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New Day Cafe: Sweet and Savory [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-06-22

Good morning, Newdists! Everything is terrible, but food is still good. So this post is about food.

The BF’s cousins were here for the weekend, so yesterday we went out and did some eating. And that’s pretty much all we did, as you’ll see. I thought I’d share some of the food pics.

We started with lunch, because nobody was up for breakfast. We went out to a local favorite spot that I’ve been wanting to try for a while called Blood Bros. BBQ, which specializes in Texas barbecue with Vietnamese flair.

In 2013, three childhood friends from Alief, Texas decided to share their backyard BBQ with the masses. Their common love for good friends, good beer, and good BBQ would be featured through monthly pop-ups and barbecue festivals throughout Houston. These events would lead to a cult-like following that demanded a brick and mortar. Five years later in 2018, they succumbed to their fan’s wishes and opened up a restaurant in Bellaire, Texas. Since then, they’ve been featured in multiple national as well as international publications and television programs. They’ve also been named to the New York Times 50 Best Restaurants 2021, Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ Joints 2021, James Beard Finalist for Best Chef: Texas 2022, and most recently a Michelin Bib Gourmand 2024.

I went thinking I was going to get one specific thing (the smoked banh mi), but ended up eating much more than that (too much). It was so good! Here are some of the things we ate (we each got our own thing, but also ate it kind of family-style):

Brisket fried rice (tasted very smoky!) and a jalapeño cheese sausage

Smoked pork and kimchi egg rolls, char siu pork belly burnt ends, smoked banh mi (made with pho-rub beef belly), and a “pho-strami” sandwich

Closeup of the pho-strami (the meat tasted just like a bowl of pho)

Ditto this meat in the banh mi

Not pictured (but worth mentioning): One of the stars of the lunch was the roasted creamed corn with jalapeños, which had a very smoky flavor and was scarfed down before I could even get a pic. We tried to go back to the counter and get another side of creamed corn, but they ran out in that short time!

If anybody from the Houston area is reading this and planning to go to Blood Bros. BBQ, we do advise to avoid the potato salad. There’s some weird shit going on in there (we thought we detected apples and celery in there, and it was not the vibe). That is a universal opinion among the table, not just me. Also, the smoked pork and kimchi egg rolls pictured above are kind of mushy and not that great. Everything else we had, though, was top-notch!

(Oh, and if anybody from Blood Bros. BBQ is reading this: Why the FUCK are you using bread and butter pickles in your BBQ bar? Who hurt you? Get your act together, think about your life choices, and get dill pickles. Thank you for your attention to this matter.)

After lunch, we went to the Galleria to walk off some of the calories. We passed by a kiosk selling the viral Dubai chocolate that has become such a trend lately. If you haven’t seen it, it’s basically chocolate with a crunchy pistachio filling. But the “authentic” Dubai chocolate is apparently made with some special pistachio, and these chocolate bars were $25 each!

No pic of the Dubai chocolate (I ate my portion late at night well after the gummy hit, lol), but here’s a video about the phenomenon for the uninitiated:

x YouTube Video

I have to say, it’s very good! Would I pay $25 for a bar for myself? Absolutely not. But I’m glad I tried it!

Then, we went to nearby Rice Village and found a lovely little cafe with the most tempting baked goods (Badolina Bakery, since I’m name-dropping local businesses—highly recommend if you’re in the area!). We got a trio of cookies and a slice of basque cheesecake to share:

If memory serves, these are chocolate chip, walnut something or other, and pistachio something something (lol they were all PERFECT, I loved them)

I prefer my basque cheesecake a little darker, but this was DELICIOUS

And finally, to end the day, we went to Pho Sapa in Chinatown. The BF and I had never been (and we were skeptical, because we have our favorite pho spots), but the cousins had tried it before and we knew they would lead us astray. And they certainly did not. Our other favorite pho spots? Never heard of ‘em. I think we’ll only be going to Pho Sapa from now on. Best pho broth I’ve ever had, and it’s not particularly close. Very generous (and handmade) noodles and meat, and a lot of customization for the bowls. I ordered mine with regular brisket, fatty brisket, rare steak, and skirt steak.

We also got a bowl of bone marrow for the table to share, which was new to us. If you stir in a spoonful or two, it adds a wonderful richness to an already rich broth. The bowl of bone marrow isn’t much to look at, though!

It’s very good, but I wouldn’t get this again unless we have a full table to share with

That concludes my day of sinfulness. Today is a day of atonement and light eating, lol.

New Day Cafe is an open thread!

Share what’s on your mind this morning

From belinda ridgewood and our friends at the Inoculation Project:

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