Author: /u/wynlyndd

Houston has many different cultures and therefore cuisines from those cultures. I’m almost always up for trying food from some country or culture. Is there some restaurant nestled in some corner of the city celebrating a culture of food that you don’t think most people have experienced? List it!

if we don’t know about a culture, we don’t know to go searching for it. For example, I heard about jollof rice because of an episode of Ted Lasso. So I went out looking for it. There’s a few restaurants that have it. Seems to be mostly Nigerian restaurants that I’ve found, but I would love to find a Ghanaian restaurant to compare, not to mention a Senegalese.

At one time, I think I heard of a Bosnian restaurant but I have no idea if it is still there. So what are some other cultures of food besides the usual ones to be experienced?

I recently came back from vacation in Europe where I had the best darn falafel I’ve ever had. Roughly doughnut shaped, presumably so the center gets done while preserving moisture in the outer portions, it had a slightly crispy crust. Spiced very well. It was very good. Now falafel is not part of my usual food choices, but I’ve been dreaming of that falafel. I recognize that there are probably as many different recipes and implementations as there are grandmothers who pass down the recipes (for what it’s worth the place was a Syrian restaurant but I don’t know if that is representative of a Syrian way of cooking), but what places inside the loop have great falafel? (if it is just outside that is okay but I’m not driving that far so Katy is out but just north of the loop is good).

And please, no jokes about Salata’s bone dry and not flavorful falafel that should be named Feel-Awful

I have a flight on Friday to Europe (teacher vacay here I come), but the first leg is on Air Canada with a layover in Montreal. I believe it flies out of Terminal A. I haven’t heard of major issues with this terminal but I haven’t read all of the airport postings here.

If I have a good friend drop us off, how bad are the issues and how nice of a souvenir will I need to buy to make up for it? 🙂

Yes, I know habaneros are easy to find and are probably 90% of what I want. I do find the scotch bonnet to be ever so slightly more “fruity”. A recipe I’m wanting to try asked for scotch bonnets and usually when I’m trying a recipe for the first time, I try to make it exactly as presented before I go substituting or fiddling with it. Where may I find them in Houston?

(The recipe in question is Jollof rice, if you are wondering.)