Restaurants

With the holiday season in full swing, Black Bear Diner wants to make things easier on families by offering Holiday Family Meals to-go. And I have $75 gift cards to give away!

Black Bear Diner offers a large menu selection of breakfast (all day!), lunch and dinner as well as specially priced Family Meals To Go for the whole family starting at $19.99. Family Meals include everything from Bacon, Eggs & Pancakes to Chicken Strips to Roasted Turkey Family Meal.

Enter to Win Family Meals To-Go:

I have two $75 gift cards to give away. Enter to win below (or HERE)!

UPDATE: Congratulations to Amy A and Melony B. I will email you with details!

Contest ends: Monday, December 21, 2020
Official rules: https://www.jillbjarvis.com/official-contest-rules-233/

And for holiday events around Houston, go HERE!

Address: 9005 Katy Fwy, Houston, TX 77024

Wait, shouldn’t this be Cocina & Cantina?!

Goode Company Kitchen & Cantina had us out for a family dinner on the most beautiful winter day.

This restaurant is casual and chic and serves up Tex-Mex. After a lively debate, my kids decided that this is why the name was half English and half Spanish. (But they might continue to argue, just to keep things exciting.)

The food is very good and the kids meals were very reasonable for a sit-down restaurant. (They were $6 for large portions.)

We had the kids quesadilla and kids chicken tenders… and also the fajitas and red fish. Look at the pictures below!

Despite the disagreements over the name, we had a very nice meal.

The restaurant is a little fancy but a lot family friendly. There are kids meals and highchairs and a nice patio and a little play area (with Cornhole). We had an early dinner before evening church, turning our busy Saturday into a great family day.

So, for next week, what’s your favorite Goode Co around Houston?

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Address: 4080 Bissonnet St, Houston, TX 77005

We once went to school down the street from Buffalo Grille, and spent a lot of days eating pancakes and drinking giant iced teas.

And now that the Bissonnet location has a kids play area on the patio, we spend even more time there.

On the fenced in patio, kids can run their own little restaurant. There is a counter in the play area, with play food, chalk board and small picnic benches. 

The kids run back and forth, taking orders and serving their plastic dinners while we wait for our orders.

At Buffalo Grille, you order at the counter, fill your drink and take a seat. Once the food is ready, you go grab it… or the staff will bring it to you if your arms are full.

Buffalo Grille is casual, breakfast (and other food too) is served all day and the tea is highly caffeinated.

We usually sit on the fenced in patio, eat our food and then head to the park.

This location is very close to Judson Park… so stop by and climb the giant boulder slide when you are done with your meal!

 

 

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Address:  Find the truck’s location on their Instagram Stories (Not Instagram Posts)  or Facebook Stories (Not our Facebook Posts).

Each day I go to the gym, and on the cardio equipment, my friend and I spend 30 minutes watching restaurant commercials and tagging each other on food photos. (The hope is that we break even on the step mill.)

My friend has been tagging me on The DoughCone for a year… but it’s a truck and I had never found my way to it. But on a recent trip to the Barbara Fish Daniels Nature Play Area, the truck was waiting for us.

It was a beautiful day and rays of sun were reflecting off the truck as it was parked in front of the Houston skyline. Just kidding. But we were so happy to finally see the truck that we were willing to pay $8 for a cone.

A DoughCone is not a regular ice cream cone. It’s a handmade donut cone, dusted with cinnamon sugar and lined with Nutella or Biscoff Cookie Butter. It is then filled with homemande, churned to order, vanilla bean ice cream.

At the truck, you pick your cone/sundae, pick your cone lining and then pick unlimited toppings.

My daughter insisted on just chocolate and sprinkles and ignored my request for all 12 toppings. We ate the cone at the play area and were so pleased with the ice cream and cone that I didn’t even miss the candy toppings.

DoughCone is expensive (like most other over-the-top dessert places around Houston) but it was good. Have you tried it? What did you think?

The biggest concern with The DoughCone is that I didn’t brake even on calories burned at the gym!

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Address: 1420 Edwards St, Houston, TX 77007

Go back in time at Stanton’s City Bites!

This restaurant started as a family-run grocery store and turned into a restaurant that serves made-to-order burgers.

Located between Downtown and the Heights, Stanton’s City Bites is in a big white house. We might have missed it, but saw the bright new mural along the Houston Avenue side.

There is a tiny lot but free street parking along Edwards Avenue. (And if you just kept driving down Edwards, you’d find Statesmanship Park!)

The restaurant is a super casual hole in the wall with good burgers. There is no kids menu but, it’s a burger joint, so there are plenty of items my kids will eat. You order at the counter, find a seat and the food comes to you.

We ordered some burgers, some chicken tenders and the portabella sandwich. The food came quick and everyone was pleased. The mushroom burger was good (and messy) and the seasoned fries stole the show.

I can’t comment on their famous burgers, but they disappeared quickly, so I’m guessing they were pretty good.

If you are looking for a hole in the wall burger joint, this is a good spot to try. It’s very close to Statesmanship Park as well as Henderson and Kane General Store, Buffalo Bayou Brewery, Toro’s Soccer Cafe, Dow Elementary Park and Barbara Fish Daniels Nature Play Area!

 

 

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Address: 715 Henderson St, Houston, TX 77007

We took our time machine and landed at Henderson and Kane General Store. Look at this restaurant in Old Sixth Ward.

It’s an old general store and serves up BBQ and nightly specials. It also has a coffee bar, locally sourced produce and goods!

We had driven by this little restaurant when we were headed to Dow Elementary Park, and had it on our must-try list.

We went back on a week night and as soon as we walked in, we knew we had made a good choice. The general store is as quaint as can be, with local goods for sale, convenience items for the neighborhood (like eggs, milk, beer…), a coffee bar and barbecue!

We ordered the Beefy Mac… which is mac and cheese with brisket (or another meat) on top. It’s was good… and the glass bottle cokes made it even better!

To make this even better, this general store is close to the Dow Elementary Park and Barbara Fish Family Nature Play Area… which are both great parks.

Look at the pictures and visit this general store and the parks. (And check the map below for more fun things to do in the area.)

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Address: 2202 Summer Street, Houston, Texas, 77007

My big kids joke that James is my favorite, because he’s my soccer player. I’m not going to declare favorites on the world wide web, but I will say it took me three kids to get some who shares my love of the game. And for that, James and I certainly have a soccer connection.

This little soccer player tags along with me on our frequent trips around Washington Avenue and in the middle of the warehouses and art galleries, we spotted a huge soccer mural and turf fields.

It wasn’t obvious at first, but with the help of a smartphone, we figured out that this was Toros… and we did not need to be in a league to stop in!

We stopped by and were able to grab coffee, some light snacks and play on the fields!

No league games were scheduled, so the staff told us to play as long as we wanted. (If there are games, you can watch them outside or watch televised soccer inside.)

The coffee shop is very simple but the cafe is sleek and clean… and you can tell they love soccer.

If you have a soccer player, stop by to grab a drink and kick the ball around. Or sign up for a league or reserve the space for a party!

Check out the pictures and get more details on their website!

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Address: 7316 Louetta Rd b303, Spring, TX 77379

We are always on the look out for new tapioca tea houses… so when we spotted Teaspoon on Louetta, we did a quick turn into the parking lot.

Located just around the shopping center from the HEB is this new tea house that serves up boba tea and food. You order at the counter and the food and drinks come to you.

We drink a lot of boba tea, and the trouble with some smaller spots is that the tapioca can get soggy because it’s not used fast enough. Another problem can be that the syrups taste artificial. That said, I am happy to report that this was NOT the case at Teaspoon and our Jasmine Green Teas were just as good as we had hoped and the Peach Green Teas was as sweet as expected.

On this visit, we also ordered lunch and were very pleased with the food and the serving sizes. The veggie sandwich was mine, and it was a great combination of crunching bread and soft vegetables.

The staff was friendly, the food was good and we were pleased with our teas. There were a couple of mix ups on the order (with the restaurant being brand new), but everything was fixed quickly and with no issue at all.

We’re adding Teaspoon to our list of good boba spots!

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