August 2, 2010 Ruggles Green and RA Sushi Reviews
I ate at two healthier restaurants on Friday: Ruggles Green for lunch and RA Sushi for dinner. I’ve decided to review both of them in one post for no better reason than that I’m feeling too lazy to make 2 posts out of it. So there you have it. Feel free to skip to whichever one interests you…I won’t be offended. And realistically, I’ll never know. I’ll review them in chronological order.
Ruggles Green
Photograph by SMercury98. Downloaded under a Flickr Creative Commons License.
I’ve been hearing about Ruggles Green for a while now, so when a friend and I decided to meet for lunch, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to go there. I’ve always enjoyed the Ruggles in Rice Village (I’ll admit I’ve never been to the original on Westheimer), so I was eager to try their newest restaurant. According to their website, Ruggles Green is the first certified green restaurant in Houston. This means that they take significant actions to reduce waste, such as recycling and using sustainable resources. They claim to recycle about 65% of their total waste. Pretty impressive. They also use organic and locally grown products “whenever practical.”
We met at their first location, which is on Alabama. They are opening a new location at City Centre in the near future. Parking was not fun. They have a very small parking lot, which they share with a spa. At least half of the spots are reserved for spa customers, and probably half of those were empty. After driving around the parking lot several times, I finally accepted that there wasn’t a spot for me, and tried the side streets. I didn’t have any better luck there, so I parked (illegally, I’m sure) in the parking lot next door. I saw other patrons, as well as my friend, do the same.
The restaurant itself is quite small, and quite busy. You order at the counter, and they have the menu on chalk boards above (like at the Ruggles’ in Rice Village). It took me a minute to realize that they also had printed menus by the door, which were much more convenient. A booth opened up shortly after my friend arrived, so I grabbed it and she ordered for us. We used our cell phones to communicate orders. I was starving, and there were several options that I was considering (the tomato and tofu salad, the veggie burger, a chicken sandwich with plaintains, tomato sauce, and mango). I was anticipating eating a rather unhealthy dinner (we had talked about going to BW3′s with some of David’s friends), so I tried to be concientious of my lunch choice. In the end, my friend and I decided to split the locally grown vegetable dish of the day and a dessert. The dish consisted of a variety of seasoned vegetables, such as kale, bell peppers, onions (I think), and portobello mushrooms on a chickpea puree with some nuts. You could have it steamed or stir-fried. We chose stir-fried. For dessert we had Charlotte’s Web: kind of like a tiramisu with chocolate cake and Heath Bar topping.
I didn’t think to take pictures of the food (I’ll have to work on that). Overall, I was happy with the food; It was fresh and seasoned well, and I’m looking forward to trying some of their other dishes. I did not like their herbal iced-teas, but they had plain black iced tea too, which I did like. That’s probably more a matter of personal taste.
This experience reminded me of a recent blog post I read about organic food. The post noted that people associate the word “organic” with “healthy.” For example, they are more likely to eat a larger number of Twinkies if the Twinkie is organic. The food at Ruggles Green is “green” and “organic,” and some of it, I’m sure, is even healthy. But just because you eat, say, a burger and fries at a “green” restaurant doesn’t mean it’s low fat or low calorie. That’s something I have to remind myself of. I’m pretty sure our lunch choice was healthy, but the dessert not so much.
Have you been to Ruggles Green? What did you think? What are some of your favorite healthy restaurants in Houston?
RA Sushi
Photograph by DiscoverDuPage. Downloaded under a Flickr Creative Commonse license.
As I mentioned above, I was expecting BW3′s for dinner, so I was pleasantly surprised when David told me his friends wanted to go to RA Sushi. I love sushi, and Houston has several decent choices. Granted, I’ve never eaten sushi in California or New York City, so I might not know what “good sushi” really is, but Houston sure beats Rochester, NY. I never even ate sushi until the first time I moved to Houston (I actually grew up thinking it was gross), but I’ve grown to love it.
I went to the RA Sushi in Highland Village shortly after it first opened several years ago. My basic impression was: good drinks, good atmosphere, unimpressive overpriced sushi. I never went back. David and I have been to the City Centre location several times now, and I’ve been much happier with the sushi. I don’t know if it’s the location, or if they’ve just improved over time.
It was very busy Friday night, and we wound up sitting at a table in the bar area. This is the first time we’ve done this, and I wouldn’t recommend it: it was the first time I’d met these friends of David’s, and the music was so loud we could barely hear each other. We’ve been able to hear much better when we’ve been seated in the dining area. It’s a little pricey, so I haven’t gotten the nigiri there, but the rolls and appetizers are a good size, so it makes up for the price. One appetizer and 3 rolls is usually plenty for the 2 of us. They have several unique maki and appetizer choices. David and I really like the tuna tartar with chips appetizer. The Viva Las Vegas Roll, one of their most popular, is also very good–but with cream cheese and deep frying, not all that healthy. Sushi is another one of those foods that I have to remind myself, “just calling it sushi doesn’t make it healthy.”
RA Sushi isn’t the best sushi in Houston, but if you’re looking for unique Asian-fusion drinks and sushi dishes in a trendy atmosphere, it’s definitely worth checking out.
Happy eating! What are your favorite sushi places in Houston?
Tags: healthy in Houston, RA Sushi review, restaurant review, Ruggles Green review, sushi restaurant review
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