​To be honest, I often feel embarrassed to order Pinot Grigio at most restaurants or even to pick a bottle at the wine shop, if a little less so at the supermarket – especially if I have a bag of Cheetos in tow.  I don’t feel compelled to do so very often, but that there might be others to appease and a constrained budget to adhere to.
 
Pinot Grigio doesn’t have a great reputation among many serious wine drinkers.  I never see it on lists at my favorite local wine bars, for example.  Much, too much Pinot Grigio is bland and fairly dull.  But, that inoffensiveness along with is ubiquity and affordability have helped make it popular.  And it is popular.  Pinot Grigio is the most exported varietal wine from Italy, with a huge amount of it coming to this country.  Just those from the Delle Venezie DOC – which covers a huge amount of territory in northeastern Italy and are sure to be in your supermarket – sold over 220 million bottles just of Pinot Grigio last year. 
 
There are Pinot Grigios I do like, and those are usually from Friuli – the Italian region abutting Slovenia and Croatia in the northeast of the country.  When shopping or Pinot Grigio in the past decade or so, I have almost always looked for “Friuli” on the label.  In the current issue of the Wine Spectator, longtime Italian-focused editor Alison Napjus mentioned she also enjoyed the Pinot Grigios from Friuli, which she’s found to work well with shellfish and grilled seafood, in addition to its expected easy sippability.  Pinot Grigio from Friuli is typically richer and more flavorful often with pleasant notes of nectarine and melon, and having more apparent acidity while still usually light and quite approachable.  These can be enjoyable with lighter seafood preparations and even more so for me, can work very well as an aperitivo.  
 
A few labels from Friuli for Pinot Grigio you might want to look for here include Attems, Gradis’ciutta, Jermann, Pighin, Radikon and Vistorta.  I am not at all self-conscious purchasing wines like these.

​I had long been working on a list of the top fifty restaurants in Houston, along with the best restaurants in each category for my simple website.  It’s taken some time to try to get to right, though something fun to work on, if somewhat expensive.  I feel that I can do at least as good a job as anyone with these.  I’m the former Zagat editor for the city, after all, among other local-dining related pontifications that I’ve managed to get paid for.  This is before the pandemic hit, and one can only guess what establishments still be around when life returns to somewhat normal, so work has been on hold.
 
With that list of the top places, only one restaurant that was part of a national restaurant group had been under consideration.  That was Vic & Anthony’s from the Landry’s.  It won’t make the list or come close now, but if I were doing a compilation for 100 best restaurants, it could very well.  The local branch of Nobu and maybe Roka Akor are two others that could crack it, of the top of my head (I’m considering Eunice a local spot, even if that might not be intellectually consistent).  The paucity of out-of-towners among the best restaurants, is simply because the best and certainly the most interesting are locally-owned and -operated.  Unfortunately, these restaurants are in danger.  More than the those with a large corporate parent.
 
Many states, including Texas, are allowing restaurants to open up to 50% of prior capacity, which might provide an additional shot of business.  But, with that still-limited capacity, continued fears of the virus that will keep many former customers away from restaurant dining rooms for a while, and with the high rate of unemployment – there’s less disposable income around – means that revenues will drop by 25% or more at very popular places, or once popular places, opined New York bar-restaurant owner Toby Cecchini in an op-ed piece yesterday in the New York Times.  He believes that “there is, quite simply, no possible way for anyone to make those numbers work.”  At least at independently run places.
 
“We’re in a period of a few years where independents lose and chains gain,” a restaurant industry analyst recently surmised in Reuter’s, possibly between 10% to 15% of market share.  This is because the larger chains are far better capitalized than independent places and more immune to the dramatic economic vicissitudes.  We will likely be left with more crap like Jimmy John’s, Subway, Chick-fil-A, Dominos, Wendy’s, Olive Garden, Chili’s, and the like.  In a city like Houston, where the dining scene, led nearly solely by home-grown establishments, has become a hallmark, a source of pride for locals, a great avenue of entertainment, somewhat of an insight into other cultures, and a provider of accessible, simple joy, the near-future might be filled a lot of disappointments.  Try to support these if you can.  I am daily, if still strictly take-out.

A very delectable fish dish at Nancy's Hustle.

​When I decide to end the work day in these times of being nearly fully house-bound and feel like a drink if not spending much effort in making one, I’ve come to rely on either a gin and tonic or whiskey and soda.  Both of these refreshing concoctions have names nearly spelling out the entirety of the recipes, though freshly squeezed lime juice, a fair amount for me, is also indispensable.  And, ice, of course, as we are Americans.
 
What makes these simple cocktails more than simply enjoyable are the tonic water and club soda from Fever Tree.  The biggest reason that gin and tonics, in particular, have gotten much tastier is because of the availability of high-quality commercial tonic water, most notably the Fever Tree brand, found in nearly every somewhat serious establishment these days.  As Justin Vann, a proprietor of the excellent Public Services downtown mentioned to me after I complemented him on the tastiness of their gin-and-tonic some time ago that it’s mostly because of the quality of the tonic water, as the drink is mostly tonic water, after all.  Something I had somehow hadn’t really realized before that. 
 
The current crop of tonic waters from Fever Tree are: Indian, Mediterranean, Elderflower, Aromatic, Lemon, Light Cucumber, and Citrus, along with light versions of a few flavors.  In addition to club soda, the non-tonic products are Sparkling Pink Grapefruit, Ginger Beer, Ginger Ale, Smoky Ginger Ale, Spiced Ginger Ale and Sparkling Lemon soda.  All crafted for high quality mixing.
 
Recently, I’ve had very good luck with the Citrus tonic water.  Light, but noticeably nicely zesty and expectedly a bit citrusy, it’s made with two types of limes, tangerines and a bitter orange, all sourced in Mexico.  Made specifically to match with Patrón Silver Tequila – not my favorite of the blanco tequilas – I’ve found that it paired wonderfully with a pretty good London dry gin.  A friend really enjoys Fever Tree’s cucumber one with the cucumber-accented Hendricks gin.  At the upscale Spanish BCN, I’ve had the best gin and tonics in my life, most featuring a Fever Tree tonic water.  Just a couple that I’ve had there include ones made with the Elderflower flavor, with lavender grapes, lemon and thyme, and another with the Mediterranean, with a prominent sprig of rosemary, olives, and sea salt.  BCN poured only part of the small bottle of the tonic water into the glass to start and you can add more along the way.  At BCN, this actually makes the drink more enjoyable as you consume more of it, even as the portion of alcohol in each sip diminishes.  It's something that I’ve taken to doing at home.
 
Though the club soda only comes in one version, unlike the tonic waters, when mixed with a decent Irish whiskey, it makes for a much more pleasant and a more flavorful experience than with using one of the supermarket staple club sodas.  For me, it’s worth the additional tariff to spend – about $5 for a four-pack of 6-ounce bottles at Spec’s – on both the Fever Tree club soda and tonic waters.  A whiskey and soda and gin and tonic are much more club soda and tonic water than anything else, after all.

Since restaurants and bars have shuttered here in mid-March, I’ve tried to pick up a meal or some wine each and every day, at least something small that I can do to support the local hospitality industry, which such a big part of many of our lives.  Though certainly everyone knows that a great many restaurants are still serving in some limited capacity, many might not know that wine can be purchased at a number of these restaurants for consumption at home – that couldn’t be done before – and, also, a number of wine bars are also offering wines for takeaway.  Wine shops really need your help, too.
 
Below are a few restaurants that Houston wine aficionados might want to visit.  Though prices are likely higher than what you usually spend on a comparable bottle at a store, just think of this as something you might be at the restaurant, where prices are necessarily more expensive.  You are trying to help the restaurant, after all.       
 
Restaurants

• a’Bouzy – The fantastic array of champagne that is terrifically priced is now 10% off with a food order.  The food is no great shakes here, but it’s certainly worth stomaching for the discount.
• Amalfi – One of the city’s best Italian restaurant is offering their mostly Italian list at 25% off.  Unfortunately, the list is currently not shown online.
• Bravery Chef Hall – The wine bar at Houston’s best food hall has a pretty decent selection of wines, both from the New and Old World and even some on tap.
• Brennan’s – A limited selection, but pretty nice wines and pretty decent values: Hexamer Riesling ($24), Le Suffrene Bandol Rosé ($28), and Jean Louis Chave Cotes du Rhone ($30).
• Georgia James – Wine Director Matthew Pridgen has long curated some of my favorite lists now here, One Fifth and UB Preserv, and now every wine on this list, if available, has the following discounts: one to five bottles are 20% off; six to eleven bottles are 30% off; and a dozen and more are 40% off.
• Giacomo's - Has reopened and wines from its excellent and quite interesting list of mostly Italian and French labels that are priced more gently than most restaurants is even 25% now for take-away.
• Riel – This Montrose stalwart has an eclectic fairly wide-ranging list.
• Theodore Rex – The funky-edged list from local wine star Justin Vann – also responsible for the wines at Public Services, Squable, and Penny Quarter – is available for 15% off. 

 
Though one of my favorite wine bars, and cocktail bars, for that matter, Public Services, stopped selling wine for takeaway after an initial go at it, and the slick La Grande Rue in the Heights shuttered, hopefully temporarily, earlier in April, there are still a number of laudable wine bars and wine shops to frequent:
 
Wine bars and shops

• Avondale – A restaurant with one city’s most underappreciated chefs – the very skilled and experienced Olivier Ciesielski a former executive chef at Tony’s – this does double duty as a wine shop with some neat selections, some with some age on them.
• Camerata – This serious wine bar is kind of pricey, but there are certainly some nice wines, and a fine place for enological exploration.
• D&Q Mini Mart – Known more for its beer choices, especially Belgian and hop-laden, there is a small but cool selection of wines here that make it well worth keeping an imbiber’s radar.
• French Country Wines – Offering a small selection of small producers largely from the south of France and the Loire, there is also an excellent Burgundy producer and welcome wines from Bordeaux, often the Right Bank and south of the city.  Since the shutdown, the store has been offering a couple of daily discounts that can be tough to ignore.  And, nicely, for retail sales, it has absorbed the tariffs on French wines.
• The Heights Grocer – This shop on N. Main bordering the Heights has a smallish but interesting selection that can appeal to the refined, eclectic palate of the nearby well-healed.  Prices aren’t bad; there are even a few under $20.
• Houston Wine Merchant – The city’s best wine little wine store is just open for curbside pickup, so you’ve got to do your browsing beforehand online.
• Light Years – Specializing in natural wines, the labels will likely be much more unfamiliar, the wines more variable – and typically not-so-cheap – but this small house-based shop near the Menil can be a place to explore, and it offers day deliveries that are free on orders above $60 inside the Loop.
• TuttiLilli – An Italian counterpart to French Country Wines a few doors down from it, this has a small collection of wines, mostly from different regions and different names.
• 13 Celsius – My favorite wine bar in Houston, and the best, I believe.  The expansive selection is very well-chosen and now 35% of the previous menu prices, which weren’t that bad at all for a wine bar.  One example, Raina Grechetto is $29.25 here versus $36 at Camerata.
• Vinology – About 350 labels, mostly from the Old World, this is an enticing stop for wine lovers not far from the Upper Kirby and Rice Village.

During this very strange time of sheltering in place, with restaurants open just for take-away and delivery, if open at all, I’ve been trying to safely support worthwhile, local establishments on a daily basis.  Restaurants certainly need more customers, almost without exception, as daily turnover is a fraction of what it normally is.  Those that have remained open have had to shift operations often dramatically to be able to serve customers solely outside of their premises.  This has meant limited menus in most cases and some inevitable hiccups along the way.  I think that it’s been a good idea to ignore these for the most part, as this is all so new.
 
Some of the places where I have had good luck so far, and which I recommend, are: Backstreet Café, BB's Café, Christian's Tailgate (of which only the Midtown location is open), Common Bond, Cuchara, Hugo's, The Kolache Shoppe, The Mucky Duck, Surya, and Underbelly Hospitality (Chris Shepherd’s restaurants).  Along with a substantial portion of their regular menus, both Backstreet Café and Hugo’s are now serving breakfast tacos for $2.50 each daily from 9:00 to 11:00.  Fairly hefty and tasty, these are great values.  I wish I could include Izakaya, where I had a very good lunch featuring tuna poke, but it has since stopped serving.  This is in order to protect staff and customers according to the notes posted at the restaurant.  Another of my favorite spots, Giacomo’s, also started and then stopped service for a similar announced reason.
 
Though spending a little more at better restaurants has been satisfying both in terms of the quality of the food and believing that I’m helping in a small way to give places like those mentioned above a chance to survive this very trying time, I’m sometimes busy, or just feeling cheap, and a drive-thru has made the most sense.  Oui Banh Mi on Richmond remains a generally reliable, usually fresh-tasting and always inexpensive option for banh mi and spring rolls, even if its intercom, annoyingly, has never worked slowing down the drive-thru experience.  Much less satisfying, but more convenient, Brookstreet BBQ and Whataburger have also gotten my business in the past couple of weeks.  And, KFC, too.  That’s easily been the best of the drive-thru fare thus far, I’m a tad bit surprised to admit.  Original Recipe.  The Colonel is still killing it, mostly, at least recently.

The brisket and egg breakfast taco at Backstreet Cafe this morning.

During this unprecedented and very sudden closing of restaurants to dine-in customers that began Tuesday morning here, it is possible to support these businesses during this time of pandemic.  Necessary, too, if you enjoy dining out in Houston.  With the immediate reduction in the vast majority of their traffic and a limited amount of cash on hand facing most establishments for what could be a number of weeks or longer, these will have to try to remain viable on what may develop with their take-away and delivery operations.  My admonition is order from your favorite and worthwhile local places for pick-up or delivery meals.  And, be safe. 
 
Food is almost always in better condition when you pick it up directly, but you’ll have to take time to transit – almost always driving, albeit on largely uncrowded roads now – so it is more of a hassle, but it will also be cheaper.  Those delivery services are quite expensive, after all.  Some restaurants have set up online ordering, making it easier to order, but be patient.  These aren’t large online retailers, so you might encounter a glitch or two.  Some have also transitioned to more functional take-away and delivery menus like H-Town Restaurant Group (Hugo’s, Xochi, Caracol and Backstreet Café) and Underbelly Hospitality (UB Preserv, One Fifth, Geogia James and Hay Merchant).  Morning time, from 9:00 to 11:00, both Hugo’s and Backstreet Café are serving breakfast tacos for just $2.50, which is cheaper than most places these days.  The Underbelly Hospitality menu includes the Vietnamese Short Rib Fajitas that I had at UB Preserv just after Christmas.  Those are terrific.  I recommended trying to order from these, as these two groups include a number of the best restaurants in Houston and also can certainly use your business, as we don’t know how long current conditions might last and which places might not be able to survive.  To that, I heard word this afternoon that two long-time, small area chains might be closing permanently or might have already closed.
 
From Underbelly Hospitality you can also order wine.  The selection is not terribly broad, but it is well-chosen, as can be expected from Matthew Pridgen, its wine director, who puts together some of my favorite area wine lists.  That ordering of wine, also allows non-restaurants like Public Services to sell wine and beer.  An order of food is also required with the alcohol, which is easy to do with a selection of cheeses and excellent Spanish preserved seafood.  I really like Justin Vann’s selection of wines at Public Services, and I go there frequently to expand my wine horizons.  Some of the cool stuff there includes a few from the estimate orange wine producer in Oslavia on the Italian-Slovenian border, Radikon, the excellent and idiosyncratic Rioja-based Lopez de Heredia – with a rosé from 2009 – plus more than a few of Vann’s pet petillant naturel sparkling wines, and a lot more.  Public Services is one of the best wine and whisky bars in the city – and among the very best cocktail bars, too – it would be a shame if it cannot weather this violent storm.
 
Just think, you can be very helpful in aiding what is part of the very enjoyable fabric of the city, by eating and drinking; eating and drinking very well, at that.
 
Relatedly, charities need assistance, too.  Among the area charities that you might want to support is the Southern Smoke Foundation, Chris Shepherd’s effort, whose stated goal is “provides funding to individuals in the food and beverage industry who are in crisis.” Also, the Houston Food Bank, for those facing food insecurity, which might be many more these days, or soon, with the stark economic toll the pandemic is seemingly already taking.

Even the sandwiches look great from Chris Shepherd and company, and they are the menus.

​I make very regular use of the Houston Public Library, and I made what could be my final trip there for a while yesterday.  The libraries in New York and Los Angeles have just closed and Houston could soon follow suit.  While strolling the food- and restaurant-related aisles at the Central Library downtown, I noticed a familiar title that I was a bit surprised to still see on the shelves: the third and final edition of my Houston Dining on the Cheap – A Guide to the Best Inexpensive Restaurants in Houston.
 
Published in July 2007, it is somewhat dated.  That information is almost thirteen years old, after all.  Given the thankful longevity of that many of the city’s best inexpensive restaurants have had, two-thirds of the places recommended in it might still be open.  Quite possibly less than that.  Though proud of the effort, I haven’t really recommended the title to anyone in a while as the distance from the publication date has lengthened.  Good material fairly well rendered, but not so fresh, I believe.  In addition to the local libraries, the book is still available on Amazon, and it still sells in drips and drabs.  The book works as a historical document of Houston dining, at the very least.  And it’s pretty cheap, too.

I had enjoyed my first pizza at The Gypsy Poet, a smart and friendly, newish pizza joint in a slower of Midtown, and decided to sample their version of the margherita on my second visit.  It was fairly disappointing.  Order another pie there.  I had shied away from ordering margheritas after the slog that my Margherita Pizza Project turned out to be, but I have occasionally craved a good or even decent version, with memories of the vibrancy and tastiness of an excellent slightly charred dough combining with seemingly magical amalgamation of pureed tomatoes, quality mozzarella, and a few basil leaves that a well-made margherita offers.  I had one at an outpost of the lauded Gino Sorbillo in Milan in October. 
 
Where to get a good version in Houston?  The top margheritas in Houston take inspiration from Naples, not surprisingly, since this is where the margherita was born and is still one of its most popular pizzas. 
 
Where you should order a margherita pizza:

• Dolce Vita – Nicely light and Italian-tasting if not really Neapolitan in style, even with its soft wet center and raised crust.  Dolce Vita remains the city’s best pizzeria and it will remain open, thankfully, after news this summer that it was going to shutter.
• Amalfi – More Neapolitan-tasting than Dolce Vita’s, even with the addition of sliced tomatoes to the sauce.  This is one of Houston’s best Italian restaurants and the chef / co-owner Giancarlo Ferrara hails from Salerno, down the coast from Naples.
• Da Marco – The version at Dolce Vita’s big brother might have been the first really good version of the margherita pizza here

 
Where you can order a margherita pizza in decent conscience, in order of preference:

• Fresco Italian Café – Rectangular-shaped and cut into squares, the small and inexpensive pizza seemed to me to be almost a cross between the traditional thin, cracker-like crust pizza of Rome and its thicker, spongier pizza al taglio.  This features fresh tomato slices, noticeably good quality ingredients and a nicely tasty crust.
• Osso & Kristalla
• Solario – Featuring nicely clean flavors and pretty decent ingredients, if not quite the highest quality, and done in the traditional Neapolitan or at least Italian style that is a great value during lunch.
• Grimaldi’s – Easily the best of the New York-style places for the margherita; lighter and more flavorful crust that was more Italian than New York-style
• Fratelli’s
• Weights + Measures
• Tiny’s No. 5
• Prego
• Pizaro’s
• Cane Rosso – It’s alright.

The Regina Margherita at Amalfi

​Located in a small strip center on Durham and 21st Street near the Heights, Salsa’s appearance doesn’t really seem to warrant it a visit.  I drove past it more than a few times before I decided to dine there.  And, it’s a worthy stop, at least for the tortas, those hot Mexican-style sandwiches served on a crusty roll. Though not primarily a torta-specialist like, say, the excellent Mexico’s Deli on Dairy Ashford, nor in quite the same league, Salsa’s does do these very well.  It’s been tough for me to order anything else after my first one about ten visits ago.  
 
Served on a crisp, tasty and fresh-enough bolillio bread along with a smear of refried beans, mayo, sliced tomatoes, lettuce, a few slices of avocado, a ring or two of raw white onions and some pickled jalapeños, these come with a number of choices for meats among beef fajita, chicken fajita, shredded beef or chicken, a version of the Cuban sandwich, milanesa with beef, pastor, lomo, and the Hawaiian.  Lomo is the boiled then shredded pork, and is the star of the meats for the tortas.  It was recommended when I asked the server for the best one, and it’s been my favorite among the several I’ve tried.  The lomo has been tender, moist and clean-tasting with an enjoyable, subtle pork flavor.  The similar Hawaiian might be the next best; the lomo with pineapple, ham and cheese.  But each of the meat choices, dished in an adequate portion, have made for an enjoyable sandwich, which are even much tastier for me with some of the piquant spicy and viscous jalapeño salsa that’s available at the small salsa bar that gives the restaurant its name.
 
The sandwiches might be an average size for a local torta, and have been priced at $6.99, which makes for a decent value.  With some waffle fries made with new potatoes, a fairly hearty lunch has been had for $10.99 or so before tax and tip.  Those prices might be changing.  When I was in quite recently, I was told that the lomo torta I had ordered was now $10.99 but larger.  When it arrived, it was the same regular size as always though I was charged the same $6.99 as before.
 
Salsa’s is an odd place.  Sometimes it is counter-service.  Sometimes not.  Sometimes chips and salsa come.  Most often not.  What was initially a breakfast and lunch place, is now open for dinner, but not breakfast.  And what was a Mexican restaurant is now Mexican and Chinese.  It seems that the restaurant had changed hands.  Now there are two separate menus, one with the Mexican dishes it has long served and a second one with all of the familiar Chinese-American preparations.  Though it might not have the best tortas in town, Salsa’s certainly serves the best tortas at any Mexican-Chinese restaurant in town.
 
Salsa’s
2025 N Durham (at 21st Street), 77008, (713) 426-3259
ordersalsasmexicangrill.com

​Recently in the Spec’s on Smith Street where I have shopped for years, I was amazed at the number of wines in the sales or closeout section.  I instinctively shudder when I see those wines: I had been burned far too many times thinking I had gotten a deal only to drink the wine that inevitably turned out to be far past prime or worse.  Every single wine I’ve purchased over the years on steep discount at Spec’s has been bad.  Every single one.  I certainly don’t do it anymore.  And it might be physically impossible for me to purchase one of these wines now, as deeply scarred as I’ve been. 
 
Words to the wise wine drinker: avoid wines that are substantially marked down at Spec’s, unless you want to waste your money, of course.  

​My friend John was paraphrasing what he had read in the Wall Street Journal, as we were scratching our heads over the not-so-good, not terribly professional service we had been receiving at various stops in New Orleans a couple of weekends ago.  Surprising, because both of us were of a similar mind that the service at restaurants in New Orleans is typically higher because of a seemingly larger class of professional and dedicated servers.  And, he had a very good perspective having been to New Orleans over a couple of hundred times over or more the years.
 
It was also surprising given the restaurants where our group was dining: Brennan’s, Galatorie’s, SoBou – part of the Commander’s Palace family of establishments – Emeril’s, and Drago’s near the river.  In contrast to the others, the service at Commander’s Palace was fantastic, as it always is – the food was even better.  At the others, the service was at varying degrees brusque – especially at the terrific tiki bar in the Quarter, Beachbum Berry’s Latitude 29 –unfriendly, not polished, and at the worst, at SoBou, unknowledgeable, even in terms of their menu, and nearly incompetent.  The wine service was laughably bad.  The staff never responded to several calls over an hour-and-a-half that the women’s restrooms was out of toilet paper.  And, our group of twelve, was told that they would only accept four credit cards.  I had never heard that before.  Thankfully, the food was very good.  We all enjoyed the meal, with a number of smirks along the way.  The quality of the service was in shocking contrast to what we had at its sibling Commander’s Palace the next day.
 
Thankfully, the service issue didn’t really affect our enjoyment.  A big group of friends, usually excellent food helps.  Not to mention a fair amount of alcohol.  But, it was unexpected, given past experiences there.

An excellent fish dish at Galatoire's, where the service was not terribly good.  The food was great, though, as was the lunch.

​This past summer, Marco Wiles, the owner of Dolce Vita put its property on lower Westheimer up for sale, which would have meant that Houston’s best pizzeria – easily its best pizzeria since its inception in early 2006 in my mind – would be shuttering.  I wasn’t even sure that it was still open until a co-worker alerted to the fact that it was.  I had to visit at least one more time.
 
It was as tasty as always last night, with the Neapolitan-inspired pizzas featuring a flavorful and thin crust somewhat charred on the bottom and topped with a judicious and thoughtful, often vibrant, mix of very good ingredients.  Both the Taleggio that’s topped with plentiful arugula, thinly sliced pears, along with the noticeable aroma truffle oil, and the Calabrese, a slightly artisanal take on the pepperoni pizza, were more than satiating.  Paired with a very reasonably price rosé from the Veneto, and a lively setting, it was quite an enjoyable dinner.
 
We had to ask the waiter when the restaurant was closing, hoping for some more time for at least another visit.  Surprisingly, he replied that it’s not.  Seemingly, Wiles could not get the price he wanted and decided to keep Dolce Vita going.  This is great news.  In what turned out to be very dispiriting research into the city’s margherita pizzas, Dolce Vita was the best I had, which further confirmed its primacy among the local pizza joints.  With an engaging wine list, cocktails, and very well-done dishes beyond pizzas, it’s really much more than a pizza joint.  But, I’ll continue to go there for the pizzas.
 
Dolce Vita
500 Westheimer (between Taft and Montrose), 77006, (713) 520-8222
dolcevitahouston.com

It took me at least a couple of times around the block to find Polanquito the first time though it’s right on Shepherd at Feagan, at the light, right by St. Thomas High School.  Its signage spells its name in a mishmash of different fonts and in a way that can be very tough to decipher.  Just a warning.  It’s quite easy to get to once you know where it is.  And you should want to go there, if you enjoy Mexican food.
 
In the world of Mexican dining in Houston, the restaurant occupies a middle ground in both the setting and cooking somewhere between a taqueria and Hugo Ortega’s trio of terrific upscale offerings and also the more casual Cuchara on Taft.  Taking its name from the upscale neighborhood of Polanco in Mexico City – Polanquito is "little Polanco" – this is a nice, if casual, at-times, counter-service spot that serves up well-made, usually enticing and nicely presented versions of unpretentious dishes from several areas of Mexico, and found in Mexico’s largest city.  The chef was quoted in the Houston Chronicle as saying that: “Our food represents many Mexican provinces such as Sinaloa, Veracruz, Puebla, and Yucatán.” 
 
Polanquito provides a welcome, often lighter taste of Mexico, with a welcome array of choices.  It’s evolved since opening from a breakfast, lunch and weekend brunch place that serves lunch and dinner – from Tuesday through Saturday – while keeping the brunch component during the weekends.  The menu is divided among tacos in several guises, larger plates, seven dishes to share, a half-dozen breakfast options, and a handful each of desserts and pastries.  The attractive croissants are made in house, though, maybe a bit oddly, the bread and tortillas are not.  No real matter, though.
 
The dishes look and taste like these do in Mexico, or at least the nicer places where I’ve had similar preparations in years past.  The flavors are usually vibrant and distinct, and properly complex in the case of the mole poblano that is served atop the traditional chicken.  And, also, to a lesser extent with the green mole with the pork ribs, Pipian.  There is even a pink mole preparation on the menu now.  The conchinita pibil, the slowly cooked pulled pork dish from the Yucatan and served with red pickled onions has been a favorite, and it does commendable double duty in both a taco and in a sandwich.  And, the fryer works well for both the beer-battered fish and shrimp taco plates.
 
Portion sizes and prices are moderate.  The piquant, bright shrimp agauchile tops that prices at $12.99 while one of the two single-serving tacos, the neat potato and chorizo version with diced onions and poblanos, is just $2.49.  No alcohol.
 
Polanquito
404 Shepherd (at Feagan), 77007, (713) 485-4047
polanquito.business.site

The Green Pipian Mole with Pork Ribs

​This past year, 2019, was an enjoyable one for me dining out; somewhat indulgent and even gluttonous at times.  Below are my favorite and best meals during the course of the year, listed chronologically.  Fun for me to recount, this list might actually provide some helpful suggestions on where to eat in the future. 
 
Galatoire's (New Orleans) – Oysters Rockefeller; Galatoire Goute (Crabmeat Maison - jumbo lump crab, green onions, capers, creole mustard aioli, Shrimp Remoulade - boiled shrimp, classic spicy remoulade sauce, iceberg lettuce); Oysters in Brochette (fried oysters, bacon, meunière butter); Turtle Soup au Sherry (turtle, trinity, tomatoes, veal stock medium brown roux, sherry); Hashed Browns; Sautéed Lemon Fish with Meuniére Sauce and Jumbo Lump Crab – Friends had been raving about the Friday lunch in the main dining room at Galatoire’s in the French Quarter for years, both for the food and the fun.  It lived up to the anticipation, with excellent takes on classic Creole fare in a very lively setting, complemented by excellent service and nicely priced wines, a white Bordeaux and a white Sancerre, that did very well with the foods and the guests.  The late lunch was primed while having wait at their adjacent bar for a couple of hours, and a cocktail or several, which was a lot of fun in itself.  During the course of the lunch, scanning the packed, very boisterous room where several tables were celebrating birthdays, I thought to myself that this scene is like an upscale wedding reception, except with far better food and service, and maybe even fun, than ever imaginable.
 
Peche Seafood Grill (New Orleans) – Louisiana oysters on the half-shell; Shrimp Toast; Baked drum in a mushroom broth with mushrooms and Cajun hush puppies – Chef Ryan Prewitt, who had won a James Beard Award in 2014, had impressed me with his offering at the annual Southern Smoke event and Peche had recently been highly recommended by friend, a native New Orleanian. So, I had to schedule a meal there during a long and very enjoyable gastronomic-centric weekend in the Crescent City.  It turned out to be the best meal of the trip highlighted by a baked drum, flaky, moist, and clean-tasting but flavorful served in a mushroom broth with a nice complement of sliced mushrooms that worked wonderfully with the impeccable Gulf fish.
 
Georgia James – Chicken Liver Pate; Uni Panna Cotta (with crushed peanuts, scallions, drizzled with a Fresno chile gastrique); Wagyu Zabuton (wet-aged, nicely marbled cut of chuck steak from Snake River Farms cooked in an iron skillet); Brown Butter Roasted Mushrooms; sourdough bread from Bread Man Baking served with liquified smokey butter – Chris Shepherd’s chef-y take on the great American steakhouse and successor to One Fifth Steak was terrific in every regard, starting with the not-so-dry martinis to the rich appetizers, decadent, tender steaks, an well-priced Nebbiolo from well-regarded Scarpa that worked quite well with the meats in a lively, pleasant atmosphere.
 
Vieng Thai – Spring rolls (Thai-style crispy rolls filled with shredded vegetables and tofu and served with sweet chili sauce); Paneang Curry with pork (curry with coconut milk, green beans and kaffir lime leaves) – I hadn’t been to what had been my favorite Thai restaurant in years, and this lunchtime visit proved it had not lost a step.  The rich, piquant curry was especially delicious, with the thin pieces of pork doing a better job as the protein center than always less flavorful chicken.
 
Izakaya – “Tori Kawa” Chicken Skin (skewered and grilled); Pan-Fried Pork Dumplings; Simple Tuna (sashimi with yuzu, soy sauce, crushed black salt, and olive oil); Agedashi Tofu (crispy tofu in a tempura ginger broth) – A modern, locally suited take on the Japanese izakaya concept with influences from Peru and elsewhere done with more subtlety and flavor than in similar dishes elsewhere in town; not surprising in a restaurant that’s a sibling of Kata Robata.
 
Ristorante Cavour – Gnocchi alla Bava (semolina dumplings in a light cream sauce) – For me, a plate of gnocchi is a test of an Italian restaurant, as it is too often delivered with the flavor and near-consistency of a pencil eraser.  Of course, in a kitchen headed by Maurizio Ferrarese there should be no pause for concern about this or any other dish.  It was outstanding and nicely balanced even with a cream-based sauce, as were the two other orders, a risotto with lobster and ravioli with porcini and other mushrooms.  These dishes would do any highly rated restaurant in Italy proud, and I’ve been fortunate to dine more than a few there in the past year or so.
 
Izakaya – Original Peruvian Cebiche (celery, garlic, red pepper, ginger, lime juice, rice wine vinegar, snapper, shrimp, roasted corn, salt, pepper); Steamed Seafood dumplings; Takoyaki (battered and fried octopus, kewpie, bonito, nori); Agedashi Tofu (crispy tofu in a tempura ginger broth) – Delicious dining again and at the bar, even.
 
Indigo – Omnivore Menu: Convict Leasing (shaved, cured and smoked butternut squash tartlet with dried peaches, herbs); Gold Links - Part 2 (dry-aged duck breast with yellow barbecue sauce); Slum Village (ash-aged potato ashcake with okra condiment, caramelized potato crème, crispy shallots and thyme); Forty Acres and a Mule (oxtail and collard green stewed in slabber sauce with Carolina gold rice); Acres of Diamonds (smoked beet red velvet cake, creole cream cheese cremeaux; shortbread cookie – Excellent throughout with a chef who has true skill in creating delicious combinations with evident technique featuring disparate ingredients that might seem unusual or be unfamiliar to many.  It’s dinner with a message as the chef helpfully explained the dishes at this 13-seat restaurant with a version of history that provided inspiration for each. Very difficult to get to for most Houstonians with traffic for the early seating during the week and with no beverage program to speak of, it’s still definitely worth a trip for any dedicated local diner.
 
Goode Co. Seafood (Westpark) – Campechana Extra (Mexican-style seafood cocktail made with al blend of pico de gallo, fire-roasted Anaheim peppers and diced avocados, with shrimp and crab); Gulf Shrimp (marinated then bacon-wrapped and mesquite-grilled shrimp served with fries and a seafood empanada; garlic bread – An exuberant take on the bounty of the nearby Gulf that almost always satiates more than it seems it should.
 
Arnoldo Richards’ Picos – Camerones al Mojo de Ajo (jumbo Gulf shrimp lightly breaded and pan-sautéed in garlic-infused olive oil with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, avocado slices and tomato habanero salsa and sides of Spanish rice and refried beans) – Some more excellent shrimp from a long-standing favorite of mine that has done nice work with seafood over the years.  This visit impressed my cousin and his girlfriend who don’t get food anything like this in suburban Chicago.
 
The Pit Room – Two Meat Dinner (a plate with brisket, jalapeno-cheddar sausage; mac and cheese; potato salad; slice of very white bread) – Highlighted by the brisket, naturally, that was moist, very flavorful, especially the crusty exterior when eaten with a bit of nearby fat.  Excellent.
 
BCN – sampler platter (Spanish Ibérico ham and toasted “pa amb tomaca”; Spanish Ibérico ham croquettes; “Patatas bravas BCN” potatoes, spicy oil and aioli); sautéed calamari – Grabbing one of the nine seats at the bar after work made for another very enjoyable visit featuring excellent, artistic takes on traditional Catalonian and Spanish small plates and along with similarly artful and creative gin-and-tonics that worked very and refreshingly well in seemingly unusual creations from a talented and engaging bartender.
 
Habanera and the Guero – Beef fajitas with flour tortillas, charred onions; guacamole, crema, shredded Cheddar cheese; black refried beans and Spanish rice – This dumpy place off the Gulf Freeway is worth the drive for most, not just for their more traditionally Mexican dishes, but also their first-rate beef fajitas, one of the best versions I’ve had in a while.
 
Pappas Bros. Steakhouse (downtown) – Caesar Salad; New York Strip; mashed potatoes; haricot verts; potatoes au gratin; key lime pie tartlet – This was the best New York Strip I’ve had in memory and also the best Houston Restaurant Weeks meal I’ve ever had.  It was an outstanding meal, period, and wonderful dining experience, even just sitting in the bar area.  For Restaurant Weeks!
 
Cascina Vittoria (Rognano, Italy) – focaccia, eggplant with three consistencies of Parmigiano-Reggiano (an eggplant flan, an involved flan with the delectable Parmigiano served in three states - crispy, as a sauce, and ice cream); risotto with squash and gorganzola; Brasato di Manzo (slices of beef cooked in red wine served with mashed potatoes); panettone – This best meal during a week-long gastronomic trip to northern Italy, which was highlighted by the very best versions of focaccia, an eggplant preparation, and panettone that I’ve ever had.
 
Xochi – Taquitos Dorados (flautas); Ostiones de Lujo (wood-roasted oysters, mole amarillo, cotija, breadcrumbs); Tlayuda Puerco (very large, thin Oaxacan tortilla with mole negro, Mexican chorizo, bacon, egg, Oaxacan cheese cooked over wood); Cacao (chocolate cocoa pod, chocolate textures: tejate foam, milk chocolate cloud, chocolate criollo soil) – The delicious oysters disappeared quickly at the table to start our Saturday brunch, and though my tlayuda was a bit awkward to eat, it was quite tasty.  The dessert that we split among a half-dozen of us was something special: a very cool milk chocolate shell that looked like a squash when presented that was filled mostly with different chocolate ice creams that was absolutely delightful.
 
UB Preserv – Crispy Rice Salad (fresh cilantro and parsley, tomato, cucumber with a serrano vinaigrette); Wok Fried Beets (with a sweet and sour sauce, fried cheese, bits of orange, and sesame crunchies); Lamb Tartare (served with paratha, shabazi spice mixture. habanero aioli); Vietnamese Short Rib Fajitas (slowly cooked 44 Farms beef short ribs with the usual complement of lettuce, pickled carrots and more) – A terrific meal featuring the expected bold flavors coming in interesting, wide-ranging and very intelligently done combinations from Chris Shepherd’s team at this successor to Underbelly, which serves up some of the very best food in the city.  The attentive and friendly staff at the bar proved more than adept at suggesting dishes and drinks that all worked extremely well.
 
Xochi – Ostiones de Lujo (wood-roasted oysters, mole amarillo, cotija, breadcrumbs); Hongos en Mole Amarillo (wild mushrooms, mole amarillo, masa dumplings, green beans); Cabrito con Chichilo (crispy goat with charred chilhuacle pepper mole) – Yes, this place is good.

Sautéed Lemon Fish with Meuniére Sauce and Jumbo Lump Crab at Galatoire's

On a recent tour of the Italian city of Pavia and its environs, a tour mostly meant to publicize its charms for tourists, I was surprised that the restaurant chosen after our visit to the area’s tourist highlight, the impressive Certosa di Pavia, was not the long-standing Michelin-starred one just a mile away.  Instead, it was one called Cascina Vittoria.  After the meal, it was clear that it was a more appropriate choice, and was likely at least as good. The meal was excellent and was the best meal of my weeklong stay in Italy, a week of dining fairly grandly.
 
Whereas the acclaimed Locanda Vecchia Pavia ‘Al Mulino’ was described as “Cucina Creativa” (creative cooking) in a recent Michelin guide and reinforced in the less reliable Fodor’s, Cascina Vittorria proudly offers more locally rooted cuisine, if done in a sensible contemporary fashion at times.  And done terrifically.  The lunch we had there was like a meal I had at Brennan’s in Houston in 2015 when Danny Trace was heading the kitchen.  I had three different items or preparations that were the best of each type that I had ever had.  At Brennan’s it was strawberries – sourced from a small farm in Louisiana during the height of the season – soft shell crabs, and Lemon Meringue Pie.
 
The delicious surprises at Cascina Vittoria began at the start of the meal, with the bread service, with plump, moist-looking squares of focaccia.  I thought that this was a bit odd. Focaccia is something that I hadn’t associated with the region of Lombardy where we were.  But Pavia is just an hour-and-a-half by train to Genoa, the capital of coastal Liguria, and the land of focaccia as much as it is that of pesto. Expectedly soft, a touch oily from the fragrant, light olive oil, the bread was very fresh and absolutely delicious with a long, very pleasant taste.  I had to force myself to eat three (or four or five) pieces before the first real course of the meal.  I do like focaccia, quite a lot, in fact.  I ate it daily, more than daily, during the near-week I spent on the Ligurian coast some years ago, including buying about half a pan of it studded with a few sprigs of rosemary for a light lunch during a few-hour drive.  It made for a memorable, savory crutch before dinner.
 
That had been my focaccia of memory. The version we had at Cascina Vittoria was better, and better than all of the excellent focaccias I had in Liguria, and elsewhere. The chef, Giovanni Ricciardella, came out to explain the focaccia, for which he was very proud.  The flour for it is milled on the property, which is more than a restaurant, and is 100% whole grain.  Spurred on by a starter with more than a few years to it, the bread is baked in a wood-fueled oven.  No herbs are used in the bread, just some salt and olive oil.  That’s certainly all that was needed.
 
Then came the antipasto course, Millefoglie di melanzane e le tre consistenze del parmigiano: cald-freddo-croccante.  This is essentially an eggplant flan, an involved flan with the delectable Parmigiano served in three states: crispy, as a sauce, and ice cream, and so three different temperatures and textures.  Complemented with excellent tomatoes and mozzarella and other complementary ingredients, this imaginative and quite involved culinary exercise succeeded grandly.  It was absolutely delicious and quite interesting when more than one of textures and textures was combined in a bite.  This was certainly the most intricate eggplant dish I’ve ever had, and it was also the best.  Probably not surprisingly, the menu showed that it was the Piatto firma dello Chef, the chef’s signature dish. 
 
After the secondo, the main protein-centered course, the chef returned to describe what we would be having for dessert.  It was to be something that’s never really served at restaurants, but made sense as Christmas was not too distant and we were just south of its home, Milan, panettone. It was especially appropriate because the restaurant and chef had won acclaim for it earlier the year as one of the best versions in Italy from the leading Italian paper, the Milan-based Corriere della Sera, and also because they were selling the panettone.  At least a couple of my travel-mates bought one.  If I had room to spare in my suitcase, I would have, myself, even at €35, more than three times what I typically dole out for one, as I did yesterday.  As wonderful as their panettone was – simply much more vibrant, fresh-tasting, with noticeably better and more compelling ingredients than usual – it was probably worth more than what they were charging.
 
It was an excellent meal, through and through, highlighted by the very best versions of focaccia, an eggplant dish, and panettone that I’ve ever had.  Cascina Vittoria is worth a detour if you are in the Milan area with a car, and the chef told me that about 70% of their patrons come from the big city.  Smart folks, or least ones with fine palates and a few euros to spend.
 
Cascina Vittoria
via Roma, 26, 27010 - Rognano (Pavia)
+390382923772
cascinavittoria.it 

The Millefoglie di melanzane ​at Cascina Vittoria