There’s no place like home and there’s no place like Houston for great Tex-Mex. In the week that we’ve been back home we’ve eaten out six times – one Italian and five Mexican. Pappasito’s Cantina got the nod twice but they have the advantage of being very close to home. It doesn’t hurt that their chips & salsa, beef fajita nachos and fish tacos are hard to beat! A recent write-up in the Houston Chronicle mentioned that Ninfa’s on Navigation was once again voted the best Mexican restaurant in Houston so we decided to go there for a partial family get-together with Jim & Becky and Lisa, Brian, Koen & Karsyn. Unfortunately, Koen had a fever and stayed home from school that day so we rescheduled with Lisa and family, but the remaining four of us carried on and enjoyed a fabulous Tex-Mex dinner on the other side of the planet. Well it can seem like it, being on the other side of Houston. Thank goodness for HOV lanes!

And now for brewery news. As mentioned in a previous post, we found out that on Fridays No Label Brewing in Katy actually sells beer at their “tap room” (the term is used loosely but they do have their beers tapped in the warehouse). We had hoped to meet Lisa & Brian here since they live in Katy but Koen had soccer practice that he was committed to. However, we did get to meet friends Michael & Sharon there, who also live in Katy. After a couple of tastes, Karen liked the Ridgeback amber ale best and I chose the Black Wit-O, a dark wheat ale. Later, we both had the Elda M. milk stout, very creamy and smooth. It’s good to have a somewhat-local brewery to get to visit and with cooler weather coming soon we hope to get to enjoy it often.

After a couple of beers it was time to eat and the consensus was Los Cucos Mexican Cafe just across the interstate at Katy Mills mall. This is a local chain and our favorite Tex-Mex restaurant, although a different location than where we are regulars. Shortly after our arrival I got a text from Lisa asking where we had gone for dinner and they hoped to catch us next time. That turned out to be just a ploy to find out where we were so the kids could surprise us with a quick visit since we were so close. And what a great surprise it was! It was very special to find out later how excited Koen & Karsyn were to get to surprise us like that. The rest of the evening was spent enjoying the chips & salsa, fajitas and enchiladas and having to listen to the Mariachis play Happy Birthday three times in a row for different parties at our surrounding tables. Knowing that time was short before our commitment to healthy eating at home had to begin, the next day we went to our Los Cucos in Pearland to see our favorite waiter, José, and to indulge in the chips & salsa one last time (for awhile, anyway). Karen stuck with her favorite beef fajita enchiladas and I had one of my favorites, chicken mole enchiladas. We have finally caught up on our much-missed Mexican food and will be ready to start working on shedding a few of these extra pounds that pizza and beer tours can put on you. We will only be slowed down by our well-stocked beer fridge and the next urge to shovel chips & salsa!