Disappointed in Denver

I hate when my memory of something is much better than the reality.  I've been to Cuba Cuba before, and I remember the food being awesome.  So when I was planning my trip to Denver, I made a dinner reservation for Cuba Cuba.  Big disappointment...I should have realized that it had been probably 6 years since I've last eaten there, and maybe like the economy, it's gone downhill.  The food wasn't nearly as good as I remembered it, the plaintains didn't taste the same, and the desserts tasted worse than fast food joints at the airport. 

Top to bottom: creme brulee, tres leches, something infused flan.  They had fancier names, but it wasn't worth remembering.  The creme brulee - eh, average.  The tres leches - dry.  The flan - weird and not something I would ever crave.  Flan's texture is "special" as it is...no need to infuse a weird peach or something flavor in there.  (And I have no aversions to texture whatsoever.)

Jackpot! 2 for 2 in Houston

I have found an excellent dessert (and dinner) place in Houston...Uptown Sushi!!! 

I will just get to the point...the picture on the left is the "Cheesecake Tempura"...aka FRIED cheesecake.  I thought I was at the Texas State Fair for a minute.  The picture on the right is the best green tea ice cream I've ever had (and I've had it from 6 - 8 different establishments).  They both look much better in person...I took the picture of the fried cheesecake after I consumed 1.5 of them, and the green tea ice cream pic was well...an afterthought (I dug right in...notice all those spoon marks).

The fried cheesecake has blueberries, is perfectly cream-cheesey, and the fried outer layer isn't dry and it isn't gross-mushy (I like to make up words...use them Top Chef judges!).  The green tea ice cream isn't grainy (like the cheap stuff you sometimes get in restaurants), the green tea flavor is really balanced with an ice creaminess, and is a huge portion size for "1 scoop".  Of course, my coworker that brought me there is a regular...so maybe it was an act of kindness :)

On a tangent, here's what I love from their appetizer menu: the Lobster & Shrimp Rolls are awesome.  Here is the description: "Chunks of lobster, shrimp, chives, and cream cheese rolled in egg roll skins and fried".  And it comes with this awesome spicy guacamole sauce/spread.  Don't worry about calories on this one...4 large rolls come to an order and according to our server, "oh, I think there are tons of calories in this".  Fried egg rolls + fried cheesecake + green tea ice cream = balance meal.

Why you should do what you know best...and leave the rest to others

I had never had baked eggplant before, so I was really surprised at how good it was at Coal Vines.  I've been for pizza before (they have huge pizzas and it's the only place I like thin-er crust pizza).

The desserts, however, well...let's just say I would have been happier with just a single swedish fish. 

So the lesser of all the dessert evils was the cheesecake...it was better than homemade, but not as good as the cheesecake factory.  Too big of a gap?  How about, on par with the grocery store stuff, but no where near as good as the frozen cheesecake factory from Costco. 

Next comes the ice cream...but doesn't even compare to bluebell or refrigerated twix bar.

And last but not least, tiramisu.  I judge how good a tiramisu is by my unscientific question of, "after I eat this, will it convert me to actually like tiramisu?"  And after eating Coal Vine's tiramisu...no, I still do not like tiramisu. 

Don't judge a book by its cover

Isn't there a saying, "don't judge a book by it's bookcover"?  Well don't judge a dessert by it's dessert-cover!  And don't jump on the dessert-bandwagon!

There was a groupon for Austin Cake Ball, and I thought, wow, these desserts look awesome.  Then I thought, let's just go try them since everyone's been raving about cake balls in general (I personally enjoy oreo balls 10000x more).  I get into the store, and it was a little underwhelming.  I guess because the pictures on the website were so inspiring.  I ordered 1/2 dozen for the price break: (l-r) a german chocolate, carrot cake, vanilla bean, red velvet, chocolate, and peanut butter chocolate.

Let's just skip to the chase...the only cake ball that was worth consuming calories over was the red velvet.  But at that per cake ball price, you might as well spend a few cents more and buying a gourmet red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting....droool.