Restaurant: Shade

250 West 19th Street
Houston Texas 77008

For the past two months or so, i think i was under some stress that i wasn't even aware i was under. I guess it's bound to happen after working 40 plus hours a week at one job and then putting in more hours helping big poppa's biz. I kinda felt burnt out. I was on edge and so was big poppa. So of course that leads to the both of us constantly snapping at each other and arguing more than usual. Even so, i know that we've got such a strong enough bond that we can weather anything together. It's rare that we have date nights alone just cos we try to squeeze in dinner and brunch with friends on the weekends but i think it was something that we really needed. We went to Shade in the heights one saturday evening. Just the two of us. It started off kinda quiet. I was a little tense. We both ordered some wine. MUCH NEEDED. As we started to drink, big poppa gave us a little toast. To seven years together. And from then on we both loosened up and great conversation followed. The food here was okay. I think the best thing was the MAC AND CHEESE. It was the reason why i wanted to come here. Super creamy mac and cheese with truffle oil. Like a lot of truffle oil. I know real foodies turn their nose at truffle oil but i love the stuff. I love when mac and cheese is creamy. It kinda made me want to go home and try to make my mac and cheese creamy. Everything else wasn't so impressive. The clam dish had some of the cleanest clams. Maybe i'm just used to dirty asian gritty clams. I'm not really into clams but i always try like one or two to get a feel for the sauce. Sauce was okay. Big poppa's scallops were too sweet. I'm guessing they added a bit of sugar to get that nice caramelized sear but it made everything too sweet. My porkchops were kinda bland. I make super bad for you super glazy porkchops so american porkchops can't realy meet my expectations. I seem to always order it anyway. Our night ended with friends at a coffee shop. Can't get any better than that!