Kim Son, Houston, TX

Dinner, dine in. Spring rolls: very good. Sticky rice cake: very good. Orange chicken: very good, white meat chicken breast. Pork platter w/ rice: very good. Wide rice noodles w/ chicken, squid, etc.: very good. A ton of food!

Kim Son
2001 Jefferson St
713-222-2461

Cafe Japon, Houston, TX

Lunch. Good.

Cafe Japon Japanese Restaurant
3915 Kirby Dr
713-529-1668

Roast turkey

From Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything". Very good! And easy (no brining).

Chuy's, Houston, TX

Lunch. Enchiladas: very good!

Chuy's Comida Deluxe
2706 Westheimer Road
713-524-1700

Papa John's, Houston, TX

Dinner, delivery. Pepperoni, onion, green pepper: very good!

Sushi X

Dinner, pick up. Delicious! Godzilla is not such a rip-off after all, because it has a larger-than-normal diameter, and is 10, not 8, pieces.

Sushi X
1136 W. Chicago Ave.
312-491-9232

Manchu Wok, St. Louis, MO

Lunch. General Tso's chicken: not great. Green bean chicken: not so good.

Overall, filthy, a pale comparison to Panda.

Steak and Shake, St. Louis, MO

Lunch. BBQ and bacon double: good. Fries: delicious.

Sam's Steak House, St. Louis, MO

Dinner. Toasted ravioli: good. Filet: just OK.

Steak and Shake, downstate Illinois

Snack, to go. French fries: delicious, and humongous.

Flo

Breakfast. Chorizo plate: not good. Breakfast burrito: good.

Service was slow.

Flo
1434 W Chicago
312-243-0477

Penny's

Dinner. Hot pepper noodle: not so good, is the Wednesday cook working Tuesdays?

Penny's Noodle Shop
1542 N. Damen
773-394-0100

Nick's Pit Stop

Dinner, dine in. Quarter chicken (white meat): very good, but maybe not great. BBQ sauce: not good, watery. Mac and cheese: very very good. Pita bread: very good.

Nick's is a charbroiled (stove-grilled?) chicken dive. Very good food, very fast, no-nonsense service, and decent prices.

Nick's Pit Stop
2011 N Damen
773-342-9736

Chipotle

Lunch. Chicken fajita bol: delicious, and free! :-)

Chipotle
316 N Michigan Ave
312-578-0950

Subway

Lunch. Turkey foot-long on wheat: not bad.

Subway
7150 N Harlem Ave
773-775-5686

Pizza Metro

Dinner, carry-out. Sausage and pepperoni: OK. Pepperoni and onion: OK.

The pizza was just OK tonight. It got pretty bad as it got cold.

Pizza Metro
1701 W Division St
773-278-1753

Usagi Ya

Dinner. Shrimp tempura w/ veggie tempura: very good. Sake sushi: not great, weird pieces of chewy flab, like at Oysy, only much smaller flab. Tuna sushi: good. Hamachi sushi: very good, big hit of wasabi! California roll: fine. Asparagus roll: good, and cheap. Shrimp tempura roll w/ crumbs and eel sauce added: very good. Dragon roll (avocado and eel on top): good, eel was pretty good. Spicy hamachi (or tuna?) roll: very good, and it was inside out! Some kind of deep-fried spicy roll w/ white fish and jalapeno (firecracker?): very, very good!

The food was very good. The service was horrendous.

Usagi Ya
1178 N Milwaukee Ave
773-292-5885

Oriental Express

Lunch. Pork fried rice: absolutely disgusting.

A while back I said that some Whole Foods bacon tasted like fatty ham ... well, then I don't even know what to call this ... fatty gristle? I almost threw the whole thing away. Instead, I picked out all the pork and just ate the fried rice. Yuck.

Oriental Express
233 E Wacker Dr
312-938-1118

Chipotle

Lunch. Chicken fajita bol: delicious! And no line!

Chipotle
291 East Ontario St
312-587-7753

Oriental Express

Lunch. Chicken fried rice: just fine.

Oriental Express
233 E Wacker Dr
312-938-1118

Potbelly

Dinner, dine in. Turkey, bacon, provolone sandwich: good, but not enough bacon I think. Chocolate chip cookie: weird, like firm raw cookie dough.

Potbelly Sandwich Works
55 West Monroe
312-577-0070

Baked ravioli

Dinner. From Cover and Bake (A Best Recipe Classics). Pretty good, but would be better with cheese ravioli (as they specified) instead of meat ravioli.

Lovitt

Dinner. Brocolli soup w/ cheese balls: pretty good. Gnocchi w/ shrimp and diablo sauce: not that good -- I was expecting arrabiata, but it ended up being very chili-like. Pecan pie: pretty good, but an unexpected strong kick of booze! Excellent Stash green tea.

I felt that the meal didn't live up to expectations, but would try the place again. The lady was very nice. The place was completely empty when we arrived at 6:00 (when they open), but it was packed and hoppin' by 7:00.

Lovitt
1466 N Ashland Ave
773-252-1466

Penny's

Dinner, delivery. Japanese gyoza, Vietnamese spring rolls, pad thai w/ chicken, hot pepper noodle w/ chicken: all good as usual.

Delivery took only about 20 minutes.

Penny's Noodle Shop
1542 N. Damen
773-394-0100

Papajin

Dinner, delivery. Won ton soup (good), green bean stir fry w/ chicken (OK, is the chicken weirdly breaded and mushy or is it just me?), garlic stir fry w/ chicken (OK).

Said 45 minutes, took 50-60.

Papajin
1551 N. Milwaukee Ave.
773-384-9600

Brocolli and rice cassarole with chicken

Dinner. From Cover and Bake (A Best Recipe Classics). Not bad, pretty good. The brocolli-and-rice part was very good, the chicken was just OK. (Later, as leftovers, the chicken ended up being very dry.)

San Soo Gab San

Dinner. Great place. Not terribly large. Tons of good fresh banchan. Every table is walled off with a table grill, which was nice. Lots of tables were on the floor (take off your shoes). The kalbi was pretty good (they had a marinated kalbi and a non-marinated one ... ?!? ... we got the marinated, and it was very good). The pork *kalbi* (couldn't find pork bulgogi on the menu) was not that good -- on the bone, and fatty.

San Soo Gab San
5247 N Western
773-334-1589

Chipotle

Lunch, dine in. Chicken fajita bol: revolting. Not enough rice, not nearly enough fajita veggies (they were the cold dregs, and they were just then firing up the stove to cook more). And the rice was crunchy, as in old and/or undercooked.

Chipotle
1733 N. Damen
773-772-5713