Tasty Update for Houston

I suppose I've had a few nice meals over the past week. Aside from my usual glowing reports of Mint Cafe' (just had a wonderful lunch there with the family), here are three of the places I hit up and my impressions.

Himalaya - 6652 Southwest Freeway - Nothing new here... I love going to Himalaya. Kaiser has a tendency to push the special for lunch but don't fall for it. Yes, the special is good but the menu has so many other great options. This week? The grilled fish masala - it was unbelievably good! The portion was massive so I had enough for two lunches. While it takes a bit longer for the grilled fish masala to come out, it is well worth the wait.

Shawarma King - 3121 Hillcroft (at Richmond) - Recommended to me by a friend and I'm glad he did. The chicken shawarma was simply delicious and very inexpensive. I don't know what spices they put on the chicken but it has a delicious flavor. I'll be back there, for sure.

Cafe Mezza - 6100 Westheimer - So, I was a bit confused by this place. I had heard so many people talk about it as a delicious Mediterranean restaurant but, the first warning was the front of the menu... "American cuisine with a mediterranean flair" - I suppose that's fine if you're not expecting an authentic Mediterranean/Lebanese meal but I was. So, yes, the food was pretty good but it was suited more for American palates. The hummus was rather bland (similar to the hummus at Hungry's International) and the babaganoush was OK. Overall, it was a nice place and the service was great (our waitress was wonderful) but I probably would go to a number of other places to get a Mediterranean fix before coming back to Cafe Mezza.