The Day That Cocktails Really Caught My Eye

Please note that I plan to be writing for a Houston on-line publication shortly. Quite frankly I was embarrassed that while I have been actively twittering my dining experiences, I had not written in this blog since traveling this summer. I choose to write about Anvil as my bridge article because there is so much similarity between my experiences at Anvil and those traveling.

The other day someone asked me what my passion about food and travel have in common. I would say it is simply this; I enjoy history, tradition, architecture, innovation, beauty, and being around people who enjoy it. There is no food or drink establishment in Houston that captures these feelings more than Anvil.

A visit to Anvil can be a place one where you go to meet friends or a chance to leave the outside world behind and be transformed. When I walk in Anvil, I want to be wearing my little black dress, pearls, gloves, high heals, and a pill box hat. I love sitting at the bar and sipping my drink out of the antique cocktail glasses, watching the bartenders mix the various libations, gazing around the room at the other patrons, and giggling with my friends.

Do you know that they serve over 100 different types of cocktails?

Anvil does it with such flair that one feels transported back in time to another place. For me, it is a little bar in a hotel in Lucerne, Switzerland. The drink was a Brandy Alexander and my mother told me that this was a drink a girl could order and say to her date she could only drink one because it was so rich. I loved the taste of the drink, the twilight colored light in the bar and the beautiful glass. It is a drink I will never forget.

For me a cocktail is about the total experience, the taste and everything that surrounds it.

Currently, I would identify myself as a martini drinker. In retrospect, that became my drink of choice because I enjoyed the total experience, that of watching the preparation and then sipping my drink out of long steam glasses with a wide mouth. Drinking out of martini glasses enables me to elegantly raise the drink to lips, fill my nostrils with a large bouquet of the citrus (if it is made with a lime), then tip the glass back and fill my mouth with a refreshing cool liquid.

Therefore it is not surprising that I keep on returning to Anvil. When I order a cocktail there, each drink has a history, is crafted by knowledgeable bartenders, and served in vintage stemware.

Anvil’s New Cocktail Menu

On Thursday Anvil unveiled their new fall cocktail menu. Arriving close to opening time, I was greeted by several of my friends in the food industry, including one of the newest foodie power couples: Ecky Prabanto and David Buehrer co-owners and baristas at Tuscany Coffee in Greenway Plaza Randy Rucker of Tenacity as well as other associated local personalities.

I got a chance to take a sip of several of the new cocktails that my friends were busy sampling, it was the Pliny's Tonic that blew me away. I ordered the drink. Bobby Heugel the chief mastermind behind Anvil told me the cocktail is named after the first century philosopher and naturalist, Pliny the Elder who wrote about medicinal uses for cucumbers. The blueprint: gin, lime juice, turbinado syrup, cucumber slices, mint leaves and tincture of habanero/serrano/thai chile or a complex journey in one glass. At first sip the drink tastes sweet, then it tastes tart, and finishes spicy. I was falling in love and it was just a cocktail.

The other cocktail I enjoyed last Thursday was the Balmoral, named after Queen Victoria’s Balmoral Castle in Scotland. The Balmoral at Anvil is a mixture of Old Town Gin, Dolin Blanco Vermouth, and lavender-vanilla bitters. The drink was on the sweeter side and for those of you who like a boozy tasting drink without any tartness (no citrus), this is one for you to try.

On the Food Side

There are several cheese and charcuterie options, I have not tasted their newer choices.

Thursday I had a few nibbles of the Campari popcorn (made with sea salt, olive oil and dehydrated Campari) which was tasty. They have also added sweet potato beignets made by Plinio Sandalio, whose far from pedestrian dessert creations can be tasted at Textile in the Heights. Bobby tells me there are more food choices to come.

For now, I frequently head over for a couple of quick burgers and fries at Little Bigs on Montrose on the way home.

Houston is Rocking When It Comes To Food

Nothing makes me prouder of the Houston Food scene than to see local chefs whom I admire get recognition. In a world where empty calories meant no fat, and an unlimited supply of cash, I would be dinning out much more often. But I am not. I still have developed a fondness for several of the restaurants and more importantly the innovative and daring chefs in town.

Recent notable news:

• Chef Randy Rucker gets his due in a wonderful article by Alison Cook in the Chronicle about his cooking at Rainbow Lodge. She rated the restaurant four stars, I rate Randy’s cooking inspired. He is creating wonderful food at a restaurant with beautiful surroundings. If you go during the day, be sure to check out Randy's vegetable garden.
  
• Chef Bryan Caswell is named one of the top 10 best chefs of 2009, an award given to those chefs whom Food & Wine Magazine thinks are the most promising in the country (we knew that.) Bryan is co-owner and chef at Reef. This man really knows his stuff and is doing things to fish that makes you dream about his cooking. Don’t take my word for it, go form your own opinion. (As an aside this is where I am choosing to have one of my many birthday celebrations, but I am also planning to celebrate at Rainbow Lodge.)
  • Check-out his newest “fast-food” restaurant Little Bigs for sliders, fries, shakes, and wine. It has had some growing pains, but things are straightening out. I love the fries and the juicy beef and crispy chicken sliders. As an added bonus, you can often see someone from the Houston Foodie Community chowing down there.
• Most recently, Frank Bruni of The New York Times wrote a glowing article about the food at Feast. Yes Mr. Bruni and all of NYC, we do eat more than steak and Tex-Mex here, next time you visit let me know, I’ll show you. Before I move on two more things of note,:
  • Feast has a very reasonable prix fixe meal $12.95 for two courses (I always have leftovers) or for $15.95 dessert is added.
  • Secondly RUMOR has it that Food & Wine Magazine is about to name Feast one of the top 50 restaurants in the country. Bring it on….
• Alas I did not get a chance to try his molecular food at Max’s Wine Dive but I heard from our very own Cleverly that Chef Michael dei Maggi is moving on to somewhere else in Houston, but where? Meanwhile, do check out Houston Foodie’s excellent write-up of the molecular meal he had there, as we are sure to see Michael back on the local food scene again shortly.

Quick One

I am home after a wonderful vacation and back at school. It should be an interesting day.....

Somewhere Over @ the Rainbow Lodge

Yesterday Alison Cook gave the Rainbow Lodge 4 stars in her review in the Houston Chronicle. I have eaten at RL twice since Randy Rucker became chef this fall. Apparently despite my enthusiastic feeling about the food, I have yet to review it on my blog. This has been a terrible oversight on my part.

Between you and I, I was so excite about Alison’s review that after I read it, I jumped in the car and drove the few minutes it takes to get to the restaurant from my house, just to give Randy a hug.

I first met Randy this past summer, when the was doing the Tenacity diners. Here are links to my reviews: http://tinyurl.com/create.php and http://tinyurl.com/b22r7y.

I immediately fell in love with his innovative preparation of food. Randy has a knack for delicately balancing the flavor of the food with an extraordinary eye towards presentation. As Alison said: “There is real brilliance now in his immaculate raw seafood dishes,…”. I couldn’t even find the vocabulary to describe the wonderful fish dish I had a couple of weeks ago there, but Alison found the words.

Eventually I will go back, sit down for the full tasting menu and write a review. But for now, I recommend you read Alison’s article. If you enjoy well prepared, interesting food, and have been waiting to go out for that special meal, this is the place to go. The setting is beautiful, slightly rustic and with a backyard that sits on a ravine of sorts, but don't go for the just the beauty of the restaurant, go for a knock your socks off experience and one of the best meals you will have in Houston. Let’s support our local chef Randy Rucker, who deserves the praises he is receiving.

Location: Rainbow Lodge 2011 Ella, 713-861-8666

Houston HouCHie Meetup @ Beaver's with Fearless Critic Robin Goldstein

Hot off the presses: Yesterday I found out that Jonathan Jones is now one of the owners of Beaver's ! Congratulations JJ your influence on the menu is certainly apparent.

Robin Goldstein, author of the ““Fearless Critic” series of restaurant review books that are refreshing reads about restaurants because of their candidness in the reviews of them, swung by Houston and invited some of the Houston Chowhounds to join him at lunch.

Fellow HousCHies and food bloggers included Jenny, imneverfull, Robert, Food in Houston, Ruthie, Great Food Houston, Misha, tasty bits, and Jay Francis, Food Explorer.

The purpose of the get together was to eat good food and give Robin input for the 2nd edition of the the Houston version of the Fearless Critic.

We met up at Beavers on Decatur off Sawyer in the Sixth Ward, for an A+ meal. JJ really can really cook good some good and satisfying food.

Yesterday was a beautiful day in Houston; I almost wish we had been able to eat outside on the peaceful porch. Upon arrival we started with some of Beaver’s signature cocktails. At JJ’s recommendation I had the Belt Strap. The drink was made up of Cruzan Black Strap Rum, Southern Star Pine Belt Ale and lemon juice. I would never have tried this drink on my own. The drink is a complex meld of flavors, that I found not only easy to drink, but satisfying.

For appetizers, we had the homemade chips with smoky tomato-habanero salsa, queso dip (Redneck Cheddar & Real Ale Brown), fried batter dipped pickles, stuffed pepperoncini (pepperoncini, cream cheese, and smoked pork), and barbecue chicken. I loved the queso dip, which tasted really good as a dipping sauce for the fried pickles (my first time eating fried pickles and they were surprisingly good.) The stuffed pepperoncinis were crispy, gooey and smoky tasting.

Next Course Was The Fish

First came two different types of oysters, one kind from Florida, the other from the Gulf. JJ told us we had to eat them without any sauces, dressing, etc. This was an eye opener, I found both of them too briny tasting. On the other hand the fried oysters on tortilla chips we ate later tasted much better.

This was followed by a fish dish. I know the fish was

good, moist, chewy and nicely

spiced. Certainly a dish I had not tried before and look forward to eating again. The vegetarian tamales (which I had ordered only a week before when I was there) are a hit with me, they are "meaty" enough tasting to satisfy many carnivorous skewed palates.

After that - can you believe there was more?

We had a sampling of all the smoked barbecue; chicken, brisket, home-made Berkshire pork sausage

, and Bershire Country Rib sausage. All served with the "ring of fire barbecue sauce". The barbecue has improved dramatically. While the quality of the meat is top notch, I still prefer other barbecue styles in Houston.

All this was accompanied by some very special wines that Robin shared with us. Including a Bulgarian red wine and an outstanding French dessert wine.

It was a very good meal. I enjoyed every dish we had and I recommend you get down to Beaver's as soon as you can, even if you have been there before. JJ is not just leaving his mark, his is stamping on all the food and Beaver's is the better for it.

Beaver's 2310 Decatur Street, Sawyer @ Washington Avenue, Houston, TX 77007
(713) 864-2328

It’s Working

I Have Returned to Eating Consciously

I am painstakingly recording everything; my food intake, exercise, and weekly weigh in on a site called: Calorie Count. Now I can not fool myself in thinking that I ate less than I did or ate all the rights things.

I even ate out at Empire Café on Wednesday night with friends. I ordered a small Nutty Chicken Pizza with grilled chicken, cashews, spinach, mushrooms, marinara sauce, and mozzarella cheese on a whole wheat crust. Which incidentally was delicious, even with all the toppings, the flavors nicely married together, the crust was still crisp and the cashews gave it a nice crunch.

Instead of eating the whole or even a half of the pizza, I ate a third. This was plenty of food for me. We were celebrating a friend’s birthday that night and I took a small bite out of each of the three cakes slices we were sharing. Restraint works.

Exercise – Must be part of my daily practice

I am recording my daily exercise as well. The recording is happening, the practice is not. This is a work in progress; I am a work in progress.

I do well with exercising on the weekend but during the week, meh? I am now trying to incorporate some exercise into my classroom teaching. After all it benefits the children and keeps my stress level down as well.

In the mornings, I need to get out of bed earlier and work with weights, do sit-ups and push-ups.

When I go shopping, I am parking further away so I can walk longer to the store. This is better than nothing right?

I feel confident that I will improve on this front and start to go to exercise class at night also.

Bottom Line

I lost about 5 pounds this week. Great results for week 1, wouldn’t you agree?

Moving Forward

I am going out to eat brunch today and I plan to write that up later. Time to go back to writing about my food experiences, maybe even post a few of the low fat, low calorie dishes I created this past week, all eaten in moderation.

Going to South Africa without Leaving Houston: Out of Africa

A short twenty minute drive took me from the city out to the suburbs of Sugarland to visit a new South African restaurant called: Out of Africa.

On Sundays they have a Mimosa Brunch that features many of the items found on the regular menu as well as eggs, sausage and bacon.

On the outside, one can tell nothing abut what the resturnat will be like inside as it is in one of those ubiquitous looking strip malls that are found all over the United States. So it is a pleasant surprise to step into the dining room as see the room with a tasteful African feel.

I came with fellow Chowhounds Dorothy and jodycakes. We sat outside on the deck, next to the water, and for a few moments I felt transported from Houston to somewhere else. (Okay there was little humidity today.) For brunch they have a jazz pianist in the dining room and a speaker had been placed outside so we could enjoy the music there as well. The buffet was spread out in a room off the main dining room and easily accessible by those of us outside and well as the dinners inside.

Overall I found the food flavorful, with some Indian overtones, which included spices and chutneys. Some of the food was a bit spicy hot but not all of it. The breads I tasted, a biscuit and flour based corn muffin were delicious.

The best dish I had, which fellow lamb lover, Dorothy agreed with me about, was the Lamb Sosaties with Brandied Apricots. It consisted of skewers of lamb with plump dried apricots in between the lamb pieces. The meat was cooked perfectly, no easy feat with a buffet, charred on the outside and rare on the inside and not overly spiced, giving the brandied apricot a chance to offset the taste of the meat without overwhelming it.

Another main dish I really enjoyed was Bobotie, which looked like Sheppard’s Pie but tasted nothing like it. According to the restaurant’s web site, it is made of “minced lamb and beef spiced with raisins, apples, almonds and curry and baked with a custard topping.” I learned from the web site that I should have had it over the yellow rice with the mango sambol. (To bad the dishes did not have directions.) I liked the way the dish unfolded in my mouth, beginning with biting down on the slightly firm custard on top and then through the chopped meats as the flavors did a dance on my tongue.

I tried the Boerewors, a South African Sausage, which had an off taste to me. Both fellow Houston Chowhounds, jodycakes and Dorothy said it tasted like blood sausage, so perhaps I wouldn’t like that either.

Another one side I tasted, that I did not like was Ouma's Green Bean Mash, which was a tasteless combination of potatoes and overcooked green beans. Although I did not enjoy it, it reminded me of Southern style comfort food. Perhaps this dish may be better suited to another person’s taste or childhood memories.

My favorite side dish was the Pap and Trainsmash which was corn bread (Pap) that had the consistency of a thick porridge with a very tasty tomato and onion sauce (Trainmash) that I spooned on top.

Since I had overindulged just a couple of days ago at another brunch, I did not feel like tasting anything else. (Yes, call me a wimp, it is alright.) The dishes I did not try included a pork, chicken, and fish dish, as well as a pasta salad and a couple other salads.

I did leave a little room for dessert. I had a nice piece of a brandy pudding and a milk tart. Nothing left any great impressions.

Service was attentive and gracious, the atmosphere was warm and genuine (the owner came by and chatted with us) and the price, $19.95 for this buffet and unlimited Mimosas was reasonable.

Overall I have mixed feelings. I see this as a destination restaurant. I found the cooking and taste of the food a novelty, but not compelling enough that I am thinking about when I will be taking my friends out to Sugarland to the restaurant, or even when can I go back and try more dishes. I believe the South African food I ate at Out of Africa boils down to being comfort food. The food is interesting in a novelty sort of way, flavorful, and well prepared but not inexpensive, close by, or interesting enough for me to drive out to on any regular basis. Let’s face it - with all the variety that exists in Houston, this one just doesn’t strike my fancy.

Should you go to the restaurant? Yes by all means, go and experience South African food for yourself, it is worth at least one visit, the brunch has a huge variety of foods and was a great way to spent an early Sunday afternoon.

Out of Africa: 14019 Southwest Freeway #204, Sugar Land, TX 77478 281.277.2691

Feasting at Feast: Lunch the Day After New Year’s

I realize that if I do not make some of my entries brief, I will never get to them done. One of my New Year’s resolutions is if I do not have time to write an in-depth review to just post a brief descriptionand some pictures on the blog.

I have reviewed Feast on Lower Westheimer twice already, please refer to the index on the right. Alison Cook put Feast on her list of the top new restaurants in 2008 http://tinyurl.com/a5mhga. I couldn’t agree more.

Originally I had wanted to visit Randy Rucker at Rainbow Lodge, because (1) I am a big fan of Randy’s cooking and (2) I never wrote up a review of my first visit there when I had the chef’s tasting menu (which was wonderful.) I’m never full had just written up the restaurant complete with great photos http://tinyurl.com/99sru9 . But they were closed, due to the holidays.

So Feast with its reasonably priced two course lunch for $12.95, was a worthy second choice. Once I was in the rustic feeling dining room, being waiting on by Meagan, I knew I was in for a treat.

During my visit Feast inadvertently also had some entertainment for me to watch. The couple directly in my view could not keep their hands off of each other. It was quite steamy between the two of them. I know this sounds naughty, but I think they were married and not to each other. I have pictures, but I think I'll just refrain from posting them, just in case I am right.

For my first course I had the “French Fish Soup with Rouille and Croutons”, which I think had mustard rather than rouille, and also had a mild white cheese. The delightful aroma of the soup immediately perked me up, this was going to be a great year in food. I added the cheese, mustard and croutons into the soup. Needless to say, I did not leave a drop of soup and I would have licked the bowl had I been home. This could have been enough for lunch for me, but there was more.


My main course was “Steak Pot Pie with Cauliflower Cheese”. As a child I never enjoyed pot pies, as they always were a mush of vegetables and flavorless meat. This could not be further from the description of the pot pie at Feast. The brown sauce inside the pie was rich with the flavor of the meat and carrots, as well as other spices; I could have eaten that dish without the meat and have satisfied my meat cravings.

I do not know how they did it, but the steak was not dried out or tasteless. A forkful of the crust, with a baking soda overtone dipped in the brown sauce was a delight on the palate. The cauliflower on the side was a roasted piece of cauliflower with just a dusting of cheese and worked well as an accompaniment to the pot pie. I really struggled to finish the dish, but succeeded, which is a testament to how much I enjoyed it.

LOL - it looks like this did not turn out so brief.

Happy New Year and thank you for following my food adventures this past year!

Feast: 219 Westheimer Road, Houston, TX 77006 713.529.7788

Sauté World Bistro: Where Are They Going with their Food?

I was thrilled when I got the invitation to attend a free sampling dinner for food bloggers at the two-month old Sauté Bistro. I have drank excellent free-trade tea and eaten at their first Houston restaurant, Té. Therefore I was looking forward to eating at one of similar ilk with a more expanded menu.

The place is pretty, built originally as a house and added on to over the years, it left its domestic heritage behind and has been used as a restaurant for a while. The venue, albeit a bit noisy where we sat in the front room, is charming.

On a frigid Tuesday evening, about twelve of us bloggers gathered to try Sauté‘s menu and a few new dishes which the restaurant choose for us. As I entered, I was greeted warmly by one of the owners, Kevin Lacobie and we were later joined by his wife, co-owner Connie Lacobie. The chef, Garry Hollie, who comes from New Orleans, presented and explained each course.

I wanted to love this restaurant for many reasons, most notably the graciousness of the owners, their philosophy of using local ingredients and the comfortable interior of the building. The location on Richmond near Kirby and next to Blue Fish and the Hobbit seems like a place that would get a decent amount of traffic.

First of all the place was fairly empty. A scene I am starting to notice more and more as I dine out during the week. Perhaps Houston is finally feeling the consequences of the current economic slide and people are starting to eat out less. If this is so, it is now a more difficult time for new restaurants to survive.

At Sauté the eclectic menu features dishes influenced by a variety of food cultures including; Asia, the Mediterranean, Europe, Mexico, South America and the United States.

But instead of feeling like I was on a journey through variety of world cuisines, I felt like I was sampling a hodgepodge of highly or not spiced foods. There was not one dish, beyond the Mexican chocolate cake, that married the flavors of a particular cuisine seamlessly with all the ingredients. Additionally the menu we sampled was heavy on spice, protein and starch – where were the vegetables?

Please keep in mind that as guests of the restaurant, the menu was chosen for us. I personally would not have picked the mix of dishes we had for a group like ours and this may had been one of the fatal flaw of the evening.

We began with an aperitif, a “Teatini” called Aloha Sunrise Waikiki, made with tea, tequila, orange juice, and simple sugar. It was yummy, with a good balance of flavors that were not overpowering. This drink worked.

During our meal we tasted two reasonably priced wines one a Casa Nostra, a French Rosé ($32) and a Ca ‘del Santo, Italian Pinto Grigio ($28). They both paired nicely with the food, but we could have used a wine bucket to keep them cooler.

Our first course was a current menu item, the spicy chicken pastelitos with salsa verde and sweet chili sauce on the side. The pastelitos tasted mainly of pastry and spices, I could hardly make out the flavor of the meat and if there were any other ingredients stuffed inside.

Next we were presented with two small pieces of bread with melted gorgonzola cheese and honey drizzled on it. I found it tasty but too sweet. It was curious to me why we received them as a separate course, as a piece of the bread shows up later as an accompaniment to a pasta dish and no bread was ever served during the meal.

I truly disliked the cold Crab Salad with Crispy Wonton. The crab meat tasted fishy, the melted Parmesan cheese was cold on the top of the crab meat mixture and it was served in a fried wonton. The taste of the crabmeat was more similar to canned crabmeat than fresh, perhaps it was old?

The chef’s love affair with fried food continued, I was willing to say stop – none of the fried foods I had so far were worth the extra calories frying adds, but no we were continuing. Voila, the cheese steak eggrolls.

I found them soggy. I could hardly taste the mushrooms or make out the flavor of the cheese. It is served with a cheese dipping sauce on the side and had the flavor of the kind of sauce one expects on Fettuccine Alfredo.

At this point, I am getting hungry. I have not finished a course yet and I thinking when are we are getting a green salad or a vegetable dish to balance the protein and carbohydrate heavy meal we have been consuming. Perhaps I should be eating the leafy green vegetable under the eggrolls? But I choose to drink a little more wine, which is fruit, is it not?

The Creole Pasta had one piece each of shrimp and crawfish. The dish comes with a somewhat over the top peppery cream sauce. That overly sweet bread with cheese and honey has returned, sitting on the rim of the bowl.

Now I am starting to think what kind of vegetables do I have at home and will I have the energy to cook them? I pray silently to myself, asking the gods of food to provide us with some sort of vegetable or salad for the next course.

But no, what comes next is a real surprise, Alligator Piccata with Forbidden Rice , a Cajun-Chinese fusion dish. I taste lemon, as I should, but the dish is garnished with lime. The picatta breading is cooked perfectly. Tell me, what was the point of using alligator when it did not add anything special to the dish? Tasting a bit more, I could tell that the picatta was a little to salty for me and the rice is bland. Some of the plates around me have capers on them; my plate looked like it had one, although the rest may have ducked under the rice.

The dessert choices were more of a hit with me. The Banana Layer Cake with fresh fruit was decent.

I really enjoyed the Mexican Spice Cake.

My advice is simple; do what you do best. Té on Fairview works well. Ask yourself why?

The menu at Sauté is all over the place. I could not really click with the what the meaning of world bistro theme was in any positive light. The owners and or chef of Sauté need to figure out who their clientèle is and cater to them.

Furthermore, upon reflection, Sauté left me confused. Confused as to what the intention of calling the restaurant a "World Bistro" really meant? Confused as to who are the target customers? Confused about the meaning of the web tag line: Dining Drinks Dancing?

I want to support restaurants that are committed to using local fresh foods, and local chefs who are taking a chance but at this point I am not ready to support Sauté.