Brooks' Place BBQ, Worthy; Nobi Public House, Pretty Great

As if being included in Texas Monthly's Top 50 BBQ Joints wasn't sufficient to cement Brooks' Place BBQ's status as one of the best barbecue restaurants in Houston, in her review this week, Chronicle critic Alison Cook awards the Cypress trailer two stars. "Bottom line: My life, if not my driving, is better with Trent Brooks' pure and passionately crafted barbecue in it. His shipshape little trailer with its pair of umbrella-shaded picnic tables, planted in a landscaped corner of an Ace Hardware parking lot, is a good 30 miles from my house in the near East End, and it's a drive I make gladly. I think of it as an excursion through a mutating industro-suburban landscape I'd never see otherwise, with the prize of great smoked meats, some unusual sides and the broadly smiling face of pitmaster Brooks at the end." [Houston Chronicle]

Despite some unevenly executed dishes, Houston Press guest reviewer Nicholas Hall finds that Nobi Public House's combination of an expansive craft beer selection and Vietnamese food makes for a winning addition to the Clear Lake area. "Wok hei, the 'breath of the wok,' is that subtly smoky flavor that frequently accompanies wok-cooked foods, formed (partly) from vaporized cooking oil as the ingredients are tossed over extremely high heat, and it's an important element in the stir-fried noodle dishes here. Get the combination — chicken, pork and shrimp — and enjoy the toothy bite of the slightly crimpy noodles. The toppings are plentiful, though they begin to feel repetitive across the menu, and the dish is satisfying and simple." [Houston Press]

The Blogs: Daniel the Gluttonous Chinaman calls the Cheech burger at Moon Tower Inn "overpriced and not very good." Catherine Martin arbitrarily criticizes valet parking and praises carpeting in this write up of Italian chain Maggiano's. Hank on Food uses a visit to Underbelly for a Cease and Desist burger as an opportunity to offer theories on copyright law.