EaDo steak night delivers prime rib that's one of Alison Cook's top dishes this week

From Sugar Land to Conroe to East Downtown, here are the best things I ate last week. A number of them came from a certain grand new barbecue outpost that I don’t seem to be able to stay away from. Neither should you. Cherry Streusel Pie from Pie in the Sky My Yankee upbringing made me more of a fruit pie person than a cream pie person, which means that here in the great state of Texas, I am often out of luck. Until I ventured into the Conroe cafe — just north of The Woodlands, really — run by Pie in the Sky Pie Co. In back of the large building lies a busy wholesale bakery turning out pies in many varieties. You can see operations from the front, a charming dining room and retail bakery where vintage doors descend from the high ceiling, floating like clouds, a visual play on the company name. On the pie shelves, along with Texas faves such as pecan and buttermilk, sat all the fruit varieties I seldom run into locally. Peach. Blueberry. Strawberry-rhubarb. A mixed-berry extravaganza called Bumbleberry. And — be still, my heart — a streusel-topped pie that bore the magic words “tart cherries” on its list of ingredients. And tart they were, bouncing brightly off the sweet crumble of topping and mild crust. It’s that contrast I crave in a fruit pie and what keeps me interested rather than bogged down in the overwhelming sweetness that bogs down too many desserts. The effect was a far cry from those dismal, gluey sweet cherries that lurk in your basic grocery store pies. I may have polished off this admirable pie at home, but Pie in the Sky boasts a fetching covered patio with a green view. I could imagine myself sitting there, sampling pie flavors over a cup of coffee brewed from Amaya Coffee beans, the distinguished Houston roaster. Pie in the Sky Pie Co., 3600 N. Loop 336 W., Conroe; 936-760-3301 Smoked prime rib dinner at J-Bar-M Barbecue (pictured above) When I learned that the Thursday Steak Night special at the new J-Bar-M Barbecue was to be smoked prime rib, I knew a return trip was in order. Yes, I had just feasted on their brisket, ribs and sausage days before. But it was too hard to resist the thought of the magic pitmaster Willow Villarreal could make with prime rib roasts tucked into those hulking Moberg smokers. And magic it was. The plate set before me when I showed up promptly at 6 p.m., when Steak Night service starts, tasted as good as it looked. The slab of rosy-rare roast beef — cut before my eyes as I moved through the serving line — was juicy and smoke-tinged and expressively beefy, a step up from your basic prime rib. Its coarsely peppered-and-salted rim pinged off the meat, which yielded to the handsome carving knife that came with each serving. Meat juices pooled on the plate. A cup of horseradish sauce sat to one side, the work of sides sorceress Jasmine Barela, whose stuffed baked potato was likewise a thing of beauty. Its interior was fluffy rather than leaden, and the generous toppings turned it into a luxury. Even the little mixed-green salad that came with the $35 plate sang, thanks to Barela’s pitch-perfect green goddess dressing, tart and herbal with the proper twinge of funk on the end. This plate’s a Houston classic and well worth the tariff. J-Bar-M Barbecue, 2201 Leeland, 713-534-1024 Peach cobbler at J-Bar-M Barbecue As a cobbler fiend, allow me to direct your attention to the superior version made by the aforementioned Barela at partner Villarreal’s new EaDo barbecue joint. I got mine without the ice cream that usually crowns the dessert, which is finished off in an oven and served hot, because I wanted to take it home. Barela’s is a shortcake rather than a pie crust cobbler version, and it’s a marvel of textures — from the sweet-tart softness of the deeply caramelized peaches, to the crunchy-to-crumbly range of the shortcake base, to the crackle of pearl sugar dancing across the corners. Again, a new Houston classic. J-Bar-M Barbecue, 2201 Leeland, 713-534-1024 Hakka Pepper Steak at Alings Chinese Bistro I’m still trying to get my head around the menu at this family-owned Sugar Land Chinese restaurant. Their range combines the Hakka regional cooking of southeastern China with the Indo-Chinese repertoire that Chinese immigrants to India made popular in the subcontinent. Hot green chiles, garlic, onions and abundant ginger root are among the defining ingredients of this blended cuisine. I could tell from my fellow patrons that Alings has an enthusiastic customer base among the South Asian community here in Fort Bend County. And I would have loved the Paneer 88 dish I picked out, in its spicy tart-and-sweet marinade, had the batons of Indian farmers cheese been yielding instead of rubbery. So near, and yet so far. I discovered that a number of dishes, like the signature Chili Chicken and the Gobi (cauliflower) Manchurian, came with their main ingredient batter-fried, which meant that even though I had ordered them “dry style,” without a bath of liquid sauce, their textures were compromised during my long drive home. I’d have to try them in situ to give a fair reading. The Hakka-style Pepper Steak, however, made the trip in fine shape. With its thin flaps of beef and bright sweet peppers in a savory brown stir-fry sauce, it was a quiet comfort amid the more boisterous Indo-Chinese ideas. I’ll return to the hospitable Alings to sample more of those in happier times — and to sit beneath the eye-popping neon light sculpture that hangs over the dining room like some festive flying saucer. Alings Chinese Bistro , 6542 U.S. Alt-90, Sugar Land; 281-242-0432 alison.cook@chron.com

EaDo steak night delivers prime rib that's one of Alison Cook's top dishes this week

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