The Great Restaurant Challenge of 2021

In December of 2020, I made up a little challenge for myself. The challenge was to only eat at a restaurant once during the entire year. I included chain restaurants and fast food in the challenge too. This meant only one visit to McDonald’s, one visit to Whataburger, and only one visit to my beloved Pappasito’s. I like to eat, so I knew this was going to be a difficult challenge. A little suffering is good. You also do not fully appreciate things until they are gone.
Well, here I am on January 1, 2022. I made it! I fulfilled my intentions. Yup, it was a fun challenge. For sure it drove some of my friends and family a little crazy. They’d say, “Hey Chris. We are going to blah blah for lunch. Wanna go.” “Sorry. I Can’t. Already been there this year.” More than once I was told by others that they would be glad when my stupid challenge was over.
Sure, it was a bit of a pain in the ass, but it was fun. Truth be told, if you are going to ever task yourself with a challenge like this, Houston is the best place to do it. We have so many restaurants here. When it comes to food, I am a creature of habit. This challenge forced me to break my habits. At times, the challenge even pushed me a little outside of my comfort zone. However, by doing this challenge I discovered so many restaurants and different types of food that it was all worth it in the end.
Below is the complete list of restaurants where I ate in 2021. Some were good. Some were bad. Some were outstanding. The bad thing about the outstanding restaurants I discovered was that I couldn’t go back until 2022.
If you were one of the people who had to deal with my silly challenge, thank you for your understanding and flexibility. Also, it was not by design that the year started and ended with pizza. Sometimes great things happen all on their own.
• 1/1/21 New Year’s Day! After the campfire we made in the park, we had pizza. Pinks Pizza – Jamie, Mike, and Amy. It was solid slice of pizza. For sure a do-over.
• Escalante – Christine. I got a big plate of food. The empanada was the best. It was good food, but not worth the cost.
• Taco Bell – The Muchaco tasted old and shitty. I was hungry and was heading to get a covid test. I can’t believe my next Taco Bell visit is a year away. I am so sad right now.
• Urban Eats- I took Ellie here. I had grits and short rib. The food at this place is usually great, but today it was just okay.
• State Fare – I went here with the brunch gang. I got the Monte Cristo, but I tasted Jamie’s hash and it was better. Here they serve a giant pancake that was great and huge biscuits too. I can’t wait to come back here.
• Taco Bueno – I’m by myself driving to Texarkana. I was heading up for my buddy Mark’s mom’s funeral. I got a $6 Box. Like Taco Bell, it was shitty. The refried beans and hot sauce have changed. That was the main reason I went to Taco Bueno.
• Sippa – A pizza place up on Westheimer. It was pretty good. I will come back here.
• Nikko Nikko – I had dinner here with Jamie. I had feta fries and a gyro. Jamie’s Chicken cheesesteak was awesome. This is for sure on the do-over list. They have several locations around Houston. Awesome Greek food.
• McDonald’s – Breakfast by myself. Bacon egg and cheese biscuit. The egg tasted like crap. Oh, how I love McDonald’s. Again, I am so sad that my next visit is a year away.
• Whataburger – Got a coupon for BOGO taquito. Had it for breakfast. Yum!
• 1/29 Jack In The Box – Got a chicken sandwich on my way back to the office. It was crappy.
• 1/30 Barnabys – An after-birthday breakfast with Jamie. I had pancakes. They were huge and good.
• 2/3 Town and Country Kolaches – Got a kolache after my dentist appointment. It was great!
• 2/6 Hungrys with Kelley for breakfast. What I had was good. A traditional breakfast. Keely had a super fancy eggs benedict that was great. We sat outside on the roof. It was a perfect breakfast with my sister.
• 2/6 American Federal Grill. I had dinner with Kelley and Jamie. American Federal Grill is one of the best places to eat in all of Houston. It is all good. Just close your eyes and point. My favorite are the cheeseburger eggrolls. So freakin’ good.
• 2/10 Papasitos with Meg and Christine at lunch. Of course, I had had cheese enchiladas. They were fantastic as always.
• 2/11 Pho Saigon with Scott. I had pho. It sucked. The end.
• 2/12 Pei Wei. Picked up dinner. It made Jamie sick.
• 2/21 That mexican place in Wichita Falls that used to be Zocalos. I went there with Jeff and Cheryl. The food was okay. The waitress messed up our order and forgot about us.
• 2/22 Pioneer Restaurant in Wichita Falls with Wayne and Steph. The enchiladas always deliver!
• 2/26 Cavatores with Jamie, Mike and Amy. The best was the tableside Caesar Salad. I will for sure do this place again.
• 3/1 Crisp with Jamie and Tricia. The XL Meatballs were fantastic.
• 3/4 Fusion Taco with Jamie. It’s a taco. Good, but not great.
• 3/4 Thai Garden on Richmond with Christine and Meg. I love this place. I get it HOT! This is one of those places that makes great food and they know they make great food so you play by their rules.
• 3/14 Buffalo Grill on Voss. Typical breakfast place. Pancakes are huge!
• 3/14 Laredo Taqueria on Washington with Jamie. VERY authentic tacos. For sure going back here.
• 3/17 Buffalo Brewery. With J. Had a burger and tots. It was just okay, despite the menu making everything sound like it’s going to be great.
• 3/22 Etoules with Meg Christine. This is a very cool French restaurant. We had snails!
• 3/23 Sonic. I got a corn dog snack. I love corn dogs (is corn dog one word or two?)
• 3/23 Bosscats with Matt. The food here is fantastic. Can’t wait to go back. Very cool vibe at this restaurant. I had a burger. So good!
• 3/26 Jonathan’s the Rub with Mark. Ordered shrimp and grits and got scallops. However, Mark had pork chops and waffles and it was great. Two huge pork chops and Mark gave me one. It was cooked perfectly and tasted so good. I called the restaurant and told them about the food mix-up and the bad service. The manager apologized. He told me he wanted me to come back in and it would be his treat. I thanked him and told him about my challenge. He laughed and said he would leave me a gift card at the front. I never went and picked it up. Despite the bad service, the food was so good I can’t wait to go back.
• 3/27 Avalon Diner with Mark. I was not good and the service was shit. Had biscuits and gravy. How do you fuck up biscuits and gravy. Well, they figured that one out at the Avalon Diner.
• 4/1-El Crustaceo Cascarudo in Cancun with friends. It was great. I discovered Mojitos.
• 4/2-Carleana in Isla Mujeres with friends. It was great. Ate a whole fried fish.
• 4/11 – Yale Street Pharmacy and Diner with Jamie. They had an awesome breakfast. Do-over!
• 4/11- Heights Beer Garden with the crew. Over-priced beers and okay apps. Fun atmosphere, but I have no intention of ever going back.
• 4/12- Crawfish & Noodles with Jason. They have the BEST Vietnamese-Cajun crawfish. I think we ate 8 pounds of crawfish and a bunch of other stuff too. Do-over.
• 4/15-The French House. They make a very good Rueben sandwich.
• 4/25-Krause’s Diner in New Braunfels with Charlie and the guy helping us plan our boat race. I only had coffee so this did not officially count as having eaten here. (We came back here to celebrate the completion of the boat race a few months from now)
• 4/25-Casa Maria in San Marcos with Ellie. It was good. I had enchiladas.
• 4/25 Platypus Brewing – I had a beer, wings and meat pie. The meat pie was not good.
• 4/29 Abdallah’s Restaurant – I had a beef shawarma. It was a little on the dry side.
• 5/3/21 Industry in San Marcos with Charlie and the kids. We had a team meeting for our canoe race. I had a Ruben. It was great.
• 5/4/21 Herberts Tacos in New Braunfels with Charlie. Breakfast taco. Ate here right after our lesson. We accidentally ate here later one morning when heading out to paddle. Because we got the food to go, I didn’t feel so bad. I did give myself an out when I dreamed up this challenge that I could have one restaurant where I could go back. I wanted that to be fast food.
• 5/5/21 Ramen Tatsuya it was great. I had Miso #4 with an added egg and pork belly. Do-over!
• 5/16/21 Chicken Express with Ellie as we drove back to San Mo from Wichita Falls.
• 5/19/21 Savior with Jamie. I had the Grillded Cheese with Brisket. It was great!
• 5/22/21 Willie’s Place in New Braunfels. With Kaye and Charlie. Great burger and onion rings.
• 5/25/21 Blake’s BBQ with Meg and Christine. The brisket was like leather. Awful!
• 5/29/21 Bolero at the resort in Cabo. Italian. Not good.
• 5/30/21 Ediths with the crew in Cabo. This was such an awesome dinner. I thought it could not get any better, but…..
• 6/1/21 MARISCOS TRES ISLAS in Cabo with the “seesters”. Had this huge seafood platter. We ate and drank so much. We shared our leftovers with the cab driver.
• 6/2/21 Sbarro at Cabo airport. Pizza and a coke. It was tasty.
• 6/5/21 Longhorn Cafe in New Braunfels with Charlie. Super burger and tots.
• 6/6/21 Harold’s in the Heights with Jamie. Had a chicken po boy. It was okay. Just okay.
• 6/11/21 Coopers BBQ in New Braunfels with kids, Kaye and Charlie. Kind of dry bbq.
• 6/26/21 Alice Blue. With Jamie. I had a burger. Crappy service. Never going back.
• 6/27/21 Krause’s Diner in New Braunfels with Charlie Jamie, Kaye and Ellie. I had a breakfast sandwich. We celebrated the completion of the Texas Water Safari.
• 7/1/21 El Patio on Westheimer. With Meg and Christine. Really good mexican food.
• 7/10/21 El Rey on Washington. Cuban sandwich and tres leches. It was great.
• 7/17/21 Torchys Tacos. It was Torchys…..
• 7/20/21 Taste of Texas with Meg and Christine for mine and Meg’s birthday. I had the salad bar. It was great but the dessert, deep dish pecan pie and cinnamon ice cream was off the charts!
• 7/22/21 Ihop for my birthday adventure. And yes, I got the 55 and older discount.
• 7/24/21 El Gato Taco Truck on Westheimer. The Al Pasture was the best. 3 tacos $5
• 7/31/21 Kim Dee with Jamie. I had drunken noodles and meatballs. It was delish.
• 8/3/21 Cedar Door Austin. TAB dinner with the crew. Great company and okay food.
• 8/4/21 The Yard House. Had some sliders. 1/2 price happy hour.
• 8/5/21 Lupe Tortilla is Dallas with Jason H. Awesome food.
• 8/6/21 El Toro in Baytown with Jamie. It was as great. Had the Dos #2
• 8/12/21 Molinas with Christine. The enchiladas were great.
• 8/13/21 Southwell’s Hamburgers. I paid $11 for a crappy hamburger and soggy undercooked fries. No thanks.
• 8/19/21 B&B Butcher with Jamie for Houston Restaurant Week. Had a wedge and burger for $20. It was fantastic. Do-over.
• 8/21/21 Snows BBQ. Took Jamie. We were the next to last person in line. Had brisket, sausage, and a small potato salad. That was all they had left. Despite having already waited over an hour, an old guy in front of us left about 15 minutes before getting the food. He waited all that time.
• 8/3/21 Mico’s Hot Chicken. I had 3 tenders. Hot. It was greasy and lacked flavor. Not good.
• 8/4/21 Kemah Subway during sailing school. I had an Italian BMT. It was great.
• 9/13/21 100% Tauquito with Doug from Periwinkle. It was okay. Had Al Pasture tacos.
• 9/16/21 Backstreet Cafe with Jamie. It was a very cool place. I’ll be coming back here. I had pecan-crusted chicken. It was great. Jamie had her pecan premonition.
• 9/17/21 Pizza Place in Boulder with the crew. Forgot the name. Fantastic.
• 9/19/21 The Post in Estes Park. Awesome fried chicken with the crew.
• 9/21/21 Timberline Steaks in Denver airport with Jamie. Her burger was the bomb. My sandwich not so much.
• 9/28 Chuys with Meg and Christine. Had a burrito covered in queso. Yummy.
• 10/5/21 The Hay merchant with Price. I had a shrimp po boy. It was okay.
• 10/8/21 Hugo’s. Great Mexican food. I had Barbacoa. Went with Roz, Tricia and Jamie.
• 10/15/21 The Spot in Galveston with Jamie. Had a burger that was very typical.
• 10/16/21 The Mexican in Galveston for breakfast. Had enchiladas with a fried egg. Do-over.
• 10/16/21 Panda Express. Needed a quick dinner. It was Panda Express.
• 10/20/21 Sam’s Boat with Christine. I had fish tacos. They were pretty good however this is a great place to come back at some point and sit outside and drink beer.
• 10/22/21 Pinstripes. Played Bocci and ate pizza. They also have a bowling alley here. Very cool place, but bring the cash.
• 10/27/21 Cuchara in Montrose. With Jamie. Had 3 apps. The queso was great.
• 10/29/21 Samurai Noodle. With Jamie. Had spicy ramen. It was not the 5 stars Yelp made it out to be.
• 10/30/21 Mod Pizza. It was awesome pizza with anchovies.
• 10/31/21 Peaky Grinders at The Rail Yard. Great burger. Sat outside. It was perfect.
• 11/6 Frank’s Pizza while out riding my bike downtown. Great pizza. $7 and a beer.
• 11/7/21 Topwater Grill in San Leon before we went out sailing with Jamie’s friends. Burger was crappy although the coconut shrimp the others ate looked great.
• 11/12/21 Seasons 52. With Sumner and Roz. I had the crab cake sandwich. It was okay. The crab polenta and the small desserts were the bomb!
• 11/13/21 Taco Deli. Delicious Tacos. Jamie’s was better than mine. It was gourmet.
• 11/20/21 Tonight & Tomorrow dinner with Mike and Amy. Fancy place. The owner came over and talked to us. It was okay. I had the pork chop.
• 11/21/21 Becks Prime Memorial Golf Course with Jamie. I had a chili burger after hitting some balls. French fries were fantastic. Do-over!
• 11/23/21 Schlotskys in Galveston. Never disappoints.
• 12/1/21 We Olive. Wine bar with Jamie. Had some apps and an Italian sandwich.
• 11/30/21 Cheddars in San Mo after Ellie’s wreck. I had the usual; Buffalo Chicken Wrap.
• 12/2/21 Pappadeaux with Mark McKay (the other Mark McKay). I had a salad. It was good. Had crawfish on it.
• 12/3/21 The Tribute at the Houstonian. With Mike and Amy. Had a tamale and beef rib. It was super. Had a Saudi wedding going on. The restaurant was incredible. They were having a wedding that night that included live monkeys.
• 12/8/21 Los Cabos. With Ellie, Jamie and Juan. Columbus Texas. Great soft-serve ice cream.
• 12/11/21 Freebirds Burritos. Awesome Queso.
• 12/18/21 The Red Lion with Jamie. Awesome Christmas vibe. I had Sheppard Pie. It was fantastic. Jamie had a quesadilla and it was great.
• 12/30/21 Guero’s in Austin with Jamie and the kids. I got the burrito. I only ate half and Jason ate the rest.
• 12/31/21 Home Slice Pizza Austin. An institution. I had the pepperoni.