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Show On the road with H? Shirley Smith ti t In Houston U In Houston Need an injection of "Big City"? Lonesome for freeways and shopping centers, high rises and gourmet restaurants? A little swing and action called for in your life? Have just the answer for y'all...a weekend visit to Houston - the Wild Catter's city where they've thrown out the rule book. Notable, even in today's economy, for its instant oil millionaires and conspicuous consumption, Houston provides, in abundance, just about anything money can buy. The downtown area is sprouting marble and granite giants that keep the skyline in constant flux. The Galleria, a shopping bohemoth surrounded by 50 or so high-rise, buildings along what's called "West Loop" offers an array of more than 250 stores from Alfred Dunhill of London and Bally of Switzerland to Tiffany and Wedgewood. The city offers almost as many restaurants as there are people in Park City (about 2,000 at last count) and no one can ignore the 66,000 seat Astrodome and the , Astroworld Amusement Park nearby. Avoiding the falderol, I went with friends one night recently to try a new restaurant in the N.W. section of town. Complete with valet parking, opulent decor, attentive waiters and an expansive wine list with prices to match, the Biscayne was somehow lacking. Sauce too thick on the duck, too much fat on the lamb - and we repaired to an old favorite for dessert. The Rotisserie of Beef and Bird at 2200 Wilcrest is a real surprise. With a cumbersome name bringing to mind some fast food operation, this friendly establishment serves some of the finest food in town. In how many restaurants, after all, will you find pan fried native quails or broiled partridge with poached pear in burgundy? Steaks are the choicest cuts and are grilled over sizzling coals on an open hearth (dinner prices average around $14 - $15). But the real treat at the Beef and Bird is dessert. Listening to the waiter list them is almost treat enough as he describes in succulent detail the 15 or 20 different selections - most of which never make it to the menu. We settled for praline ice cream pie with hazel nut sauce, fresh berry cobbler cooked to a perfect puff in an individual dish, chocolate mousse cake and a complimentary serving of frozen Grand Marnier souffle. Deer Valley, you've met your match! The next day, dinner barely digested, we set off for Galveston and a seafood lunch at the venerable Jimmie Walker's in Kemah on Galveston Bay. Off the road and on the waterfront, Jimmie Walkers sits next to Piers 5 & 6 with their stalls selling fresh gulf shrimp ($4.25 a lb. for large which tasted unbelieveably good the next night back in Park City) and offers a Sunday buffet that nearly finished us off, for after the oysters on the half shell, crayfish, gumbo, frog legs, deep fried shrimp and salads you arc served a full entree of your choice of crab, prime rib or trout! Waddling out we continued on into Galveston and a drive past some of the many turn of the century mansions and on to the Giande Dame of Galveston - the Galvez Hotel - for after lunch cocktails and a view of the sea. A late afternoon visit to the Strand, the spruced up historic district with its trendy shops, a buying spree that surely made the day for one store and, on our drive back to Houston, the perfect finale to a wonderful day - a sunset so red and so vibrant that the sky on every side, over and around us was bursting with color. |