August 9, 2015 Porch Cafe, Galveston Bookshop and The Pelican Club

Your humble self-appointed Galveston reviewer is back with recommendations after a rare stay without grandchildren.

First up: The Porch Cafe near our place on the East End serves lunch! We had a flatbread pizza with shrimp and a Wagyu beef hot dog with house made yummy potato chips on the porch under a bunch of fans. They also serve dinner and brunch on Sundays but are only open Thursday-Sunday.

Second stop: Galveston Bookshop is just the quirky kind of independent bookstore you would expect near the Strand complete with store tabby cat. We went because a local author was signing her book on Galveston Cemeteries (for Mike the extreme history buff) and found the store stocked with books by Galvestonians and books about Galveston and Texas.

Third stop: The Pelican Club for dinner. This used to be a private club behind Gaido's opened in the days of Prohibition and when liquor could only be served in Texas in private clubs. Its now open to the public. We visited a couple of times when it first opened but found the ratio of trendy to delicious too high. But we loved it this time--more Gulf seafood on the menu with interesting twists on old recipes. Pricey but worth it.

UPDATE: The chef left and The Pelican Club is now closed. Sad face.