Election Night Returns Party: on election night, Nov 6,  starting at 7 and going late into the night, we'll be at This Is It Soul Food,  located just outside downtown.  Directions are available at the end of this  message, along with a review of the restaurant.  Please stop by.  The  evening will be very casual, and hopefully we'll have good  news.
 
Friday evening early vote: early voting ends this  Friday at 7 p.m.  We're meeting from 4 p.m. to about 8  p.m. this Friday, Nov 2, at La Griglia on West Gray just east of  Shepherd.  There will be a cash bar and appetizers.  It's very, very  casual.  We're encouraging everyone to VOTE EARLY before you stop by, and  bring as many friends or co-workers as possible.  You can vote at the West  Gray Multi-Service Center just down the street at 1475 W. Gray, between Waugh  and Shepherd, across from the Cafe Express.  Remember, regardless of where  you live, ANYONE can vote at that or ANY early vote site.  All you need is  your driver's license (in case you forget your registration card).  If  you're downtown, you may also choose to vote at 1301 Prairie, 16th  floor.
 
For both of these  events, your check made payable to the Michael Berry Campaign is welcome but not  required.  
 
PLEASE spread the  word. Please cut and paste this message to your list:
My friend MICHAEL BERRY is running for Houston City  Council at-large position 4 (the seat being vacated by Chris Bell).  I hope  you'll join me in voting for him.  For more information on Michael Berry,  see his web site at www.michaelberry.com .   
 
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Directions from all areas to  "This is It" Restaurant:
From I-10 headed  East:  Take I-10 East until I-45 South.  Take the Dallas/Pierce exit (a right  hand exit), get in far right hand lane, go approximately 7/10ths of a mile and  exit Bagby (it will be your second veer off).  Stay on Bagby until your first light,  which is West Gray.  Make a right on  West Gray.  Go one street  (Baldwin).  "This is it" Restaurant  is on the corner of West Gray and Baldwin on the right. 
From I-10 headed  West:  Take I-10 West until I-45 South. Take the Dallas/Pierce exit (a  right hand exit), get in far right hand lane, go approximately 7/10ths of a mile  and exit Bagby (it will be your second veer off) .  Stay on Bagby until your first light,  which is West Gray.  Make a right on  West Gray.  Go one street  (Baldwin).  "This is it" Restaurant  is on the corner of West Gray and Baldwin on the right. 
Hwy 59 headed  South:  Take 59 South until I-45 North (toward Dallas).  Take your first exit, the Houston/ Memorial exit,and get in your far rightlane.  The  oad splits, stay to the right and make your first right at the light  (Memorial).  Go on Memorial until  your first light (Bagby).  Make a  right on Bagby.  Go seven lights  until Hiener (you will be crossing the freeway).  Make a left on Hiener.  Get in far right lane once on  Hiener.  Hiener veers right and  becomes Bagby.  Your first light  once Hiener becomes Bagby is West Gray.   Make a right on West Gray.   The first street is Baldwin.   "This is it" Restaurant is on the corner on the right.  
Hwy 59 headed North:  Take 59 headed north until  the Downtown Spur.  Take the Downtown Spur until it becomes Brazos and ends at a  light at Elgin.  Stay on Brazos and  you will cross lights at Tuam, McGowan, and Webster.  The next light is West Gray.  Make a right on West Gray.  Cross yourfirst light, which is Bagby.  The next street is Baldwin.  "This is it" Restaurant is on the corner  on the right. 
I-45 headed North:  Take I-45 headed North.  Once on PierceElevated go until your first exit  (Houston/Memorial).  Take Houston/  Memorial exit and get in your far right hand lane.  Road splits, stay to the right and make  your first right at the light (Memorial).   Go on Memorial until your first light (Bagby).  Make a right on Bagby.  Go seven lights until Hiener (you will  be crossing the freeway).  Make a  left on Hiener.  Get in far right  hand lane once on Hiener.  Hiener  veers right and becomes Bagby.  Your  first light once Hiener becomes Bagby is West Gray.  Make a right on West Gray.  The first street is Baldwin.  "This is it" Restaurant is on the corner  on the right.   
I-45 headed South:  Take I-45 South until the Dallas/Pierce exit (a right hand  exit), get in far right lane, go approximately 7/10ths of a mile and exit Bagby  (it will be your second veer off) .   Stay on Bagby until your first light, which is West Gray.  Make a right on West Gray.  Go one street (Baldwin).  "This is it" Restaurant is on the corner  of West Gray and Baldwin on the right. 
288 headed  North:  Take 288 North until the I-45 north.  Take I-45 headed North.  Once on  PierceElevated go until your first exit  (Houston/Memorial).  Take Houston/  Memorial exit and get in your far right hand lane.  Road splits, stay to the right and make  your first right at the light (Memorial).   Go on Memorial until your first light (Bagby).  Make a right on Bagby.  Go seven lights until Hiener (you will  be crossing the freeway).  Make a  left on Hiener.  Get in far right  hand lane once on Hiener.  Hiener  veers right and becomes Bagby.  Your  first light once Hiener becomes Bagby is West Gray.  Make a right on West Gray.  The first street is Baldwin.  "This is it" Restaurant is on the corner  on the right.   
 
This Is It! is where it's at  for soul food 
By KATHI MOSBACHER
Houston Chronicle
Published: May 24,  1996
IN 1959, when Frank and Mattie Jones were  shown the little house at 1003 Andrews in the heart of the Fourth Ward, Mattie  knew the search was over. "This is it!" she said. 
They knocked down  walls, converted the garage into a kitchen and started a business that has  become an institution - This Is It!, "soul food at its best," as it says on the  takeout menu. 
The couple remained at that location until 1983, when they  moved to 239 W. Gray. After 12 years there, Frank Jones' grandson, Craig Joseph,  and his wife, Georgette, moved the restaurant to its present location at 207 W.  Gray last spring. 
Mattie died last year, but 81-year-old Frank is still  cooking - from 5:30 in the evening until 10 the next morning -virtually the same  menu he has cooked for 37 years, with the assistance now of either Gladys  Jackson or Craig Joseph. 
Craig, a 36-year-old firefighter, says he and  his 35-year-old wife got involved in the restaurant because he couldn't bear to  see his grandparents' business sold to a stranger. 
When he's not  fighting fires - a job he says he still loves after 16 years and is able to do  because of his grandfather's presence at the restaurant - he joins Georgette at  This Is It! 
Georgette, who pretty much runs the show, also gets credit  for the new location's attractive decor and of course for her renowned peach  cobbler (she says they made B.B. King his own little cobbler when he was in town  recently to play at Rockefeller's). 
She firmly believes that "we have  the best soul food in Houston. It's kind of rare to find a place where you can  get a plate of food without having to worry about adding more salt or pepper. .  . . It's just perfect." 
"The secret to our success is how we season our  food," says Craig, whose grandfather takes seasoning so seriously that he  insists that he or Craig do it themselves. 
They're right. The food is  well-seasoned when it's meant to be seasoned - during the cooking process, not  at the table. This is homemade soul food to make any Southerner's heart sing. Go  helpless with hunger before making the trip; the portions are huge, and you'll  want to eat every bite. 
Georgette says most people "say they'd prefer a  nap to going back to work" after tucking in to three generous slabs of what may  be the best meat loaf in town (available Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays).  
Fresh chopped garlic brings out the flavor in the beef, Craig believes,  and the tomato sauce is especially good, although he prefers the creamy,  fall-off-the-bone-tender turkey wings (a special on Tuesdays, Thursdays and  Saturdays). 
Georgette's favorite dish is BBQ Rib Ends, meaty chunks of  pork with the brisket end of the rib barely attached to the bone, full of flavor  and cooked until they've absorbed the sweet-hot barbecue sauce. Fortunately this  dish is available every day, because it's terrific. 
But my favorite dish  is the one Craig believes made This Is It! - the oxtails, which Georgette says  she'd never even heard of before she met Craig. Actually they are sliced beef  tails browned, then braised to deeply delicious perfection with lots of chopped  onions, garlic, bell pepper and celery. 
"I guarantee that if I let you  try them, you're going to want oxtails! They're on the steam table in the same  place every day," Craig says. 
Frank Jones says the restaurant runs  through about 300 pounds of oxtails a day. "When we opened in 1959, I used to  slice them myself and sold them for 89 cents a plate," he says. They're $6.50  now and come with a choice of three vegetables and heavenly corn-bread muffins.  
I recommend a heaping plate of the oxtails with their dense, rich brown  gravy spooned over white rice; cabbage, which is seasoned with small chunks of  smoky bacon and given more texture than usual by the addition of the darker,  coarser outer leaves; and maybe the green beans, cooked according to  well-founded Southern tradition, not al dente.
Of course, you could play  it safe and go with the buttery, golden-crusted baked chicken or the classic  pepper steak (Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays). 
Dessert is a must. Beyond  Georgette's peach cobbler is a selection of unimprovable lush, moist cakes, all  baked on the premises. 
This Is It! offers breakfast seven days a week,  the only meal not served cafeteria-style. Everything is cooked to order and  right on the mark, from the well-seasoned grits with a little pool of butter on  top to the pancakes. All eggs come with a choice of grilled pork chops, bacon,  two kinds of sausage or slices of sweet, baked ham. 
The restaurant may  also be the perfect source for fried turkey (available with 48 hours' notice).  My friends in Louisiana tell me that the tradition of frying turkeys began at  summer crawfish boils, rather than during the holidays, using the same equipment  for both tasks. I recommend ordering one for your next picnic or country outing.  
Prices: breakfast $3.50-$4.50, lunch and dinner (one entree, three  vegetables and corn bread) $6.50 Hours: breakfast 6:30 a.m.-10 a.m. daily; lunch  and dinner 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays,  and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sundays. 
 
 
Michael Berry Campaign
223 Westheimer, Houston, TX   77006
Phone 713.522.6138
Fax 713.522.3286
E-mail: iam@michaelberry.com 
Web: www.michaelberry.com  (includes finance  committee and on-line contribution link)
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