Photo by Katharine Shilcutt

​Do you know how much I love Pico's Mex-Mex and Samba Grille? Let me elaborate, ever so briefly: The soft-shell crabs at Pico's are a thing of beauty, and the finest preparation of the crabs you'll consistently find in the city. Those are them up there, looking all fancy and fat and begging to be washed down with one of Pico's famous margaritas.

The 28-year-old Bellaire restaurant is also a four-time Houston Press Best of Houston® winner: In 2010, it won Best Tex-Mex Restaurant; in 2008, it won Best Margarita; in 2007, it won Best Nachos; and in 2000, it won Best Mariscos. In other words, you're guaranteed to find something you love here.

You can peruse the menu at Pico's Mex-Mex in search of your own favorite dish and only pay half the cost: Through this Sunday evening, the Voice Daily Deal gets you $30 worth of food for only $15. You can only redeem one coupon per couple per visit, but the good news is that you can purchase up to five coupons during this weekend's deal. Save at least one of them until softie season gets here in May; you won't regret it.

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Photo courtesy of the Houston Food Bank

Joshua Martinez, left, and Lyle Bento of The Modular made the best of the Texans' loss with a donation to the Houston Food Bank.

​I hear the Texans lost on Sunday. I say "hear" because I couldn't bear the stress of watching the playoff game, and instead spent the afternoon away from all televisions and Internet-enabled phones at a living history museum in Lafayette, where the locals were already smarting after the Saints' loss the previous day.

A lot of Texans fans are still smarting three days out from the loss, which many are pinning solely on Jacoby Jones. "I made a mistake," the remorseful receiver told the Chronicle on Sunday. "I'll get over it."

Texans fans are having a harder time "getting over it," but we have two news items that may ease their pain a bit.

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​Do you have friends or family who've never managed to eat at t'afia? Despite chef/owner Monica Pope's well-deserved stint on Top Chef: Masters And the fact that the restaurant helped start the local food movement here in Houston? And despite the fact that it's still one of the city's best restaurants with some of the most creative cuisine?

Or, like me, do you just love eating at t'afia more than your budget can normally manage? Then you're going to love the latest Voice Daily Deal: $25 for $50 at t'afia, on sale now through Monday.

There's a limit of two coupons per person, and one additional coupon as a gift -- perfect for the upcoming holidays -- but be sure to use yours before they expire on April 6, 2012. There's a limit of one couple per coupon per visit, and the deal excludes alcohol (which means those famous ratafias are on you).

This is the first time that t'afia has offered a deal like this anywhere, so take advantage of it while you can. I know I will be.

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Photo by John Kiely

Bánh mì thịt nướng

​When I spotted the Bon Baguette sign on Holcombe near Kirby, I got a momentary flash of hope that I could find a great loaf of French bread without driving the distance to French Riviera Bakery. When I approached the door, I was met by Tony, who informed me that his new bánh mì shop wasn't open yet.

I grilled him anyway. "Why a bánh mì shop here?" The location was odd, in a corner of a bad-parking-lot strip center that Houston's lack of zoning encourages. "Because there aren't any other bánh mì places around here," he replied.

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Photo by djfpaagman

Red Lobster's shrimp swimming in their natural habitat: butter.

​Recently, during a particularly rowdy Sunday Funday, a three-second flash across the screen of Red Lobster's famous Cheddar Bay Biscuits caught the attention of a few friends of mine. The Red Lobster commercial was promoting the restaurant's limited-time-only Endless Shrimp deal, but it was the cheddar biscuits that really caught the eye.

Drunk and vowing to wreak havoc on the helpless little endless shrimp and free baskets of fluffy, cheesy biscuits, my friend Mike put together a Facebook invite for a bunch of our friends. He named the event Cheddar biscuits! and somehow, more than 10 of us responded as "attending." The group consisted of a couple veterans, a few who hadn't dined at the chain in at least 10 years, and one Red Lobster virgin.

Anxious and giddy with the "endless" possibilities, we made our way over to the restaurant's Highway 290 location last Tuesday night. I have to say, upon arrival, I was shocked. The atmosphere of Red Lobster has come a long way in the years since I've last visited. The restaurant was dimly lit, with the slow rhythms of jazz softly wafting through the dining room. "Where the eff am I?", I thought.

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Photo by Jason McElweenie

​What are the odds that Tacos a Go-Go would announce a one-day-only sale on its tacos the day after our own Marco Torres announced that he's going taco-less (and Mexican food-less) for the next 30 days? Sorry, Marco. Better luck next time...

For the rest of us, this is a helluva deal.

Tacos a Go-Go rarely participates in group dining deals, but they're our featured VOICE Daily Deal today -- and today only. The deal gets you 10 tacos for $10, and you can buy pretty much any taco on the menu, up to a $25 value; the only taco that's excluded from the deal is the lamb barbacoa.

That means you can get 10 $1.79 breakfast tacos for $10, 10 $1.99 pastor tacos for $10 or even 10 $2.49 fajita tacos... for just $10. I think I know who's going to be the most popular guy at the office soon: you, and that big bag of breakfast tacos you just brought in.

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Follow Eating Our Words on Facebook and on Twitter @EatingOurWords

I didn't order it, but I managed to steal a few bites.

​As we mounted the steps to the restaurant, my five-year-old began to have a meltdown. This was not good. We had been anticipating DEFCON 5, and had chosen a restaurant accordingly. She had left her hair-band behind, it seemed, and she was not going to be quiet about it. Sirens blared; my hand hovered over the red button.

As the valet drove off, I tried to calm her down, beseechingly asking my wife if she might have something -- anything -- in her purse with which I could put the girl's hair up. A quick search turned up nothing, and I turned to bribes. The hostess was starting to eye us through the windows in the door, wondering if we she was going to have to deal with this rag-tag band of crying kids and harried, frantic parents. I offered my blackberry as condolence, its sole Windows 95 era brick-breaking game my last gambit in the war for a decent meal.

She took the bait, sniffled and wiped her nose on her sleeve, and we were in the door. The hostess seemed less than thrilled to see us, eyeing the still quietly snuffling child suspiciously. I smiled with what I hoped was a look of reassurance on my face, and half promised/half hoped: "She'll be fine now." She seemed convinced; her expression changing to one of warmth, and she showed us to our table.

We had decided semi-last minute to go to dinner for the last night of Houston Restaurant Weeks, and Feast was our destination. In a show of gratitude for the slightly ridiculous amount of work I had done in recent weeks, my boss had told me to take the family out to dinner. I figured a HRW meal was a pretty good option. I'd sent my wife a link to the HRW website, pointing out a few promising options, and she'd responded, almost immediately, "Feast."

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Photos by Mai Pham

Jose's Dip at Molina's Cantina

​Earlier this year, when Molina's Cantina ran a 50 percent Groupon (Buy $15, get $30 worth of food), I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me when I saw the number sold: a whopping 4,012 Groupons. I'd never tried Molina's, and it was amazing to me how a Tex-Mex restaurant could be so popular. But that was before I knew more about its 70-year history in Houston, the numerous dedicated employees who have worked there for 20 years or more, and the fact that they have such a long history that their menu is littered with specials -- the "CW Special," the "William's Special," "Raulito's Shrimp Special" and more -- that were named after and/or created by longtime customers and friends.

It's not the history that makes the restaurant, however. It's the food: down-home, honest-to-goodness tasty Tex-Mex that has people coming back regularly.

For me, it started with the chips and salsa. Wispy, super-thin, crispy and light chips without even a hint of greasy oil had me paying attention, fast. Combined with Jose's dip, a creamy queso with some Mexican ground beef in it, they were so addictive, I had to shove away the basket so I wouldn't eat the whole thing myself.

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​If you haven't already, click on over to our Deal of the Day page, where $60 VIP tickets for the upcoming Haute Wheels food truck festival for Sunday only are on sale for only $30. This is the second week we've offered a 50 percent discount on the tickets, and last Monday tickets for Saturday all sold out by 1:30 p.m. So go! Now!

And if you're wondering what's so special about those VIP tickets, here's some dish:

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