Posts from — May 2008

It may seem that I eat at Feast almost every day, but that’s not exactly true. Feast just happens to capture my attention the way few restaurants do.

Here’s another set of pictures from a recent lunch at Feast:

Chicken Livers – these got a mark of approval from my friend who grew up in Eastern Europe, where people consume their fair share of chicken livers. I had a taste and thought they were great, especially offset by the plump raisins; a pairing I have never had before. If I could change one thing about it would be serving the livers slightly more rare, rather than medium. I know most people completely lose it when they think about undercooked poultry, but I rarely allow USDA recommendations to ruin my meals.

Pork Spleen – The only dish I have ordered at Feast that disappointed me. I had no idea spleen was even edible and just could not resist ordering it. To my surprise spleen really doesn’t have a very distinctive flavor on it’s own, which may have been the problem. The bright yellow apples provided some sweetness and a crunchy texture, so if the spleen was seasoned a bit more aggressively it would have been a fantastic dish. Still, how often do you find spleen on the menu?

Braised Oxtails – Feast executes braised meats better than any restaurant in Houston, and this was no exception. The roasted, almost charred zucchini slices were one of the best parts of the dish and made me wish that more vegetables and greens in general appeared in the Feast dishes.

Stuffed Trout – by the time the trout hit the table I was wishing that I had ordered it instead. Rather than a serve a boring filet, this was a masterfully dressed down whole fish stuffed with something really delicious that I cannot remember at this point. From presentation to flavor, it was a truly striking preparation unlike any I have seen before.

I have heard from a friend that a skate wing was another standout dish at Feast, so I am starting to think that I am missing out by sticking to meat dishes and obscure organ meats. I think I am going to hit the seafood side of the menu on my next visit.

In case you missed it, Cleverley has a great post today about the specifics of the concept Scott Tycer is developing with Textile.

Textile is a much more ambitious project than I anticipated, focusing on multi-course tastings and progressive cooking techniques. A sort of a transposed version of the Jose Andres’ minibar in Washington (minibar serves 30+ dishes to 6 people, Textile will serve 7 dishes to 30 people).

The main attraction at Textile will be the tasting menu, offered every night. The tasting menu will consist of five or seven courses. Approximate charge for the five course will be $75 and the seven course will be $95. There will be a very small a la carte menu with only three appetizers, three entrées and three desserts.
This is a continuation of Aries. I’m going back into the kitchen to cook the way I really, really want to cook. I won’t repeat any dishes from Aries but I’ll put a little science into the food at Textile, a la Ferran Adrià, like with different types of heated caviars, like wasabi caviar. We’ll explore some of the mysteries of food, but not too much, because I don’t think that’s what food is really about. We’ll hit the basics really hard with clean flavors and precise textures. And we’ll have a lot fun doing it.

More details in the original post.

The big question is whether Houston is ready for an uncompromising restaurant like Textile. Scott Tycer is taking a risk, but I have a feeling it just might work. I ordered a tasting menu at Soma several weeks after it opened and looking around the room it seemed like many tables were doing the same – and that’s without Robert Gadsby humping his Iron Chef pedigree.

Same story seems to have played in the opening weeks at Voice; Michael Kramer mentioned that he was surprised by the number of degustation orders he received early on. So who knows? Maybe a technique forward restaurant focused on a tasting menu is exactly what Houston needs right now.

Elsewhere in the country people are buckling under the weight of rising gas prices, slowing economy and the unwinding real estate bubble. In Houston, rising gas prices actually help create jobs (unemployment rate is lower now than it was in 2000), businesses are growing and real estate prices are holding steady. People pre-ordering all those luxury high rise apartments have to eat somewhere.

So, maybe we’ll see a mini explosion of restaurants focused on progressive cuisine over the next few years. Houston is the new Chicago, after all.

My wish list for Textile:

1. Diners really should have a choice whether to order the tasting or a la carte menu. The requirement that the entire table order a tasting menu seems entirely unnecessary.
2. Vegetable-centric dishes are given serious treatment as at Manresa and Ubuntu. It’s time to put the notion that only vegetarians care about vegetables to rest.
3. Speaking of vegetarians, it would be great if they were allowed on premises. And served some sort of food.
4. I hope techniques used at Textile go a little further than caviars and tapioca pearls. I think Scott Tycer is on the right track by not turning his dishes into a science experiment, but when a technique is widely used by also-rans on Top Chef and at the rather conservative French Laundry (below), it’s ok to push the envelope just a little further. I am sure Randy would be more than happy to come in and play technical consultant.

French Laundry: Oysters and Pearls

Apparently Scott Tycer has had enough of my whining.

A Chronicle story today about a new location for Krafts’men Baking in the old Oriental Textile Mill building in the Heights has a brief aside about his new restaurant, set to launch this summer:

Tycer also plans to open a restaurant there called Textile, which will employ about 18 people. Set to open in July, Textile will serve "technique-driven" French-American food, similar to the cuisine at Aries, with more affordable wine prices.

Two of the best restaurant spaces I have visited lately are Anchor & Hope and Orson in San Francisco. Both successfully blend the character of the old buildings they occupy with modern design elements with rather striking results.

Orson, San Francisco

Judging by this crappy photo of the Oriental Textile Mill, Textile the restaurant has a ton of potential. Plus, it will be away from the Washington strip madness. Major plus.

Oriental Textile Mill

I have been meaning to try *17 since the Wes Morton took over the kitchen and finally got a chance this weekend. Minor flaws aside, the restaurant is in solid hands. Food seems as good as ever, serving the same brand of American cuisine that it’s became known for.

I was expecting to see at least a few changes to the style of cooking that put 17 on the map, but the menu reads as if Ryan Pera was still at the helm, right down to the poached seafood dishes served in flavored broth. No signs of Michel Richard influences on this menu. It’s really too bad. I hope *17 has a chance to evolve, now that Wes Morton has proven he can handle a kitchen on his own.

Here’s what we had:

Pork rillette amuse bouche
More toast than rillette here. It might have been good. Couldn’t tell either way.

Pan-seared ahi tuna / local beets / leeks / beurre rouge
I didn’t get a sample, but my friend liked the tuna quite a bit. I am generally bored with seared tuna, spoiled completely by tuna cheeks I had at Manresa that tasted like they were imported from another planet filled with delicious animals and fish, but this might be something I’d order myself. I’ve never had beets paired with tuna before. Seems like something worth trying.

Poached Scottish salmon / spring vegetables “a la grecque” / green garlic broth
Another dish I didn’t try, but I did catch a big whiff of the garlic broth. Any chef that completely ignores practical implications of what happens after dinner is either clueless or has a bold vision for his food. I think it’s vision in this case. Garlic makes things taste good. Keep on rocking, Chef Morton.

Moulard duck foie gras “terrine” / preserved rhubarb / organic strawberries / toasted almonds / 25-year balsamic / brioche
A very well prepared foie gras dish, marred by a couple of perplexing choices. The terrine was served on a warm plate and had began to melt by the time it hit the table. Not a major problem, but details matter when you serve premium ingredients. The strawberries were excellent, but you really couldn’t taste the balsamic vinegar, served as a microdot that had no effect on the flavor at all. I know, 25 year balsamic is expensive, but it’s not that expensive.

Salt was a bigger problem. The first few dabs of foie seemed ok, but as you worked through the dish the salt began to overwhelm everything else. This is why in many restaurants foie gras is sometimes served with flavored salts on the side, which really helps to accentuate the subtle flavor of the liver when used in moderation. Add too much salt or even try to use a salt variety with an unusually large flake and the complexity of foie flavor is diminished, as it was in this case.

Handcut tagliatelle / berkshire pork ragoût
Great pasta dish, not too mushy not too al dente, just right. The ragout was quite good, but seemed under seasoned. Or maybe the foie gras salt assault ruined my taste buds. Who really knows?

Braised beef short rib / potato puree / sautéed arrowleaf spinach / sauce bordelaise
The waitress told us, with a certain amount of misplaced pride, that as many times as the chef has tried to remove this dish off the menu the general manager has refused. I can see why. Spring, summer or fall, when people keep on forking over almost $40 for some braised short ribs (NY Strip costs less, strangely enough), give the masses what they want.

The short ribs were well made. Then again I am no longer surprised when I find a restaurant with competently made ribs on the menu. Maybe it’s time chefs start putting "short ribs" in quotes and serving bison or kangaroo instead of beef to break through the monotony a bit.

Bananas foster sundae / vanilla crème brulee / warm bananas / caramel ice cream
Mixed reviews on this one. I thought it was an interesting idea and quite good, if you ignore the creme brulee that got a bit warm when the bananas were flambéed. Almost everything on the plate was too sweet, but combined with the slightly salty ice cream (hope that was intentional) it worked pretty well.

Sticky toffee pudding / candied kumquat / mascarpone gelato
I liked the gelato and the kumquat more than the pudding itself, which was a bit like dryish shortcake. Ok, but not great.

Granola petit four
A truly awful end to an otherwise good meal. This thing tasted like a slightly less chewy Cliffs Bar. WTF is the idea here, exactly?

Downtown dining seems to be bouncing back, although I am not sure if people know or care. By the time we left at 10 the restaurant was empty, except for some guy in a red Ferrari with a "chino-x" license plate. Just as downtown was winding down, Midtown was just getting started and absolutely packed with the bar hopping types.

If I had my choice, downtown would someday become a destination for cutting edge food and movie theaters showing nothing but indie films, while midtown remained an enchanted place to drink and get laid. But before that happens, *17, The Grove and others have to step up to the level being set by Michael Kramer at Voice. Right now, downtown restaurants seem to have the talent, but maybe not the ambition to be the dining destinations they aim to be.

No photos this time, kids. Use your imagination.

Business appears to be picking up nicely at Feast, but it’s nowhere near the level it deserves. While Dolce Vita and Indika down the street are mobbed by people nightly, you can still show up at Feast and get a table without any notice. Not the end of the world, but I’d prefer to have to wait for the table behind a huge crowd, than for Feast to change it’s "take no prisoners" approach to food.

Feast doesn’t make itself terribly easy to find, either. Google searches turn up results for the Moveable Feast, but nothing for Feast itself. There appears to be a domain registered now, but it’s pointing to Googlepages, making the site entirely SEO unfriendly. There are a few reviews on B4-U-Eat (all positive), but nothing on Yelp and lesser social networking sites.  Not a great recipe for success… so I have decided to launch a guerilla effort to drum up some business for Feast.

My usual lunch crew includes a Brazilian who only seems to eat seared hunks of beef and a tall lanky fellow unnecessarily preoccupied with eating "light", so getting out to Feast as often as I’d like is a bit of a challenge. The few times I break away for lunch with unassuming civilians unaware of my my macabre eating habits I tend to drag them to Feast and force them to step out of the safety zone filled with pizza, burgers and fried chicken wings.

Lucky for me, the kitchen at Feast was in top form and produced some stunning food. One of the Feast virgins became an instant fan and ended up there for dinner the very same night, going back several times since then. Mission accomplished.

Here’s what we had:

Garlic Snails on Toast
Perfectly anti-French little nuggets of briny, garlic flavored goodness on rather terrible bread. Crappy bread aside, very nice way to start a meal.

Brawn and Cornichons
One of the best house made head cheeses I have ever head (get it?). On par with Incanto. Better than Couchon. Definitely better than… OK, I am out of places that make their own head cheese.

The Feast version of head cheese is less gelatinous than most others, with loose pieces of meat off the pig’s head bound by collagen and small bits of cartilage cooked in a terrine. I usually dislike cornichons, because they tend to be too strong for charcuterie, but these were more mild and provided a great contrast to the brawn.

Tongue Fritters, Asparagus, Roasted Potatoes
Tongue is one of the things Feast does best. On my first visit I had a big chunk of ox tongue that was both tender and had an impressive pan seared crust. This version was battered and pan fried, for a totally different flavor and texture. The only other tongue fritter I sampled in Houston was at Dolce Vita, and the Feast version bests it by a wide margin.

Pork Cheeks, Red Cabbage and Mashed Roasted Potatoes
One of the few things I dislike about Feast (same was true at Taverna) is the use of  cross cuts for cheeks and bellies, instead of the lateral cuts. The pork cheeks were good, but the meat to fat ratio was a bit out of whack, for my tastes.

Steak and Kidney Pudding, Roasted Carrots and Mashed Potatoes
Best dish at the table, with tongue fritters being close second. Maybe it’s my Eastern European background, but when I have no idea what I want to eat the first thing that comes to mind is meat stuffed in some sort of dough. The pudding at Feast does that just that.

The giant dumpling had a great mouth feel – soft, glutinous, just a little chewy and sticky. I had trouble deciding if I liked the dumpling better than the meat stuffing, but I do know that together they tasted incredible. I have a love/hate relationship with kidneys, which can be quite rancid in wrong hands.  These had a delicate flavor that combined very nicely with the perfectly braised chuck, providing a nice contrast and dimension to the whole dish. Absolutely awesome.