Crepes Compared, Straits Ahead and More

Houston Chronicle critic Alison Cook visits Sweet Paris Creperie in Rice Village and Guru Burgers and Crepes in Sugar Land to compare them to Houston's crepe gold standard, food cart Melange Creperie. Although the newcomers have some positive attributes, they have both come at crepe king Buffalo Sean Carroll and missed. "I am beginning to think that a crepe served in a sit-down brick-and-mortar restaurant is never going to have the vibrant immediacy of a pancake folded right off the griddle and handed over to a waiting customer, so that for a few second's it's almost too hot to eat." [29-95]

Houston Press critic Katharine Shilcutt finds that the Singaporean food served by chef John Sikhattana at Straits in CityCentre is the perfect fit for Houston's melting pot attitude. "Sikhattana's constant presence in CityCentre and at Straits means that the food has continued to steadily improve since the restaurant opened in September 2009. After a somewhat rocky start, it's now possible to go into the hip, loungey Straits with the confident knowledge that nearly anything you order will be a winner. Your chances improve even more significantly when you stick to Singaporean classics such as fragrant Hainan chicken or the addictively soft-and-crispy roti prata." [Houston Press]

THE BLOGS: Hank on Food awards an A- to Harvest Organic Grill after he tried a Kobe beef burger served with roasted mushroom slices (Harvest is too healthy to serve french fries). Catharine Martin pays an arbitrary visit to Sparkle's Hamburger Spot where she enjoys the reasonable prices, Kool-Aid as a beverage option and Astroturf flooring.