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    Vegging Out

    Cheating on Fiesta with 99 Ranch Market: Drop the dollar store visions, they've got sexy tofu!

    Joel Luks
    Jun 28, 2010 | 5:15 pm
    News_Joel Luks_vegging out_99 Ranch Market_Hard Tofu in Vegan Pad Thai
    Hard Tofu up close and personal: Delivering a meatier consistency, hard tofu is the perfect substitute for any recipe calling for diced chicken.
    Photo by Joel Luks

    I have been in Houston longer than any other city in my adult life, which is not really saying much considering I am 34 and unsure when adulthood officially began. It was definitely not after my illustrious bar mitzvah or when I revealed my perfectly manicured teeth post braces.

    Perhaps, the day I signed my first lease sans the help of the parentals? Or my first speeding traffic violation?

    As a graduate student, I taught music lessons at Memorial High School a couple of afternoons a week while living in Meyerland. A part of music teacher growing pains, I learned to care for my students enough to stay for a couple of years. Once the initial buzz of infusing culture into unsuspecting lives wore off, I was ready to move on.

    Across the highway, there was the mega Fiesta on the corner of I-10 and Blalock: A Latin-centric international food valhalla with all my favorites, including hard to find items at rock bottom prices. After all, I was pseudo broke, as anything I earned went to feed my habits. Whether I was in need of the latest Charlie Trotter cookbook or a trendy new hat, I depended on my deal-seeking abilities to keep me culinarily engaged.

    As the years went by, my daily routine took me into different thoroughfares, and I somewhat neglected to nurture my relationship with Fiesta. Imagine my surprise when one day the all familiar sign was gone in favor of one reading 99 Ranch Market. I felt betrayed, shunned and puzzled. Why would I need a 99 cent store?

    My ignorance was fed by really bad marketing. Indeed, 99 Ranch Market was quite far from the stereotypical cluttered bargain product reject warehouse, although one could find great deals.

    It is a chain of Asian grocery stores; the first opened in California in 1984. It made its Texas debut in Houston in late 2009. I no longer had to travel very far to find key ingredients to perfect my vegan Pad Thai, stock-up on Banh Xeo mixes like we were nearing armaggedon, or have access to a bacchanal of products in languages I could not understand, with translations that made no attempt to even vaguely make any sense.

    I cheated on Fiesta and I am having open relations with 99.

    Whether you are a self-proclaimed carnivore, a moderate omnivore, a flexaterian, pescaterian, vegetarian, vegan, raw vegan or believe in fasting, it is easy to fall into a foodie cycle and stick with what is familiar.

    Being successful in maintaining a vegan diet, or any eating regime for that matter, is directly dependent on trying a variety of foods and ingredients and having courage and child-like curiosity to experiment with them. We often concentrate on everything we cannot have rather than discovering what we can. A huge gamut of delicious options materializes by branching out teasing our taste buds.

    Remember the first time you tried sushi? While for most young'uns the thought of raw fish was welcomed by gagging gestures, it is through maturity and exposure that for some, it translates into an obsessive delicacy. Vegetables and undiscovered foods sometimes follow the same journey. Other times, its love at first taste.

    Having access to ethnic grocery stores is a turn on. Roaming through them in a quest for the unknown resembles dating: We pretend to know what we want, but often surprise ourselves by ending up with something completely different.

    On my last few trips to 99 Ranch Market, I developed foodie crushes for these fabulous finds.

    Red Spinach

    Primarily grown in Southeast Asia, it is best known as Chinese spinach. It is of the same family as traditional spinach, although much easier on the eyes with beautiful, red-spotted leaves. Gorgeous as a salad base, it can also replace regular spinach in cooked dishes, dips and sauces.

    High in vitamins A, K, B6, C, riboflavin and folate, red spinach is a good source of calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese.

    The seed is actually a superfood known as amaranth with superhuman-like nutritional content. Like quinoa, it contains a complete set of amino acids making it a complete protein without the gluten of grains.

    Korean Melon

    These adorable fashionably stripped little creatures are a perfect distraction from traditional melons and cantaloupe. If you are a commitment-phobe, their smaller size will please you.

    Juicy and slightly meatier than their conventional brothers, Korean melon supplies you with a good amount of vitamin C, some potassium and a lot of fiber to keep you nicely regulated.

    Hard Dry Mushroom Tofu

    Tofu has received a bad reputation for being tasteless and for some, has an unpleasant consistency. In most conventional supermarkets, it is easy to find different varieties of tofu including silken, sprouted, soft, firm and extra firm. I love to blend the soft to create a creamy sauce base, while the extra firm allows for a meatier consistency.

    Dry tofu is even sexier with a much denser texture with the least amount of water content. It can be sliced thinly, shredded, or diced to mimic meat or cheese, sometimes Indian paneer combined with a little vegan sour cream and spices. The mushrooms and spicy varieties have extra flavor in them for richer tasting dishes.

    Konnyaku

    As close as a zero calorie food as you can get, konnyaku is a Japanese product made from the konjac plant also known as the Devil's Tongue. It comes in two varieties — a white and a gray with some seaweed added — and it is very high in fiber, but has little other nutritional benefits.

    It has a gelatinous consistency and is basically flavorless. It is best to use konnyaku in richer tasting soups or allowing it to marinate for a while to absorb flavor. It is best to blanch the konnyaku in bowling water for a minute or so to remove the storage liquid. You will also find shirataki, which is essentially konnyaku in noodle form.

    Banh Xeo Mix

    Banh Xeo is a Vietnamese street food consisting of a crepe filled with fatty pork, shrimp and vegetables. The crepe is made with rice flour, coconut cream and turmeric giving it a gorgeous golden color with a crispy texture.

    Sautee your favorite veggies, toss in the prepared mix and go to town. These are delicious and flexible. Typically, Banh Xeo is then served with vegetables and herbs on the side including lettuce, basil, mint, cilantro, green papaya and shredded carrots, rolled and then dipped in fish sauce. A vegetarian version is easily duplicated.

    Hungry yet? Would you share your own favorite foodie finds? Please.

    Hard Tofu up close and personal: Delivering a meatier consistency, hard tofu is the perfect substitute for any recipe calling for diced chicken.

    News_Joel Luks_vegging out_99 Ranch Market_Hard Tofu in Vegan Pad Thai
      
    Photo by Joel Luks
    Hard Tofu up close and personal: Delivering a meatier consistency, hard tofu is the perfect substitute for any recipe calling for diced chicken.
    unspecified
    news/restaurants-bars

    long live the king

    Houstonians will get the royal treatment at this lively new steakhouse

    Eric Sandler
    May 14, 2025 | 11:20 am
    King Steak restaurant food spread
    Photo by Lauren Holub
    King Steak serves its guacamole with bacon.

    Houston’s newest steakhouse aims to lure diners with a simple, back-to-basics approach. Opening Wednesday, May 21, King Steak is the latest project from restaurateur Johnny Vassallo and chef Eric Aldis, two of the people behind Mo's...A Place for Steaks, a see-and-be-seen steakhouse that thrived on Post Oak until it closed in 2016.

    Working together, Vassallo as owner and Aldis as operating partner, the duo intends for King Steak to recapture Mo’s lively atmosphere while serving a menu in line with current trends, such as frying items in beef tallow rather than seed oils. For Aldis, who’s done everything from serving as a senior manager who helped grow Federal Grill to operating a short-lived barbecue joint in Midtown, the opportunity to focus on a single location is a welcome change of pace.

    “I’ve been overseeing a bunch of pubs and restaurants,” Aldis tells CultureMap. “Now, I’ll be at King’s six days a week. I want to be more centralized and do one spot for the next 20 years.”

    For a restaurant with “steak” in its name, King Steak keeps things simple. It serves a 16-ounce strip, a 20-ounce ribeye, and a filet in three sizes ranging from four to 12 ounces. They’re joined by steakhouse staples such as Caesar salad, shrimp cocktail, and four different potato sides — loaded baked potato, jalapeño hashbrowns, mashed potatoes, and beef tallow fries.

    Where the restaurant sets itself apart is its selection of non-steak entrees. Options include a short rib with mashed potatoes, chicken Parmesan, ahi tuna with mushrooms and Brussels sprouts, and a French dip sandwich. One item Aldis hopes diners will embrace is the restaurant’s vegetable charcuterie, a shareable appetizer platter made with grilled and roasted vegetables paired with an array of dipping sauces.

    “Having artichoke carpaccio, beet pastrami, all different types of vegetables presented in the style of charcuterie. It’s fun and a little healthy, too,” Aldis says. “Don’t get wrong. I still love a great charcuterie board with meats and cheeses, but it’s something different that goes well with a glass of wine and chilling on a patio.”

    Speaking of the patio, Vassallo and Aldis have invested in major upgrades to location’s outdoor seating, which now has year-round utility courtesy of glass walls and climate control. Formerly Osteria Mazzantini and Cafe Ginger, the dining room has been transformed with a mural and artwork that evokes the American West.

    Aldis is confident that the patio, and the restaurant’s private dining room that can be divided into three spaces, will help lure customers — as will Aldis’ outgoing personality.

    “Don’t shy away from a caviar bump when I’m walking around with a kilo to get the party started,” he says with a laugh.

    Yes, the Galleria area is thick with steakhouses at all price points, but many are corporate-owned or part of larger chains. Aldis sees an opportunity for a locally-owned, single location to distinguish itself with a more personal approach.

    “We’re not chef driven. We’re guest driven. That’s where we want to be,” he says. Later, he adds, “Whatever you want, we’ll go above and beyond to make it happen. Give me a couple days, I’ll get it in. We’ll make it beautiful for you.”

    King Steak is located at 2200 Post Oak Blvd. It will be open for dinner Monday through Saturday beginning at 4 pm. Weekday lunch service is expected to follow in mid-June.



    King Steak restaurant food spread
      

    Photo by Lauren Holub

    King Steak serves its guacamole with bacon.

    news-you-can-eatopeningsking steakthe galleria houston
    news/restaurants-bars
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