From Pan To Mouth

10/10/2026

Pho Binh – Houston, TX
Overall: A-

Pho Tai Nam (Steak & Brisket Noodle soup) - Rare steak, and Brisket. Served with fresh rice noodles and beef broth. Garnished with green onions, white onions, and cilantro. Comes with bean sprouts, basil, jalapeno slices and lime.
Banh Mi Bo Nuong Sa (Lemongrass Beef Sandwich) - Toasted French bread with mayonnaise, carrot, cucumber, cilantro, and jalapeno with your choice of grilled meat.
Spicy Bone Marrow with Toast

Overview – Pho Binh is a Vietnamese restaurant with several locations around Houston. I visited their Heights location which was medium size with counter ordering, a simple aesthetic, and small patio.

Bone marrow – A mix of fully rendered and unrendered bit of bone marrow with toasted bread. Extremely rich and packed with garlic and aromatic herbs. Great with the soft and crispy-crusted bread.

Pho – Flavorful nuanced broth that was vibrant yet fairly lean. Tender toothsome noodles. Tender and savory meats. A pho that leaves little to be desired.

Banh Mi – Tender flavorful beef, herbaceous, tang from pickles. Made infinitely better but exceptional bread - crispy crust and tender crumb. Best banh mi I’ve ever had.

Summary – Pho Binh was hyped up to me and lived up to that hype.

10/09/2026

Ristorante Bartolotta dal 1993 – Wauwatosa, WI
Overall: A-

Bread - Focaccia and Ciabatta
Zuppa Alla Canavesana - Hearty winter bread soup with beef broth, pancetta, cabbage and parmigiano, baked until bubbly and golden.
Morbidelle Di Caprino Con Polenta Taragna E Fonduta Piemontese - Warm goat cheese with creamy buckwheat polenta and classic Piemontese cheese sauce
Uovo In Ravioli “Maestro Valentino” - Large egg yolk, ricotta, and spinach raviolo with brown butter and Parmigiano
Agnolotti Del Plin Al Sugo D’Arrosto - Piemontese meat-filled pasta with roasted veal jus
Frigate Miata Di Carne - Mixed grill: beef strip loin, pork ribs, lamb chop and Italian sausage, garlic-rosemary roasted potatoes
Coniglio All’Astigiana - Asti-style braised rabbit leg with w**e, fresh herbs and pancetta
Crema di Limone “Costa D’Amalfi” - Chilled lemon custard with toasted meringue
Torta Di Cioccolato Amaro - Flourless chocolate cake with vanilla bean crème anglaise
Filled cookie sandwiches

Overview – Ristorante Bartolotta dal 1993 is an Italian restaurant in Wauwatosa. They offer upscale regional Italian food in a quaint, small-medium space with a small bar. They focus their menu on a particular region of Italy, which they change seasonally. When I visited, I enjoyed their Piemonte menu.

Bread - Rosemary focaccia and ciabatta. Both chewy, properly crispy crust. Served with well-tempered flavorful butter.

Zuppa - Basically French onion soup on steroids. Broth-soaked bread and tender cabbage with a matrix of melty cheese. Rich, comforting, and delightful. Achieved arguably the highest praise I can give which is quickly finding a recipe and making this at home.

Goat Cheese – A mount of warm goat cheese covered in a suuuuper creamy polenta and smothered in cheese sauce. It was crazy to have warm goat cheese be the firmest texture in the dish. Cheese on cheese flavor.

Raviolo – A large raviolo swimming in brown butter, which was all I could taste with the dish. All other flavor nuances were covered up. The raviolo was fine, but the dish was just very out of balance out of balance. Needed some acidity and like 90% less butter.

Agnolotti – Pleasant, delicate. Good pasta, pleasant veal filling, but flavor felt too reserved for me.

Grigante – Really well cooked meat – lamb was particularly sweet, ribs were incredibly flavorful and tender, sausage was nice, beef was good but a little weaker. Potatoes were pleasant, greens (broccolini?) were absolutely incredible.

Rabbit - Good but hoped for more. Meat was tender but not unctuous. Sauce was flavorful with complexity, no noticeably pancetta pop.

Lemon Cream – Super creamy, brightly lemony, nice presentation and meringue texture.

Chocolate Tarte – Great chocolate flavor. Not as creamy as I’d like, slightly more on the pasty side. Nice vanilla bean in crème with dairy richness.

Sandwich Cookies – Nutty flavored cookies were on the crispy/hard side for their thickness. They were sandwiched around thick-set chocolate hazelnut filling.

Summary – Ristorante Bartolotta isn’t blowing up social media but they continue as one of Milwaukee’s stalwart greats.

10/08/2026

K. Panich – Bangkok, Thailand
Overall: A-

Mango Sticky Rice

Overview – K. Panich is a dessert shop in Bangkok famous for their mango sticky rice. They have street window ordering either to go or to enjoy in a dining space across the street.

Mango Sticky Rice - Half a mango, rice topped with coconut milk, and little bag of crispy mung bean came on a paper plate. The mango was excellent – super ripe, sweet, silky smooth. Rice was chewy. Mung bean was crispy. Coconut milk was sweet and savory, noticeably less salty than the similarly famous mango sticky rice at Mae Varee.

Summary – A consummate of a Thai classic.

10/07/2026

Torchy’s Tacos – Webster, TX
Overall: B+

Green Chile Queso & Chips
Trailer Park - Fried chicken, green chiles, lettuce, pico de gallo, mixed cheese with poblano sauce on a flour tortilla
Baja Shrimp - Fried shrimp, cooked cabbage slaw, pickled onions and jalapeños, cotija cheese, cilantro and a lime wedge with chipotle sauce on a corn tortilla.

Overview – Torchy’s is a regional chain of modern Tex-Mex tacos. I visited their location in Webster which was medium-large and had a bar.

Queso – Flavorful, smooth. Nice to have the toppings for some texture and flavor diversity. Crispy salty chips. Better than I’d expect from fast casual.

Tacos – Both low heat, good combo of ingredients. For tacos that were very different, they ate surprisingly similarly with a full spectrum of flavors and textures. Crunch, tender, rich, tangy. That is to say – they were tasty and well though out but lacked definition a little.

Summary – Definitely didn’t like being forced to order through a kiosk with a clunky UI. Food came out fast and was very solid. Unabashedly Americanized and tasty.

10/05/2026

Buttah and Biscuit, a popular biscuit maker at local farmers markets, is planning a new bakery in Milwaukee's Walker's Point neighborhood.

10/01/2026

Lupe’s Tortilla – Pearland, TX
Overall: B+

Chips, Salsa, and Beans
Beef Fajitas with Bacon-Wrapped Pepper Shrimp - Lime pepper marinated, hand-pressed flour tortillas, guacamole, pico de gallo, cheddar cheese, grilled onions, rice & frijoles.
Chile Con Queso - Cheddar cheese

Overview – Lue’s Tortilla is a Tex-Mex chain in Texas. I visited their Pearland location which was medium-large with tightly spaced tables and a high ceiling.

Chips – Nice, salty, crispy. Salsa had mild heat and a nice mix of vegetal flavors. Beans were moderately seasoned, super smooth, tasty.

Queso – Moderately flavorful smooth queso, nice contribution from pickled jalapeño.

Fajitas – Beef was cooked to pretty well-done. Heavily seasoned, great blend of seasoning and beef flavors. Nice maillard. Reasonably tender with some chew, what you’d expect from skirt (especially cooked well done).

Shrimp - Very cheesy, well-seasoned, savory-smoky flavor from bacon. Leaning on the overcooked side but not tough.

Accompaniment to Fajitas – A generous amount of guacamole that had a nice balance of flavor, though a little light on acid. Grilled bell pepper and chile pepper. Sides of rice and beans. Cheddar. Huge thin flour tortillas.

Summary – A solid Tex-Mex meal. Everything was tasty, but it was pretty expensive.

09/30/2026

The dessert shop looks to open its fifth location.

09/30/2026

Brenner’s On The Bayou – Houston, TX
Overall: B+

Roquefort Salad - iceberg wedge, beefsteak tomatoes, carrots, bacon, roquefort dressing
Crab Cake Benedict - poached eggs, béarnaise, asparagus
Croissant Bread Pudding - Bourbon Cinnamon Custard, Carmel Sauce, Häagen–Dazs Dulce de Leche Ice Cream

Overview – Brenner’s On The Bayou is a steakhouse in Houston. They had a very elegant space – multi-level with bar and patio, set up against a ravine and surrounded by a nice lawn and garden. I visited for brunch.

Salad – Salad was topped with a light amount of bacon bits and shredded carrot. Giant beefsteak tomato slices came on the side. Dressing was chunky with a big blue cheese flavor. It was a decent salad, but the balance didn’t make any sense to me. The amount of bacon felt very light while the amount of tomato was not only wildly heavy but they were prepped in a way that made it challenging to eat them as part of the salad.

Crab Cakes Benedict – Well-poached egg with runny-jammy yokes. Really clean, nuanced crab cake with lightly crisp edges and sweet briny crab character. Tender asparagus, lightly sweet, shaved.

Bread Pudding – A little dense and lacking the crispy edges I hoped for. Mild but pleasant flavor. The dish’s flavor came more from caramel sauce, which had deep character and crispy caramely bits. Ice cream was a nice complement.

Summary – Solid steakhouse brunch. Crab cakes dish in particular was notably good.

09/29/2026

Brothers Taco House – Houston, TX
Overall: B

Egg and Sausage Taco
Egg and Chorizo Taco

Overview – Brothers Taco House is a Tex-Mex taqueria in Houston. They had a simple setup – most if not all menu items were premade assembled to order on a cafeteria-style line. There was a small space to eat in and most orders were taken to-go.

Tacos – Tacos came foil-wrapped and in a paper bag to be easily taken to-go. Flour tortillas were a little oily and had a little raw flour flavor. Fillings were tender, balanced in quantity, and lightly seasoned. Flavors were a on the mild side other than the salsas which and nice heat and vibrancy.

Summary – These felt authentic in a sense of being direct honest food. I’d have liked them a little more flavorful.

09/28/2026