1) Yes, I know Tommy Bahama is technically a chain restaurant, and I'm supposed to be blogging about more regional and eclectic places. But the restaurant in The Woodlands is one of only 12 nationwide, and the only one in Texas, so I'm making an exception.
2) OK, yes, it's in The Woodlands (located about 30 minutes outside of Houston). But if Houston Craigslist can cover both the city and the surrounding areas, so can this blog. Plus it happens to be where the Hubs and I were on Saturday, so deal with it.
Now onto the meal: we started off with the "drink of the month", a citrus gin fizz recommended by our (very friendly and competent) server. The drinks tasted a lot like a mixture of lemonade and ginger beer, and very little like alcohol, making them particularly dangerous for those of us drinking on an empty stomach. They were good but not worth $10 apiece -- a price we didn't realize we were paying until the bill arrived. The server also brought us complimentary bread with the drinks--probably to soak up the alcohol--which was quite good, as free bread goes. The sweetened butter that came with it was a nice touch.
Both of us had a cup of soup. Hubs tried the tortilla, and I had the crab bisque. It was a bit sweet and very hot, but I ate every bite of it, so I suppose I can't complain.
My dinner was a real treat. I am a sucker for tuna, so I decided to try the Tahitian Tuna Salad. It would take a while to express in words how pretty the plate presented to me was, so here's a picture:
It tasted just as good as it looked. The salad consisted of spinach (not arugala, as stated on the menu, which is fine as I like spinach more) dressed in a slightly spicy vinagrette. The tuna was seared very rare with a peppercorn crust. The dish was served with soy sauce and a bit of wasabi on the side, but I didn't find it necessary; between the crust on the tuna and the dressing, the meal was just spicy enough. The texture of the tuna was perfect and the aioli it was dressed in, though a bit heavy, nicely balanced the dressing on the salad. I ate all of the tuna and would've finished the entire plate, but I was saving room for dessert.
Turns out that was a good decision too. We decided to share the pineapple upside down cheesecake. Once again I don't feel words can do it justice, so here:
Yes, that is a layer of candied pineapple at the bottom of that cheesecake. And yes, it was heavenly. We couldn't finish it -- the buttons on our pants were already screaming in fear -- but we did the absolute best we could, and it was totally worth it. The coffee was decent too.
So, yes, maybe I did compromise my ideals a teensy bit this week by eating at a "chain" restaurant. But you know what? Tommy Bahama was really good. Not just really good for a chain, but really good period. The service was good, the food was good, and the atmosphere was good. They even had a really good house band who played several of my favorite songs (Neon Moon, Have You Ever Seen the Rain, and, in a moment of complete coolness, Under the Milky Way).I liked Tommy Bahama, and even though it was a little bit pricey, I would definitely eat there again. And I don't feel as ashamed of that as I thought I would.
