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If you’ve never had the “gingery” tofu vermicelli at Jenni’s Noodle House, then it’s unlikely life holds much meaning for ya.

This is a dish I regularly crave and regularly purchase from cute-as-hell Jenni and her equally cute hubby. There’s something about the combo of ginger, jalapeño, peanuts, fried tofu, greenage and noodles that’s more addictive than the damn Internet. You can order it either at their old location on Jefferson and Hutchins, or at their brand spanking new one (!) at the corner of West Alabama and Shepherd.

While you’re at it, say something outrageous and see if you can make it onto Jenni’s Web site’s “gossip page,” which features quotes from customers such as, “Are you sure your husband Scott is straight?” and “I’m NEVER going to Mai’s again!” – Cathy Matusow

What $13 gets you: A filling lunch for two.

Standing in line at Potbelly, waiting to place an order, you may find yourself toe-tapping to what appears to be a good, high-quality bootleg of some crooning cover singer doing everything from Petty to Cobain to early Joe Jackson. Then, looking up, you see the musician seated in the balcony with a guitar and mike.

The live music is just one of the things that separates Potbelly from Subway, Quizno’s, Jimmy John’s and all the rest of the corporate, you-choose-the-fixings sandwich shops. The privately owned and operated Chicago-based franchise – which has three Houston locations and a fourth planned to open next year in Sugar Land – offers tasty sammiches, hand-dipped ice cream and a relaxed, hip décor that would make it a draw on any college campus.

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Pableaux Johnson clearly is having fun in this cookbook as a sample of some of his recipe titles --“Keg of Nails Beer Batter Bread,” “Goal-Line Mash-Up Guacamole” and “Laura’s old Mountain Jug London Broil” -- shows.

The New Orleans-based food writer for The New York Times, the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Texas Monthly (and occasionally the Houston Press) has assembled more than 80 recipes suitable for tailgating, directed at men with little cooking experience who want to bring something more complex than a six-pack to the pre-game warm-up party.

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What $13 gets you: A feast of chicken feet in a Vegas-like atmosphere

Part of the beauty of dim sum is picking and choosing from the constant flow of metal carts by your table. It’s nice to see your food before you eat it, but you don’t always have that luxury at Ocean Palace. You can get dim sum here any day of the week, but the place is packed to the gills on Sundays and the carts don’t move fast enough to provide a steady flow of steamed dishes to the table. To cope with this frustration, there’s a buffet line where you can order noodles, turnip cakes and shrimp, as well as some more obscure delicacies that I was too chicken-shit to try. The buffet can be a daunting experience. Customers are ushered along by pushy servers, sometimes before they even have a chance to order. And for every item that looks appealing (the bright green stems of Chinese broccoli looked like fresh and healthy), there’s another that looks intimidating: a woman in front of me ordered a big bowl of beige tripe and chicken feet. I stuck with the turnip cakes and mushy dumplings of indeterminate fillings. For $13, you’ll be able to afford about four dishes, since they average $3 a dish. There are some extra-special dishes that cost over $5, but I’m still not sure what they are.

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Good old Jason Kerr. An ordinary night out for our former Stirred & Shaken drinks columnist includes passing out in the bushes and snoring at the dinner table. You have to love this man!

Besides being a fan of fermented beverages, Kerr is into food (in fact, he’s a chef), which is why we asked him to fill in for Robb Walsh by reviewing Genji Restaurant and Karaoke Bar for this week’s paper. Of course, Kerr-style antics ensued. In service of Houston Press readers, the intrepid Kerr tried “Genji’s Special Drink for Men,” made of whiskey and pineapple juice. He also assessed the karaoke machine, which, um, resulted in Mr. Genji himself physically taking away the microphone halfway through his first song. Hey, at least he didn’t get barred!

By the way, Kerr thought the Japanese food served at Genji was phenomenal (when he could remember what he had). To read the full review, pick up the Press this week. – Cathy Matusow

What $13 gets you: We spent our $13 on the Molé Poblano Dinner ($10.95, a chicken breast smothered in molé sauce, rice, beans, guacamole, tortillas) and the complimentary chips and hot sauce.

Unlike the other Tony’s restaurant in town, this Tony’s isn’t all that fancy -- or expensive -- but it still manages to serve up good Tex-Mex. Our dinner was a bargain at $10.95. The molé was spicy without having much of a burn factor, everything was hot and fresh, and the serving sizes were large without being embarrassingly huge.

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Where: La Griglia, 2002 West Gray, 713-526-4700

What $13 gets you: More than you might think.

From the outside, La Griglia appears intimidating, what with all those valet-parked Beemers and Benzes. It doesn’t help that the place is widely known as a popular power-lunch institution for upper-crust lawyers, bankers and business executives in hoity-toity River Oaks. And a quick scan of La Griglia’s menu shows almost nothing on it for less than about $13. In fact, a lot of stuff is $20 and up. But don’t despair. With a little creativity and restraint, you, too, can eat amid society’s elite.

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In this week’s Café, we look at VIN, the newest addition to fine dining in the Theater District.

Don’t be intimidated by the dark-tinted windows or the “cool guy” atmosphere inside – a tribute to rich-colored wood and red-leather seating, with classic ‘60s and ‘70s movies playing over the stylish bar. It’s not only a place for an elegant meal before going to see a play, but also a relaxing get-away for lunch and dessert. VIN boasts an innovative menu, where a simple ham & cheese sandwich is elevated to haute cuisine, and where the gimmicky self-proclaimed “World’s Tiniest Desserts” actually work and make the final course of the meal a little bit more fun. – Chris Vogel

What $13 gets you: A phat pad Thai, egg roll/spring roll and soup of the day.

First things first: No matter what Google might say, the restaurant’s Web site isn’t www.thegoldenroom.com. No, that’s the site for a Canada-based “global healing facility” where you can heal your sexuality. They’re sure they can assist your body “to merge more fully with your spirit,” but that costs way more than $13 and might involve a lot of bending. The real Web site is www.goldenroomrestaurant.com, but besides the awkward grammar, it’s of no use. Here’s all you need to know: Go there and get you a pad Thai lunch special for $7.95, which includes a cup of the soup of the day and an egg roll or spring roll. The portions are generous, and, since I just drank water, my bill was $8.60 with tax. Feeling generous, I tipped $3, for a total of $11.60. (Dinner is a different story, with entrees running from around $9.95 to $16.95, too much for this experiment.)

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What $13 gets you: Heartburn and a stretched bladder.

I went for the well-rounded approach (and no, that’s not a fat joke), ordering a gourmet hot dog ($4), a soft pretzel ($4) and a large drink ($5). The two girls behind the counter kept asking me if I wanted “the hot dog combo” for $8.50, which comes with the eponymous frankfurter and a medium drink, but I repeatedly and politely declined, especially because there was absolutely no price break for ordering that way.

“You get the hot dog combo?” one of them asked when ringing me up.

“Um, no,” I said, “that’s a large drink. Plus a medium always costs $4.50 so there’s really no reason to order a combo.”

Cue the blank stare.

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It’s time for another installment of $13, where we hit the streets and find out what you can get for 13 smackers in this restaurant-crazy city.

Russell Cobb goes fishing:

What $13 gets you: A lot of tilapia and even more red snapper envy. I prowled Airline Drive looking for fresh snapper. The folks at Canino’s Produce pointed me toward Tampico. Much to my chagrin, all the red snapper dishes—including the plat de résistance, pescado a la veracruzana—were over $13, so I settled for the Bud Light of fish, tilapia. I ordered tilapia a la veracruzana for $11.95 and got four tasty pieces of fresh fish, baked in a sauce of olive oil, tomatoes, onions, olives and garlic. The traditional recipe for Veracruz-style fish calls for jalapeños, but I didn’t detect the slightest bit of spice, which was fine. The plate also came with a side of battered fries and a piece of toast. There were the de rigueur free chips and salsa, which is always a welcome sight. There are certain salsas that are only one step removed from spaghetti sauces and, unfortunately, Tampico’s was one of them.

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It’s time for another installment of $13, where we hit the streets and find out what you can get for 13 smackers in this restaurant-crazy city.

Keith Plocek steps up to the plate:

What $13 gets you: A finger-licking, dog-choking rotisserie chicken ($7.99), a side of charros beans ($1.99) and a side of Mexican rice ($1.50) – all of which adds up to two delicious meals. When I walked in and saw I could get a dinner plate with half a chicken, beans, rice, tortillas and a salad for $7.99, I figured it couldn’t be that much more to get a whole chicken, since a la carte the whole only goes for $2.49 more. But Froy, the nice guy behind the counter, told me that would cost an extra $5.50, which totally would’ve busted through the $13 limit. Plus it just didn’t seem fair. So Froy smiled and worked up some numbers for me, calculating I could get everything but the salad a la carte for a grand total of $12.43 with tax. To wit: Froy is the man. And who needs salad anyway?

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Antonio’s Flying Pizza is the subject of this week’s Café. The red-checkered tablecloth joint on Hillcroft reminds me of the pizzerias where I hung out when I was in high school in Connecticut. And no wonder – Antonio’s is owned and operated by a Sicilian-born pizza maker named Antonio Rosa who once ran a pizzeria called Progresso in the Korvette Shopping Center on the Connecticut Turnpike between Bridgeport and Fairfield. Sitting at Antonio’s Flying Pizza, eating the stuff we used to call Italian food, made me consider the similarities between Americanized Italian food and Tex-Mex. – Robb Walsh

What kind of meal can $13 buy you in restaurant-crazy Houston? We're going to find out. Armed with just $13, Houston Press staffers and freelancers are hitting the streets and eating. The rules are simple: It's $13, flat. Not $13 and change, not just under $14. $13, that's it.

Olivia Flores Alvarez starts us off:

Olivia Flores Alvarez

What $13 gets you: Quite a bit, actually. You can either get a light lunch for two, or a whomp 'em big dinner. Today I opt for the whomp 'em big dinner and start off with a small order of guacamole ($1. 80 and creamy), chips and hot sauce (free), and a fresh lime-aid ($1.50, just the right balance of tart and sweet). Then comes Dinner #2, a crispy beef taco, a bean tostada, two chicken enchiladas, rice and beans ($6, just like momma used to make). My total is $9.30, plus tax and tip, it all comes to $12 even. I resist the urge to break my $13 limit and buy a Mexican candy for $1.50. (There are rules, after all.)

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