Not Goat… but G.O.A.T.

One of the many videos I love to watch on cooking, including clips of cooking reality shows, I came across Christine Ha. She is a wonderful blind chef who won the MasterChef title in 2012. Like my mother’s side of the family, she is Vietnamese. She opened The Blind Goat in Houston, Texas, a modern Vietnamese restaurant, to showcase her love of cooking and creativity. I told Lisa I wanted to go there the next time we were in town.

With my sister’s invitation to celebrate the Lunar New Year for the start of the Year of the Dragon, we headed to Houston. It was a wonderful trip. I got to see my mother, sisters, and nephew. I even shared some kitchen time with my mother, making fried rice and spring rolls. So, you can understand my hesitation in taking her to a Vietnamese restaurant where one of the menu items is “Mom’s Eggrolls.”

There were eight of us, and for the first time in almost ten years, my mother sat with her three children for dinner. The Blind Goat takes a modern and Texan approach to Vietnamese cuisine. The menu includes old favorites like eggrolls and fried rice, and the addition of Crawfish and Garlic Noodles, as well as Texas BBQ Brisket Fried Rice. Strangely enough, I didn’t try either of these. I went for the Pork Belly Skewers and the delicious Sticky Wings. After reading the reviews, I see that the Stick Wings are a must-have, and they are not wrong. If you get me that recipe, I will put the chicken on the endangered list. When we ordered the eggrolls, Mom had to tell the waitress they wouldn’t be as good as hers. We all tried the Mom’s Eggrolls, and although they were good, they really weren’t as good as my mother’s, which is also my go-to recipe for eggrolls. My mom liked them, though, so you know they were better than average. If you’re in the mood for Vietnamese, there are a lot of places you could go to in Houston. Stop by The Blind Goat for a great meal. And realize they don’t serve goat because the name is an acronym. Ha! Enjoy the moments, everyone!