Why Yes, It Can Be That Good. Underbelly Houston

For the past few months, hype around the new Underbelly has been teased via local articles, Houston foodies/blogs, and heck, even a Time magazine article. The restaurant finally opened earlier this month and having gone this past week - twice, might I add - it was definitely not a disappointment. Underbelly is the creation of Chris Shepard, a well known chef in Houston who previously headed up the popular Catalan. He loves his meat. Next door and with whom they share a kitchen, is The Hay Merchant, a place for beer enthusiasts and a small selection of unique appetizers.

You'll notice that I've slowed the frequency of my restaurant reviews. I realized I'm not really giving a restaurant a chance by only going once. My thoughts of new restaurants now typically show up when I've been able to dine a few times to give it a fair chance. Well, I have to share my experience at Underbelly because I've dined twice (by accident), and they were delicious both times and just too good not for everyone else to know.

Our supper club on Friday had the five of us sharing a slew of the small plates in addition to the family style pork loin:

-Seasonal vegetables: Nicely pickled and ranged from cauliflower, carrots and cucumber. A nice start to the meal.

-Korean braised goat with dumplings: One of my favorites. It had a nice spicy kick and the goat was not over powering (it was my first time to have goat so I was curious about the flavor) and the dumplings were firm logs of dough, a little more firm than what you normally consider for a dumplings.

-General Tso's pork meatballs: We were smart and ordered two of these to share with five. Yes, I am weary of General Tso anything and am typically not a fan, but the meatballs were quite good! A nice surprise by how much I liked them.

-Pickled shrimp with vegetables

-Family style pork loin: Pork can easily dry out but this was tender and moist with an exceptionally crispy and salty crust. It was accompanied with a slew of veggies in the cast iron pan. Really divine and served the five of us plenty. I would highly recommend this if you see it on the menu.

Now, let's get to the dessert. One of the highlights. We shared the brownie, beet creme and the golden star of the night, the strawberry fried pie. Seriously, notice that it's the only thing I've bolded here, it's that good. 

Let's just say that I didn't stop mid convesation to say "omg, this is amazing." Sharing the strawberry pie among five ladies....hard. I relished each bit and then thought of it a little more. So much that the next evening, after having full sushi dinner, we opted to skip dessert and head to Underbelly to have the strawberry pie in their wine bar area. Best decision of the weekend. We shared one pie per couple, which meant I got half - yippee! We paired it with a nice pale ale from Belgium. Afterwards, we started thinking about the other small plates and proceeded to order two more dishes....our second dinner of the night. The flanks steak with slaw on a tortilla and a variation of a dish I tried the night before, Korean braised rabbit with dumplings (top picture). Again, both were delicious.

Gahh, I think I could come here too often. As for price, I could see how this could get pricey for two, but with our supper club, it was a great deal for around $50 pp. The small dishes were, yes, small but we were able to try many and a family style dish that served plenty. I left full and happy.

As for the service, it was spot on. I typically don't like to go to an opening night restaurant as you sometime risk new servers and the restaurant getting its service in order. With just a month under their belt, they were attentive without being overbearing and prompt. The only down side? It's a little loud but what restaurant nowadays isn't?

Seriously, go try this place. Like, right now. Are you there yet?

Underbelly

1100 Westheimer

713.528.9800

Restaurant Review: The Blue Fish (Washington)

 

Friday evenings, you'll most likely find us at a sushi restaurant and then home with a Redbox movie where I most likely fall asleep before the end. Tired much?  The Blue Fish (not to be confused with Blue Fish on Richmond) is a new sushi restaurant on Washington, having just opened about three weeks ago. They have another location in downtown right by the Verizon center and several locations in Dallas.  I have to say, I pretty much loved this place - while pricey, it was really unique and good! Best part - so close to me that we timed it going back home - six minutes!

Our waiter, Aaron, was very nice and so soft-spoken, he literally could recommend something and it would be hard to say no, because he's so nice. We took three of his recommendations and liked each one. 


Ahi Tower (Sorry, no picture): It's rice, snow crab, avocado salad and tuna tartar piled up into a tower. The waiter brings it to your table and "mixes" the ingredients together, ensuring that the wasabi sauce and caviar are well incorporated together with the said tower. Flavors are delicious mixed together, and I probably could of had a bowl of that for dinner and been pretty happy. 


Julie's Roll (Picture above):  Julie is the sister of the owner and a top recommendation by the waiter. This was my favorite roll of the night.  Snow crab, salmon, asapargu (no rice) wrapped lightly in seaweed then wrapped on the outside with cucumber and lightly drizzled with ponzu sauce. A must order for when you go. The crab tastes incredibly fresh and the simplicity of it with the light ponzu sauce makes it so light and refreshing. No need for soy sauce. Perfect. 


Rock Manhattan: This was a beast of a roll where each piece took two bites and was packed with a variety of ingredients - shrimp tempura, snow crab meat, jalapeno with crab and spicy tuna on top. It had a crispy topping with a variety of caviar. Excellent.

We also tried the Spider Roll, which was good - nothing fancy, just what you expect.  This is a must for us when trying a new sushi restaurant. If they can't make a good spider roll... well, I just don't know what to say.

Their order of salmon sushi (2 per order) was good but I wasn't blown away by the salmon. You want good salmon sushi or sashimi- go to Osaka instead.  

Overall, this is a new favorite sushi place for me. While a bit more pricey - the specials rolls cost between $12-16. If you check in at Yelp before 7, you get 20% off you meal. The waitstaff was excellent - courteous, filled our drinks (including my hot tea!) and management stopped by to ensure everything was good.  Another small gesture that they make that I love - each person gets their own dish of wasabi and pickled ginger. YES!  I love that no one else touches the same wasabi and I have a wealthy pile of pickled ginger all to myself.  I'll need to try again and see if it's just as good, but for the first time, not bad at all.  The other perk (who knows how long this will last) but they have a large parking to themselves. Don't valet and just park in the adjoining lot or there is street parking on the side.


The Blue Fish
5820 Washington
Houston, TX 77007
713.862.3474

Restaurant Review: Brasserie 19

It's that famous time of year in Houston where eating is plenty, drinking is plenty and good conversations are had. Houston Restaurant Week has been so popular that now, it's Houston Restaurant Weeks and spans the entire month of August.  Can't get better than $35 for a three course menu. Why, wait, yes it can. Donations are made to the Houston Food Bank!

A key factor in what I look for in a HRW menu is that their options should be a menu item that is on their regular menu. I want to try a restaurant that maybe I normally wouldn't go to regularly (price is typically a factor =) ) and this is an opportunity to try their famous menu items for a good price and good cause. 

Our first HRW was Brasserie 19, which is fairly new restaurant on West Gray. They are in the same shopping complex as Sur La Table and walking distance to one of my favorites, Swirll.  It's atmosphere is reminisce of cottage-y french cafe and the diners are varied. Some are dressed up for the town and others are more casual in jeans.  

Frustrating point of the night. At the bar wanting to see their wine menu. They hand me a iPad to look through their wine selection - the idiot in myself could not  get the thing to work. Several folks tried and after flagging down the bartender, he touches the screen and voila, wine menu. WHAT? So 15 minutes later, I finally have a glass.  

First course: A diver scallop with peas, basil and fennel puree. Yes, A diver scallop - one. Regardless, that one diver scallop was pretty darn delicious. Perfectly cooked and seared on both sides and tasted better without any of the puree, which while it was good on its own, it simply didn't add to the flavor of the scallop. I know I'm enjoying my scallop when I find myself cutting it into smaller pieces to have more "bites."

Second Course: Rainbow trout almondine with potatoes. Picture at the top. Can you see how big it was? See! The trout filled my entire plate it was so large. It was good, not too salty and most likely cooked in several tbspns of butter but didn't mask the taste of the fish. . The NY strip steak that Ross had was okay. I tend to like mine medium rare (more on the rare side - I need to see the red and juices!) and him medium, and the steak turned to be more on the medium side. It was a tad chewy and tough but the flavoring was good. I'd easily recommend the trout over the steak.

Dessert Course: Raspberry, peach and cucumber sorbet trio. Yes, I said cucumber sorbert and when the water gave me the options, I was a little skeptical. I'm glad he talked me into getting it because it was so refreshing (did I mention we were sitting outside?), light and tasted even better with a small piece of cantaloupe. The creme brulee was a creme brulee. Can't really go wrong, and of course, the crispy topping was the best part.

Overall, good place to try for Restaurant Week. Definitely have one person in your party order the sorbet and I promise you'll be just as surprised as me by how much you'll enjoy the cucumber sorbet. They were great and brought out frites and bread prior to dinner and refilled our water consistently.  Book your reservations early and don't sit outside - it's just too hot with this Texas heat. 

Brasserie 19
1962 West Gray
Houston, TX 77019
713. 524.1919

Restaurant Review: Seco Latin Restaurant

Seco was a nice and bright surprise. For those not aware of the restaurant, it can easily get lost to many as it's hidden right behind the Ben and Jerry's on Kirby in Rice Village.  It's a small little restaurant/house with just a handful of tables.  Call and get reservations if you can, otherwise, it may be hard to find a seat during prime dinner hours.  

I had the grilled redfish with chimichurrri sauce served with green beans and rice. It was a cooked well and the sauce was delicious. This dish also comes with a side salad with their offering of interesting dressings - jalapeno cilantro or a tarragon vinaigrette. The tarragon vinaigrette was a first for me, and wow, did I love it. I'm not usually a fan of tarragon and only know to use in in chicken salads, but this was light, refreshing and went perfectly with their simple salad.  They also had this great homemade salsa for the chips. I have a feeling they used powdered white pepper - which is oh-so-good with egg drop soup.  I think I consumed a good two baskets of chips for sake of not wasting the salsa. Right?  

Service was great. They were nice, prompt, filled our drinks, took our orders quickly and dishes came out fairly fast. I can't justify rating this place just yet since I've only been once. However, it was great for my first time and I'll be coming back to try some other dishes. They serve Sunday brunch so that just might be our next visit. Oh, and if you don't try their dessert, walk just a few steps away to Ben and Jerry's!  

Seco Latin Cuisine
2536 Nottingham
(713) 942-0001

Restaurant Review: Toyama Sushi

"Oh look, there's a new restaurant. I wonder if it is good. We should go sometime."  Then we typically forget about it. As such, this conversation with Ross probably happened a good 5-8 times every time we drove by Toyama on Shepard but we finally tried it!  Walking in, the restaurant features clean designs, bright colors and several areas for seating - booths, tables and a modestly sized bar. I have to admit, I automatically cringed just a wee bit wondering if this was going to be a Zake or a Ra where they start playing club music to make it a little more hip, but no fear, it wasn't. 


As we looked at the menu, we immediately commented that the menu is glaringly similar to our favorite sushi restaurant, Osaka, on Westheimer. The waiter informed us that they are sister restaurants - queue my big smile and soon to be happy stomach.  

Owned by Shirley Li, who also owns Osaka, Toyama is a nice surprise. It is apparently named after a small town close to Osaka and as I write this, I actually remember my family trip to Japan several years ago where we actually visited this city - touring the castle museum and a sake brewery =).  

As for the sushi, the quality of the fish tastes fresh, sushi roll options are varied but without any fuss and the prices are very reasonable. They also had a 50 percent off sushi and rolls when we went on a late Saturday afternoon.  However, I do have the say that the quality at Osaka is just a little bit better. When we have the salmon sashimi at Osaka, it is like butter and we have a little sigh of happiness. At Toyama, it just didn't seem to be on the same level but I give it leeway as it's a fairly new restaurant.


Here's what was on our menu. The first is a chopped scallop roll - very simple, to the point, no embellishments. One of my favorites simply because I love chopped scallop so much but if you are really want the best chopped scallop that I've tried in town thus far, go to Miyakos.  We also had a roll that was the other favorite of the meal - white fish sushi roll with seared tuna and strawberry. I was surprised by the fresh, bright flavor the slice of strawberry added to this roll and how well it complemented the fish. The crab roll topped with fresh salmon and crunch was also good but out of everything we tried, probably our least favorite. Simply good but nothing spectacular.


Oh, and the added perk of Toyama? Following the tradition at Osaka, we received a complementary appetizer and ice cream with fried banana dessert.  Yes, please!  Overall, the restaurant is a great alternative to Osaka if you are looking for a much less expensive meal, especially if you go during their happy hour.  Service is quite good and they refilled our drinks and cleared our empty plates often.  My only qualm I have is their location and most specifically, their parking lot which I think literally only fits 5-8 cars. You'll most likely end up having to park in the neighborhood and walk to the restaurant.  We've been two additional times since our first visit and we leave with pretty happy stomachs. Check out Toyama or Osaka when you have the chance.  I'm always open to other sushi restaurants so please share!


Toyama
2802 S Shepherd Dr
Houston, TX 77098

Osaka

515 Westheimer Rd
Houston, TX 77006

Restaurant Review: Latin Bites

I had a wonderful evening catching up with a few friends, some I haven't seen in several months. Latin Bites Cafe is a cute restaurant located in a discrete part of downtown Houston that serves a variety of tapas to entree style Latin inflused cuisine. I wouldn't have noticed the restaurant among the many warehouses if it weren't for the packed intersecting street of cars or the two awnings for the restaurant's outdoor seating. It's BYOB and being tapas style, I'd recommend that you order several dishes and share with the table. More opportunity to try more dishes!

Latin Bites is owned by Chef Roberto Castre, who is originallly from Lima, Peru. He's worked previously in Miami, NYC, Dallas, and then came to Houston to open Latin Bites, which has been open for roughly eight months.  When I first heard of Latin Bites, I was told "you must get a ceviche, it's what they are known for." Heck yea! I, of course, am a fan of anything seafood and ceviche definitely tops my list.  When you are served with your first plate, you will be incredibly surprised by the colorful presentation and wonder, is this what I ordered? Latin Bites takes the typical South American food and brings a unique twist to it with colorful sauces, atypical presentation and the taste is surprisingly good. 

I must apologize for the quality and lack of photos. Having just come back from a work trip, I hadn't put my camera back in my purse and had to use my blackberry.  I only captured the appetizers, as when the entrees arrived, we were all so eager to dive in that I completely forgot until well into our meal with half empty dishes on our table.

Before I dive into the appetizers, I have to highlight the little cheese bread rolls (looked online and they are called pao de queijo) they brought out. I still think about them and that may quite well mean they were my favorite part of the meal.  They are light, buttery and holy, you can't not just eat one.  Must. Make.

  

Causitas appetizer which is whipped potatoes amarillo pepper, rocoto pepper and spinach basil topped with roasted peppers, shrimp and chicken salad. Beautiful presentation.  I have to say, the presentation was a 5 and the taste was probably a 4. I could only slightly taste the difference between them and I think the toppings combined with the potatoes make the dish.

Sashimi tiradito tres sabores is white fish sashimi with three cream sauces: limo pepper, amarillo pepper and rocoto pepper. My first reaction? "This is ceviche?" I have to say, I was definitley doubtful when I saw this.  Don't fret. It's definitely a unique twist but a good one. This was my favorite dish (apart from the table rolls) of the night. The fish was fresh, the cream sauces had a nice silkly texture and tang to each bite.

Empanadas filled with beef tenderloin and onions. The filling was good, I think the dough could have been a little more flavorful, but overall with the green (cilantro) sauce, they were pleasant. 

We shared three entrees: Paella, Seco de Cordero and Tallarin Saltado Especial (granted, we ordered the Tallarin Saltado de Vegetables...). Paella, I couldn't really say that it was the best I've had or was blown away by it. It was a tad dry but did have a good mixture of seafood. For our dinner clubs, we typically clean every plate (we like food!) and we had half the paella left. The lamb was good and worked well to have with the paella. It was rich and need to be complemented with a carb or starch in my opinion. The pasta dish was surprisingly good or it may have been that I just love noodles. It wasn't too oily, whcih can happen with asian inspired noodles, and the fresh veggies and meat were a nice complement.  We cleaned this dish, despite it having meat when we were looking forward to a veggie dish.

Latin Bites is a 3 out of 5 star in my book. I liked the appetizers more than the entrees, and I LOVE the cheese rolls.  Goodness. So good.  I'd go back just to get those rolls. Overall, I think this place is a great place to catch up with your friends for a fun, casual yet intimate dinner. It's a small restaurant with only a handful of tables so make sure you make reservations.  You'll be suprised by the inventivness of the presentation, color and taste of the dishes. The four of us ordered six dishes total and our split bill ended up being only $25 without tip.  Note, this did not include wine as it is BYOB.  Service was good and our waitress was very helpful in providing us hints into what she liked best and recommended we order. 

Restaurant Review: Marks American Cuisine

Seven years!  Each year, we go out for a nice dinner and this year, we went to Marks, which also happened to be where we went for our first anniversary.  It was even better that I had a $50 gift card.  Yes!

Marks is a darling restaurant in a 1920's renovated church with beautiful architecture - from the side rooms, vaulted ceilings to the spiral staircase leading up to the Alcove for a private dining room. Even better, Chef Cox' food never disappoints us.  So, let's get one with the dishes!

Duo of Foie Gras: If you don't already know, Marks introduced me to foie gras several years ago. I have tried it before, but it was never appealing...until Marks.  For dinner one night, they brought out a free appetizer of foie gras - I actually wanted to decline but am so glad we didn't because now, I always want it when I go to Marks.  Thank you!  The duo was a seared hudson foie gras with a pear and cherry compote and the other was a black pepper scented tourchon with pear butter and apples. Both were divine, but the seared hudson foie gras - hands down my favorite. I wish I had more...

Roasted Wianno Oysters with a ragout of jumbo crabment, shrimp and leeks in a truffle aioli vinagrette. These four oysters were lightly fried but the combinatio of the crabmeat and shrimp made a great combination.

Now, on to the entrees.  I, of course, was tempted to get the duck but that night, I resisted and tried something new.  The lamb was happiness in my mouth.   

Grilled Medallions of Veal with vidalia onion risotto and asaparagus in a Marsala field mushroom sauce. I love risotto, a little too much. At times, seeing risotto complement a main dish will sway me into choosing that. There's just something about perfectly cooked kernels of creamy rice.  Let's not forget the main star of the dish, the veal, which was perfectly cooked, tendor and flavorful.

Walnut crusted Rack & Loin of Colorado Lamb with three color potatoes, roasted squash and zucchini with a basil maderia sauce. One word. YUM!  Perfectly cooked and seasoned. The best part is taking a piece of lamb, scoop it with the basil sauce and add just a bit of the purple potato mash - can't really think of another perfect combination on a fork that gives you such happiness. Comparing this to the veal, I'd go for this dish.  Since the lamb was encrushed with additional seasoning on the outside, it gave it a boost of extra flavor that the veal did not have. 

As for dessert, I think this was the first time we passed.  We were just TOO full.  I desperately wanted their chocolate cake but I knew that I phsyically could not eat another mouthful. 

Hands down, there is a reason Marks is my favorite restaurant in Houston. It never disappoints us - from the service to the food to the atmosphere.  I absolutely love it. If you have not had the opportunity to go, please do!  You won't be disappointed.

Restaurant Review: Breakfast Klub

Who ever thought to combine fried chicken and waffles?  I imagine a sap sitting at the kitchen counter enjoying the deliciousness of Popeyes fried chicken (because it is the BEST) and wanting something just a little sweet to counter the rich, saltiness of the chicken. Slowly opens up the freezer and oh why, hello strawberry Eggos waffles. Oh wait, that's me... 

In all seriousness, the combination is so great and a little heart clogging but it's much deserved every once in a while.  Went to Breakfast Klub for Sunday brunch (if you call 12:30 brunch) on a rainy day and there was a long line. BUT, that says something if it's raining and people are still willing to stand outside in the rain for 30 minutes to experience another 30 minutes of goodness heaven eating fried chicken and waffles. Compared to any other brunch place on Sunday, this wait wasn't all that bad and well worth it.

It was my first time to go to Breakfast Klub and wasn't sure of the process. You go in, order at the counter, get a cup and fill your drinks (coffee lined up in row from strongest to weakest), get you condiments, get your silverware and look desperately around for an empty table.  The service was ridiculously fast. I got my coffee filled and by the time I got to our table, our food was already there! Amazing!

The fried chicken (either wings or drumsticks) was crispy, flavorful and hot. Even better when you get a little bit of syrup drip over from the waffles on the chicken - yum.  The waffles really isn't anything spectacular but I haven't had a waffle in more than a year so for me, it was quite a delight - and probably what made me go buy eggo waffles in the store the following week, sigh.  With butter, small bit of strawberry and syrup, heck, it was pretty darn delicious.  Also, the serving is huge. I had about three fried wings left over and about 1/4 of my waffle left and I was stuffed like a thanksgiving turkey.   They are also known for their fried catfish and that was actually pretty darn tasteful too.

Also, I had the coffee - good, normal restaurant coffee - but wish I had got their house made sweet tea or lemonade. Next time! I'd give this place a 4 out of 5.  Good food, good service, just the wait is a little long and they don't have a big enough "entry" for folks to wait inside.

Restaurant Review: Korean Noodle House

When the weather dips and you're bring out the scarfs and jackets for the 30-40 degree weather, nothing sounds better than a hot bowl of soup.  Even better, what about hot soup with noodles?  Korean Noodle House is a cute little house, literally a house, with two of the main rooms filled with simple tables and chairs.  They serve a variety of Korean appetizers, hot noodles, cold noodles and hot rice dishes.  If you're wanting bugolgi or any type of korean bbq, this is not the place. 

They provide that perfect bowl of warm goodness - where you can feel that warm broth go through your body.  Hollah!  I've only been maybe three times and to say how good this place is for that hot soup kick/need, my dad brought this place up and wanted to go.  However, I bet it's  probably due to this cute, small container of fresh, homemade kimchi they give to every table.  Needless to say, all that kimchi was gone by the end of the meal and even some of that kimchi sauce was spooned into our noodle dish.

Appetizers are typical. You can get the korean seafood pancake but they also offer these korean noodle-ish dish (picture below). My first time to try these at this restaurant and I'm a fan. It's mixed in this slightly spicy sauce with onions, green onions and they are delicious.  I would say it's a Korean version of gnocchi. See why I'm a fan? My mom even mentioned that she'd be happy with this appetizer for her main dish. Ha! 

We've tried a variety of the hot noodle soups.  Below is the seafood hot noodle and you definitely get that seafood broth.  It's good, but could use a little kick of salt or hot sauce.  I had the beef and dumpling noodle soup (very top picture), which was absolutely fantastic. The broth...oh, the broth. So GOOD.  The actual beef pieces were a little tough and overcooked and the dumplings were fairly good.  Beware, if you take this home for leftover because the bowl is just so darn big, the noodle and dumplings will absorb all of the broth.  Either separate it as soon as you get home or you'll have simple noodles and no soup at 10 p.m. when you have your midnight snack.

Overall, I give this place a 3.5 out of 5 stars. Service is friendly and good. They don't refill your drink as much but with the noodle soup, sometimes you don't need it. Definitely a must for a cold day.

Round Two! Kata Robata Omakase

Happy Birthday to me! Ross treated me to an omakase experience at Kata Robata and it lived up to our hype from the first time we did it early last year.  Read about my first experience here.  With such a high bar set last time, I was hoping that it would be just as good. Well, Hori-san didn't disappoint.  What I love about omakasi is that you will never get the same thing twice when you do this. 

This time, the kitchen chef was Seth Siegel-Gardner, who is on a special 6 month contract with Kata Robata.  An acclaimed chef, his experience includes being the executive sous chef of Gordon Ramsey and also worked at Aquavit, restaurant owned by Top Chef Master Marcus Samuelsson.  He was taking a break and Hori-san went to one of his dinners and he invited Seth to come to Kata Robata for an omaske experience. While there, Hori-san asked Seth to join for a few months and good thing he did!  Seth has never done Japanese and he brought such an innovative and unique level to the restaurant.  Read a Houston Press here.

Also, what I love is that Hori-san and Seth are a team. They make sure their dishes complement each other and when to use the right ingredients. I was looking forward to Hori's signature foie-gras and scallop dish, but Hori-san highlighted that Seth was featuring foie gras and didn't want to serve the same ingredient in his dishes to make sure we got a full spectrum of flavors. 

This is a long post with every detail I can recall, because I don't want to forget this myself!  And now, let's begin.

 Honey mussels with a citron vinagrette (left) and a cucumber vinagrette (right).

Left: Norweigan salmon and toro sashimi. That salmon sashimi - literally like butter and one of my favorites of the night. In retrospect, Ross offered me a piece of his because I liked it so much and I TURNED IT DOWN. What was I thinking?!?! Do-over, please.

Right: Light salad of palms of heart and jelly with pickled tomatoe, pickled cucumber, sea bean, and pickled cucumbers.  Very delicious and a nice light complement to the sushi.  Let's talk about this sea bean.  First time for me to try and completely not the taste/texture I expected.  I imagined it to be firm and hearty and it was hollow, slight sea salty taste and crispy - very good. More, please!

This was the first dish from Seth of the night. We were perplexed and a little amazed and my FAVORITE of the night.  What is this?  Grilled rice topped with uni (sea urchin) and a very thin slice of house cured "back fat."  Garnished with quail egg and a soy inflused gelatin. Sea urchin has always intimidated me and I wasn't sure I would enjoy it, but I was willing to give anything at try here.  If the thought of "back fat" sounds very unappealing or gross, get over it because it was divine.  The combination was simply perfect, the crispy plain rice with the slight grilled flavor coupled with the saltiness of the uni and the butter richness of the back fat - wow, give me more.  Two servings are really not enough for this girl!

This was a very innovative dish by Seth.  Kimchi grits (who knew such things existed) with tempura fried wasabi leaves sprinkled with bone marrow powder.  While this was my least favorite, I'm glad I had the opportunity to try such a unique dish.  The grit were very cheesy with a kick to them - a tad too cheesy for me - and the crisp-ness of the tempura was good. The bone marrow powder, I tried a little bit on it's own and was not a fan.  However, I had it again on a later dish and it worked so well that I liked it again. Ha! 

This was a sushi trio from Hori-san and another of my favorites for the night. The roll houses salmon and soft shelled crab.  On the closest one in the picture, it is topped with uni and microgreens.  As my second uni tasting of the night, well ever, I loved it.  The middle one is topped with a slice of scallop and very finely grated ginger topped off with a nice sear from a blow torch. My absolute favorite of the three. Delicious.  The right piece is topped with chopped toro and was smooth and butter, also very good.

And here, we have the foie gras! =)  It was rich yet light, buttery and creamy.  It was compacted with uni to give you a mix of flavors.  I think I could eat this for my meal with some crackers and a glass of wine. I HAPPY. On the left is braised unagi on top of season apples and pickled/candied? hibiscus leaves, topped with bone marrow powder.  I am not normally a fan of unagi simply due to it's very fishiness flavor but this was perfect!  The sweetness and the apples was a perfect combination.  If unagi was always served this way, I would be a long time fan.

This was the last dish before dessert and another unique offering by Seth.  Those black rounds are black garlic sasuage - omgosh so good. BUT, even better than that were those light brown nuggets of gnocchi goodness. Of course it's not just a normal gnocchi but he cooked the potatoes with hay so they would be infused with a smokey flavor and aroma. This was combined with edaname sprouts (a first and delicious - very similar to snow bean sprouts), purple carrot, peppers (can't remember what kind) and pickled veggies. We are absolutely stuffed at this point and I desperately wanted to finish eating this, but just couldn't.   

Oops! Here's another sushi trio we had earlier that I missed. The first one is beef tongue (slightly seared with a blow torch) with slivers of pickled ginger.  Very unique but honestly, tasted like beef!  The middle was my favorite - sushi with alaskan king crab - butteriness of the sushi combined with the saltiness of the crab was perfect.  The last one is hamachi with a sliver of jalapeno.  I think this is the first time for me to appreciate hamachi (aka amberjack) and it's firmer than salmon but still fairly butter.  Good kick with the jalapeno.  All three - gone in a few minutes!   

So remember how I mention that we were completely stuffed? Um, that didn't stop us from cleaning the dessert up! We're good eaters!  The is a chocolate cake with three different types of chocolate, or chocolate cubed as our waiter, Blake, referenced.  Very good, not too rich and it was drier than you expect by looking and smelling at it - but drier in a good way.  the middle was my favorite, black seame creme brulee topped with strawberry slices. I love creme brulee to begin with but I do love when you can actually see the vanilla and sesame seeds.  The last is a yuzu (japanese citrus) sorbet. SO refreshing!  I would eat between spoonfuls of the cake and the brulee.  It's light that normal citrus flavors and very airy.

My favorite of the night was the uni, back fat and fried rice. Second place was the foie gras and the third, by barely a thread from second, was the sushi trio of uni, scallop and hamachi. Oh, the alaskan salmon sashimi was divine too... Ah, so many good eatins, hard to rank! Overall, I give this place five stars again. Fantastic!

Restaurant Week 2010 Review

Once again, Houston Restaurant Week had its successes and failures.  We limited ourselves and didn't go crazy trying every single new restaurant on the much longer menu, but after one month, I realized I went to a lot!

After my restaurant week experience from last year, we stayed away from hotel restaurants and actually re-visited a few places where we recalled the food being quite delicious.  Some raised our opinion - ahem, Marks - while others were a tad disappointing - Mockingbird Bistro.

Below are my reviews in priority order. Marks topped the charts (I'm SO glad they are part of Restaurant Week now) and Canopy got last place.

1. Marks
You can't go wrong with Marks. I don't think I've ever not liked one of their dishes.  We were seated in the small private room at the very top and despite the overly pink decor (pink walls, pink tablecloth, pink napkins - and not a pretty pink but bubblegum pink!), experience and atmosphere was still great.  They also offered a wine pairing for $22 for each of the three dishes.  
-Seared Foie Gras with duck and quail leg.  DELICIOUS.  Marks changed my outlook on Foie Gras and I absolutely love it.  Ross had the lobster bisque and it was good but not as good as the foie gras.  He mentioned it was slightly too salty.
-Roasted duck with berries and couscous.  Duck was cooked perfectly and there was plenty!  You usually expect a few slices of meat but they served around 5-6 slides and then the duck leg as well.
-Seven Layer Chocolate Cake was good and went very well the port, but so were the other two options.  The lemon meringue was light, not overly tart or sweet.  The shortbread tart was warm, good balance of sweet and the crispy dough.

2. Del Friscos
This was my first time to go to Del Friscos and while it was good, service was a little lacking.  Atmosphere is a down side here - it's hard to get to since it's in the Galleria and you have to battle the traffic.  I'm assuming since it was HRW was why it was so packed but the service was minimal.  We finished our entrees and one of the waiters came our with our dessert to find that our empty entree plates were still sitting there...
-Dinner salad with avocado ranch dressing.  No surprise on the dinner salad, it's a dinner salad, but the dressing was pretty good.  I was basically a ranch dressing with an avocado puree mixed in - why haven't I thought about that before?  Will try to emulate at home.
-8 oz filet mignon with a HEAPING of mashed potatoes.  Meat was cooked perfectly and entirely consumed :)  Potatoes were very rich but good and it filled the plate.  
-Bread Pudding with Jack Daniel Sauce - My main disappointment of the night.  I didn't even finish or get through half.  I didn't like the sauce.  Still think Ruggles Green and Bayou City has the best bread pudding in town.

3. Catalan
Ross and I have heard of the amazing food at Catalan for quite some time from friends.  We just haven't had the chance to make it out there and since HRW extended, why not!  We also went to celebrate that Ross had finally taken his GMAT.  Hooray!  We order a few appetizers from the main menu as well.  It was a oink night for me as I had everything pork :) I's happy.
-Bone Marrow is delicious. There's was good but not amazing.  You scoop someout and put them on these buttered bread, which were a tad too butter.
-Pork skewers was one of the off the menu items and was good, not fantastics.  I think I liked the sauce more than the pork. 
-Pork belly was great! I love pork belly despite the fat but that's what makes it good. I've had pork belly since I was little so when its availabe, I'm usually on board.  The sauce was good and could be a tad overwhelming if you completely doused your pork in it.  But a small dabble with each bit - pretty good!  Ross has the boudin balls and they were pretty good too!  Still would pick the pork belly over them.
-Suckling pig, vietnamese style. I was surprised by how large the portions were!  There are two large pieces of pork (some with the skin and fat - yum) and it was combined with vietnamese noodles and one of my favorites veggies - brussel sprouts!  So good but I was so full and could not finish.
-Pecan bread pudding.  I would definitley get this over the others.  We tried all three and I think it was the best one. Again, still not as good as Ruggles or Bayo.  DO NOT get the panna cotta - it was one of the worst things I've had in a while. I had one of those moments where you want to spit it out but can't  so you reluctantly swallow as fast as you can.  

4. Mockingbird
This was actually a disappointment for me.  It's been a long while since I've been back but remember it being pretty fantastic.  It's a cute little restaurant with some great old world decor.  Dessert was the best thing about the meal.
-Cantaloupe Soup.  It was a tad too mealy/grainly for me and actually and I don't know what I expected to get when I ordered it.  The bits of the proscuitto was a tad odd and I dont think fit that well the texture of the soup.  Should have gotten the onion soup.
-Prime Steak was okay.  A tad mealy and after having Del Friscos, you definitely see the difference.  The fries, however, so good!
-Trio of Dessert of Bread pudding, chocolate truffle and creme brulee was the BEST part of the night.  Bread pudding the creme brulee was gone first.  Truffles are hard to eat since they are so dense.  Only able to take a few bites but those bites were quite good!

5. Canopy
HRW has the new deal where it's $20 for lunch of two dishes.  After looking through all the menus, Canopy caught my eye.  We went for a lunch while my sister was in town and it was okay - actually, not sure if it was worth the 20 bucks per person!  Interestingly, Ross and I went to Shade the week prior and had a disappointing experience.  Food was okay and not worth the price.  Found out that Canopy is a sister restaurant of Shade....
-Mussels in white wine sauce.  Sauce was minimal and they didn't even bring out bread to dip! Big no no.  The mussels were small and you only get 5!  Also, didn't get the sense that they are incredibly fresh.
-Pan roasted salmon was actually pretty good.  It was cooked perfectly and had that great crunch top on it.

Restaurant Review: Reef

Two weeks ago, Ross and I didn't have a particular craving like we usually do, but we weren't planning on cooking either. I proposed Asia Market, which if you haven't been you must, because it's good and cheap! Ross, however, said that he already made reservations for us at Reef. I've heard mixed reviews of this place but I was game - new place!  However, it didn't meet my expectations (especially since I'm a seafood person) and it was so very pricey.  I joked that we could have gone to Asia Market that night for a fraction of the cost.  Surprise, surprise that lunch the next day was Asia Market - hooray!

Reef, of course, is a nice seafood restaurant - bringing in fish from the Gulf and Mediterranean. Decor is very simple and you are seated in an open room with two story ceilings. Surprisingly, it was not incredibly full for a Friday night and we even bumped into one of Ross' coworkers.

For our appetizer, we shared the crab cake on a bed of thai flavored cabbage.  The crab cake was Texas style enormous, had a nice crispy crust all around and big pieces of lumb crab meat.  We also shared the mac & cheese - don't get it.  No bueno. I love mac and cheese and we barely touched it.  It comes out looking like a larger crispy crab cake so we were excited but then we we took a bite - bleh. 

I had the seared scallops on truffled polenta and mushroom ragout. I was pretty much disappointed in this dish. Scallops were okay and not one where I go, oh my, this is delicious.  Polenta was not flavorful and tasted just similar to buttered grits. 

Overall, I give this place a 2 out of 5.  Two appetizers, two drinks and two entrees totaled to a meal more than Marks.  Where at Marks you leave feeling like you had an experience worth every penny, I definitely didn't feel the same leaving Reef. 

Restaurant Review: Abacus (Dallas)

When I started my new job, I spent a few days in Dallas and was able to spend the evening with my sister and Eric.  When I told her I was coming, the first thing she asked was, "where do you want to eat?!?"  I love my sister :)  The first night, we went to Abacus and oof, ate so much I went into an immediate food coma.  The second night, Chef Eric cooked his yummy Sinigang soup, which I tried to recreate and home and will post in the coming days. 

Abacus is run by Chef Kent Rathbun and this restaurant has earned a slew of accolades including Bon Appetite's Best Tasting Menu. The atmosphere consists of a black and red decor and was surprisingly busy on a Tuesday night with plenty of tables of business dinners. Appetizers, side dishes and entrees were all delicious!

Tempura Calamari with a sweet thai sauce. There were also tempura fried scallions and mushrooms. This was surprisingly delicious and highly recommended.

Creamy Black Truffle Risotto - This absolutely kicks major butt. Sometimes you don't really taste the "truffle" but this risotto, perfect combo of creamy/cheesy goodness mixed with that hit of truffle. Um, if I didn't consume my entire entree, this would have been gone in a flash!

Pomme Frites w/White Truffle Oil - Good but not spectacular.  Didn't really taste the truffle and when taste the truffle risotto before this, every other side dish just doesn't compare.

Applesmoked Bacon "Mac & Cheese" - This was my least favorite side dish.  Nothing spectacular and didn't really taste any different than other mac and cheeses. 

Duck w/blackberry sauce - The online menu doesn't show this but the duck was pretty fantastic. There were plenty of medium cooked duck and I would take a bite with a bit of blackberry sauce. 

Eric tried the seared venison and I'm not exactly sure what my sister had.  Thinking it was fish but I had a bite and I remember it being quite tasty.  Per my last experience w/venison I didn't have any of Eric's venison so not sure if they were good or not - he said they were.

Overall, I give this place a 4.5 out of 5.  Decor was good and we got to sit in a little booth.  It did get pretty loud at times. Food was good and the waiter wasn't too pushy.  We left feeling pretty great after eating such a good meal.

Restaurant Review: Branch Water Tavern

For our monthly supper club, we ventured to a Washington area restaurant - Branch Water Tavern.  Branch Water is run by Chef David Grossman, who also worked at Reef and Gravitas. He opened up Branch Water with the vision of making "classically inspired modern American cooking." The decor is really fascinating. When you walk in, to your right is a bar lounge with this awesome black and white XXX wallpaper...I forget the design but will update once I remember!  The restaurant itself is a little mixture of old fashion warehouse, brick with a modern twist.  The restaurant isn't incredibly large or incredibly loud, which is always a big plus to be able to hear the person sitting across form you.




Let me back up a little and talk about how we select new restaurants.  Our "selection process" for new eats consists of I want to try this place because of xxx, and this place for their xxxx and oh, this place too.  Surprise, we never really omit places, we just keep adding them to our list.  So of course we took a peek at the menu before going and of course, saw the duckfat popcorn which sold us as the March choice. 
 
We shared several appetizers, which I actually think were the best part of the meal.
 
Duckfat Popcorn - It's popcorn folks. No matter where you are, once you have some, you can't stop popping them in your mouth. There some crack in corn that makes you keep eating until you realized you've eaten an entire container.  So, the duckfat did not hit you in the face but every once in a while, you take a bite and get a "oh, THIS is what duckfat popcorn is all about."  It's good but will not be a driving reason for me to come back.
 
Crispy stuffed olives - Very large olives that had a good combination of fried-ness w/saltiness.
 
Chicken fried oysters w/celery root slaw - Um, these were amazing. I would have this for my entree if it was an option.  I worry when I see fried oysters that they come out on the dish the size of a quarter and you end up taking the fried crust more than the actual oyster. These were medium size so you were able to taste the meat of the oyster and when combined with the slaw and a pinch of the sea salt bed it came on - pretty fantastic!
 
Jumbo crab cake with thai salad "som tam" - This was suprisingly delicious.  A clear winner for crab cake is if you notice lump crab more than the seasoning or the bread crumbs that hold it together.  It has to have a majority percentage crab to everything else. This hit it right now and each bite was lump crab goodness. 
 
So for my entree, I had the venison medallions - which was my first time.  I'm not a fan.  It's not due to their cooking or the quality - which was perfectly cooked without any game-y taste - but it's just one of those experiences you have to go through to know, okay, I don't like something no matter how well it's cooked. 
 
Friends had the seared scallops which were pretty good and plentiful.  Many times you only get three or four scallops for the 25 bucks you pay! but here, they gave plenty to be full by the end.  
 
Overall, I enjoyed the atmosphere but simply due to the my newfound dislike of venison, this place sits lower than it really should with a 3 stars out of five.  The appetizers were really good but the meal was a tad pricier than I anticipated as well.  My meal of shared appetizers, no drinks and entree was $50.  Not outrageous but I'm not completely sold what I ate was balanced with the price.

Guest Restaurant Review: Get a hold of yourself, it's French Laundry

Okay folks.  Brace yourself.  When my cousin told me that they were going to French Laundry, I cried a little.  I've heard amazing praises about this place, and if you need to make reservations three months in advance, I can't even start to imagine how good this place is.  French Laundry has two options - a nine course tasting menu or a nine-course vegetable tasting.  They say that no single ingredient is repeated.  Chef Thomas Keller is the brains behind this treasure cove, has received bounds of accolades and multiple America's Best chef titles, even helped with the movie Ratatouille, and per my Kathy and Carol, he didn't disppoint this past weekend!

Also, their meal lasted for FIVE hours.  Seriously?  Is this place heaven?  Okay, let's get on to their experience:  (Thanks to Kathy and Carol for these delicious pictures and descriptions so we can have a small taste of what they experienced!)

"Ok! We splurged and had wine pairings! We split 4 1/2 bottles between the 3 of us who drank.  But we started with sparkling champagne.  The glasses on the table were overwhelming! OMG, we ate and sipped wine from 11'ish - 4pm! Right across the street was Keller's farm! There were chives, greens being grown, and a green house too! sigh... (Can you tell just by this paragraph that we are related? Ha!)

So we started out with the salmon in a cone, which had a creme fraische in the center of the cone. mmm...quite yummy. So, the salmon cone's texture was interesting...squishy salmon, with crunchy cone and a tart'ish filling in the cone. Next was a pear dish with compressed pear (ball) and some sort of 'shroom reduction. Quite lite tasting. The pear peices was light, and the compressed pear was sort of firm, but not necessarily more pear flavour, if that makes any sense.

Then a cheese dish, 3 different slices paired with different parts of vegetable. The cheese! well, I love cheese, and it was a flavourful cheese, mildly pungent...of course. Then my favorite was the lobster tail with a dark reduction sauce. OMG, the best, tenderest lobster meat I have EVER tasted! I'm not sure it was cooked! ;) Mmmmm, I'm in my happy place right now, thinking about it! heehee.

Then there was peking duck. It was not what I imagined of Chinese peking duck in that it was definitely not crispy. The duck meat squares had a soft rind of skin on it and the meat was tender, not over poweringly ducky flavor, with a hint of that peking spice.  It was ok but I'm not a fan of duck.  Next, was another meat dish - the lamb! It was medium pink. I did try a small wedge of it and tasted like what I imagined lamb to taste like...I lathered up the sprigs of veggies with the lil' tender bite. I promptly gave the rest to the meat eaters of the group, who gobbled it up!  Below are some additional pictures.

Next was dessert. We all had a different one. Mine was the dark round disk on top. It was like a chocolate peanut butter goodness with a crunchy round disk on top. Not sure what the other folks had. Also pictured below is a caviar panna cotta."