Archive for the 'french' Category

10
Jul

News around town: Max’s Wine Dive and Cafe Rabelais

By Misha 7 Comments
Categories: american, brunch, french, houston, news and restaurants

Interesting bit of news today, via Alison Cook at the Chronicle. Max’s Wine Dive plans to expand outside of Houston. A second location is planned in Austin, which will probably appreciate Max’s irreverent atmosphere more than most other cities.

Strangely enough, I have never had dinner at Max’s and have only visited them during brunch, when I don’t have to fight for a table with party crowds on Washington. I cannot tell if Max’s has gone downhill, having never been there when JJ was still at the helm, but my few brunch visits have been very good.

Most recently, I went for the Nutella and banana stuffed French toast, which was a decadent combination of intensely sweet French toast, chocolate, perfectly crisp salty bacon and Serrano chile spiked roasted potatoes (what salmonella warning?). The dish is pure Texas and it tastes great.

 

Today I visited Cafe Rabelais for the first time since Jason Blankenship left. I have heard from several people that Rabelais has subsequently gone downhill, which is most unfortunate. The kitchen wasn’t always reliable, but Cafe Rabelais has long been one of the best French bistros in town.

Normally, showing up at Cafe Rabelais after 11:30am meant that you were pushing your luck and may have to wait for a table. Today, I found the restaurant almost entirely empty. The place filled up a more within the hour, but the crowds have clearly figured out that the quality has slipped.

Only it hasn’t. Maybe the food was subpar over the last few months, but my lunch today was very good. I’ve had the merguez sandwich at Rabelais once before, and it was almost completely dry. Today, the same sandwich was served on fresh loaf of bread and was perfectly grilled. The fries, which tasted battered to some people, taste light and crispy to me. I doubt there is batter on them, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they were properly double fried and dusted in potato starch, which would account for a difference in texture. Either way, I thought Rabelais is better than ever. The question is why?

One possibility is that there is some fresh talent in the kitchen. I spotted a new chef I have never seen before sporting a toque that said “Jason Kerr” at Rabelais today. Could this be the same Jason Kerr who has been keeping the lights on at Zula? If so, I expect Rabelais to continue going strong.

30
Jun

Deep in the jungle (of Houston Chinatown)

By Misha 7 Comments
Categories: chinatown, french, houston, restaurants and vegetarian

IMG_0301I spent most of my weekend hanging out with a certain special lady, who’s recovering from  surgery, leaving the house only to get food. The Bellaire Chinatown is only a short drive from my neighborhood, so that’s where I typically end up when I don’t have to contend with friends who don’t consider trying random restaurants a competitive sport.

My lunch destination on Friday was Sichuan Cuisine, located in the Diho Square. Sichuan Cuisine has long been one of my favorite restaurants in Houston, but I never really bothered to try anything else in the Diho Square, other than Bodard Bistro and Tan Tan across the street.

On Saturday, I ended up back at Diho Square at Shanghai Restaurant, which turned out to be right next door to Sichuan. I am not the biggest fan of Cantonese food, so Shanghai Restaurant (quite a bit of the menu seems Cantonese to me, despite the name) didn’t really rock my world. The salted fish and chicken fried rice was quite good, however, so maybe it’s worth exploring the menu further.

The food at Pine Forest Garden Vegetarian Restaurant was equally bland, but had the most bewildering collection of oddball vegetarian dishes I have seen yet. Have a craving for wheat gluten imitation pork kidneys or a faux squid? They have it. How about vegetarian duck or shark fin fashioned out of seaweed? Goose? It’s all here. Wild stuff.

Wonderful/Tien Ren may have had better food and “quirkier” staff that seemed to dabble in the occult, but no one beats Pine Forest Garden Vegetarian Restaurant as far as variety goes. Or in the bizarrely long name category.

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Without a doubt, the best discovery this weekend has to be Jungle Cafe & Patisserie, again, right next to Sichuan Cuisine. I must have passed it a dozen times, but never thought to look inside. If I had, I would have found French-style pastries inflected with pokemon graphics, the likes of which I have never seen in Chinatown before or anywhere else in Houston for that matter.

Since Friday I have put down something like 5 cakes (all in the name of science), not to mention a box of very faithful macarons, and they are all great. The dark chocolate number called Madagascar is my favorite so far, but there are a number of others I would gladly order again.

Not sure Pierre Herme should worry just yet, but he might have real competition should he decide to enter the Houston market (which might happen once the price of gas hits $12), considering Jungle Cafe is serving up some serious looking pastries out of a rather unassuming bubble tea shop on Bellaire.

The national media is beginning to warm up to Houston, but they are largely missing the point. The energy industry and cheap real estate is not what makes this city such a fascinating place. If you want to see the best of Houston, spend some time in the Bellaire Chinatown. It will absolutely blow your mind. Where else do you find  Sichuan duck tongues, sushi, banh mi, bubble tea, vegetarian pork kidneys and French pastries within steps of each other? Only in Houston.

Jungle Cafe on Urbanspoon

17
May

Scott Tycer making a comeback with Textile

By Misha 2 Comments
Categories: american, french, houston and openings

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.

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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.

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Oriental Textile Mill

01
May

Albert Roux to open a new restaurant in Houston

By Misha 6 Comments
Categories: London, chefs, french, houston, news, openings and restaurants

Fascinating bit of news today - Albert Roux will soon open his first US restaurant and he will be doing so in Houston. Chez Roux will anchor a collection of 10 restaurants at the La Torretta Del Lago Resort & Spa, a $130 million project that will incorporate an 18 hole golf course, a upscale spa, fine dining and a luxury hotel. image_thumb24

La Torretta will be located on Lake Conroe. While not exactly in Houston, it’s no further than certain destination restaurants are from San Francisco. I’d say an hour is more than a reasonable drive for a Michelin star level restaurant.

According to the release Albert Roux has no plans to become a full time Texan, but will pay special attention to the project as his first entry into the US market. Some stories mention Michel Roux Jr, Albert’s son and current chef de cuisine at a two Michelin star rated Le Gavroche in London, as a possible executive chef. Albert Roux himself will be appearing in the kitchen regularly and stage special culinary events throughout 2009 (awesome!).

Albert Roux and his brother are considered luminaries of French cuisine in England, opening Le Gavroche in London in the 60’s and single handedly putting England on the culinary map. The restaurant received the first three Michelin star award in the UK and has placed regularly on the Restaurant Magazine Top 50 list since.  

The Le Gavroche influence on food in London is profound - it’s kitchen has produced some of the biggest names in food, including Gordon Ramsey and Marco Pierre White among many others.

I visited Brasserie Roux in the Sofitel St. James Hotel (located next to the Texas Embassy, strangely enough) last August and had one of the most memorable meals I had in London. Brasserie Roux is an upscale, but casual restaurant with relatively simple, almost rustic food. Despite being a rather low key outpost of the Roux empire, the quality of cooking and freshness of the ingredients were higher than I encountered in many upscale restaurants in London.

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Lunch at Brasserie Roux begins in a most civilized way - with an basket of crusty bread, soft butter and a plate of absolutely pristine radishes. In addition to classic brasserie dishes, the menu had an all-French section that roughly translated to a "taste of the times gone past", featuring forgotten recipes served in brasseries of old.

I opted for the duck liver terrine and the stewed rabbit leg served over pasta, off the old school menu. The terrine was incredibly smooth and had a much more pronounced liver flavor than commonly found in upscale French restaurants. The rabbit was even more impressive. Although I was questioning whether pasta dishes in fact appeared on brasserie menus in the past, and have since disappeared, it was a near flawless dish served with a sauce that was decidedly French in preparation and was a perfect backdrop for the rabbit and finely cubed vegetables from the braise.

If the quality of cooking I encountered at Brasserie Roux is any indication of what Chez Roux will deliver when it opens in Conroe, the restaurant will be a most impressive addition to the dining scene in Houston.

02
Feb

Georges Guy goes rustic

By Misha 0 Comments
Categories: chefs, french, houston and restaurants

I was a bit surprised when I got an email from Chez George that the restaurant in lower Westheimer was closed. Chez George was hardly a regular destination for me, but over the last few months I have gone to a couple of special dinners Georges Guy hosted in his monthly Tour de France series highlighting a various regions of France. Both times the food was expertly prepared and my (should be) committed Frankophile dining companion admitted that it was the closest he has gotten to dining in France this side of the Pacific ocean. At $49 without wine it was a great way to take a trip to Provance or Alsace without getting on a plane (I’ll do a couple of posts about the dinners later).

 

The email mentioned that Guy will soon be opening a new restaurant called Don Camillo in west Houston. The prospect of a great chef giving up classic French cuisine to churn out mass produced suburban Italian made me downright depressed, so I didn’t even consider visiting the place until a friend told me that I should reconsider.

 

Turns out that Bistro Don Camillo is only Italian in disguise. What this restaurant does exceptionally well is fantastic rustic French at very reasonable prices, which isn’t as easy to find in Houston you might think. The charm of a tiny house with creaky wooden floors has been replaced with a nondescript shopping strip location that has plenty of parking, which is more valued in Houston than ambiance. Italian sounding name should draw crowds in much more than Chez George people associate with special occasion dining. Just in case the name doesn’t seal the deal, the sign out front awkwardly explains that the restaurant serves the “Aromas & Flavors of the French-Italian Riviera”. Although much of the geriatric clientèle seems to have followed Guy from Chez Georges, they have their 30-something kids in tow now. Jackets and formal dresses are nowhere to be found.

 

Once inside though, things begin to come into focus. The menu features the aromas and flavors of France more prominently than any other region. Pizza and pasta now have a place the menu, including a number of options for vegetarians, which makes repeated visits a lot more likely for me than before. The white board has the daily features and French regional specialty dishes, allowing those with short attention span to amuse themselves with food travel in the Tour de France mode, if they find pizza too boring.

 

After my first dinner at Bistro Don Camillo I walked out thinking that Georges Guy has finally found the winning formula. I’ll post some details at a later date. Meanwhile, go check it out yourself.