Food for Thought
How about a lunner date? When neither lunch nor dinner will do, Houston's thespot for you
Perfect for lunner: Jose's Dip at Molina's Cantina
Share lunner at Kenny & Ziggy's...or have your own Dagwood-style sandwich.
A third lunner option: Little bites at Giacomo's Cibo e Vino, such as thehalf-moon pasta filled with cheeses in a sage butter saucePhoto by Ruthie Johnson
I first fell in love with Sunday brunch when I lived in Austin and the Four Seasons on the shore of Lady Bird Lake had an opera brunch.
The open area eatery in the hotel had omelet and crepe stations, tons of breakfast goodie-laden tables and, yep, opera singers. They had these kids from UT’s Butler Opera Center who were refilling your mimosa glass one minute and bursting into arias and the occasional Disney song the next. It was pretty cool.
We don’t have anything like that in Houston for brunch, but we do have some pretty cool spots to hang out on Sunday and a lot of them have music. Some, like Danton’s Gulf Coast Seafood, offer blues while you nosh at the fish buffet, and The House of Blues offers a major gospel show with its cornbread muffins, hickory smoked sausage and breakfast potatoes. And you’ve got to love the mariachi sounds of El Viento serenading you from the wine loft as you feast on Hugo’s ceviche, carnitas, tamales and ensalada de napoles while sippin’ watermelon mimosas.
With or without music, Sunday brunch is fun for a lot of reasons. One of which is that you can go hang at your favorite restaurant anytime from 10 to 2 and eat to your heart’s content.
Which brings us to lunner.
A lot of times during the week I like to keep writing right through lunch. I’ll get into something and just want to wrap it up before stopping to eat. So, about 3 o’clock I’ll power down the laptop and want a meal. That meal would be lunner, a cross between lunch and dinner.
So I called up my friend last week and asked him to join me at Molina’s Cantina for lunner.
“I don’t understand why we’re eating now.”
“It’s called lunner ... a cross between lunch and dinner.”
“Lunar?”
“No, lunner.”
Halfway through the big bowl of Jose’s Dip, as the sizzling platter of chicken fajitas arrived along with a second round of ritas, he started to get the hang of it.
“I love lunar!”
“Lunner.”
“Whatever, this is fun.”
On the plus side, this is what he liked. One: No valet, free parking right in front of the door. Two: The restaurant was practically empty so we had a waitress all to ourselves and plenty of privacy. Three: The food and drinks arrived very quickly because the bartender and cook really had nothing else going on.
See, lunner can be a lot of fun, like dining at your own private restaurant. Just make sure you pick the right restaurant.
A lot of places close down between lunch and dinner services and some that do stay open have slipshod service because they let a lot of staff go in the late afternoon. Tex-Mex spots are a good bet, as is Giacomo's Cibo e Vino where you can while away the late afternoon on the patio with a carafe of wine and small plates of pasta. And of course there’s Katz’s Deli (because Katz’s never closes) or Kenny & Ziggy’s if you’re in the mood for a really big chicken liver sandwich and a beer.
Of course there is a downside to lunner. After a drink (or two or three, or … you get the idea here) and a satisfying meal, you come home and there’s not much to do except take a nap. And then when you get up you’re not looking forward to dinner because you’re still full and you’re still a little lethargic so there’s not much to do except start drinking again and watch NCIS reruns on USA. That and promise that you’ll finish your column first thing in the morning.
Obviously, lunner isn’t an everyday occurrence but it can be fun once in awhile. Particularly if you’re on vacation or self-employed.
One of the great things about being a grownup is that you can eat anytime you want. One of the great things about living in Houston is that there is always a restaurant open whenever you want to eat. Call it brunch, call it lunner, call it whatever you want, just call me when it’s time to eat.
