Tag Archives: best of

best of houston: dana clover

16 Sep

i’m happy to have

the popular dana clover from the Homesteading Housewife blog.  dana is our chevy lma community manager in houston and i’m excited to get her take on that great city to my south – houston!

where in houston do you live  and how long have you lived there?
i have lived in several Houston area locations, but found fell in love with a small run-down farm about 35miles NE of town.  clover country farms is where I hang my hat and the Man-of-My-Dreams and i are working on raising our 5 kids and countless critters.

other than friends and family, what do you love the most about houston?
i love the fact that i can live out in the boonies in the middle of no-where, but am still within an hour of one of the best medical centers in the world, a theater district second only to new york and some of the best food anywhere!
In other words….  houston has it ALL!

if a friend was visiting you who had never been to Houston before, what would the top 3 non-food places you’d have to show them?
NASA (of course), The houston livestock show and rodeo , and the texas renaissance festival, wow! talk about diversity!

give us a great breakfast place, lunch place and your favorite casual dinner place?
well that’s easy!
my house
my house
and my house.
oh…  you meant the second best places to eat in houston right? heh sorry…

Hmmm, breakfast – there is a little place called the glass menagerie just north of houston that has an amazing sunday brunch, they have everything gourmet and beautiful, something VERY different from the farm and it is my “go-to” place when I can go out with my mother and sister and feel all fancy-like.

lunch- there is nothing better than hitting the kemah boardwalk for lunch on the water. i like the flying dutchman or landry’s for some yummy seafood right on the water.

oooh dinner! – hoffbrau steakhouse has the worlds BEST chicken fried steaks!  this is where i take all out-of-towners who were not born with a bottle of cream gravy in their mouth, they always fall in love with this texas staple!

so many people I work with and know are not from texas.  we’re constantly having to explain why texas is different than the rest of the country.  does your family have one tradition or activity that is truly texan?
wow…   that’s a LOADED question! i was born up north and got to texas as fast as I could, and the reason texas will always be home is the people.  i love the fact that when you pass another car driving down the road, they wave.  i love the how welcoming and warm texans are. texas is not just a state in America…. it is truly a state of mind!

if you couldn’t tell, i love to cook.  my BBQ cook-outs are as texan as they get. (my hubby built my smoker out of an old 500gal propane tank!) i spend more time cooking outside than I do cooking in my kitchen, and there is never a weekend where friends and family cannot be found getting all sticky w/ some BBQ sauce and having fun.  good foods & good friends is what texas was built on!

i’m a fan of BBQ. houston seems to be a great place to get it.  where should I go?  
well duh!  my back yard!
but, if i’m not home, i recommend  a tiny hole-in-the-wall BBQ joint called the “tin roof” they smoke some amazing meat!

Last question.  
if you could hold a happy hour with 5 people who would they be – living or dead – ?

Well…  it would be at my house for sure!

#1 & #2 would be my brothers dan and ryan, they died when I was younger and there is nothing I would love more than to introduce them to my boys.  they would have been the best uncles in the world!
#3 alton brown, because he is my boyfriend. (don’t tell my hubby tho!)
#4 carla emery, because I could have learned SO many homesteading skills from her!
#5 marlene, my friend from high school, so she could see alton and i together and finally admit that he is MINE!

by the way, dana, i love this photo from your blog

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jeanie’s best of boston

7 Sep

by jeanie hornung, president of touchstone marketing group

what do you love the most about boston?

wow, that’s a tough question because I love so many things about boston.  but if I had to limit myself to “the most” then I would have to say  family (and friends).  

do you miss it?

desperately.  but not so desperately in the winter!

if you brought a friend to boston who had never been before, what would the top 3 non-food places you’d have to show them? 

fenway park, the freedom trail and nantucket.

give us a great breakfast place, lunch place and your favorite casual dinner place?

doyle’s in jamaica plain has the MOST amazing corned beef hash…none of that canned stuff, big chunks of corned beef and they serve the hash on english muffins with poached eggs and hollandaise.

for lunch  I would take you to a great seafood restaurant.  we just had  great lunch at the mill wharf on scituate harbor a couple of months ago.  the view is spectacular and we enjoyed  stuffed quahogs, clam chowder, shrimp cocktail and lobster rolls.

for dinner I would take you to my cousin richard’s restaurant woody’s.  they’ve been honored with a “Best of Boston” award for pizza.   their pizza is spectacular...thin crust in a cooked in a scorching wood fired oven.   it’s a real neighborhood restaurant located in the fenway section of boston.

where would you stay and why?

i would spend a few days in Boston at the four seasons and then spend a few days on nantucket at the white elephant.

if you were going to have a ‘power’ business lunch in boston, where would it be? 

The bristol lounge at the four seasons is a great place for lunch in Boston.

i’m a fan of seafood.  boston seems to be a great place to get it.  what kind of seafood do i HAVE to try in boston?

you have to go LOCAL when it comes to seafood, so you must have clams casino, clam chowder, stuffed quahogs, lobster (any way) and you have to have baked scrod.  boy ….i miss boston seafood!

Last question.
if you could hold a happy hour with 5 people who would they be – living or dead ?

my dad, gandhi, eleanor roosevelt, paul revere, anne frank and harriet tubman. my dad died when i was three and i’d sure like to enjoy a glass of wine with him. i’m a big history buff and have admired the others for some time.  their incredible bravery and courage in the face of adversity is admirable and i’d love to be able to spend time and converse with all of them.

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best of dallas

26 Aug

by ROF

how old were you when you came to the big d?

first time was the summer of 1992, i was 22 years old.

why did you come here? 

i was a summer intern with fults companies – a bad ass commercial real estate firm. we were on the 14th floor in the crescent tower #300 in uptown, i thought i was jr ewing, it was a cool place to be.

what do you like most about dallas?

hands down – the entrepreneurial spirit that this city has is like no other in my book.

where is the best place to go for pre-cowboy game imbibing?

at the old stadium i have great memories of the blue lot. for years i tailgated with the same crew. my good friend todd jones a.k.a. the tailgate king was the best host for all home games. each week he would go out and set up as soon as the lot opened, sometimes before day break in the early morning. great memories!  at the new stadium the lots are so scattered and traffic is so bad, usually go inside the stadium and have a few drinks at the hall of fame bar. jerry’s “death star” is cool and big and has great seats and amenities, but I loved and miss the old times in the blue lot.

three best places to have a power lunch with a potential client?

in this order:

1, the mercury

2, sevy’s grill

3. kampai sushi & grill

if this one current deal closes that i am working on, kampai will move to the top of the list. all parties involved have meet there a few times for lunch meetings.

two really fun happy hour places?

st. pete’s dancing marlin, great vibe and atmosphere and primo’s, fyi – started going here in 1992 way before it was such a hot spot

best waiter in dallas?

very hard to say, this city is fun of great restaurant staff. if i had to pick one – my dear friend emma, the fun & sassy girl with the new jersey accent behind the bar at the original bob’s chop house on lemmon ave.

best mexican restaurant?

i would have to say ojetas, the original one on maple ave. great food and great staff.

if you could hold a happy hour with 5 people who would they be – living or dead – and where would you hold it?

a.j. foyt – hall of fame racecar driver
jim krause – amy’s father
amy fulford – the wife
bono – u2 front man and humanitarian
john wooden – former ucla basketball coach

at bob’s in dallas on lemmon.  both jim krause and i knew bob very well.

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