A Fork in the Road: Buffalo Grille Woodway (Houston, TX)

I've been eating here for years.  It's a loud, family-oriented breakfast joint in Houston with two locations (Woodway and Wesleyan Plaza), but the breakfast rocks! 
Usually I stick to a regular breakfast of eggs, peppered bacon (a Buffalo Grille speciality), grits and biscuit. 
Buffalo Grille has a buffet of condiments and drinks....you can choose between Cinnamon/Columbian/House coffees and then there's the condiments...mustards, jellies, jams, hot syrup, any bottled hot sauce under the sun and a huge bowl of Pace Picante.  My favorite for eggs and grits! 

If you like BIG breakfast burritos, you get:

Huevos Burrito – 2 scrambled eggs, sausage & REFRIED beans wrapped in a flour tortilla with cheese and green (tomatillo) chili sauce
As I walked past people's tables with hashbrowns and they were 'diner-style' shredded, I got excited to order a side.  They weren't disappointing, but weren't what was wanted.  I like 'diner-style' super crispy shredded and these are just shredded and cooked.

Buffalo Grille Woodway  1301 S. Voss (713) 784-FOOD
www.thebuffalogrille.com/pdf/menu.pdf

A Fork in the Road: La Dona (San Diego, CA)

The transportation through San Diego is so easy, there is absolutely no reason to not check out other areas of the city for food. We took the trolley from Seaport Village to Barrio Logan for some Mexican fare and was worth it. 

It's a ten minute ride from Seaport, then a 5 minute walk to the restaurant from the station.  Seated in our booth, we ordered a vast amount of goodies since the prices were economical (Tex-Mex is my favorite, but California Mexican will do just fine!).   It was Monday late morning, so I decided to go with a mix of breakfast and lunch items. 

Chips and salsa - the chips were thick, crunchy and lightly salted (clearly homemade)

Chili Colorado - hunks of fatty pork with rice & beans.  I enjoyed the tomato-based sauce together with the eggs & beans, but would have enjoyed more lean pork as opposed to just fattiness.

Beef Burrito with rice & beans - nice cuts of flank steak marinated with cilantro.  The guacamole can

I saved the best for last...

I've never been a fan of fish tacos...not sure why...until now! 

This was a powerful fish taco.  Thickly breaded fish, but not so much that the fish cannot be identified, mixed with a light mayo-vinegar cabbage salad in a corn tortilla.  I smile just thinking of it.

Husk-less Pork tamale (tamales were once as ubiquitous as the sandwich is today in the Inca Empire) - divine...soft corn and tasty meat.

If you want a taste of true California Mexican, try it here!  Then take the trolley 20 minutes south right to Tijuana for the real, real thing.

Please note the restaurant only takes CASH and is open M-F 7am-3pm

La Dona  1784 Newton Avenue b/t Beardsley and Sigsbee Streets  (619) 233-4939

The Mighty Burrito

Finally a decent burrito hath arrived in New York City! Two Northern Cali boys recreate a Cali taqueria to perfection (everything in this place is sustainable).
The pollo asado, or grilled chicken, burrito was so damn tasty I could have had another. Korin and I actually considered having 2.
It starts by warming a slice of cheese on the tortilla itself. The cheese further melts by smacking rice, black or pinto beans, salsa and sour cream atop before it is beautifully rolled together. If you add guacamole, they give you a fairly generous helping and you can actually taste the tomatoes, onions and cilantro used to make it. I, of course, brought my own hot sauce for extra kick.

The prices are unbelievable and the hipster staff gets along with just about everybody.

147 Fourth Avenue b/t 13th & 14th Streets
www.dostorosnyc.com