Celeste's Tamale 3102 Saba Ln, Port Neches, TX 77651 409-722-1172

This establishment was just a bit strange. When I got there it was obvious it was intended to be a take away place yet they had a dinning room. Everything I got was package in to go containers. Like below the tortilla chips in the bag were pulled straight from a refrigerator as they were ice cold. No salsa but a hot sauce probably intended for other things. I did a side of guacamole that was pretty good.

To use up the coupon I got a soft taco (flour). The taco meat was well seasoned and overall as good a taco as I have ever had

Below is a tamale dinner with three tamales in a chili gravy, rice and refried beans. I loved the tamales. The ratio of the meat to the masa was perfect. The meat was the same as the meat I got in the taco and the masa well hydrated and not dry. This chili gravy I have not encountered before but it had nice flavor and I liked it. The rice was dry as the desert and the beans liquid. Some I combined the two which made it OK and ate. If I ever return here I will just buy a dozen and take away

Honey B Ham 506 East Prien Lake Road Lake Charles, LA 70601-8509 (337) 478-3354

Another disaster. I got a ham salad sandwich on sourdough wheat and it was OK. However the potato bacon soup smelled good but the chunks of potato were huge and not cooked all the way. I should have put the coupon to a ham.

The BBQ combo plate was as bad as when I got it 5 years ago. I was hoping for improvement. The brisket was tough and barely smoked and the sausage seemed to have been under a heat lamp as it had developed a skin. Such is life

Jenni's Noodle House 3111 S Shepherd Dr Houston, TX 77098 (713) 523-7600

What I got here is a truly unusual soup. Mama Tran Shrimp Soup. This Vietnamese spicy and sour soup contains bean sprouts, okra, pineapple, tomatoes and fresh shrimp with a side of rice. I got a side of buckwheat noodles because I had never tasted them. The taste of the soup is beyond description but it struck a note with me. Well balance in a South East Asian way (sweet, spicy, sour and salty) The noodles were interesting but probably better in some sort of dish. The menu contains many interesting things

Jenni's Noodle House

The Broken Spoke 1809 Washington Ave Houston TX (713) 863-7029

You would think with a name like this it would be Texan food but instead it is a Belgium restaurant. Below is the bread basket. A nice mini baguette of French bread.
Here are the six beers of the tour La Route de Bruxelles which consisted of 18 Assorted Mussels and these 6 Beer Samples. All were Belgium with names I can not pronounce let alone remember

The mussels consisted of La Moule Marinière, Mussels steamed with butter, celery, onion,
and white wine. La Moule à l' Escargot Mussels in garlic butter sauce La Moule Provençale​s
Mussels in a tomato sauce La Moule Roquefort Mussels in a creamy blue cheese sauce La Moule Curry Mussels in a curry sauce La Moule Diable Mussels in a spicy tomato sauce La Moule Estragon Mussels in a creamy tarragon sauce La Moule Crème Mussels in a cream sauce

As in Belgium the fries come with mayonnaise not ketchup

I enjoyed my mussels but am doubtful I will return. Another restaurant hard for me to get to and in. It is amazing how many places are not ADA compliant

The Broken Spoke

Farrago 318 Gray St Houston, TX 77002 (713) 523-6404

This place has a sort of a multicultural menu serving food styles from many countries. To start I chose Posole A latin american pork & hominy stew with green chilies, fresh cilantro & grilled baguette. Most soups like this come with lime wedges and chopped onions. No chopped onions this time but a rather clever way with the lime. In the soup itself so it was warm and pliable in order to get the maximin juice out of it. It was mildly spicy with a warming pork broth and the starchiness of the corn. All it need was some tripe and it would have been an excellent menudo.
I went vegetarian with the Portobello “Burger”. A grilled Portobello​ topped with gorgonzola & crispy onions. The density and mouth feel of the mushroom more than make up for no meat on the bun. It ate like the real thing. As I have said before I am an omnivore and I like a little veg every once in awhile. The fries were Ok

For dessert I went with Bread pudding. This one had a little apple in it. I like the idea of individual ones but two is just too much. I would have been happy with just one. It was well made with the bread being thoroughly soaked with the custard. A raspberry and vanilla drizzle accompanied it. Despite being a little tough for me to get to I enjoyed my meal

Farrago

Yelapa 2303 Richmond Avenue Houston, TX 77098 (281) 501-0391

This is the beginning of a series of Houston restaurants that will not make it to the column. The reason for this one is the same as the last time I went there. Just after eating the current chef left for someplace else. I must say the last put out food I liked better than the first one. Below is the chips and salsa that hit the table. Pretty much standard red and green and tasty
Below is a Watermelon Gazpacho liquid composed of watermelon juice and tomato water. The tower consists of chopped cucumber, watermelon​, jicama, tomato and avocado. The tower came out in the bowl and a steel teapot held the juices. You poured as little or as much as you wanted. It was refreshing with the sweet/tart liquid and the various textures and flavors of the tower. Something very creative and I would order it again and again

I followed that with a ceviche done Peruvian style (just tossed with lime juice). It contained avocado, mango, tomato, lime juice with escolar and shrimp. It was drier than most I have had but tasty especially the contrast between the oily avocado and sweet astringency of the mango

They had fried tempura style Fish Tacos on the menu so I took another chance. This one turned out well. It was closer my ideal that many I have tried over the years On this one the cabbage slaw consisting of carrot ,cabbage jicama, carrot in pasilla chile mayo made this a delight.

I cannot f0r the life of me remember what they called this dessert. My take on it was a spicy chocolate woopie pie with chocolate coating and duches leche drizzle. Light and delicious.

Yelapa

Frey's 919 North Lake Arthur Avenue Jennings, LA 70546-4629(337) 824-6004

Just to show you that not all Bargain Bees are disasters here is one I loved. The salad was OK because they used both bagged lettuce and unbagged lettuce.

Here are some hush puppies I have not encounter before. They had onions and black pepper in . I like black pepper in some applications and it worked here. Nothing I like better than a good hush puppy

Here is the real treat. Eggplant Supreme. They slice the eggplant lengthwise into a plank. They batter and fry it like a piece of fish. A shrimp and cream sauce goes on top. The shrimp were large and grilled before they were added to the sauce. I got a sweet potato on the side and they provided some cinnamon sugar for.

It had been awhile since I have eaten here and I am happy to see that the food was still great

Freys