what tasted like a peanut vinaigrette, and watermelon. The Crunchy Chicken was Ah-mazing, once you bit into the sandwich and as the ingredients met with the buttermilk ranch and crunch, everything was perfection. I was so into the sandwich that I didn't get much of the slaw, but it was good. I saved the watermelon for last, it was so refreshing in these 90 degree weather.

Adair Kitchen Inspired Super Foods Bowl

     Every now and then I get inspired to make something new. I get tired of eating the same kinds of dishes over and over, so I look for inspiration elsewhere. If you asked me what my favorite restaurant was, at this moment I would say Adair Kitchen(see restaurant review here).

They have this dish, called "The Super Foods Bowl", which I was recommended to by my boss. It's a bowl with brown rice, topped with a kale salad mixture and your choice of meat- SUPER TASTY!



Well here is my quick and simple recipe.

Ingredients:
Lettuce
Rice of choice
2 Avocados
2 Tomatoes
1 Cucumber
1 can of Beets or 1-2 fresh beets
1 small Red Onion sliced
1 Carrot
Homemade vinaigrette(everyone makes it differently)


Directions:
1. Cut all vegetables in desired type of cut (leave avocados for last)
2. Create a vinaigrette
3. Add all veggies except lettuce and mix well
4. Let sit in fridge
5. Prepare your rice
6. Let it cool
7. Serve rice in a bowl and top with lettuce, veggie salad mixture and avocados
8. Enjoy!


xo,
D.

Chicken and Waffles For the First Time

     The past couple of days have been jam packed at work. So many changes and great growth within the team. Today was my supervisor's last day in office, so our director treated us to lunch at Adair Kitchen.

I've always been curious about Chicken & Waffles, so I decided to have a stab at it. Plus it's one of their most popular dishes.

We grabbed a table while we waited and I was facing the widow looking out at the entrance. Something about this place makes me feel at ease, and I've only been there twice!

My Chicken & Waffle came and woh, was it intense. I wasn't sure how to handle it, or myself for that matter. Knife and fork in hand, I cut into the chicken and cut a small portion of the waffle and raised my fork up to my mouth for what would be my very first bite, my very first bite(OH MY GOD).

I suddenly found myself continue. All while I was eating, I looked around at my co-workers' plates and how their food was much healthier than mine and how much color and life their plates had(does that ever happen to you?) I continued to eat, but kept finding myself eating the chicken and waffle separately- something about eating them together reminded me of a chicken sandwich. I somehow wanted to appreciate them both for their uniqueness. 

Once I was halfway, I had to call it quits. I threw in the towel. What, who does that? Who orders Chicken & Waffles and doesn't finish? But seriously, it's so filling. I decided to be honest with myself- after all, if something went wrong I would have hell to pay #sensitivestomachproblems. After maybe about 30 minutes to an hour, I no longer felt full. Magical, if I make it to tomorrow in one piece - I will raise a glass or take off my hat to this Adair recipe.

Stay tuned. . .

Update: Wednesday, June 04, 2014

I drank a small cup of milk last night while I ate the last bit of the chicken and had a little tuna after work. I didn't want to eat a full meal because I knew it would be hard on my tummy if I did. It might sound odd(usually does to most people), but milk settles my stomach- Its some scientific neutralizing stuff(look it up!)

Although, I went to sleep a little scared because my tummy was making all sorts of sounds; I was able to fall asleep and stay asleep until the early morning. I slept well, woke up well rested.

So as promised,

Cheers!

Adair Kitchen- Houston, TX

Restaurant:

Adair Kitchen

Location:5161 San Felipe, Suite 390

Houston, TX 77056

Hours: 
M-F: 7am-10pm

Sat: 8am-10pm
Sun: 8am-9pm

Ambiance: 
I met up a friend from college for some food and conversation during my lunch break. I wanted to go somewhere close to work, and after searching for near-by restaurants, I decided to try something new. Adair Kitchen is located on San Felipe, between S. Post Oak Ln. and Sage Rd.in the Sage Plaza Shopping Center. If you're driving, you might want to turn in and park, because the restaurant isn't very noticeable from the side of the street. It gets extremely busy during lunch, so be prepared to stand in line. If you don't like lines, I promise it will be worth the wait. After ordering you can enjoy the gorgeously decorated venue or find a place to sit and wait for your food to arrive.

What I Ate:
When I visit a new place; I usually, for the sake of time, like to go with the first thing that catches my eye. Any-who, the first thing that popped up was the Grilled Chicken Pesto Pita, which I decided to have with a side of curly fries instead of fruits. I didn't anticipate how hard it would be to eat the pita(considering it's open-face), but I managed with fork and knife in hand. The food was light, which was nice- I didn't feel unbearably full or tired after eating.