The Union Kitchen on Bellaire

Eat here for lunch, not dinner. That's because the lunch menu is quite extensive and moderately priced, and the atmosphere is light and airy. Dinner, on the other hand, is not nearly as nice an atmosphere as many other comparably priced restaurants around town, and the menu is not as appealing. Getting back to lunch, today I dined with 9 women friends celebrating 2 birthdays, and each of us enjoyed our dishes immensely. My Kobe beef burger was superb, served medium rare as requested, and topped with Swiss and fresh mushrooms on a whole wheat bun. My companions had delicious wraps, sandwiches, salads, and soup, all of which were generously sized and made with the freshest ingredients, such as the grilled chicken and avocado sandwich served with tomato and swiss on ciabatta, homemade lentil soup with herbs and vegetables, and a grilled chicken paillard salad with sundried tomatoes, olives, and parmesan served over arugula with a white balsamic vinaigrette. One thing amazed us about our waiter: he took each of our orders and didn't write a single thing down! We were very skeptical and couldn't imagine we would be getting what we ordered the way we wanted it (you know, "dressing on the side", "medium rare", "wheat bun"), but low and behold, we did! Hats off to our memory whiz of a waiter. The Union Kitchen has become our new home for our birthday luncheons.