Lawrence was in Houston for the holiday.
I like the appetizers at Stone House very much. I like the service at Stone House. So why haven't I been back since 2001? I think it's because the entrees lack...something. I'm not sure exactly what, but I just wasn't impressed with my pork chops. If they had done something: I don't know what, maybe given them a spice rub, I might have been happier about my meal.
As it is, Stone House strikes me as being a place that's decent, but several steps short of great.
Good food + pretty redheaded waitress = good meal. And the bananas foster is still swell.
We were all helping Lawrence move this weekend. He took us to Reale's as thanks, but I don't consider this to be a real consipiracy. In any case, I was too tired after the move to say anything coherent about the food.
Save rare lapses, Reale's is always good, but it is especially good if you've just spent the entire day moving all your worldly possessions (including 3000 or so hardback books) from an apartment to a new house. The pizza was, as usual, excellent, but what continues to impresse me is the garlic cheese bread. Our table of hungry movers polished off three of those. It seems like it would be a simple recipe, but almost no one else seems to do cheese bread nearly as well. Why is that?
Another average TexMex place. There's just really nothing special or exciting about it.
Camino Real was a mildly pleasant surprise, but only because it looks like a complete dump on the outside. (Guys, here's a hint: It helps if you replace your exterior sign once every ten years; peeling paint and cracking lumber doesn't exactly bespeak of careful attention to detail.) Instead of being a crummy dining experience, it actually turned out to be rather adequate.
Thankfully, the interior is significantly nicer than the exterior (and the "arch-mirror-arch" effect succeeds at making it look roomier than it actual is). And the food? Perfectly adequate TexMex. The fajitas were skimpy but cheap, the nachos were OK, and the enchiladas were perhaps a touch better than average (and, at $5 for 3, pretty reasonably priced). Service was generally good, save for an exceptionally long wait for the check. The menu says they charge for soft drink refills after one, but they didn't do this to me.
The biggest thing Camino Real has going for it is location. If you're looking for TexMex up on 183, your choices are pretty limited. I wasn't impressed with the one time we tried the Jollyville location of Antonio's, and since I haven't eaten there, I can't tell you whether the Serrano's on 183 has managed to escape the general mediocrity of the chain as a whole. Manuel's is generally better, but it's also more expensive, somewhat inconsistent, and not particularly close to my house. As an adequate neighborhood TexMex place, Camino Real fits the bill.
I was out of town for DEFCON. Some quick dining notes: