Houston Entree

What Oyster Season? Red Tide Shuts Down Texas Coast

The brutal drought continues to find new ways to afflict us.  We’ve said goodbye to our lawn; we’re saying goodbye to our trees, we’ve already said goodbye to the Lost Pines. Now it’s our dear Texas oysters.  Drought and heat have combined to create an unusually severe red tide, reported on here by Harvey Rice of the Chronicle.  And red tide makes oysters dangerous for human consumption.  

Surprisingly, for a boastful people, we Texans were just beginning to awaken to the quality of our own bivalve mollusks.  Robb Walsh, Bryan Caswell, and Jim Gossen (CEO of Louisiana Foods Global Seafood Source), among other members of Foodways Texas, had led a push to see Texas oysters receive their own location-specific appellations;  a 100+ years ago you could order them as Pepper Grove oysters, or Lady’s Pass oysters, and the Foodways folks wanted to see that tradition return.  

How good are Texas oysters?  Reporting on an oyster competition in New Orleans itself, one scribe recently wrote that an oyster from San Antonio Bay was  “bracingly salty, cool on the tongue, briny, firm but not too -- everything you could hope from a great Gulf of Mexico oyster.”  He even concluded that “They were enough to make me briefly forgive Texas for Dallas.” 

But now our oysters are off the table—literally.  Danton Nix, of Danton's Gulf Coast Seafood Kitchen, one of our favorite oyster purveyors, says that he’s fortunate enough “after 40 years in the business” to have ready access to Louisiana oysters, so for now his menu is unaffected.  (He had just spent 4 hours on the phone lining up supplies.)    But he’s going to miss Texas oysters, which he has featured over the years.  “They’re a great product.”  He also worries about next year’s crop, if the drought doesn’t break.  “We’re at the mercy of Mother Nature.”

Above all, of course, Nix says he’ll never serve a tainted oyster.  “Red Tide is serious business,” he says.

And so is this drought.

Food Day. In the City Hall Farmers Market

We’ve been hunkered down lately, waiting for summer to end.  But Wednesday we finally said ‘screw it,’ applied the sun screen and mosquito repellant, and headed over to the City Hall Farmer’s Market, organized by Urban Harvest.  We had fond memories of last year’s series of Wednesday markets.  Besides the fresh vegetables, baked goodies and more, we always enjoyed the lunch vendors—not to mention the cool urban setting. 

We got there a little late, and a lot underinformed, so we were surprised to see picnic tables set up all around the reflecting pool.  Only later did we realize we were attending National Food Day; the local festivities included a “collard green throwdown” which featured Monica Pope of t'afia, Randy Evans of Haven, and Peter Garcia of El Meson.  We got there too late to taste the fruits of their competition; too late, that matter to join in the “largest community lunch” in Houston history. 

But the vendors were still there, at least, and we were at last able to sample the wares of Melange Creperie, the crepe stand that “Buffalo” Sean Carroll and his wife Tish Ochoa usually operate at the corner of Taft and Westheimer (the parking lot of Mango's).  The crepes were as tasty as everyone says; the sweetness of the thin pancake blended very nicely with the goat cheese and thickly sliced ham. 

As we sat down beside the reflecting pool to eat, we noticed that a fairly well attended gathering was taking place in front of city hall, and moved over to listen in.  This was the Food Day Town Hall meeting, in which a panel of 15 or so farmers, restaurateurs, and others held forth on eating healthily, and locally.  On other subjects as well.  The talk was interesting and encouraging; a farmer from Washington County described how many farmers in his area had converted their operations to feed the locavore movement.  “Farmers want to do what’s right for their customers, the land, and their families,” he said. 

It was all very cool, except that Monica Pope sounded pretty discouraged.  She was locavore when locavore wasn’t cool, so you’d think that the growing trend toward using locally produced foods in restaurants would be good news for her.  But when she said, “I’ve spent 20 years trying to change how Houston eats” it sounded like a lament.  Especially when she added, “and trying to stay open.” 

Pope said, “If people eat two local meals a week they’ll change the world,” but apparently getting people to do that is easier said than done.  “I’d love to have a tax break,” she said in closing. 

But we don’t want to close on a blue note.  The fact that this event was taking place in the front yard of City Hall was quite amazing, if you stop to think about it.  Just the place to ask for a tax break.

Still the Worst Idea Ever. Pilot Light Duo Blogs Their Way Forward

We’ve written before about “The Worst Idea Ever,” the weekly blog that the Pilot Light duo, Seth Siegel-Gardner and Terrence Gallivan, are writing for Food Republic.  They’re up to installment number 12, so we wanted to take a look at what they’ve been doing, thinking, and blogging about as they inch toward opening their dreamed-of Houston restaurant.  

The current episode of “Worst Idea” finds our heroes contemplating the seasons and musing on how so-called fall in Texas is very different from autumn in New York, where they’ve worked in previous years.  No kidding. You won’t find “Autumn in Houston” listed in the Great American Songbook.  But part of the adventure for the partners lies in finding how their new home is different from their old one.  We don’t grow apples here, but Texas Red Waddle pork belly does sound tempting.

The week before they blogged about a business trip they made back to New York. They happened to be in a restaurant where a friend works as chef de cuisine just as that restaurant learned that they had earned that a third Michelin star.  The duo described the ensuing fried chicken and champagne celebration, and concluded that they wanted to bring a similar “feeling of pride and accomplishment in not only ourselves but our staff and our guests” back to Houston.  

The preceding installments included recipes, including the one here for a frozen white grape gazpacho, and the one here for blood sausage consomme.  They warn that the recipe isn’t something “you’d wanna try at home,” but, if you “have the skills and the access to pig’s blood” then you can make your own decision.

You have to go back to installment 8, “Behind the Decision to Open in Houston,” to find a brief description of why they left NYC to seek out our much sunnier and cheaper clime.  Siegel-Gardner (a born-and-raised Houstonian) talks about the openness and sense of collaboration they discovered when they spent the summer of 2010 here working on a series of pop-up meals.  “I’ve worked in Chicago, New York City and London and never have I seen the camaraderie that exists here.”  

Gallivan agrees:  “Few times have I witnessed the amount of professional and personal support the city of Houston prides itself on.” 

We’re excited for Pilot Light to open, of course, but we’re going to miss the blog when it does.

We Get Around. Chef-guided tours announced through December 2012

Another set of the chef-led Houston Culinary Tours has been announced by the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors bureau.  Tickets are going fast; the November Food Truck tour is sold out.

But there is plenty of action still up for grabs.  Tickets for the December “Cordua Family Tour” of area Latin American and Mexican joints, led by Michael and David Cordua of Churrascos, Americas, et al, go on sale November 1.  In January you can celebrate Chinese New Year’s with Chris Shepherd and Justin Yu.  February offers a late-night pub crawl with the Anvil/Haymarket guys Bobby Heugel and Kevin Floyd, along with Pilot Lighters Seth Siegel-Gardner and Terrence Gallivan.

Actually, February offers two tours, despite being the shortest month and all.  That month you can also take in “World Barbecue” with Chris Shepherd (you get the impression that he really likes doing this) and Robb Walsh.  Walsh is back in March for an oyster tour with his El Real partner Bryan Caswell.  April sees a crawfish exploration with Jonathan Jones (Xuca Xicana and Beaver’s) and Mark Holley (Pesce).  

May also features two outings.  First is “Street Food” with Rebecca Masson and Jonathan Jones, followed by the intriguingly named “Chefs Day Off” with the Pilot Light duo.  The June tour explores the rather daunting (to non-Asians) Hong Kong City Mall, led by Randy Evans of Haven and, again, Chris Shepherd.  Besides introducing you to the Chinatown mall’s eateries, this tour promises to teach you “the ins and outs of navigating one of the largest Asian markets in the city.”

We’re going to stop here, so that we’ll have something to write about later.  But tours are scheduled all the way through December 2012.  Just the thing to see us through our presidential election hangover.  

Ziggy Gruber is Deli Man

We are still chewing on the 2008 Zagat announcement that Kenny & Ziggy’s New York Delicatessen was the best Jewish deli, not only in Houston, but in the U.S., which, the last time we checked, still included New York.  

But maybe that’s not quite as great an honor as it sounds at first blush.  The deli’s co-owner Ziggy Gruber recently told Culturemap that there are only 120 or so authentic Jewish delis left in the country, while at one time there were 2,000 in New York alone. 

Still, beating out the remaining New York classics like Carnegie’s and Katz’s is really something.  Kenny & Ziggy may be spread out along a Post Oak strip center rather than wedged into a corner of the Lower East Side, but Gruber himself provides the Jewish color and personality of his old New York stomping grounds.  

So it’s really no surprise that documentary filmmaker Eric Anjou chose Gruber to be the subject of his recently announced film, Deli Man.  Apparently Gruber is one of very few (if not the only) third-generation Jewish deli man in the country.  Anjou has made films on a variety of subjects, from football to art, but depicting the ongoing efforts by American Jews to retain their culture is his main concern.

Here again, Anjou has struck gold with Gruber, who waxes poetic on the subject.  He told Culturemap, “I went into this business to preserve the culture and the food.  I would say the closest link to the destruction of the first synagogue in Israel is a corned beef sandwich.”

Don't Mess With Tex-Mex

Just a couple of years after it opened to semi-raves, including a two-star review by Alison Cook, Yelapa has closed its doors. 

Its relatively short life was an interesting study in the rise and fall of an ambitious restaurant, and of the general perils of the business, especially if you’re attempting to serve “Mexican food” that breaks the fajita and margarita mold.   

Cook’s review was titled “Yelapa Has the Makings of Something Special.”  That “something” was chef L.J. Wiley’s highly inventive take on Mexican coastal cooking, which included perhaps the city’s most inventive assortment of ceviches.  They were too inventive in the estimation of Cook, who called them ”unbalanced and over the top.”  She preferred the meats, especially “the crusty chunks of carnitas” which were “given a Thai twist” of tamarind and papaya salad.  She wrote that this dish represented “how fusion should work” and predicted that “Wiley’s cuisine…[will]…attract even more customers as he grows and finds his voice.”  Her review certainly helped draw customers, ourselves included, to the restaurant’s wretched, deeply pocked parking lot.  We liked the carnitas as much as Cook had, and in general thought Yelapa was the most exciting new restaurant in town.

For a time Yelapa did almost too much business, as far as we were concerned.  A couple of times we went only to be unable, or unwilling, to wedge into the crowd.  But perhaps Wiley’s highly creative cuisine was not compatible with the masses.  That they were there for the admittedly tasty margaritas instead. 

Almost a year ago, Wiley left the restaurant.  Culturemap reported that he was going to open his own place, the concept of which sounded suspiciously like Yelapa itself.  We took this as a sign of “creative differences” between Wiley and Yelapa ownership, and also of the inherent challenges in opening a Mexican restaurant that didn’t conform to Houston’s expectations.  As far as we know, Wiley has not resurfaced here.  His Yelapa successor, Brandon Fisch, took his ceviche-making talents to Xuca Xicana a few months ago. 

The comments to the story of Yelapa’s closing show what a challenge a restaurateur faces when he or she breaks the Mexican mold.  A commentator styled “cabbagerollsandcoffee” wrote “Another fusion place bites the dust,” and added “Chefs should stick to creating dishes that sell.”  Other commentators made the same point more ironically, or even bitterly.  “Sheridan” wrote, “This is River Oaks Houston.  Unfortunately, give them easy cheese melted in a bowl…and call it queso…They love that crap.”   

Of course, some commentators simply stated that it was the reduced quality of the food, and not its adventurousness, that brought the restaurant down.  For his part, owner Chuck Bulnes said, “I don’t think people got it.  They were more inclined to go to Chuy’s—that’s what they were looking for in a Mexican restaurant.” 

Of course, Hugo's is still going strong.  We’re afraid the verdict is still out on Xuca Xicana.  We’re fans of this new incarnation of El Patio in Midtown, but several of the comments on b4-u-eat are indignant that chef Jonathan Jones is not serving straight-up Tex-Mex. 

In any case, in Houston you mess with Tex-Mex at your peril.

The Food Truck Beat. Paul Galvani has it covered

You might think that Houston is swarming with food trucks, but, in reality, the local numbers are relatively modest. 

Paul Galvani, who blogs about food trucks for the Chronicle (and who also writes about restaurants for the Press and Paper City), writes that the area has around 1,400 trucks, while Los Angeles and Orange Country combined have “at least” 9,000. 

No wonder the traffic is so bad there.

But, as Galvani reports, we do have an appealing of variety of meals on wheels.  Just lately he’s written about a Moroccan food truck, Fez Express, which has a “fabulous garlic dipping sauce” to keep its shawarma moist, and the hot selling “Fez slider.”  Houston is underserved when it comes to Moroccan food, as Katharine Shilcutt reported in her review of Casablanca restaurant, so the Fez Express is a welcome addition. 

The last two weeks Galvani has written about pastry/dessert trucks, Don Churros and Angie's Cake.  We were happy to read about the churro truck, as we don’t think that the Mexican/Spanish version of the doughnut gets enough love.  We’ve often thought that, if Houston had its own version of New Orleans’ Café du Monde, it should serve churros and hot chocolate instead of beignets and café au lait, so maybe Don Churros is a step in that direction.  According to Galvani, they offered 13 varieties of stuffed churros, including one that tastes like a piña colada.  

The Angie’s Cake truck specializes in cake balls, which are perhaps a trend in the making.  The cake ball is a great idea, as Galvani writes:  “they’re the perfect size for a snack.  I find cupcakes larger than I need when I just feel like something sweet.  The problem is, it’s hard to eat just one.”

We had our first cake balls recently, and appreciated the fact that you get icing and cake in every bite—not that it took many bites to finish one. 

Angie Cake offers 17 cake ball flavors, and also serves them on a stick as “cake pops.”  Not a bad idea.

Ouisie Sets Her Table at the Alley

We’ve been meaning to praise the work of Chronicle food editor Greg Morago.  He appears to have stopped the game of musical chairs that began there when Ann Criswell ended her 34-year run in the early 2000s.  (When she was still at the Press, Lisa Gray gave her a push out the door in 1999 when she wrote that Criswell’s annual Thanksgiving recipes package “unleashes some of the year’s worst recipes on unsuspecting, holiday-addled readers.”) 

We won’t go through all the editors that replaced her and then moved, more or less quickly.  We’ll just note that when Morago signed on, in 2009, we think, the section spiked in quality.  (if the Chronicle’s website were easier to navigate we’d give you more precise information.)

 He is, above all, a fine writer.  He brings food stories to life in ways that his predecessors didn’t.  As one example we offer his piece on the “Barbecue Camp” that Texas Foodways put on at Texas A&M last summer.  He wrote, that as a barbecue novice (not to mention a Yankee), he had received his “barbecue epiphany courtesy of the man with the hot guts.”  To understand what he meant you’ll have to read the story.  Or, like us, you can simply admire the prose.

He published one of his most intriguing pieces last Wednesday, “Ouisie’s Table Joins Cast of Horton Foote Play.”  But this time the quality of his prose takes a backseat to the sheer interest of the story.  Eloise Adams Jones, aka Ouisie, has offered Houston its definitive version of Southern cooking for decades.  Her Ouisie's Table is a Houston classic, and we’re delighted to read that she’s about to open her more casual The Bird and The Bear Bistro.  

But that’s not the story. Rather, it’s that her mother grew up knowing playwright Horton Foote’s family in Wharton, and that, in fact, Foote’s play Dividing the Estate, which just opened at the Alley, is based on her own family.  Her family name is Harrison, which is the name Foote gave to Wharton when he renamed it for his plays.  Jones actually cooked the food that the cast consumes during the productions.  (Haven’t heard a review from them yet.) 

The play does not cast the squabbling family (the siblings are fighting over their estate after their mother dies) in a glowing light, but what the hell, their story made it to the Alley, and to Broadway before that.  (The play was one of Foote’s final triumphs.)

 We were fortunate to attend on opening night. (We recommend—it’s very funny.)  In the lobby before the play started we heard people saying proudly, “The play’s about our family!” 

 All in all, it was an usually rich local moment.  

On Occupying Wall Street... And Market Square

The Occupy Wall Street movement has now made its way into public consciousness.  It doesn’t have a clear, unified message, just general outrage at the way this country is being run into the ground for the benefit of the 1 percent. 

 It’s not widely known that food—specifically the corporate food industry—is one of the movement’s many targets.  As the website Civil Eats explains, “Upending corporate control of the food supply is a fundamental change that must occur if the “99 percent” are to be healthy participants in a true democracy.” 

 As this article notes, so far the big banks and Wall Street are the most obvious target of the protests, but we should add food giants Monsanto and Cargill to the list.  Those corporations are literally fattening America like a hog for slaughter.   As the writer states, kids born in 2000 “are the first generation not expected to outlive their parents as one in three is likely to develop diabetes in their lifetime.” 

On a happier, and, not coincidentally, very un-corporate note, tonight’s A Night at Market Square is a celebration of local beer, courtesy of St. Arnold’s, and healthy local food; the new Georgia’s will be offering a sneak peek of their new downtown market.  They just announced their plans a few weeks ago. Those folks don’t mess around, unlike some highly anticipated downtown markets we could mention.  

 

Strip Center = Ugly. Not to Mention Soulless

Katharine Shilcutt of the Press has been on a useful jag lately.  Yesterday we took note of her coverage of proposed changes to City of Houston parking regulations, which inspired us to lament that the city’s parking requirements make creating real pedestrian areas almost impossible here.

Today she expands on that idea presenting her list of "Houston's 5 Ugliest Restaurant Buildings."  We cringed a little at the inclusion of Lucky Burger and Sparkles, because we have a soft spot for both places.  But we got all excited when she named “Anything in a Strip Center” as number one. 

We’re not sure Shilcutt is right when she theorizes that “one of the main reasons Houston is so ignored on the national scene is because so many of our great restaurants are in shitty, suburban strip malls.”  It’s just hard for Houston to get national recognition in any field.  That’s okay.  It keeps us humble.

But we also bemoan our strip-center addiction, and do, frankly, think less of restaurants that choose to open in one.  When Washington Avenue first started happening, we hit Catalan a couple of time and loved the food and the vibe—but not the “shitty” strip center it was housed in.  We finally asked ourselves if we shouldn’t be spending our restaurant money in places housed in places that had a little soul, and a little history, even if we didn’t know what that history was.  That night we specifically thought of Dolce Vita and drove over there instead. 

 

Now former Catalan chef Chris Shepherd is moving into Dolce Vita’s neighborhood with his Underbelly. We’d like to think that he’s looking for more soulful surroundings. 

 

There’s no need to single out Catalan (now Coppa).   There are plenty of places on Washington and in Midtown that offer first rate fare in a half-assed cityscape, as if the larger environment were not part of the dining experience.

 

Shilcutt says that over half our restaurants are in strip centers.  That statistic, if accurate, is really indictment of us as a city.  Strip centers are the lowest common denominator of urbanism—and it’s our go-to building type.  We really should demand better.