Archive for the 'soapbox' Category

12
Aug

Houston Restaurant Week @ Whataburger

By Misha 12 Comments
Categories: american, houston and soapbox

My last dinner at *17 was good, but stopped quite short of being great. Despite several execution mistakes, I was looking forward to seeing the menu evolve. Alison Cook’s positive review in June made me think it was time for another visit and the Houston Restaurant Week seemed like a good opportunity. End the Hunger, right?

Not quite.

By the end of the night I was wolfing down Whataburger chicken strips on the hood of my car at a local Shell station. Judging by the comments around the table last night, I wasn’t the only one who left *17 hungry that night.

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Amount of food isn’t always important. Despite the number of dishes, Tenacity dinners trend on the lighter side, but given the quality of the cooking and ingredients no one seems to mind and people keep coming back. Trouble is the food at *17 just isn’t all that spectacular to begin with, so leaving hungry just adds insult to injury.

The amuse might have been the best thing I ate at *17 that night. Not that it was particularly special, but it was better than the rest of the meal. First course was the roasted tomato soup, which nearly everyone at the table ordered because was (supposedly) served with pork belly. The soup wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. A marginal improvement at best on the Campbell’s original, which might have been much better had the advertised pork belly actually made an appearance.

Main courses were rather institutional. The halibut was not of particularly high quality, not was it cooked well enough to get the best out of the fish. The portion served to Ruthie had broken in half, but somehow made it out of the kitchen anyway, which is indicative of the level of attention the kitchen pays to detail. The smear of “corn pudding” seemed like a feeble attempt at creativity, but tasted flat and added an unpleasant sweet overtone to the dish. I did not try the NY Strip, but most people at the table agreed it didn’t taste much like a strip.

There are plenty of high end hotels in Houston, but the restaurants attached to them deliver a largely a sub par experience (Voice is a notable exception). If a restaurant like McCrady’s located in a small market can overcome the departure of Michael Kramer by bringing in a rising star chef like Sean Brock, surely well funded hotel restaurants in Houston can do the same by bringing in top culinary talent that can raise the game. So far that hasn’t happened.

*17 will continue to do decent business, but it’s going to remain a slightly above average hotel restaurant at best. If you plan to go there for the Houston Restaurant Week, save yourself the trouble. Head straight for Whataburger and donate what you save directly to the End the Hunger network. The chicken strips are actually quite good and you won’t find yourself cursing the chef for screwing you out of pork bellies. (<– my homage to Robb Walsh)

12
Jul

Like clockwork

By Misha 5 Comments
Categories: chefs, houston, restaurants, san francisco, soapbox and tasting menu

I was cringing by the time I finished reading the first paragraph of the latest Houston Press review of Voice at Hotel Icon. I was wrong, Randy was right and it was only a matter of time before he went off like a hand grenade.

The disagreement Randy and I had a few weeks ago was about Robb Walsh and what Randy called his limited palate (there is some creative license there with the exact terminology). I have always liked Walsh’s reviews and had never given much thought about his palate, but it does seem as though he prefers rustic American fare and ethnic food to what’s loosely classified as fine dining. I didn’t argue that Robb Walsh doesn’t have a strong affinity for burger shacks, taco trucks and pho houses, only that I didn’t think he was entirely one dimensional in his coverage.

I still love Walsh’s writing, but maybe Randy has a point. When your experience with a gastronomic restaurant begins and ends with burgers, perhaps you are missing the point.

To be fair, Walsh does seem to like the food at Voice, but what he really likes are the bar snacks. The beef sliders are his favorite. The rest of the review is full of complaints about high prices, small portions and more mentions of hamburgers than seems necessary. To really drive the point home, he suggests that people intent on eating at Voice stop by a nearby convenience store first and grab a $4 cheeseburger before their dinner.

High end dining is a funny business. The very same people who complain about spending more than $60 on a meal in Houston are very likely to go out of town and gladly fork over twice as much in a subpar restaurant like Aqua in San Francisco - enjoying themselves immensely in the process. That visit will be justified by glowing reviews from local critics who play up to the well heeled readership and the Michelin rating of 2 stars. In reality, the food is much better at Voice than at Aqua. Voice just happens to be in a “wrong” city, where critics love a good burger.

I cannot explain why Robb Walsh would form an opinion about Voice based on bar snacks and business lunch boxes, when the restaurant clearly excels at multi-course dinners. The tasting menu at Voice is the best way to experience what Michael Kramer can do at a reasonable price. At $80 for 7 courses (there is also a 5 course option for $65) it’s a relative bargain, when you compare it to restaurants in the same class that charge $100-$130 on the West Coast. A review of that experience would have been the review I would have liked to read, even if it was a hatchet piece.

Before you start down the “people in Texas would never spend that kind of money on a meal” argument, consider this. Harris County is 6th in the country in number of millionaires; close to 100,000 households in all. This economic class spends freely on leisure and entertainment when they travel and many of them are very sophisticated diners. Is it possible that Houston Press readers may be interested in something other than the local greasy spoon? (a rhetorical question, for the most part).

Some photos from a Voice lunch in May. My friend had a rather stellar burger. Oh, the irony…

20
Jun

Coming to America’s, part 2 - Plini’o Desserts

By Misha 10 Comments
Categories: South American, chefs, desserts, houston, molecular gastronomy, openings, restaurants, soapbox and tasting menu

In my last post I covered the food at the new America’s in The Woodlands. To cap things off, Plinio prepared a dessert tasting that turned out to be incredibly entertaining.

Quote of the day:

We (the royal "we"): So, how do you make this powdered peanut butter stuff, anyway?
Plinio: Oh, the same way you’d make powdered olive oil.
We: Um….. so yeah, how do you do that?

Plinio is a very talented chef who clearly spends a lot of time refining his craft, but that’s doesn’t quite capture what makes his food so interesting. The desserts Plinio creates could only really be made by a food geek, which is an emerging breed in the chef circles.

These guys get really excited about playing with food. I am talking Dungeons and Dragons excited. That sort of unbound enthusiasm is fundamentally changing how we eat the same way geeks in Silicon Valley changed the way we thought of computers a few decades ago. That’s what Plinio, along with a number of other talented chefs in Houston, are doing today. And it makes the driving up to The Woodlands more than worth the trouble.

The lineup:

Picaron, aji amarillo honey, peanut butter powder, frozen custard
One of my favorite desserts was served right up front. I’ve never had a picaron, a traditional Peruvian beignet that uses sweet potatoes for starch, so this was all new to me. Combined with aji chile flavored honey delivered in a tiny pipette this thing had a depth of flavors you normally don’t find with a fried ball of dough. I especially liked the aji flavored honey, which added a touch of heat to the flavor, but just enough to give the honey more dimension.

The powdered peanut butter had really interesting texture. Not quite dry, not quite viscous, but sort of fluffy, clumpy goodness in between. Combined with the frozen custard it created a really interesting flavor, temperature and texture interplay. I don’t know if this is on the regular menu, but it was awesome.

Lucuma souffle, candied bacon, granny smith apple juice
A riff on breakfast featuring lacuma - a fruit popular in South America, but not very common in the US.  Lacuma has slight maple undertones, so the souffle served in an egg shell and topped with candied bacon really is reminiscent of pancakes and bacon. I thought the souffle was a touch too sweet, until I took down the shot of apple juice and everything fell into place. The textures are new, but the flavors are familiar. Very nice.

Texas goat cheese, white truffle honey, shaved hazelnut, blueberries 
Another contrast in flavors in texture, but this time allowing very straightforward ingredients and clean flavors to carry the dish.  I especially liked the carefully chosen sprinkling of shaved hazelnuts, sesame seeds and other crunchy bits to add the necessary texture. The only thing I cannot identify from the description is the transparent gelee served with the goat cheese, which was similar to the striking dessert I had at Orson that was constructed exclusively from white and transparent elements.

Chicha morada sorbet, spiced pop corn
Another Peruvian specialty I have never heard of. Turns out chicha morada is a popular drink made from purple corn kernels, cloves, nutmeg, brown sugar and cinnamon. Spiced popcorn? Another example of very subtle play on contrasting texture and flavor.

Guanaja "Torchon", chocolate pop rocks, liquid açaí, creme anglaise
Absolutely brilliant dessert and the single coolest thing I have eaten in Houston. I am going to try to describe it, but you really have to try this to get the full experience. Here’s how it goes - you cut into the perfectly shaped torchon made of chocolate and discover that the cavity (there is a cavity?!) is oozing liquid açaí. What the hell is açaí? It’s a South American superfood that tastes like berry chocolate. Apparently Oprah digs it. Just as you think to yourself that this açaí stuff works brilliantly with chocolate, pop rocks begin to explode in your mouth and send things into overdrive.  The final effect is sort of like a chocolaty 4th of a July celebration (all fireworks, no hot dogs).

I asked Plinio where the idea for this dessert came from and the source turns out to be a foie torchon with beet juice created by Wylie Dufresne at WD-50. I think Wylie would have appreciated the remix.

Oaxacan hot chocolate, vanilla meringue, alfajore
Deeply flavored hot chocolate topped with a dollop of meringue and a Peruvian Oreo-line cookie filled with dulce de leche. Very nice finish to a great meal.

 

Is the new America’s a bastion of progressive cuisine? No, its still a populist restaurant with an established brand at the end of the day. Is it chef driven? I sense that it’s not entirely - yet. Somehow I think that given free reign over the menu, you’d see an even more radical departure from the original concept than it already is. It would be a positive turn of events as far as I am concerned, but I am not sure how long time American’s patrons would feel about it.

I am not sure I care about any of those things too much. I had a great time at America’s. By the time we were done, 3.5 hours had passed and I hardly noticed. The experience was good enough that I cannot wait to come back to explore more of the menu, which builds on flavors I have not come across anywhere else in the US. Not bad for a place deep in the suburbs.

The most exciting thing about what JJ and Plinio are doing at America’s is that it’s an opportunity to establish Houston at the forefront of culinary progress, rather than an also ran. The notion that we have to "compete" with other cities by emulating hyper fine dining in New York, farm to table eating in Bay Area or spacelab cooking of Chicago is patently absurd. It ignores the unique advantages awarded by our own geography and demographics.

Houston is one of the most diverse cities in the US. Besides creating our own indigenous regional cuisine (similar to Louisiana) and being a gateway to Mexico and South America, this is a true international city. I don’t mean international the same way United Nations makes NY international or the way proximity to Canada makes Seattle international. Houston is an immigrant city, where immigrants work with each other and cook for each other, rather than serve red wine reduction sauces to the highly educated elite class that frequents restaurants in leading cities in the US. The range of flavors you can experience here every day is mind blowing.

America’s is one of the best examples of highlighting Houston as a gateway to Latin America and creating something truly new - a place where you can taste flavors you have never seen before. Yes, they use progressive techniques when appropriate. But it’s the ingredients and flavors that are really exciting.

Go check it out for yourself. It’s worth the trip.

09
Jun

James Beard Awards mark another year of irrelevance

By Misha 6 Comments
Categories: chefs, news, restaurants and soapbox

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The 2008 winners of the James Beard Awards Foundation have been announced. The only one I saw coming was Grant Achatz for Outstanding Chef. 

JBA are a little like the Golden Globes - not quite authoritative enough to get all worked up about. But, still. The sheer number of chefs at the top of their game that failed to win in numerous categories is a little surprising.

I think David Kinch is the best chef in the country today. Yet the award went to the guy from Delfina, a glorified neighborhood Italian joint. Really?

The Southern half of the US is equally perplexing. Sharon Hage and Andrew Weissman delivered some of the best meals I had in 2007. Neither won. Not a single chef from New Orleans even got nominated…

Graham Elliot Bowles and Michael Symon both got dissed, while Sean Brock got beat by some guy at Cafe Boulud.  I haven’t been to any of these restaurants, but can you really be an outstanding chef if all you do is execute someone else’s food all night?

Maybe DIY is the future. Chefs get together, get crunk and stroke each others egos. Everyone gets a trophy. Just like in T-ball. We’ll see what happens with Randy’s effort, I suppose.

 

P.S. - I am sitting on a pile of dusty photos and uncompleted posts about Manresa, Le Reve, Alinea, Nana, York Street and Restaurant August. I’ll try to write them up before I head out to Europe in August. Let me know which of those sound most interesting and I’ll work on those first.

 

P.P.S. I recently had the pleasure of visiting Tres Agaves, a San Francisco based Mexican restaurant nominated in the JBA Outstanding Graphics category. This has to be one of the more bizarre (gratuitous much?) awards in any category, especially given the blandish design I saw at Tres Agaves.

Now, how about the food? Well… Hit and miss, run of the mill Mexican fare made California fresh. Chiles rellenos were completely naked and roasted, rather than fried. Carnitas looked like a huge chunk of braised meat that was then flash fried and blow torched.

If you are really curious about San Francisco inflected Mexican cuisine look no further than Ninfa’s on Navigation, where Alex Padilla is tweaking the classics with refined west coast "technique".  Bleh.

24
May

Why I am going to Gravitas instead of America’s tonight

By Misha 7 Comments
Categories: desserts, houston, restaurants, soapbox and vegetarian

The plight of vegetarians and people who live with them is a personal issue for me - I happen to fall into one of these two categories. So, yes. I care. Even if it’s for purely selfish reasons.

I have been looking forward to visiting America’s in the Woodlands for weeks now. While I have no desire to go to America’s next to my office, there are plenty of reasons to drive an hour just to have dinner in the Woodlands. First, combining a talented chef like Jonathan Jones with the South American leaning (and slightly tired) theme of America’s has potential to produce some really interesting results. Looking over the menu I am still worried that the relentless drive to preserve the America’s brand might get in the way of great food, but I have hope.

More important, Plinio Sandalio takes deserts to the new level and the only way to sample his creations is to trek all the way up to America’s in the Woodlands. The three desserts I sampled while he was at Soma were outstanding, rivaled only by Elisabeth Faulkner in originality and flavor. Desserts are often overlooked at restaurants, so you rarely see something that breaks convention. Nana in Dallas does a good job of this. Alinea in Chicago pushes the envelope more, though not always with great results. So America’s really did sound seem worth the drive.

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Despite only being open a few weeks the restaurant is regularly booked out for dinner, so my first few attempts failed. I finally got a reservation this weekend and convinced 5 friends to go with me, but things came to a grinding halt when I looked at the menu. Not only are there no vegetarian options on the menu, but when I called the grilled vegetable plate described to me on the phone seemed like one of those things vegetarians loathe to eat. So now I am going to Gravitas instead.

Last time I bitched and moaned about this, Chris Shepherd from Catalan took time to comment. Here’s what he said:

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.

I believe Chris when he says that he will go out of his way to accommodate his diners. And he is absolutely right, the steamed veggie plate is a bad cliche that allows places with crap food to be in business simply because they don’t treat vegetarians like lepers. But in my experience, showing up on a random night and directing the chef to whip something great with no notice is not the best way to guarantee a great meal.

More often the not, you do get the grilled or steamed veggie plate. Sometimes an undressed pasta (I am not making this up) with a couple of hunks of steamed broccoli. At Restaurant August, the kitchen sent out what looked like a collection of sides off every dish on the menu, which seemed like some macabre combo plate you’d get at a really upscale homeless shelter.

Perhaps more important, no diner wants to design a dish when they go out for dinner. When you go to a place like Catalan, America’s or Reef, you go there because you want to experience something created by the chef, rather than a random veggie surprise of the night you have to design yourself.

Working without a protein that used to walk or swim is an under appreciated art and something mostly uncommon in restaurants until very recently. It is happening in very few places, but vegetables are taking center stage in dishes. My experience at Manresa was exceptional all around, but it was the vegetable dishes that really blew me away. At French Laundry I was presented with a printed vegetable tasting menu that made me seriously consider ordering it over the main tasting. In hindsight, I should have made the leap. At least one highly ambitious restaurant in Bay Area is focusing exclusively on vegetables (notice I didn’t say vegetarians) and receiving critical acclaim.

If Ferran Adria can deliver an absurdly complex multi-course vegetarian tasting at a place like El Bulli (yes, I have looked into it and it’s a standard option), why can’t we have just a couple of non-meat dishes at a restaurant in Houston?

Update: Plinio just wrote to tell me that they were making a special vegetarian entree for us tonight. Now I feel like a total pain in the ass. Sorry guys. I really appreciate it.