The Ginger Man and Mia Luna - Rice Village
This Saturday night we went to Rice Village for dinner with new friends. Justin played Coastal league summer ball in Wilson, NC for a summer and lived with a wonderful family the Martin's. The Martin's host players every summer and the another player they hosted, Dan from Florida, has moved to Houston this month. Thinking of us just moving here as well, Paula put Dan in touch with Justin. So we went to meet Dan and his friend Kat who was visiting from Florida for an evening out. Dan is also adjusting to the major impact on life in Houston, traffic. We arrived a little early and walked around the village window shopping.
Dan called and guess what? They were stuck in traffic. So we decided to go to a place called The Ginger Man I had read about. Justin and I are suckers for micro brews and this place has one of the best selections in town. Justin tried the Belgium Tripel - the type of beer that he is trying to brew. We stayed there for a drink and 
by then Dan and Kat had made it. We went to a restaurant that a co-worker recommend called Mia Luna. It is a tapas restaurant which is one of our favorite types of restaurants. Tapas are small plates - they name comes from old times Spanish bars would be really dusty and dirty. To keep the drinks free of dust and dirt people put small pieces of bread over the top. Someone (a genius) started putting toppings on the bread. Soon people were visiting the places with the best tapas. They are meant to be shared, so we all order
ed 2 or 3 each for the table. The choices ranged from octopus (Justin of course), beef skewers, chicken skewers, empanadas (my favorite), crab cakes, goat cheeses and tomatoes with little bread, marinated mushrooms, quail (my other favorite) and scallops. The picture is of the octopus which was suprisingly very very good. The quail 
was covered with a chocolate chili glaze with figs. Amazing! Hands down one of the best and most reasonable meals I have had in a long time. We also used the most plates! A salsa band was playing and it was such a fun place! Rice Village (Rice University )is my favorite area of Houston.. so far :-)
Justin and I ate dinner at Mia Luna