​“What’s the best restaurant in Houston?” is what a daughter of an old girlfriend asked me the other weekend while she, her mother and I were at a local wine bar.  I quickly responded that I didn’t know.  I mentioned a few places that might qualify though added that I couldn’t give a confident response.  I was the local Zagat editor for Houston for several years and have been in the process for the past year or so – dining out diligently – of trying to put together a thoroughly researched list of the city’s top fifty restaurants for my blog and website.  I should be in a better position than most to answer what Houston’s best restaurant is or its best few restaurants.
 
In the past, I’ve said that I think Houston might have a number of Michelin one-star restaurants but maybe not too many two-star restaurants, and likely not any three if Michelin plied our fair city (there are only thirteen restaurants with three stars in this country in the four metropolitan areas where Michelin has published guides).  So, for me, there are not any places that immediately jump to the top of my list.
 
In judging a restaurant what’s on the plate and on the menus are the most important aspects.  The quality and enjoyability of the food is paramount, in my opinion, as it is with most diners.  For the best places that usually manifests itself in dishes that exhibit either a complexity or depth of flavor throughout much of the meal.  I also tend to especially enjoy restaurants and dishes that are a reflection of the place and community.  An exhibition of creativity can be important, though that creativity needs to be agreeably flavorful for me.  The food has to be plated attractively in the best places.  Top restaurants need to have a well-chosen wine list.  Wine makes most food taste better, a well-suited wine even much more so.  An excellent, or at least decent, cocktail program also helps make the opening phase of a restaurant visit more pleasurable for me these days.  Beyond the output of the kitchen and from the purview of the beverage director, the level of service is very important when considering the best restaurants. The setting, the design and décor, should help to create a proper stage for diners that can complement the food and make the visit even more enjoyable.  These are just some of the more immediate criteria in trying to judge a restaurant.
 
To circle back to that query, some of the very best local spots for me would be, not in any order: The Pass, Tony’s, Café Annie, One Fifth, Da Marco, BCN, Kata Robota, Uchi, Kiran’s, Hugo’s and Caracol, Kata Robota and probably MF Sushi.  Maybe Xochi, too, which, to me, doesn’t have the value or quite the polish of its Mexican siblings, as much as I like the place.  Getting panhandled while sitting on its patio there probably plays into that.  I haven’t yet been to the rebooted Underbelly, UB Preserv, maybe this weekend.  I’ve been a fan of Chris Shepherd and company since the days of Catalan, and am looking forward to Georgia James, given how much I liked One Fifth Steak.  Brennan’s has been too inconsistent for me since Danny Trace departed as executive chef.  Due to schedule conflicts, I’ve had to at cancel reservations a few times at Potente, where Trace now plies his trade, and also at Justin Yu’s more casual successor to Oxheart, Theodore Rex.  I’ve likely overlooked a few in this short list.  More restaurants to visit and revisit, and likely some revisions to be made.
 
“What is the best restaurant in Houston?”  I hope to know in the coming months, or at least offer a more informed opinion.

​Pizza is from Italy, but pizza is Neapolitan in origin.  It came from Naples, specifically, and actually spread more quickly throughout the U.S. than it did in Italy from its birthplace in Naples, as odd as that may seem.  Pizza initially traveled with the immigrants from Naples and its environs, of whom there were many in this country.
 
One of the most important events in the gustatory history of the country – and an immeasurable future boon to children, college students and the makers of heartburn remedies – seems to have begun officially in 1905 when Gennaro Lombardi, a native of Naples, opened the first licensed pizzeria in America in Manhattan’s Little Italy, Lombardi’s.  He had been making versions of this strictly Neapolitan fast food at the bakery in which he worked, which was also being done elsewhere, at least in his neighborhood.  The New York Tribune noted a couple of years earlier in 1903 in Little Italy that “apparently the Italian has invented a kind of pie. The ‘pomidore pizza,’ or tomato pie.”   These pizza pies were just the province of these Neapolitans; in Italy at the time, it was not found outside of the vicinity of Naples.   “There are only two places in New York where you can get real, genuine Neapolitan pizze. One is on Spring Street and one on Grand. The rest are Americanized substitutes,” reported an informed source, “the Dago,” in a Sun piece in the summer of 1905.   With that first pizzeria at 52 Spring Street, Lombardi used a coal-fired oven, a typical commercial oven at the time.  Though wood was used in the pizzerias in Naples, coal was readily available in New York and burned more efficiently than wood.   The coal-fired ovens would help give New York pies a distinctive crust and a little different taste than their progenitors on the Bay of Naples. It was often charred, crisp yet pliable, though not soggy, as the centers of the pizzas in Naples are. 
 
These pizzas first found an audience with those recently arrived Neapolitans and quickly spread to all the Italians living in the neighborhood.  Pizza has proven to be a very easy sell over the years.  In the 1920s and 1930s Lombardi’s former employees, all Neapolitans, opened pizzerias in Brooklyn, East Harlem and uptown Manhattan that would be destined to become icons in their own right.  But, pizzas were really an ethnic, mostly Italian, specialty until after the Second World War, even in New York City.   Also in the 1920s, pizzerias were opened by Neapolitan immigrants in the Italian neighborhoods of New Haven, Connecticut, Trenton, and Boston.  Philadelphia and Chicago were two of the few other cities with Neapolitan pizzaioli and pizza before the Depression.   Pizzerias were then still run solely by these Neapolitans and their offspring.  Pizzas began its worldwide conquest from Naples and being strictly Neapolitan to being Neapolitan-American then Italian-American and then becoming Italian.  Pizza was very difficult to find north of Naples before 1960 the early 1960s, in fact.
 
Another trademark American quality, in addition to convenience and efficiency, is size.  The size of pizzas grew in diameter from its original ten inches or so, eventually settling at between 12 and 14 inches.  Instead of just one, these now fed two to four people, perfectly suited for families and groups of friends.  This was the result of the ingredients available to those immigrants working in New York. The 00 flour Neapolitan pizzaiolos used was not available, so unbleached flours of high protein took the place of the softer flour. This enabled the pizza-makers to make bigger, but slightly thinner pizzas that dwarfed their progenitors.  The ones made here were all fairly similar, still thin-crust with a minimal number of toppings, if more and different than those in Naples and the earliest pizzerias here.  Cheese, mushrooms, anchovies, ground beef, onions, and that Italian-American creation, pepperoni, were common, and often used in combinations. 
 
The easier-to-manage gas ovens eventually took over from coal in nearly all pizzerias in New York, making for a slightly different crust including a lack of sootiness.  The newer pizzamakers tended to adhere to the American maxim of more is better and put much more cheese on the pizzas than the original Neapolitan-American places, who remained true to their early minimalist ethos.  The margherita morphed into the cheese pizza, more cheese and with dried oregano replacing the fresh basil, which was more difficult to have on hand year-round in New York than in Naples.  The cheese that became popular with the eventually ubiquitous restaurants was use of low-moisture mozzarella over fresh mozzarella, which is not well suited to the lower temperature and longer cooking times of the gas ovens. An even more noticeable change was that pizza in New York eventually became to be served by the slice in addition to the whole pie.  This seemingly very simple thing allowed for smaller establishments  ̶  as a slice is essentially take-away or quick-eating fare  ̶  that are cheaper to start and run allowing for many more pizza shops, further expanding the reach of the pizza.
 
A New Haven pizzeria founded by a Neapolitan immigrant, Pepe's Pizzeria Napoletana, eventually introduced a version topped with clams (in the 1960s), but there still were not many regional differences.   Pizzas were simple, satisfying, affordable, and easy-to-like.  One variation to the standard pie, found in St. Louis to Chicago and east to West Virginia often in taverns, was cut the thin circular pizzas into squares that were easy to eat with one hand, beer in the other.  Pizzerias in St. Louis also began putting Provel cheese on their pies, a bland processed cheese that melts well, an Italian-American Velveeta, and another step toward industrial Americanization.
 
Somewhere along the line, the Sicilian pizza also joined the mix, likely the result of a pizzeria worker or owner from Palermo.  It was derived from the sfincione from Palermo, a type of spongy focaccia usually topped there with vegetables or tomato sauce and cheese or sardines or anchovies. So, customers at some pizzerias began to have two options dished with the same sauce and toppings: the original circular thin-crust, and a rectangular construction, the Sicilian, with a thick, softer crust. 
 
Pizza spread throughout the country after the Second World War, becoming far more common a sight than in Italy where it was still mostly confined to Naples and its environs.  In fact, it was difficult to find pizza north of Naples through the 1960s.   Here, it began to be served well beyond the Italian neighborhoods.  Starting and growing in areas with virtually no competition from pizzerias with Italian antecedents, several regional, national and international pizza companies got their start in the mid-1950s to 1960: Shakey’s in Sacramento (humorously, I guess, named after one of the malaria-damaged owners) in 1954, Pizza Hut in Wichita and Pizza Inn in Dallas in 1958, Little Caesar’s in suburban Detroit in 1959, and Domino’s in Ypsilanti, Michigan in 1960.   The commercially made gas then electric pizza ovens, along with large mixers for the dough introduced in the mid-1950s, helped make the creation of the pizzas easier, far less dependent on a seasoned pizza-maker.  American business know-how helped even more.  The franchise system increased the number of branches and market presence quickly.  Even if far from the best pizzas around – the pies usually featured doughier and blander crusts and lower-quality toppings – these pizza chains have been greatly enjoyed by millions over the years.  Not incidentally, with tremendous insight, or luck, both Pizza Hut and Pizza Inn first opened right near college campuses.  
 
Pizza has helped others gained their slice of the American dream, too.  Greek-owned places created many oregano-heavy pizzas in the New York area, in New England where they developed a distinctive style, and elsewhere.  Beginning in the 1990s, Albanian immigrants have owned and operated many pizzerias in the northeast.   These groups have also helped reinforce the truly American styles of pizzas, all of which have their roots in New York.
 
Chicago began to go a different route starting in 1943 with the first deep-dish pizza, to the everlasting disdain of New Yorkers.  Created at Pizzeria Uno by non-Italians, this hefty dish was really more of a casserole than a pizza (but still a pie), in line with the city’s big-food traditions.   It was baked at lower temperatures for around forty-five minutes or so, far longer than the thin-crust versions, but contained the usual pizza ingredients and flavors and grew to become the fiercely loved, dominant style in and around the Windy City.  Chicago-style has come to mean deep-dish.
 
Another type of pizza was added by a non-Italian, the designer pizza, or the California pizza, introduced in the early 1980s by Wolfgang Puck at his Spago restaurant in Los Angeles.   This helped expand the range of toppings thought possible.  Goat cheese, salmon, chicken, shrimp and even caviar were all successfully found atop Spago’s finely crafted pies.  Its success created a designer pizza craze in Los Angeles in the mid-1980s.  And, though Alice Water’s Chez Panisse might have been the first to do so a few years earlier and inspired Puck, Spago’s example was the one that really popularized the idea that pizza could be served at serious restaurants.  In the past half-dozen years or so, pizzas, and their simpler, easier-to-make cousin, the flatbread, have become a popular starter at many at fine dining or ambitious restaurant across the country.  There are great margins in these.
 
The most significant and interesting development the couple of decades is the emergence of the truly Neapolitan pizza.  There is even a certification body, Verace Pizza Napoletana Association (VPN) that looks at the use of the oven, wood-fired, of course, and the use of Neapolitan ingredients like the soft 00 flour, San Marzano tomatoes from near Naples, and buffalo milk mozzarella, usually along with previous enrolment in one of their classes.  La Pizza Fresca was one of the very first in New York and the country in the mid-1990s.  Others acclaimed ones opening since then include Ribalta, Naples 45, Keste, Motorino and Don Antonio by Starita, a top pizzeria in Naples.  There Una Pizza Napoletana opened in New York in 2004 then relocated to San Francisco that helped to raise the form to great renown here, and stridency.
 
Pizza, more than ever, and in many more forms than ever, is an integral and ubiquitous presence in Americans eating habits.  I've come to know that even more with my ongoing Margherita Pizza Project.  It’s the third popular food in America according to a recent survey.  An example of how ingrained pizza has become in American culture is a vignette related by the former head of the Italian trade mission in New York.  Soon after arriving in the late 1990s he was asked in earnest by an American friend, “Gioacchino, how does one say ‘pizza’ in Italian?”


A margherita pizza, or is it a cheese pizza, at Mascalzone.

I had to track down Lorenzo Ruggeri after he finished helping lead a tasting of wines from northern Italy the other day.  He had just mentioned at the end of the session that the Italian publication hosting the event, Gambero Rosso, was announcing its picks for the best Italian restaurants in Houston later that day.  I had to leave soon and really wanted to know.  Gambero Rosso is mostly known for their thick annual Italian wine guide, but it also has guides for restaurants and now one for Italian food products.
 
I was very curious to learn what it had acclaimed in the city, assuming it would reward authenticity and adherence to native Italian products and flavors.  I make it point to pester foreign transplants and visitors for feedback about local restaurants serving their home cuisine, often finding it useful feedback. Thankfully, I was able to quickly find Ruggeri and inquire about the local winners. 
 
He was quickly forthcoming with the yet-unveiled winners. Amalfi won the top spot for fine dining, Sud Italia for traditional cuisine, Rosso Cane for pizza, and Poscol for the cantina.  I complimented him on the choices of Amalfi and Sud Italia. These are led by two of the top handful of Italian chefs in the state – Giancarlo Ferrarra at Amalfi and Maurizio Ferrarese at Sud Italia – though I was surprised about Cane Rosso.  I haven’t been impressed in several visits, finding the various Neapolitan-styled pizzas much more attractive than flavorful.  He said that it was tough to find good pizza, which I heartily if unfortunately agreed.  My view of the local pizza scene has diminished with the ongoing research for my Margherita Pizza Project.  And, Cane Rosso only got one of three pizza slices versus two of the other things (forks, bottles and no telling) for the other restaurants.  The fourth of the winners, Poscol, does have a very fine wine last, though I like the one better at its sibling a couple of blocks away, Dolce Vita.  But, Poscol has a much more appropriate cantina, or enoteca, setting and vibe.  Nicely, this information and some more is posted on Gambero Rosso’s website under the heading, “Top Italian Restaurants in Houston.”

Click here to see their picks in other cities, too.
 

One of Maurizio Ferrarese's delectable pasta dishes at Sud Italia

I posted this article back in 2011, before Houston began to receive some appropriate – and long overdue – national appreciation for the quality of its dining scene.  We learned today that none of the five chefs or chef duos, that had been named semifinalists were named finalists.  The estimable Anvil, which has to be one of the very best cocktail bars in the country, did finally make it as a finalist.  This could simply be that those nominated were more deserving.  Having not eaten at those out-of-town restaurants whose chefs were named, I cannot offer an opinion.  Alison Cook in the Chronicle today offered one factor that likely played a role: that since Houston is a less touristy city than others in the region like Austin and Santa Fe, there is less of a chance that a James Beard voter will be able to vote for the chef or establishment because these voters are expected to only vote for people and places they have actually visited.  Makes a lot of sense to me.  There is also geography, or geography the way that the city of Houston happens to fit into the way it is applied for the purposes of the James Beard awards.

_________________

The James Beard Foundation has eleven national restaurant-related awards plus ones for the best chef in each of eight regions across the country.  These are the most prestigious awards associated with American restaurants.  The way the regions are comprised, a Houston chef has the most difficult path to win a best chef designation.   Basically, they face more competition. 
 
These are the regions and their respective component states, from most populous to least:
 
Southwest – Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah
Great Lakes – Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio
Pacific – California, Hawaii
Mid-Atlantic –Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, DC
Southeast – Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia
South – Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi
Northeast – Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York excepting NYC, Rhode Island, Vermont
Midwest – Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin
Northwest – Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming
New York City
 
Based on the most recent census data, here are the populations for each, which vary quite a lot:
 
Southwest – 48 million
Great Lakes – 40.1 million
Pacific – 38.7 million
Mid-Atlantic – 37.6 million
Southeast – 36.5 million
South – 34.2 million
Northeast – 25.7 million
Midwest – 25.6 million
Northwest – 14.5 million
New York City – 8.2 million
 
Unlike Europe, the top restaurants in this country are located almost entirely in the biggest cities.  Here are the largest fifty cities for each region to give an idea of potential competition.  There are many more large cities in the Southwest region than elsewhere, sixteen.  The Pacific region is second with six of the top fifty.
 
Southwest – Houston (4), Phoenix (6), San Antonio (7), Dallas (9), Austin (14), Fort Worth (16), El Paso (19), Denver (26), Las Vegas (30), Oklahoma City (31), Albuquerque (32), Tucson (33), Mesa (38), Colorado Springs (41), Tulsa (46), Arlington (50)
Great Lakes – Chicago (3), Indianapolis (12), Columbus (15), Detroit (18), Cleveland (45)
Pacific – Los Angeles (2), San Diego (8), San Jose (10), San Francisco (13), Fresno (34), Sacramento (35), Long Beach (36), Oakland (47)
Mid-Atlantic – Philadelphia (5), Baltimore (21), Washington DC (24), Virginia Beach (39)
Southeast – Charlotte (17), Memphis (20), Nashville (25), Louisville (27), Atlanta (40), Raleigh (43)
South – Jacksonville (11), Miami (44)
Northeast – Boston (22)
Midwest – Milwaukee (28), Kansas City (37), Omaha (42), Minneapolis (48), Wichita (49)
Northwest – Seattle (23), Portland (29)
New York City – New York (1)
 
In the case that the size of the metropolitan area might be a better judge in determining the quality of the restaurants – the wealthy suburbs feed a vibrant inner city dining scene – here is a list containing the top twenty-five metropolitan areas:
 
Southwest – Dallas-Fort Worth (4), Houston (6), Phoenix (14), Denver (21), San Antonio (25)
Great Lakes – Chicago (3), Detroit (12)
Pacific – Los Angeles (2), San Francisco-Oakland (11), Riverside-San Bernadino (13), San Diego (17), Sacramento (24)
Mid-Atlantic – Philadelphia (6), Washington DC (7), Baltimore (20), Pittsburgh (22)
Southeast – Atlanta (9)
South – Miami (8), Tampa-St. Petersburg (19)
Northeast – Boston (10)
Midwest – Minneapolis-St. Paul (16), St. Louis (18)
Northwest – Seattle (15), Portland (23)
New York City – New York (1)
 
Though the size of the city and surrounding area might be the most important factor, there are others.  Traditionally, the best restaurant cities have been large coastal ports, with Chicago as an exception.  During the 1930s, Duncan Hines, before he gave us cake mix, was a top restaurant critic traveling the country who listed “New York, San Francisco and New Orleans as the country's top restaurant cities."  “Over the years from 1939 to 1980, when Galllup polled Americans annually on what cities they thought served the fines food, New York consistently came out on top with San Francisco, Chicago and New Orleans the usual runners-up,” from the Paradox of Plenty, a book about eating in modern America.  By the mid-1980s, Los Angeles was witnessing the rise of California cuisine and became the standard bearer for at least a decade as New York revived from the stagnation that began in the 1970s.
 
A year ago in the December 2010 issue of Esquire, longtime dining scribe John Mariani put together a list of the top restaurant cities in the country:
 
Southwest – Las Vegas (6), Houston (7)
Great Lakes – Chicago (2)
Pacific – San Francisco (3), Los Angeles (5)
Mid-Atlantic – Washington DC (8)
Southeast
South – New Orleans (4)
Northeast – Boston (9)
Midwest
Northwest – Seattle (10)
New York City – New York (1)
 
Not only do Houston chefs have to compete in the most populous region by far, the one with the largest number of big cities, they also have to contend with restaurants in Las Vegas.  It is home to many luxury establishments – including from the top chefs and restaurateurs in the world – that can only exist in Las Vegas; restaurants that act as loss-lenders and perks to high rollers to attract them to the casino that houses them.  What applies to Houston applies to the rest of the region, of course.
 
An award for Best Chef Midwest or Northwest does not seem nearly as notable as Best Chef Southwest.  In fact, a James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef Southwest might be the most be the most impressive of the regional chef awards.
​

A dish at the soon-to-shuttered Underbelly, home of Chris Shepherd, Best Chef - Southwest, 2014.

A couple of blocks from the Menil, the smallish, low-slung building has housed several restaurants over the years providing the comfortable neighborhood of older bungalows and some newer and larger contemporary structures with something that most Houston neighborhoods lack: an interesting and approachable dining and imbibing option within walking distance.  The new Night Heron from the folks at Agricole Hospitality (Coltivare, Eight Row Flint, Revival Market) continues the trend.  Taking over from the recently departed Lowbrow, the stolid booths are gone, and interior of the space is roomier and airier.  The patio in front remains the same, still a bit ungainly if perfect for folks bringing their dogs with them, though with the big television (that came in handy during the ‘Stros amazing playoff run).  It’s probably the nicest of the iterations this address has seen over the years.
 
Visiting about a week after opening, Night Heron appears to be a good fit for the neighborhood and visitors to the Menil.  The highlights of the visit and seemingly the strong point of the restaurant were the cocktails, which wisely borrows that expertise from its siblings Coltivare and Eight Row Flint.  My friend, who lives a block away, couldn’t wait for me to try the place, she had been the night before for just drinks and had a grapefruit cocktail that she raved about and ordered it again to start, the usually simple Salty Dog.  This one, like the other updated and refined versions of classics on their menu, was a modernized and improved version.  Featuring a honeysuckle vodka, grapefruit juice and a slice of the fruit for garnish and aroma, black pepper, vanilla, and pink salt, it was terrific, refreshing and a far cry from the Salty Dogs I consumed in my youth.  I opted for a much more bitter option, a Manhattan, in regards to the daily atorvastatin.  Served neat and with two Luxardo-like cured cherries, this version went for bourbon in place of rye, amaro for the Angostura, and madeira instead of sweet vermouth, this was different than the Manhattans I have been enjoyably imbibing at Public Services for the past couple of years or so, and elsewhere, but excellent.  The sixteen or so cocktails on the menu come with the provenance of each – the Bloody Mary comes courtesy of Harry’s New York Bar, Paris, 1920s, for example – and are described as: “the canon of America’s classic drinking culture. There are infinite ways to spin these classics. What follows are our favorites.”  These outputs from these two pages are reason enough to visit Night Heron, if you like those sorts of things.

As for the rest of the adult beverages, the restaurant offers something nearly unheard of these days: most of its wine by glass are priced at $10 or less.  About 70% of the roughly sixty bottles offered are food-friendly Old World wines.  The beers are mostly hoppy and alcoholic, with a handful of Belgium classics in the form of a saison, a dubbel, a Flemish red ale that is the favorite of Antwerp, and the Trappist Orval.
 
The food at Night Heron, all meant for sharing with the possible exception of the cheeseburger, seems also meant as accompaniment to the various drinks.  Most of the ones we ordered worked the other night.  The star, by far, was the Salt & Pepper Pork Ribs that comes as four spare, lean ribs in a bowl.  It’s not an impressive sight, but the taste is terrific, moist and nicely incorporating the lemon and sumac the menu states are in the preparation.  The Singapore Chili Clams were the second best, a preparation of numerous clams made with fermented black beans and a tomato-y broth with mint and some spice.  As tasty as the broth at the bottom of the bowl was, frustratingly there was no bread to sop it up, a similar misstep that Coltivare did, or maybe still does, make.  The waiter, earnest if often absent and still learning the ropes of the newly opened spot, suggested we use some of the Fried Curry Spiced Potatoes for the broth.  It did not do the trick as well as some bread, and those small potatoes, charred and dull, were a disappointment.  All of its minimal spice were in the mild ketchup that came with it.  More enjoyable was Turmeric Chicken Frites made with a noticeable buttermilk marinade along with some dill and yogurt.  Its taste was enjoyable, subtle, and pieces judiciously sized.  It was a welcome bar snack and a ways from Raising Cane’s.  The last dish was even more lackluster than the potatoes, Jasmine Rice Congee.  Though the congee, rice porridge seemingly inspired by those served in Vietnam or China, came with mushrooms, almonds, a little bacon, plentiful scallions and a poached egg, it was a bland rice porridge, as rice porridge is apt to be, after getting past the nicely cooked egg.  For some reason it was served in an oversized portion.  A small cup would have been sufficient.  I found it to be a very odd addition to the menu.
 
Though I would have liked more spice in the dishes, I have to applaud the kitchen for embracing subtlety and nuance.  Very nicely, the food items run from just $4 for a snack of olives to $16 for a take on jerk chicken. 
 
I’ll be back, and I think my friend is quite excited about it.  And Night Heron is a very welcome neighborhood restaurant, and a cool place, in general.  It might not be the best restaurant in the immediate vicinity with the Bistro Menil right there.  Or, maybe it is not really worth the drive across town, well, maybe for the cocktails, but a worth a reasonable drive, especially when drinks are involved.  Drinking responsibly, of course.

 Night Heron
1601 W Main (at Mandell) (713) 527-8010
agricolehospitality.com/night-heron/

​The mantra at Underbelly, from where Chef Chris Shepherd won a James Beard Award a few years ago, is “The Story of Houston Food.” The wine list, however, strays far from the region and even the continent; two-thirds of it is dedicated to wines from Europe, the Old World. This affection is not unusual among the top local restaurants including, or especially, those with a strong locavore attitude in their food-sourcing and a penchant for creative cooking. Not just Underbelly, but places like Oxheart’s successor Theodore Rex, Pass & Provisions, Nobie’s, the new, casual neighbor of the Menil, Night Heron, and even the notably locally attune State of Grace, all boast wine lists where the majority of the space is dedicated to bottles from the historic wine-producing countries of Europe.  These make up over 80% of the list at Theodore Rex and about 70% at State of Grace.
 
Even at the upscale steakhouse, an unabashedly American restaurant concept, the wine lists, which were once dominated by big Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons, are finding more room for Old World wines, well beyond the long-present expense-account trophies from Bordeaux. Highly regarded Pappas Bros. Steakhouse has the lengthiest and possibly best wine list in the city and wines from Europe make up 60% of its offerings. Gary Lapuyade, who once led the wine program at another excellent home-grown steakhouse, Vic & Anthony’s. His top recommendation for steak?  A Hermitage from France’s Rhône Valley. When queried the other night about her top wine preference with a steak, Adele Corrigan, who runs 13 Celsius, responded with Cornas, another Syrah from the northern Rhone.
 
The reason for this European predominance at top local restaurants is rather simple. “At Oxheart, we use a great deal of Old World wine because it pairs with the food better than New World wines,” Justin Vann explained a few years ago. “Old World wines,” he continued, “have lower alcohol and higher acid, which generally make them more food friendly.”  Wines from the New World, which includes the United States, Chile, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand, tend to be much more fruit-oriented, sometimes aggressively so, less acidic, and often feature prominent flavors and tannins from oak aging. Most New World wines seem meant to be enjoyed first as a standalone beverage, without food. Contrastingly, most Old World wines seem to naturally complement food and some even need food to be enjoyable.
 
Matthew Pridgen, who manages the very personable and easily enjoyable wine lists both at Underbelly and One Fifth a few blocks away, opined, “I find Chris [Shepherd]'s food to be deeply flavored, and layered, but not heavy, and I think wines that have similar qualities make for the best pairings.”  Those just happen to be mostly from the Old World.


At a wine tasting in the Collio a few years ago.

Last night I booked my flights into Rome for a trip this summer.  I won't be in the Eternal City longer than for a single lunch this time, and it won't include Fettuccine Alfredo, which is the best known dish that originated in Rome, at least among Americans.  That rich and creamy pasta dish exists today in the restaurants of Rome, but barely.

Fettuccine Alfredo is the most famous of the Roman pasta dishes, at least in terms of its preponderance on restaurant menus, mediocre buffets, and in frozen and sauce form available on supermarket aisles in this country.  It is essentially unknown in Rome and seemingly only served in two restaurants in the Eternal City, both heirs to the establishment where the dish was created.
 
Fettuccine Alfredo is one of those rare widely influential dishes that owes its origin to a single restaurant, Trattoria Alfredo at 104 Via della Scrofa in the historic center of Rome.  It was created in 1920 according to the original restaurant as a very rich version of a traditional pasta al burro – fresh pasta with butter – amping up both the butter and the Parmigiano to create a luxuriant, very rich dish, especially as a primo piatto, the pasta course.  When honeymooning Hollywood stars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks fell in love with the dish and presented owner Alfredo with a golden fork and spoon in honor of it, the attendant publicity made famous what become known as Fettuccine Alfredo.
 
In the 1940s, Alfredo sold the original restaurant, which is now known as Alfredo alla Scrofa.  In 1950 he decided to get back into business and opened a trattoria called Il Vero Alfredo.  Both claim the heritage of the original, and seem to be the only places in Rome that serve the dish.  At least those are the only two places that I was aware of during my recent few days in Rome.  We stumbled across Alfredo alla Scrofa and its dear 20-euro version of the dish, which did not seem to affect business at all, as the smart-looking establishment looked fully booked. 
 
Maybe the dish is still served elsewhere in Rome, but I did not encounter it on any other menus.  When I have asked Romans over the years about Fettuccine Alfredo – even in my limited Italian – nearly all have expressed a blank look, confessing never to have heard of the dish or anything like it.  But, it appears to have once been popular in the city’s trattorias.  A New York Times article from 1981 claimed at least 50 restaurants served a version of it under the name fettuccine alla romana. 
 
Maybe it is the acknowledgement of excessively caloric and cholesterol-laden nature of the dish that has chased it off the Roman menus – visitors might not be ordering a second course after consuming a portion – but it has certainly found a permanent place in Italian-American restaurants and in (and on) the hearts of diners in the United States.  We like hearty here.
 
This is the (minimal) recipe for the dish from the website of Alfredo alla Scrofa, “the original recipe of ‘Fettuccine Alfredo’”:
 
Ingredients:
Egg pasta
Butter
Parmesan cheese
 
Preparation:

• Boil the water, salt moderately and add pasta.
• Once pasta is cooked (time of cooking depends from the type of pasta) remove it from the water and lie it on an oval plate that was warmed in advance and where butter was placed.
• Cover pasta with a lot of parmesan cheese and melt everything gently.
• When everything will be well melted and you will see a cream sauce coming out, you can serve and taste it.

 
Expertly and freshly made fettuccine featuring plentiful eggs, top-quality butter used nearly in excess and good Parmigiano-Reggiano help quite a bit, plus likely a bit of pasta water at the end.
 
Alfredo alla Scrofa
Via della Scrofa, 104, +39 06 6880 6163
alfredoscrofa.com
 
Il Vero Alfredo
Piazza Augusto Imperatore, 30, +39 06 6878 734
alfredo-roma.it
​

Ristorante Alfredo alla Scrofa a few years ago

But, I thought that it would be fun to test the accuracy of the assertion of “Northern Italian” by testing one restaurant’s menu.  The one selected is Rossini’s in Manhattan, “Northern Italian Cuisine since 1978” about which even the Zagat editor noted its "Northern Italian" cuisine.  Rossini’s just happened to appear on the first page of search results for “Northern Italian restaurant.”

A past dinner menu from Rossini’s is shown below with comments.  I removed the specials that are not specifically identified on the menu.  You might be surprised that the menu is not too different than the typical Italian restaurant, or even pretty typical in the New York area, “Northern Italian” or not.
​
Antipasti

• Melanzane Rippiene, $10, Eggplant slices stuffed with ricotta and mozzarella cheeses – Southern Italy.
• Vongole al Forno, $12, Clams baked with a zesty breadcrumb topping, garlic and virgin olive oil – A version of the classic Clams Casino, which is from New York and actually has no Italian antecedents.
• Prosciutto con Melone, $12 – Prosciutto di Parma draped over ripe seasonal melon or figs – Though the main popular proscioutto this does come from northern Italy, Parma in the region of Emilia-Romagna, this dish is attributed to Naples.
• Mozzarella di Bufala, $14 – Fresh mild curds of mozzarella cheese served with prosciutto di Parma,sliced tomatoes and roasted peppers – Mozzara di bufala is a specialty of Campania, the region of Naples, whose production know includes Molise and at least one region of northern Italy.
• Zuppa di Cozze di New Zealand, $16, Large green lipped mussels served in a white wine broth with olive oil and garlic – Derived from a dish from the Naples area, though similar dishes exist throughout much of coastal Italy where mussels can be found.
• Salmone Affumicato, $15, Smoked filets of salmon with all the trimmings – Americans like smoked salmon.  Scotland.
• Gamberi Freddi, $16, Four jumbo pieces of icy shrimp served with a zesty cocktail sauce – This all-American treat has been on Italian restaurants in America for a century, at least.  United States.
• Frutta di Mare, $18, Fresh seafood salad dressed with a light vinaigrette dressing – A Neapolitan favorite even in misspelled form.  Naples.
• Calamari Fritti, $16, Tender morsels of squid lightly fried and accompanied by a mild or fiery tomato sauce – Also from the greater Naples area, though fried cuttlefish is found throughout coast Italy.

Insalate

• Insalata Tre Colori, $10, Three colored salad with radicchio, arugula and Belgian endive – Like most green salads found on menus, this as American roots.  United States.
• Insalata di Spinaci $11, Fresh spinach salad served with a warm bacon dressing – Same story as above.  United States.
• Insalata alla Cesare, $11, Traditional Caesar salad with fresh Romaine lettuce topped with tangy anchovies, garlic, egg and cheese dressing – This Italian restaurant staple is from Tijuana, Mexico, courtesy of Italian immigrants and popularized in California.
• Insalata di Fagiolini, $14, Baby string bean salad topped with red onion in a balsamic vinaigrette dressing with Vermont goat cheese – From the northeastern region of Friuli-Venezia-Guilia (or the former Yugoslavia next door) with an American goat cheese.

Zuppe

• Stracciatella alla Romana, $10, The Classic Roman egg drop and spinach soup – Rome, in fact.
• Orzo in Brodo, $10, Tiny pasta in a flavorful chicken broth – Pasta in broth is found throughout Italy.  A few years ago, I had pasta, strands of fresh pasta, in broth a couple of times during a trip to the region of Friuli.

Farinaci

• Spaghetti alla Marinara, $22, Traditional Neapolitan zesty tomato and garlic sauce – Naples
• Tortellini alla Rossini, $23, Stuffed pasta in a cream based sauce with an accent of meat and sherry wine – Tortellini is originally from Bologna, but the cream and sherry are likely a remnant of the heyday of “Continental” restaurants.
• Rigatoni al Filetto di Pomodoro, $22, Tubular pasta in a zesty pancetta and onion tomato sauce – Naples
• Gnocchi Bolognese, $23, Potato dumplings dressed with a traditional Northern Italian meat sauce – I’ll assume that this is a version of the famous ragù developed in Bologna.
• Linguine al Pesto, $23, Flat pasta enveloped in a creamy basil sauce – Pesto is from the Ligurian coast, though a creamy version seems to be an American restaurant adaptation.  Liguria.
• Fettucine Alfredo, $22, The Roman classic presented in the traditional manner – Rome.  And, long an American restaurant staple.
• Spaghetti alla Carbonara, $23, Pasta bathed in a delicious combination of pancetta, prosciutto, onions and parmigiano reggiano cheese – This is a cucina povera dish from the Lazio region and has long been a popular trattoria dish in Rome.
• Linguine con Vongole in Bianco, $25, Flat pasta in a rich clam broth with roasted garlic and extra virgin olive oil – Naples.

Pesce

• Capesante sauté Meuinere, $28, Tender sea scallops sautéed in white wine, lemon and butter – A French treatment, actually.  France.
• Calamari Casserola, $27, Tender pieces of squid poached in an aromatic tomato and wine based sauce – The tomato gives this a Southern Italian provenance.  The Naples area is a good guess for its origin, though there are likely similar dishes throughout the coastal areas where tomatoes are used, including the Tuscan coast.
• Gamberi alla Rossini, $35, Rossini’s special presentation of shrimps in a champagne sauce – Likely some French influence from when “Continental” was a selling point for a restaurant.  France.
• Gamberi Fra Diavolo, $35, Shrimps in a spicy marinara sauce with roasted garlic and olive oil – New York.
• Gamberi Oreganata, $35, Jumbo plump shrimps topped with zesty bread crumbs and baked in an olive oil and garlic sauce – Likely developed in New York, as a takeoff from the traditional Cozze Oregenata from Naples. 
• Zuppa de Pesce, $39, Combination of various sea delicacies in a fragrant and tangy tomato and wine sauce – Fish soup is found all along the coasts in Italy, but with tomato sauce, this probably has some roots in Naples or Neapolitan America.
• Pesce Del Inglitera, Market Price, The finest Dover sole sautéed in a light wine and butter sauce or broiled to perfection – This seems to be a classic French preparation, but I actually had filet of sole – not Dover sole – cooked in a champagne sauce at a trattoria in Liguria.  It was terrific.

Entree

• Petto de Pollo Parmigiana alla Rossini, $25, Batter dipped chicken breasts served in a herb scented white wine sauce then baked with mozzarella cheese – Chicken Parmesan is an American creation derived the Neapolitan-originated Eggplant Parmesan.  United States.
• Pollo Scarpariello, $25, Breast of chicken sautéed with white wine, lemon, garlic and rosemary – Naples area.
• Spezzato di Pollo, $25, Small pieces of chicken and mushrooms sautéed in a white wine and sherry demiglace sauce – The demiglace and sherry point to non-Italian heritage.  France.
• Pollo Fiorentina, $25, Batter dipped breast of chicken sautéed in a light wine and butter sauce draped over spinach and topped with fontina cheese – Though “alla fiorentina” or “fiorentina” has come to mean a dish with spinach, Ada Boni’s Italian Regional Cooking in 1969 has a recipe for Pollo alla Fiorentina featuring dried mushrooms, garlic, ham, onion, tomatoes, parsley and white wine, and no spinach around.  Of the five other “alla fiorentina” recipes, only features spinach, the Uova alla Firontina, Florentine Eggs.  United States.
• Vitello alla Rossini, $25, Scallops of veal sautéed with a delicate wine and mushroom sauce accented with prosciutto and onions – Ada Boni attributes somewhat similar veal preparations to Modena and Parma, respectively. Emilia-Romagna.
• Vitello alla Francese, $27, Batter dipped veal sautéed with white wine, lemon and butter – New York.  These dish might have developed on a cruise ship during the 1950s or before, but it gained resonance in New York area restaurants.
• Saltimbocca di Vitello alla Romana, $27, Scallops of veal sautéed in a wine demiglace sauce topped with prosciutto and presented over a bed of spinach – Rome.
• Vitello alla Pizzaiola, $27, Slices of veal sautéed and enveloped in a light tomato sauce with mushrooms and peppers – Naples.  Naples is the birthplace of the pizzaiolo (and pizziola), and those dishes that take their name after the sauce and spices used by the pizza-maker.
• Bistecca alla Toscana, $38, New York shell steak marinated in wine and herbs then grilled to your choice in the traditional Tuscan style – United States.
• Filetto di Manzo alla Rossini, $38, Medallions of Filet Mignon served in a hearty wine sauce accented with prosciutto and mushrooms – One of the delights of an upscale Italian-American restaurants.  United States.
• Costoletta di Maiale Grigliata, $38, Tender pork chops marinated and grilled to your taste – United States.
• Costoletta di Agnello Grigliata, $40, Lamb chops grilled with light Italian seasonings – Lamb is grilled in much of Italy; too often over-grilled, in my experience.  This is certainly much better than what you would typically find in Italy.
• Costoletta di Vitello Milanese alla Giardiniera, $40, Milk fed rib of veal chop breaded and topped with tre colori salad – Likely a robust American version of a dish from Milan.

Only eight of the forty-four dishes on this menu might be considered northern Italian.  That’s less than 20%.  None too northern, but if diners enjoy it this probably doesn't matter that much at all.


Below is an actual northern Italian, zucchini blossoms at the Michelin-starred Trattoria Al Cacciatore della Subida in Cormons in northeastern Italy.  It was delicious.

​Long one of my favorite restaurants, both in its current incarnation and a couple of decades ago as Chimi Churri’s on Bellaire Boulevard, Saldivia’s remains the best deal in the city for steak, likely by a wide margin, which was confirmed the other night.  I ordered my favorite cut there, the entraña, a quite tender, very juicy when cooked to medium-rare, nicely beefy and immensely flavorful version of an expertly grilled skirt steak.  It was fantastic, the best steak I have had in a while.  It is remarkable that the 14-or-so-ounce entraña entrée is just $25.95.  It remains an excellent deal.   You will be hard-pressed to find many steaks as flavorful for under $60 in Houston.  And, unlike the big steakhouses, the entraña at Saldivia’s comes with sides. 
 
An order of the entraña, like the other steaks, is served on an oval plate with the bottom ringed with a half-dozen slices of grilled carrot, squash and zucchini displayed in an alternating orange, yellow and green-tinged array.  At the top of the plate rests a thick squat tower of rice with a few flecks of parsley; next to it is a row of plump, roasted potatoes.  In the center, running the entire length of the plate, is the thin, often rectangular entraña, a dark-brown cut of the outside skirt steak crisscrossed with darker grill marks and topped with a nearly addictive, rustic-style chimicurri sauce, oil, bits of garlic, parsley leaves and short stems and the odd red pepper flake dot the meat.  A puddle of bloody juice gathers under the vegetables and potatoes.
 
Imbued with considerable skill at the grill, years of steakhouse experience, and a deep tradition of beef and grilling from their native Uruguay, the steaks at Saldivia’s are serious business.  The entraña is the signature cut.  It is the rather humble outside skirt steak – which comes from the plate section, below the rib and between the brisket and flank and whose fat has been trimmed off by the restaurant – that is always cooked to perfection, typically medium-rare.  It remains juicy and remarkably tender for the cut, while being extremely flavorful, rich and beefy.  If you like steak, you will love the entraña at Saldivia’s.  Though the entraña is my go-to, you can’t go wrong with the other cuts of beefsteak: the tira de asado, boneless beef ribs, vacio, a thin flank steak, bife de lomo, a filet of the tenderloin, and bife ancho, the ribeye.  No assist is necessary to the steaks, but the oily and garlicky house-made chimichurri sauce is an excellent accompaniment that can make them even more enjoyable.  It also goes very well with the tasty vegetables and potatoes, and also the crusty, airy rolls, which are complementary. 
 
In concert with the pricing for the entraña, you can find a well-made bottle of red wine – a near necessity with the steak – for under $40 at the restaurant. The wine list highlights Tannant, the star varietal of Uruguay that happens to go very well with the entraña, or any of the other steaks on the menu, for that matter.  If you enjoy steak, you should definitely give Saldivia’s a try.
 
Saldivia’s
10850 Westheimer (between Walnut Bend and Westheimer), Houston, 77042, (713) 782-9494
saldivias.com

​It was certainly an interesting year in Houston in the just completed 2017.  Thankfully, it has also been a very interesting, and very rewarding one for the local dining scene, definitely the best for new restaurants since 2009 or likely ever.  It was tough to get down to just ten best newcomers, as there were a number of worthwhile entries.  Actually, I didn’t even quite do that, listing one place twice, which actually made sense, at least to me.  Of all of the many contenders, many of these newest restaurants seem to incorporate concepts from most of the major continents, almost always in sensible ways.  Comfort also seems to be something else running through these, even if comfort might wear heavy on the wallet to enjoy properly.  Houston’s best restaurant, new and established, rarely require much formality.  The best new restaurants below are just listed alphabetically. 
 
To note per each of the entries below, to give a good idea of actual expense, after the restaurant name is: 1) average total dinner cost per person, 2) "entrees: " price, and 3) average entree price. The average prices reflect a typical dinner, which might be an appetizer, side or dessert in addition to the entrée – or a suitable number of small plates – a couple of drinks, tax and a 20% tip.
 
Aqui – $120, entrées: $20 to $38, $24 – Driving by on lower Westheimer, you might miss the attractive low-slung newish construction on the north side of the street that houses Aqui whose menu mostly consists of an array of Asian or Asian-inspired dishes, usually small plates or smaller, a number from the Philippines and Japan, but much more.  The quaintness of most of the dishes makes sense to order in several rounds and seem to span a fair part of the globe: tuna arepas, curry puffs, uni toast, tuna kinlaw, Ora king salmon, the Filipino roll pandesal with pâté, glass noodles, and a mushroom salad featuring a several very flavorful funghi whose roots ranged far from here. Each of these preparations were quite well-done during a recent visit, exhibiting both very evident technical skills and intelligence in the combinations, though the items under the ‘Perfect Bites’ sections might give a new definition to petite.  The average Cracker Barrel customer might spend a week’s worth of dining dollars to get full.  The average Cracker Barrel customer would never make it here, of course, but many lower-BMI customers are also wallet-wary, and the prices can climb at Aqui if you are not careful with some of these precious dishes.  And, the wines are a tad pricier and certainly far less well-chosen than you would expect of Houston restaurant of this ambition in 2017.  I imagine it will improve, as it grows more to fit the local dining scene.  The team at Aqui, led by the lauded Austin-based Paul Qui, features several members with commendable Houston stops on their resumes – Kata Robata, Uchi and Common Bond, for example – which bode well for the future, and Qui, too.  520 Westheimer (between Taft and Montrose), 77006, (713) 360-7834
 
Field & Tides – $100, entrées: $19 to $48, $30 – Places like readily-attractive-for-lunch-and-dinner Field & Tides are why the Heights has become much more of a dining destination.  Set in the quaint house – maybe too quaint given its immediate popularity – that had previously housed Bistro Zelko, Field & Tides is like a locally attuned bistro providing a comfortable and accessible Gulf Coast-centric menu with noticeable Southern and Mexican accents that nicely sourced and executed.  Items like a pan-seared Gulf snapper with buerre blanc and a double cut pork chop bolstered by a Creole mustard demi-glace that’s served with coastal Carolina-inflected hoppin’ John join bucatini pasta with mussels and Mexican chorizo, and tempura-style mushrooms that comes with succotash might be casually upscale as the restaurant describes itself but, with quality of the preparations, a stop here usually makes for a very rewarding meal.  Suitable wine, beer and cocktails complement, and the patio can be quite a pleasant place when the weather cooperates.  705 E. 11th Street (just west of Studewood), 77008, (713) 861-6143
 
Kukuri – $150 ($170, omakase), nigiri sushi: $9 to $25 – This necessarily pricey upscale sushi restaurant is easily missed along Washington Avenue not far from downtown, sitting unobtrusively amidst Tacodeli and Platypus Brewing.  This traditionally focused sushi and sashimi purveyor is from Japanese chef Shimao Ishikawa who had recently squired at the longtime Michelin-starred sushi spot in Manhattan, Jewel Bako who seemingly snuck into town to open this during the summer.  You can choose from multiple options sushi and sashimi and other options from a wide variety served à la carte or leave it up to the skilled Ishikawa by choosing the (very expensive) fixed-price lengthy omakase dinner.  The fare is impressive, which is why it gets a nod here, both noticeable for the quality of the seafood and, maybe less noticeably, the long-honed technique.  Much of the seafood is flown in from Japan but there is more, with other flavorful foreign and domestic sea creatures whose names might not be familiar even in English like threeline grunt, golden threadfin bream, and golden snapper, which were all on a recent menu.  Blond wood counters and tops meld with the industrial setting that can make for a suitable, subtle setting.  1902 Washington (between Houston Avenue and Sawyer), 77007, (346) 234-4060
 
Maison Pucha Bistro – $110, entrées: $22to $45, $32 – Not far south from Field & Tides on Studewood, this French outpost from Manuel Pucha, the former executive chef at La Table, and his brothers, veterans of the New York restaurant trade, offers a menu of classic French restaurant preparations along with a few items and flavors from their coastal Ecuadoran home.  Like all local French-themed establishments here, the dishes aren’t very recent – steak frites, bouillabaisse, duck confit, coq au vin – but can shine in execution along with attractive presentations.  Dishes like the impeccably plump, moist filet of Trout Almondine in brown butter, especially so, and even a straightforward assemblage of top-flight charcuterie and cheese.  The wines are sufficient, if not yet terribly interesting, and the bartenders quite adept in their mixology even as they were getting used to the newness of the place.  The setting is quite stylish, contemporary, and welcoming, not to mention busy since the doors opened, and the staff noticeably earnest and hard-working, helping give the impression that this restaurant will only get better as time goes on.  1001 Studewood (south of 11 Street), 77008, (713) 637-4976
 
Nancy's Hustle – $75, entrées: $16 to $32, $22 – This fun, and quite delicious new spot seems well-suited for the still-gentrifying EaDo with its casual and quickly boisterous and nicely casual set-up in a new strip center in an older part of town coupled with a serious kitchen and an expertly chosen array of wine, cocktails and even beers to complement the evening.  The mostly shareable and fun menu made for dining in stages includes around ten medium-sized plates, a half-dozen larger ones along with a handful sides, but a few desserts.  There is a salad some vegetables, several protein-centered preparations with flavors ranging from the Mediterranean on either side of the Bosphorus to stateside, all of which are enticing.  You should certainly start with something that might seem a little odd, that’s described on the menu as, “Nancy cakes with whipped butter & smoked trout roe” that features three puffy pancake-like items, and a name that is a play on Johnnycakes, with the cakes themselves are lighter, airier and certainly more flavorful than the typical Johnnycake.  This lightness is the result of a sourdough starter for the breads and pastas, which are all made in house.  The piles of the smoked roe and whipped butter both proved quite complementary, and for a very enjoyable dish.  Chicken liver mousse is also served well by the house-made bread, and quite tasty, as are the crisp croquettes and cool-weather-ready raclette.  Larger items can be hanger steak, rabbit leg confit and loin, roasted red snapper and, not incidentally, a version of the famed Chicago-tested burger that’s a favorite of Alinea’s Grant Achatz.  Given Nancy’s Hustle’s quick start, it might even be more fun in the future, even if it does slow down.  2704 Polk (about seven blocks south of 59), 77003, (346) 571-7931
 
One Fifth Romance Languages – $120, entrées: $16 to $75, $35 – When I initially read about this second stop on Chris Shepherd and company’s journey, a combination of French, Italian and Spanish, I was a little concerned.  These cuisines are rather distinct, and then there are the regional and local cuisines in each land, especially those in Italy.  The neighbors France and Italy often work well together in some dishes; risotto and stuffed pastas are found on French menus more so these days, at least in this county.  Spanish and Italian quite less so.  But, I figured if anyone in town could pull it off, at least with a likely array of delicious creations if not complete coherence on the menu, it would be Shepherd.  In practice, it makes much more sense that I believed that it could, and the dishes ordered on a recent visit, indeed, each delicious. The starters are mostly Spanish complemented by French items like terrines and seafood items like the brasserie-inspired classic cold seafood tower bolstered by those delightful Spanish canned seafood items.  There is a pasta section (misnamed as secondo rather than primo, no matter) that’s properly Italian, of course, then the entrées are mostly French and Spanish along with a giant, great American steak richly bolstered by foie gras and truffles that is meant for several.  The desserts feature a number of Italian names, but are modern American restaurant creations, and made by a skilled pastry chef, Victoria Dearmond in this case.  Professional service, properly crafted cocktails, and yet another enticing, very appropriate, and nicely priced list from wine director Matthew Pridgen makes everything even better.  1658 Westheimer (just east of Dunlavy), 77006, (713) 955-1024
 
One Fifth Steak – $150, entrées: $30 to $80, $40 – Located in what was long the ungainly building that housed Mark’s – and now its successor listed above – Shepherd and the folks from Underbelly offered a slightly different take on the expected chop house that managed to please both those attracted to the city’s more interesting fine-dining spots along with those who consider a nice meal out a visit to a steakhouse.  One Fifth Steak was the first concept for the space that has been announced as a nearly five-year project that will offer a new cuisine each year.  Opening just in time for the Super Bowl with tens of thousands of heavyset, well-heeled steak-lovers from around the county – and the restaurant able to open just in time for the pre-game festivities – the steakhouse concept to start was apparently a no-brainer.  It closed in the summer as planned, but was such a success, it will be revived in 2018 as Georgia James in the current Underbelly space.  Though the expected strip, ribeye and porterhouse were on the menu at One Fifth Steak, there was no filet. Customers should be satisfied with one of the other options, including the succulent sirloin I had or the 100-day-wet-aged hanger steak, a true onglet cut that you would expect given the restaurant’s provenance.  The steaks are USDA Prime, of course, except for the even more marbled Marble Ranch Wagyu.  There are bone-in versions for the bigger spenders – and copious seafood towers, caviar service and Pappy Van Winkle – and not just for the ballers, but for tables of six or more, ‘The Baller Platter’ that had a variety of meats and cuts to share for the main course, and that looked very impressive.  The sides were riffs and the standard, but in a departure from tradition, there is no Caesar salad.  The funkiest things on the menu are a pate, terrine and beef tartar, even if there are lamb necks and a pork collar, they taste just like good lamb and pork, respectively.  The wine list was terrific, too, and with good prices for the quality what you can expect from Matthew Pridgen, who has long had a very appealing array of wines at Underbelly and now Romance Languages.  All bodes well for its successor steakhouse later this year.  1658 Westheimer (just east of Dunlavy), 77006, (713) 955-1024
 
Oxbow 7 – $125, entrées: $28 to $38, $32 – Vibrantly set street level – even decked out with cool graffiti-esque art on a well – in the refurbished midcentury 21-story skyscraper that’s the new Le Meridien hotel a few blocks west of Discovery Green, this September newcomer is Chef Bryan Caswell’s most personal restaurant to date, and my vote for the best new Houston restaurant of 2017.  The conceit here is dishes inspired by coastal fare to inlands about sixty miles from the shore, from at least Matagorda Bay in the south to the oyster beds in the panhandle of Florida that plays to Caswell’s home here and family roots in neighboring Louisiana.  It is cooking with which local restaurant-goers are familiar, especially patrons of Caswell’s nearby Reef, along with some newer and once-neglected items, like rabbit (in the future it’s hoped) and something called East Texas Caviar Service made with the tasty roe of long-uncherished fish in Louisiana and ably matched with crispy, salty house-made potato crisps.  Crab gratin, a version of oyster toast with bacon bearing the moniker Angels on Horseback, a near-peerless Crispy Skin Snapper featuring a thick filet and even a version of a campside Vietnamese stew inspired by Caswell’s father’s fishing excursions.  The dishes exhibit bright flavors and well thought-out combinations that bear the hallmark of and skilled and experienced hand along with Caswell’s time with Jean-Georges Vongrichthen in New York and his stints in top dining destinations in Asia and Europe.  The wine list is excellent and very appropriate, no sorely-out-of-place big Napa cabs here like at Reef, while the bartenders do a fine job crafting cocktails.  Plus, there is a bar on the rooftop, yet another welcome diversion here.  1121 Walker (at San Jacinto), 77002, (713) 487-6137
 
Riel – $105, entrées: $10 to $40, $27 – The description on their website seems quite apt: “Globally Inspired Gulf Coast Cuisine,” as its offerings include items and inspirations commonly from Japan to Canada to Eastern Europe and especially nearby, as executive chef Ryan Lachaine seemed to gain much from his stints at Reef and Underbelly, home of the two best executors of our contemporary regional Gulf Coast cooking, Bryan Caswell and Chris Shepherd (coincidentally, both above).  This thin usually energetic spot, quaint for Houston at about sixty seats, has an appropriate setting and atmosphere for its eclectic but sensibly assembled mix of savory preparations numbering about fifteen or so, most easily shared.  A stellar trio of which, that have been on the menu in some form since its opening exactly a year ago, include snapper ceviche, a seafood karaage, a fairly delicate Japanese-style fried preparation, and a hanger steak with terrific, salty crust encasing the moist, deep-red interior that is served sliced for sharing along with a horseradish cream sauce.  Excellent sourcing for both proteins and plants are readily evident along with the precise techniques.  A solid cocktail program and wine list help complement the kitchen’s efforts.  1927 Fairview (east of Shepherd), 77019, (832) 831-9109
 
Theodore Rex – $120, entrées: $16 to $32, $25 – Justin Yu closed his acclaimed Oxheart in the spring of 2017 to the great consternation of a large number of dedicated restaurant hounds.  He came soon with a possibly more user-friendly approach with Theodore Rex: the setting is more comfortable, the serving is à la carte rather than fixed menu, and there are a surfeit of protein-focused plates among the edited list of offerings.  There might be items like Roasted Texas Wagyu dressed with fermented radish and beefy bits, Gulf snapper in broth, and cabbage stuffed with smoked hen and rye bread that can be prefaced by the simply named, if not simply tasting, Tomato Toast, mushrooms fried pakora-style and more that might be shared or not. Yu’s cooking is personal, interesting and usually expertly wrought, with special justice down to vegetables. Justin Vann, who does double duty at the estimable wine and whisky Public Services, put together the well-edited, eclectic and food-friendly wine list that will excite many wine lovers, with everything but champagne priced less than $100, usually much less so.  But, you just might want to consider a sparkler with Yu’s cooking, and if champagne is too much, there are more than a few possibly funky petillant naturel, natural sparklers.  1302 Nance (at Richey), 77002, (832) 830-8592
 
Xochi – $110, entrées: $22 to $37, $29 – With Xochi that opened just before the Super Bowl, Chef Hugo Ortega and company then had three Mexican restaurants in Houston, and these are clearly the three best Mexican restaurants in Houston.  Oaxacan-themed Xochi lives up to its siblings Hugo’s and Caracol in terms of quality while offering yet another menu of enticing offerings, most well-suited for sharing.  There are crudos, roasted oysters, an array of moles – as Oaxaca is the land of seven moles, after all – and other preparations, all bolstered by excellent sourcing.  There are even a few insects on the menu, for the adventurous, even if these tastes might not be too far out.  As at their other restaurants, Sean Beck puts together compelling wines and cocktails that makes this a clear winner both dining and imbibing.  Located in the new Marriott across from Discovery Green downtown, the interior is quite attractive, more so the further you are from the lobby, though the patio seating can be an invitation to be pan-handled.  1777 Walker (at Crawford) 77010, (713) 400-3330

I think that this list is more impressive than the top newcomers in 2016 and also 2015, as enjoyable as these restaurants were and are.


East Texas Caviar Service at Oxbow 7

​A couple of times of year, I meet with friends for lunch at Brennan’s, always during an off day and with the prime objective to enjoy the 25-cent lunchtime martinis in an appropriately comfortable setting accompanied by usually very good food that’s been a fine value.  With four or five martinis and maybe a glass of wine – I wasn’t going back to the office – and a two-course meal and a tip of over 25%, we would leave for $40.  The lunch options were between $16 and $26 in recent years, a good deal, especially with the ridiculously inexpensive libations and the chance to stuff your pockets with pralines on the way home.
 
Unfortunately, since my most recent in the spring, it’s not like that anymore.  Last week, among three two-course options – a choice of soup or salad and the entrée – I chose the Imperial Crab Stuffed Flounder, which featured mushrooms with wilted spinach and a roasted fennel cream sauce.  It was disappointing.  The sauce and dish can best be described as gloppy, thick and simple, and obscuring the delicacy and much of the tastes of both the fish and the crab.  The fennel was undistinguishable in the bland sauce.  It was something that you might find in a restaurant in one of those other Texas cities far from the coast, but not in a well-regarded Houston restaurant, especially one with its seaside Creole provenance.  The turtle soup to start, just about as good as usual, and the complementary terrific, rich toast did much to help, though.  My selection of the flounder was the most expensive at $44.  The other two, Turducken Stuffed Texas Quail and Boudin Stuffed Pork Tenderloin were $36.  The quail was very much liked by my friends at the table, though the pork was deemed disappointing.  I guess I had made the wrong choice, but there should not be a bad choice among three, and at such a price, too.
 
The martinis were still quite tasty and the meal was enjoyable, as we overlooked the annoying slowness of our waiter.  We had fun, but I’ll likely save Brennan’s for dinner and brunch in the future.  And, maybe just cocktails, too.
 
Brennan’s
3300 Smith (between Elgin and the Spur), 77006, (713) 522-9711
brennanshouston.com

​On December 20, the restaurant Grace in Chicago closed, following an abortive effort by the executive chef and general manager, its founders and guiding lights, to purchase the establishment.  Grace was one of only fourteen restaurants in the United States with three stars from the Michelin guide, the most famous and arguably the most respected dining guide in the world.  Three stars is the guide’s highest accolade and is described as: “Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey! Our highest award is given for the superlative cooking of chefs at the peak of their profession. The ingredients are exemplary, the cooking is elevated to an art form and their dishes are often destined to become classics.”
 
In practice, this means much more than that opaqueness, with the restaurant featuring exemplary service and setting, often featuring extremely pricey plating, glassware and utensils, often expensive linens and regularly supplied fresh flowers, a selection of terrific wines complementing the cuisine, and a substantial kitchen, service and administrative staff to provide guests with an extremely cosseted visit.  Gaining and keeping three stars, about the highest award a restaurant can earn, is not only a difficult endeavor in terms of creating the food – much more than from a technical aspect – it is an expensive one, too.  That fact requires well-heeled customers along with a certain level of business patrons.
 
But, more than any the difficulty in successfully forging an ambitious and consistently rewarding cuisine at the very highest level is not the real reason there are only now thirteen restaurants in this country with three Michelin stars, it is because the Michelin guide is only four US metropolitan areas: New York, Washington, DC, Chicago and San Francisco.  With the exception of Washington, these are most likely the top three or three of the top four restaurant cities the country, and the ones with the most likelihood to have restaurants with three stars.  But, the total of three stars in this country would certainly be much higher if the guide was throughout the country as it is in other countries.  High-roller and expense account haven Las Vegas for one, and possibly New Orleans for another might have a few.
 
Los Angeles is the other one in the mix among the top handful of restaurant cities – and, not incidentally, used to be a Michelin guide stop.  It did not succeed there because its ratings did not seem accurate to the frequent diners.  A famed Angeleno restaurateur, a European native, told me that Michelin Los Angeles just did not get the city, and, though accurate and very useful for Europe, Michelin was not nearly as useful for the United States.  I do find Michelin extremely helpful for traveling in Europe, though I have not really used it when traveling to its limited number of restaurants here.  I’ll likely rely upon trusted friends and folks in the wine and food industries, as they have served me fairly well in the past.  I would like to see Michelin expand in this country, and hopefully become more acceptable and, I guess, reliable.


The Platter of Nine Delicacies at La Yeon in Korea that was awarded three stars in 2017.

​Well, Aqui has been here since mid-August.  In the amazingly crowded Houston landscape of interesting restaurant openings, Aqui’s seemingly well-financed opening in a new standalone structure on bustling lower Westheimer did not get all of the buzz that it would have otherwise.  Executive chef Paul Qui has won a James Beard Award for his work in Austin and received some regional notoriety otherwise in the past couple of years.  This might also be because Houston diners tend not to get overly excited about out-of-town restaurateurs no matter their pedigree, and the items on the pan-Asian menu, which might be considered daring elsewhere in the state, are rather far less unusual here.
 
Driving by on lower Westheimer, you might miss the attractive low-slung new construction on the north side of the street.  The differently designed space with a useful patio in front is contemporary, clean-lined and comfortable.  That comfort was disturbed a bit when trying to get a cocktail at bar smart-looking bar by the entrance and was greeted with bartender with all the charm of a carnival barker.  After I begged off to peruse the drinks menu, I was able to snare the attention of another, more professionally mannered and friendly mixologist who prepared an excellent cocktail.  Soon after, it was time to be led to a table with views of outside and the open kitchen, as, nicely, most of the dining room is.
 
The menu mostly consists of an array of Asian or Asian-inspired dishes, usually small plates or smaller, often from the Philippines and Japan, but much more.  The items we ordered in several rounds seemed to span a fair part of the globe: tuna arepas, curry puffs, Santa Barbara uni toast, tuna kinlaw, Ora king salmon, pandesal and pâté, glass noodles, and a mushroom salad featuring a several very flavorful funghi whose roots ranged far from here. Each of the preparations were quite good, exhibiting both very evident technical skills and intelligence in the combinations.  Though the kinlaw might not have been as flavorful as the version at the excellent seafooder Reef was not a knock, though the items under the ‘Perfect Bites’ sections were amazingly petite.  The average Cracker Barrel customer might spend a week’s worth of dining dollars to get full.  The average Cracker Barrel customer would never make it here, of course, but the prices can climb at Aqui if you are not careful.  And the wines are a tad pricier and certainly far less well-chosen than you would expect of Houston restaurant of this ambition in 2017.  I imagine it will improve, as it grows more to fit the local dining scene.  The team at Aqui, led by the lauded Austin-based Paul Qui under his belt, features several members with commendable Houston stops on their resumes – Kata Robata, Uchi and Common Bond – which bode well for the future.  And Qui, too, spend some years in Houston before this. 
 
As a Houstonian, myself, and one that has avidly followed and written about the dining scene here for quite a while, I am also a proud graduate of The University of Texas at Austin.  But, I am often miffed at all the comparative attention the restaurants in Austin receive.  I tend to subscribe to the belief that a friend of mine, a former Houstonian and resident of Austin again for over fifteen years now, who is also a very astute, well-traveled and avid diner told me a few months ago: “whatever type of restaurant exists in Austin, there are one or more restaurants in Houston that are clearly better.”  I remarked to the dining companion with whom I visited Aqui that it would certainly be the best new restaurant in Austin, though with such a remarkable year here for restaurant openings, it might just be among the top ten to which she chuckled though readily agreed.  That is not meant as much of a knock, Aqui is interesting and engaging newcomer that was serving well-executed and usually delicious preparations throughout the meal.  And, I strongly sense, that Aqui is going to just get better, as it becomes more in-tune with Houston and Houston diners.
 
Whatever my minor caveat, do yourself a favor, and check out Aqui, a very welcome addition to the local dining landscape.
 
Aqui
520 Westheimer (between Taft and Montrose), 77006, (713) 360-7834
aquihtx.com

At the brand new and fun, and quite delicious, Nancy’s Hustle in EaDo the other night, we had something described on the menu as, “Nancy cakes with whipped butter & smoked trout roe” that the waitress had recommended.  The chef brought them to the table, so we able to query him about what this oddly named dish was featuring three puffy pancake-like items.  The name is a play on Johnnycakes and the cakes themselves are lighter, airier and certainly more flavorful than the typical Johnnycake.  The chef mentioned that he uses a sourdough starter for the breads and pastas, all of which are created in house, along with the Nancy cakes.  The piles of fish roe and whipped butter served for the dish both proved quite complementary, for a very enjoyable dish.  We ordered a second dish of it, in fact.
 
The dark bread that served with a smear of chicken liver mousse was also quite good.  The restaurant was a strong two-for-two with bakery goods, which is a very good sign to me.  Maybe, in part, because I have a surfeit of European peasant DNA in my system, but I love bread, almost need my daily bread (and pasta).  As a not insignificant part of the enjoyment of a meal for me, below par bread, to me, means that the restaurant is not covering all of the bases properly.  Or, is just limited, cheap, or somewhat incompetent.
 
The quality of the Nancy cakes and bread were in stark contrast to the bread served at a’Bouzy.  There, their so-called Artisanal Bread which you have to order at $5, is baked in house, was the worst I have had at a restaurant in a while.  It was fresh, but that was about it in terms of taste, none of the life or welcome vibrancy, you associate with quality bread; “artisanal” is not at all the proper adjective for it.  As I ate my first piece, I thought that this tastes like what a place like Applebee’s might serve, and a key sign that the kitchen is far from first rank.
 
Nancy’s Hustle is seemingly not only quite a ways ahead of a’Bouzy in terms of breads, but in everything coming out of the kitchen.  But, then again, you can have fun at some places without even eating.
 
Nancy’s Hustle
2704 Polk (about six blocks east of I-45), 77003, (346) 571-7931
nancyshustle.com
 

The Turkish dumplings with spicy tomato vinaigrette, labneh, and lamb jus

​I received an e-mail today from Underbelly, one of my favorite restaurants, announcing that the restaurant was beginning lunchtime sandwich delivery today to centrally located worksites: “Dubbed UB Sandwich, this newest venture from Shepherd and team will feature a selection of six sandwiches and three salads plus several options for sharing such as a crudité platter, a charcuterie platter and a mixed-sandwich platter,” adding that they “already have a great team at Underbelly that can execute this.”
 
All Sandwiches are $15 and come with Underbelly Chips, which I assume are house-made, and Victoria's Chocolate Chip Cookie.  Salads are $15, with an additional $5 to top it with chicken, and come with the cookie, a very good cookie, I'm guessing.  Having suffered through awful lunchtime boxed sandwich lunches – our two onsite eateries are pretty much incapable of making a halfway decent sandwich on a consistent basis – I think this is a great lunchtime meeting option to have.  And, Underbelly is just a mile from my offices. The minimum order for this is $150, and must be in by 9:30 AM of the day of delivery.  There are no delivery charges for locations inside the Loop. 
 
The sandwiches and salads from which to choose:

• House Smoked Turkey Grinder – In-house pit-smoked turkey breast, lettuce, tomato jam and avocado on a whole wheat hoagie roll
• The Double Club – In-house pit-smoked ham and turkey breast, cheddar, lettuce, sliced tomato, pickled peppers and mayonnaise on a white hoagie roll 
• Cold Korean Fried Chicken – Fried chicken breast, cucumber, cabbage and gochujang mayo on a white hoagie roll
• The Caprese – Fresh mozzarella pulled in-house, arugula, sliced tomato and basil cream on a white hoagie roll
• Smoked Corned Beef – House-cured 44 Farms corned beef, fresh slaw, Swiss cheese, pickles and Russian dressing on marble rye
• The Cha Ca Sandwich – Tumeric- and yogurt-marinated gulf fish salad, cabbage, pickled onion and dill on wheat bread
• Underbelly Chopped Salad – Baby greens, chick peas, pickled peppers, dried cherries, feta, sunflower seeds and roasted red pepper vinaigrette 
• Vietnamese-Style Roasted Chicken Salad (Gluten-free) – Slowly roasted pulled chicken, cabbage, baby greens, fresh herbs, pickled onion and nuoc mam vinaigrette
• Salmon Salad – Smoked salmon, arugula green mix, red onion, cucumber, caper dressing, croutons 

There are also trays that can feed about two dozen:

• Charcuterie Tray – Assorted meats, cheeses, pickled vegetables, whole grain mustard and toast
• Sandwich Tray – Assortment of half-size sandwiches. includes underbelly chips
• Farm-Fresh Crudite Tray – Fresh assorted vegetables and spring onion dip
• Pimento Cheese Tray – Pimento cheese, pork cracklin’s, sesame rice crackers, pickled okra
• Cookie Tray – Assorted cookies

 
From left to right:  The Caprese, Double Club, Turkey Grinder and Korean Cold Fried Chicken.