Clear Lake - Home of NASA - JSC

Go visit Space Center Houston and learn all about the shuttle and the space station.

Go out on Clear Lake on a boat or jet skis or something.

Go to local bars and hobknob with astronauts and the people who work with them! :)

Go shopping in/around Baybrook Mall... lots of good shops!

Go eat in Kemah!!

Quick Tips:

Traffic can be bad in Clear Lake... Bay Area Blvd and Nasa Road 1 are very bad when everyone gets out of work at JSC (around 4).

Best Way To Get Around:

Driving. There is no other way.

Considering that it's situated in what used to be an old bank and their kitchen is where the safety deposit boxes used to be (my dad used to bank there!), you wouldn't expect much out of this place. However, it's got great food, excellent margaritas, and it's NEVER crowded! I really like their fajitas and I'm pretty sure their tortillas are home-made (soft and good!). You can kind of tell by the interior design that it used to be a bank... the ceiling is just a little too high. They try to play it off with some banners and paintings and other typical mexican food restaurant fanfare. However, if you're just in it for the food and margaritas (my favorite drink, so I'm pretty picky!), this is a good place to go! It's good for families, casual dates, whatever!

Kemah has come a long way in the past few years. It started as just a few seafood restaurants and a couple shops, and now it has blossomed to an experience all on it's own.

There are several restaurants now: Joe's Crab Shack, Landry's, The Crab House, Willie G's, The Aquarium, Cadillac Ranch (Mexican food). There are also a bunch of specialty shops and carnival-like games and a few rides (Ferris Wheel, etc), and even a hotel overlooking it all!

I've eaten at every restaurant there and everything I've had has been really good...

Every restaurant serves primarily seafood, and it's all fresh from the Gulf. All the restaurants have outdoor seating, and there's a nice breeze coming off the water. You can watch boats coming in and out of the Clear Lake Marina.

The recently added carnival-like stuff, including a train that weaves around all the restaurants, the Ferris wheel, and the "guess your weight" type games, are great for kids. There is also a huge "jumping water" fountain that there are always lots of kids running around in.

On the weekends (and even some weeknights), the wait is almost always over an hour at any restaurant. During the week is definitely better. The longest wait is always at the Aquarium (however, it's a good place to go have drinks in their bar downstairs), and the shortest is probably at Cadillac Ranch.

Landry's... The owner of The Waterfront is Tom Landry... this restaurant has been here as long as I can remember. The food is very good with a fun atmosphere. (Good for Families)

Joe's Crab Shack is more for the younger, party-seeking crowd. It's good seafood and of course, their specialty is crab. The waitstaff (and sometimes the patrons) dance on the tables to the YMCA and other songs. (Good for groups)

The Crab House... More upscale than Landry's, not as nice as Willie G's. Good food, of course. (Good for dates)

Cadillac Ranch... The only Mexican food place, good if you don't like seafood. I guess that's why it's less crowded. They do have a few Mexican-seafood entrees, though. It's more laid back than most of the restaurants. (Good for families and groups)

Willie G's... Attached to Landry's, I think it's the same food, just a little more upscale atmosphere. (Good for dates or looking to get away from kids)

The Aquarium... Per it's name, the inside looks like an aquarium, with gigantic fish tanks everywhere and the entire inside painted in blue colors. Very neat to go walk around in even if you don't eat there (I've eaten there once, but walked around the inside FOUR times... they come to expect it). (Good for everyone)

http://www.kemahwaterfront.com/

Tookie's is probably one of the oldest restaurants in the area. It's been here as long as I've been in Clear Lake (21 years) and it didn't look new when I was young. It's a family-owned restaurant and when it was founded, the grandmother was the only one who knew the recipe for the onion rings. Well, old Grandma doesn't work on Sundays... Therefore, there are no onion rings. So, to this day they carry out that tradition, No Onion Rings on Sunday! It's cheap, good hamburger, french fries, and a cherry coke kind of place. Don't expect nothing fancy when you go there... Just sit down in the wooden booths, look at the menus and tell the waitress when she finally comes over what you want. The "bombshells" were my FAVORITE THING in the world when I was 7, (just a cheese covered crisp corn tortilla)... Very good and greasy, just like everything else.

The decor is pretty interesting... It's decorated in old war memorabilia, and signs from the 40's and 50's. Back in the day kids used to be able to sit in the little toy car... It kept me and my brother entertained, but now they just keep their sign in it. :(

It's a good place to go after a long day on the boat (when we used to go) or just for a good burger.

One of my favorite Italian restaurants in Carraba's. It's a chain, yes, but their food is all very good. They start you off with warm, delicious sliced bread that you can dip into a concoction of olive oil, pepper, and spices. From there you can look over their wine selection and the menu where you can choose from the typical Italian fare. They are known, however, for their wood-fired pizzas, which are very good. I also really like their Fettucine Alfredo and they have one of the best (and biggest) chicken Caesar salads around. Their lasagna is also very good. The wait is never too long (weekends are usually about half an hour) and you can always chill at the bar.

This place just opened in Dec 2000. I hear there are several of them around Houston. Based on my first visit (granted, they just opened this one), I was not impressed. Out front there is a huge playground for kids... I knew this was a family place, but still. So, we go inside, put our name on a list (20 minute wait at 8 on a Tuesday?? Interesting.) and go to the bar. The bar is in a little room off to the left, with the "bar" being a window where you can get margaritas or beer, HOWEVER, it only accepts CASH. I got a margarita (between me and my date, we had $5 in cash)... It comes in a plastic cup, from a machine and it was pretty sour. Not too good. The "bar" area is off limits to kids, so the crowd was good... After 20 minutes or so, we realized we should have been called, and go up to the hostess. Sure enough. So, we get seated, get homemade chips and salsa. Chips were good, salsa was pretty watery. Our waiter (who was very nice) comes with water, and eventually comes to take our order. We get the fajitas for 2 ($21.95)... that's what had been recommended to me (but, I was a little wary, considering this was the same person who said their margaritas were good). I also ordered another margarita... This one was much better than the first (maybe it was because it came in a glass instead of a plastic cup). So, after a LONG wait of listening to the kids in the restaurant cry and scream, our food arrived. The fajitas were very good (and there were a LOT of them, and lots of sides and extras), but after eating chips and drinking margaritas for the past hour, I was pretty full. So, the fajitas came home with us. The best part of the meal was that tortillas were homemade, which made them very good and soft.

Overall, I think this is probably just a good place for families with young children, and that's about it.... not the best place for a date.

Mamacita's has been in Clear Lake as long as I can remember. It's one of my favorite places. There is almost never a wait (even on Saturday night), probably because they have lots of tables. There is also a big bar area in the case that you do have to wait, or are just there to enjoy one of their margaritas. During the week, Mamacita's caters to the lunch time NASA crowd, due to their extensive and cheap lunch menu. Their dinner menu is even bigger, with every kind of Mexican food you could ever want. I personally love their quesadillas (cheese and mushrooms), and their chips and two kinds of salsa are also very good. I'm pretty sure the entire kitchen staff (and many of the waiters) are Mexican themselves, which might be why the food is so good. They also offer many different types of margarita's from Mango to Blue Hawaiian. They are very good, and pretty strong... you have to be careful with these!

Also, if it's your birthday... be careful if they find out... you get to wear a big hat and get cake/ice cream smeared on your face... mmmm.

Antonini's is a tiny, local sandwich shop owned by a guy from New Jersey. It's not much to look at on the outside (just a small sign that says "SUBS"), or the inside (which is covered in all kinds of memorbilia from New Jersey and NASA stuff, and basically anything he could find to put on the walls). But the sandwiches are VERY good. They don't do much advertising, I think it's all word-of-mouth, and that's how I came upon this place. You come in and step up to their counter/grill and order a sandwich... they have Italian subs and cheesesteak sandwiches and I don't think much else. I've heard their cheesesteak is good, but I can't not order one of their Italian turkey breast subs. They'll put whatever you want on it, anyway you like, but the BEST part is the italian spicy dressing... It's pretty spicy (and sweet at the same time), but SO GOOD. I'm not a big fan of anything spicy, but I put up with this because it's so good. Their drinks come out of a cooler (pick what you want), and there's a rack of chips if you like. You can eat there (at picnic tables) or take it to go.

Ninfa's is a Houston staple. They are everywhere. The Clear Lake one is fairly new (5 or 6 years), and it's gotten a lot better since it first opened. The food is good, prices are reasonable (although they used to be cheap!), and the Ninfarita's are AWESOME. The chips come with red and green salsa (the green contains guacamole and is one of my favorite things about Ninfa's, but the red is good also). Their tortillas are handmade, which is always good.

I recommend their fajita's (you get tortillas!), their quesadilla's, and their 'poof' (something 'con queso'... they were my FAVORITE thing when I was younger... a cheese covered air pocket - better than it sounds). Their sopapillas are also VERY good!

The decor is purely Tex-Mex, with an indoor fountain and mexican paraphernalia. The wait is never long (if there is one at all)... it's a pretty big place. And you have a wonderful view of the Kinko's next door! What more could you ask for? :)

Banana Joe's is fairly new to Clear Lake. It opened in the spring of 2000, and it became pretty popular over the summer due to its casual "summer" atmosphere. It's 21 and up every night of the week except Weds with nightly drink specials. It's a large club with three "rooms". The first room is where the main dance floor is with a DJ that plays rap and techno all night. There's a stage in the center of the dance floor for "girls only" and two stages on either side of the DJ booth. There are booths that surround the dance floor; it's good to have one if you're with a large group, because it's a good place to set your drinks. There are two bars in this "room" serving up all kinds of drinks. In between this room and the next room is another bar. The next room contains about 10 pool tables and more booths (these booths each have individual TVs in them!). The music is a little softer from here, and there's a kitchen where you can get something to snack on. (I think they have appetizers and pizza.) Through a little door in the far left corner is another room. Usually there is a band playing in here. During the summer there was always these afro-ed guys in silver lamee' pants and platform shoes playing 70's disco tunes... They were fun to watch and dance with, too. There is another bar in this part and a few tables.

All in all, it can be a very fun club when there are lots of people there. Weds nights were always the most packed because the 18 and up crowd could go.

NOTE: Closed down in Fall 2001. Opened as Texas Saloon in Summer 2002.

There are three Sherlock's Pubs in Houston, but each is very different. This one consists of 4(?) rooms. There's the main bar room (where the band plays and the dance floor is), the side bar room (where you can hear the band, just barely), the pool/game room, and the darts room. And there's also an outside patio in the back. The bar is decorated in "Sherlock Holmes" motif with lots of books and bar signs. There are 3 or 4 bars scattered throughout, with beer being the drink of choice. There are tables and booths and barstools everywhere you look. It's a good place to go for an after work drink or just to chill with some friends. They have drink specials every night (Monday being $1 drinks, Tuesday being $1.25 wells and $5 steak night, etc.). On Weds through Friday they have free "bar" food from 5 till 8. The primary customers are the NASA crowd: those just off work from JSC.

Baybrook Mall has been a staple of the Clear Lake area for at least 25 years. As the area around it has grown, it has grown to accomodate. The five anchor department stores are Dillard's (two of them, a men's and a HUGE women's - used to be a Macy's), Sears, Mervyn's, Montgomery Ward's (which is currently in the stages of going out of business). A few years ago, the mall underwent a major renovation, as they were trying to make the mall more "upscale" and gave the mall a facelift. The inside of the mall is now lit by huge skylights (sometimes sunglasses are almost needed), and with the summer Houston heat, it can get pretty warm in there. It's a good size (meaning easy to cover in less than a day), not too big like many of the newer malls.

The mall itself is shaped like a 8 (except one corner of the 8 branches a little), with the Food Court in the center. On each of the corners lies a major department store, and at the "branch," there are two. The mall has all kinds of stores: Gap, Baby Gap, Warner Bros store, Disney store, Ann Taylor, Casual Corner, The Limited, Express, Victoria's Secret, Body Shop, Bath & Body Works, Gingiss formal wear, sports stores, gadget stores, many shoe stores, book & media stores, 3 or 4 major jewelry stores, a leather store, and many other specialty stores. The food court has the typical mall stuff (a pizza place, a Chinese place, a Taco Bell, a candy store, a Thirsty's, Great American Cookie Co., a Wendy's, etc.)

It's a good "cross-section" mall, that offers plenty of parking (except maybe at Christmas) and many other stores surrounding it and across the street (Target, Kmart, Barnes & Noble, Marshall's, Ross Dress-for-Less, Ethan Allen, Krause's, Circuit City) and many restaurants nearby (Bennigan's, Churasco's, McD's, Burger King, La Madeleine, Marie Callender's).

I call it the "secret movie theater" because it's kinda hidden and not many people know about it (it opened a year ago, and my parents didn't know about it until last week and they live here!). It was a little more crowded this last time I went, but still not bad (especially for a Saturday).

Since the rise of the stadium seating multiplex theaters in the past five years, many of the smaller movie theaters in Clear Lake have gone downhill or just closed all together. Especially once AMC's Gulf Pointe 30 opened up (about 15 minutes from CL). Well, since no one goes to the small theaters anymore, EVERYONE started going to Gulf Pointe. EVERY night you have to wait in a HUGE line with tons of people, lots of screaming teenagers hanging out, people with cell phones in the theater (ANSWERING their loudly ringing phone IN the theater and TALKING on it!!), and it's always packed. You have to get there early to make sure the movie's not sold out, too. I vowed after one Sunday night of sitting through a sold out "Perfect Storm" (terrible movie) next to an annoying talking couple to never go there again!

Then Cinemark 18 quietly opened. I went there on a Saturday night, stood in a 2 minute line, had plenty of room, a clean theater, and no ringing cell phones and people I don't like. It was great!! I went there this past weekend to see a movie on Saturday, and yes, it's gotten a little more crowded, but not like Gulf Pointe. The line was about 15 minutes, and we were a little bit late, and there were still tickets and seats for "Cast Away." (Which I liked, by the way).

And now, Cinemark allows you to buy your tickets online and then you just walk right inside and go to a little machine with NO line and print out your tickets (No more worrying about getting tickets to a sold out movie!!).

Overall, it's a very clean, nice theater with a good crowd. My favorite local place to see a movie.