I really don’t make it out to Catalan enough. They refuse to acknowledge that vegetarians have to eat too, so my wife won’t go there. The few lunches I have had there have been hit and miss, although on good days Catalan can be exceptional, so I have been looking for an opportunity visit at dinner for a very long time. Every couple of months I arrange a business dinner, but those fall mostly on Monday when the restaurant is closed. So when a scheduling change pushed my plans by a couple of days, I jumped on the opportunity and headed down to Catalan with 10 people and an expense account.
Turns out Catalan is a great place for a business dinner. There is a private room that stays quiet even with the doors open. The wine list is more than reasonably priced and reads like a Tom Clancy novel to the wine geek. The menu is incredibly well put together. You can easily have some of the most innovative food in Houston, while everyone else gets by on well executed staples like salmon or steak. Everyone is happy.
My game plan? Order the most interesting dishes, caloric caution and logic be damned. Here’s what I had:
Foie gras bon bons served with house-made local strawberry and black pepper jelly
I have been eating a good deal of less than traditionally prepared fois lately, so this was my second fois gras bon bon dish in as many weeks. Although I have to give the "completeness of vision" nod to the chocolate covered fois bon bon at Orson that came finished with salt and cocoa powder, the deep fried version at Catalan was more fun to eat. Although the strawberry jelly is an entirely unnecessary distraction, I’d recommend starting with this as an appetizer anyway.
Right after the initial crunch, the bon bon explodes in your mouth with a shot of liquefied fois. The effect is an entirely unexpected rush of textures and flavor so intense that one of the guys that tried it said that it felt like he had just cheated on his wife (I don’t pretend to understand what that means). If you are expecting any of the adjectives normally associated with fois - delicate, subtle, velvety, buttery, luscious - prepared to be surprised. This is what food would taste like if Texas invaded France and turned it into a vacation getaway for rich oil executives.
Roasted bone marrow with Maldon salt
Probably the dish I was most looking forward to, especially since Catalan is the only place that serves it in Houston. If you love bone marrow and don’t care about living a long, healthy life, order this without any reservations. Though not perfect, this is a nice presentation with all the right things in the right places and should deliver a perfectly decadent experience. The toast was just thin and crispy enough. The big flakes of Maldon salt were superb and pickled onions were just mildly acidic enough to make this dish a winner, overall.
I have to admit that I expected a deeper flavor from the marrow. I can’t quite put my finger on what went wrong, but it could have been the cooking temperature. The bones came out in a pool of fat and one had to be sent back to the kitchen because there was nothing left in the cavity. I am only guessing, but there is a good chance the oven was running too hot to deliver the optimal marrow consistency and flavor. I don’t have the Whole Beast to reference, but some of the recipes I have come across confirm my suspicions.
Crispy lamb sweetbreads tossed with tomato, cipollini onions and mint emulsion
This was probably the best dish of the night. The mint emulsion had a pronounced green color, so I was worried that the mint would overwhelm everything else. In fact I tasted very little mint and the emulsion combined seamlessly with the tomato and onions. The sweetbreads were perfectly cooked and became part of the dish, rather than just be a hunk of fried protein dressed up with irrelevant sauces. The dish is a winner on every level.
Crab and grits, fried crab claw
This was an off the menu special, so there is a good chance I botched the description. I am not even sure what I was eating were really grits, but it tasted like crabmeat folded into a perfectly cooked corn meal, with a fried crab claw perched on top. I know it’s not supposed to be cool to eat dishes made with cream or butter, but I thought the dish worked quite well.
C5: chocolate panna cotta, chocolate milkshake, chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream, chocolate ganache:
No description of this on the online menu either, so this may not be 100% accurate. If I was a prick judge on Top Chef I’d say that there was no continuity here, but individually everything tasted great, so who cares? One thing I really appreciated was that, though served with a trendy drink in a shot glass, no one told me which order I should eat the dessert in.
Great way to finish a meal at Catalan? $12. Being treated as an adult? Priceless.
Few logistical and execution issues can take away from the experience at Catalan. Overcooking is sometimes a problem. A tuna requested medium rare came out medium well. I’ve had the same problem myself when I ordered a salmon in cauliflower puree that was overcooked at the edges, yet quite nice in the middle. The bone marrow comes with a teaspoon that doesn’t quite fit the bone cavity. If wrestling with a greasy bone isn’t your idea of a good time, you might get pretty ticked off.
It sounds as if I am complaining, but hear this - Catalan is one of the best places to eat in Houston. You can find a better dining experience elsewhere, but good eating is what Catalan does best. I’d be there several times a month working my way through the fascinating menu if they didn’t ignore the 2.5% of Americans who don’t eat meat. Here’s to hoping that situation is remedied soon.
the bone marrow is good!!! chris does a great job it. granted, it’s simple, simple, simple but that is why it so good. i wanted to see if you would like to meet me at voice next week, maybe tuesday (i have to see when justin’s day off is). i would like to get a few others - if you know anyone else who would like to really get down!!! justin will feed us till we say mercy!!!!
agreed - the marrow is as good as st john - although i would add the parsley from st john to the onions. The bon bons are fun, but the consistancy of the foie makes it a one time try. My fav is the pork belly, but it usually is. I preferred the earlier incarnation of catalan where it was almost more of a tapas place, but most people don’t get that in houston and business dictates more than concept.
I think it is ok they don’t do veg b/c it is better than doing a token dish that is crap. I also took a colleague to a indian veg place and his comment was “what the f is the point without meat?” - so it goes both ways..
Went back to Catalan Sunday afternoon. Had not been back in quite a while (don’t ask why, just been distracted)… Anyway, my dates menu had 5 black curly hairs on it. A great way to start her first meal there… not! Highlights were the delectable fois gras bon bons and the Thai Street Food sausage and Fiddlehead’s Fiddlestix wine. Lowlights, the banana and white chocolate bread pudding. Frankly, we were slightly disappointed overall.
fyi, roasted bone marrow is also served at brasserie max & julie. i haven’t tried it yet (getting over a bad previous experience there) but am anxious to see how it compares to catalan’s. bone marrow, sweetbreads, and pork belly are my favorite menu items at catalan.
thanks for the great review.
Neverfull: interesting, I didn’t realize that.
I have been to Brasserie Max and Julie, but was a little underwhelmed with sweetbreads served in a overpowering sauce and have not felt the need to go back. The chef that ran both Max and Julie and Cafe Rabelais is now gone and I’ve heard that cooking at Rabelais has slipped quite a bit as a result, so it may not be the best time to go back just yet.
Thank you for the kind words. I know that most chefs don’t reply to reviews, but I couldn’t help but do so. We don’t have a lot of vegetarian options on our menu, but not many restaurants do. We will actually go out of our way to make sure that each individual will get everything they need, just ask. We are one of the largest supporters of our local farmers and are at the markets 2-3 times a week. We always have amazing locally grown vegetables in house. We don’t want to give you a steamed veggie plate like most will. We like to do different things for vegetarians, don’t feel that your options are limited. Just ask to talk to me, I will work an entire menu around you. So bring your wife, she might just be suprised. You could also take her to one of the local markets and I will introduce her to some farmers and create a meal around her taste.
I finally got the chance to try Catalan last night and I don’t know if I’ve just become spoiled by too many good restaurants or it just had an off night but just about every dish I tried had something “off” about it. The foie gras was probably the best dish of the night, but it was nothing like what you describe above - sadly - instead of liquefied foie gras exploding in my mouth, I had a hollow shell of breading with a tiny lump of solid foie gras inside. I mean, foie gras is foie gras, right, so it was delicious, but I have to say, in my case, the jam was certainly a welcome addition to the breading.
I discovered your blog yesterday, though, and have really enjoyed reading back through it, reading your thoughts on Houston restaurants, and discovering Tenacity because of it!
Jenn: it happens in every restaurant no matter how well the kitchen is run, so I have just learned to take the lumps.
Look forward to seeing you at one of the Tenacity dinners. Not all are equally great, but it’s always interesting.