Saturday, April 30, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Special Out of Town Edition: August
My husband is doing a training in New Orleans this week, and I decided to tag along. I'm a huge John Besh fan from Top Chef, so going to Restaurant August felt natural. It turned out to be an excellent choice.
August is housed in a neat little building that was built in the 1860s. I got to check the place out while I wandered around looking for the bathroom (word to the wise: it's on the second floor. If you reach a point where the air conditioning shuts off, you've missed the bathroom and you're in the attic). It's a cool place, and serves as a perfect backdrop for the food.
The meal started with an amuse that consisted of some kind of fishy-egg custard, served with caviar inside an egg shell. Of course, the waiter explained it in much more detail, but too quickly for me to comprehend anything but "don't let your husband eat this, since he's allergic to seafood." I had to eat both of them (darn!) and although they were pretty to look at, I found them to be a little salty, and not necessarily something I'd want to try again.
Our appetizer was foie gras three ways. What a nice presentation!
The striped one is foie with oxtail (the least successful of the three), the middle is served with sausage and champagne gelee (YUM) and the last, and best, was plain old foie with a wonderful raspberry jam. All three were great, but they paled in comparison to the best foie of the night, which was still to come ...
For dinner, I ordered my favorite fish, red snapper, with Meyer lemon aioli and a warm salad of artichoke, potatoes and tomato. I like how Chef Besh treats his fish like a protein, and the seasoning on the potatoes was wonderful. Another pretty and delicious dish.
However, the best thing I ate all night was actually on my husband's plate. He ordered the sugar-and-spice-rub duckling with grits and foie, served with fresh strawberry jam. I don't like duck, but I LOVED his foie. He was kind enough to allow me two small bites, which is actually quite generous, considering it was probably the best thing either of us has ever eaten (and no, I'm not exaggerating). Paired with the jam, this foie managed to be savory, meaty, and sweet. It literally melted in my mouth.
For dessert we had a very good banana and rum cake with white chocolate icing and coffee. My husband mentioned that it was the first time his meal has ever been richer than dessert. It was still tasty though.
Service was exemplary, which is exactly what you would expect at a restaurant like this. Several servers worked with us, and all of them seemed very knowledgeable about and proud of the products they were serving. It was nice to see so many people working together as a team.
Everything at August was predictably wonderful, with one exception: the foie gras on my husband's plate. That was ridiculously wonderful. Like the creamed corn at Capital Grille or the creme brulee at Pappa's, that foie is something we'll be talking about and trying to replicate for years.
August is housed in a neat little building that was built in the 1860s. I got to check the place out while I wandered around looking for the bathroom (word to the wise: it's on the second floor. If you reach a point where the air conditioning shuts off, you've missed the bathroom and you're in the attic). It's a cool place, and serves as a perfect backdrop for the food.
The meal started with an amuse that consisted of some kind of fishy-egg custard, served with caviar inside an egg shell. Of course, the waiter explained it in much more detail, but too quickly for me to comprehend anything but "don't let your husband eat this, since he's allergic to seafood." I had to eat both of them (darn!) and although they were pretty to look at, I found them to be a little salty, and not necessarily something I'd want to try again.
Our appetizer was foie gras three ways. What a nice presentation!
The striped one is foie with oxtail (the least successful of the three), the middle is served with sausage and champagne gelee (YUM) and the last, and best, was plain old foie with a wonderful raspberry jam. All three were great, but they paled in comparison to the best foie of the night, which was still to come ...
For dinner, I ordered my favorite fish, red snapper, with Meyer lemon aioli and a warm salad of artichoke, potatoes and tomato. I like how Chef Besh treats his fish like a protein, and the seasoning on the potatoes was wonderful. Another pretty and delicious dish.
However, the best thing I ate all night was actually on my husband's plate. He ordered the sugar-and-spice-rub duckling with grits and foie, served with fresh strawberry jam. I don't like duck, but I LOVED his foie. He was kind enough to allow me two small bites, which is actually quite generous, considering it was probably the best thing either of us has ever eaten (and no, I'm not exaggerating). Paired with the jam, this foie managed to be savory, meaty, and sweet. It literally melted in my mouth.
For dessert we had a very good banana and rum cake with white chocolate icing and coffee. My husband mentioned that it was the first time his meal has ever been richer than dessert. It was still tasty though.
Service was exemplary, which is exactly what you would expect at a restaurant like this. Several servers worked with us, and all of them seemed very knowledgeable about and proud of the products they were serving. It was nice to see so many people working together as a team.
Everything at August was predictably wonderful, with one exception: the foie gras on my husband's plate. That was ridiculously wonderful. Like the creamed corn at Capital Grille or the creme brulee at Pappa's, that foie is something we'll be talking about and trying to replicate for years.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Tony Thai
I went out with a group of girls from work to celebrate a coworker's leaving the office. The guest of honor got to choose the place, and she wanted to try Tony Thai. This place wouldn't have probably been my first choice, but I was very pleasantly surprised.
From the outside, Tony Thai looks like a typical strip mall joint, but inside it's very nice: working fountains, cloth napkins, and an attentive and friendly wait staff. For all of this ambiance, I was shocked at the low prices, particularly for lunch. I had the shrimp rolls and Pad Thai lunch box, and for $6.95 I got a LOT of food.
The soup was chicken and coconut milk, which had an amazing flavor but was too hot (both in temperature and seasoning) for me to eat. The shrimp rolls were whole shrimp, rolled in a wrapper and fried; nothing fancy, but different from other rolls I've tried, and fun to eat.
The pad thai was a real standout. Another girl commented (and I agree) that the noodles were perfectly cooked; they weren't gloppy, overly sauced or underdone, which can be common problems with low cost Asian food. The other winner on the plate was the fried sweet potato slices. I don't even LIKE sweet potatoes, and I ate both of mine. They were a perfect combination of flavors and textures, and they should be sold in big batches at every fair and movie theater in the country.
I didn't try to rice or salad, because neither seemed very interesting to me, and there was a LOT of food to try.
Service at Tony Thai was relatively fast and competent. There were some delays with some of our food, but it was a large group and that's not totally unexpected. English is not the first language for most of the staff, but they were certainly friendly and did their best.
I would absolutely recommend Tony Thai. The atmosphere and food were both exemplary, and the prices were unusually low. Give it a shot; if my lunch experience was the norm, you won't be disappointed at all.
From the outside, Tony Thai looks like a typical strip mall joint, but inside it's very nice: working fountains, cloth napkins, and an attentive and friendly wait staff. For all of this ambiance, I was shocked at the low prices, particularly for lunch. I had the shrimp rolls and Pad Thai lunch box, and for $6.95 I got a LOT of food.
The soup was chicken and coconut milk, which had an amazing flavor but was too hot (both in temperature and seasoning) for me to eat. The shrimp rolls were whole shrimp, rolled in a wrapper and fried; nothing fancy, but different from other rolls I've tried, and fun to eat.
The pad thai was a real standout. Another girl commented (and I agree) that the noodles were perfectly cooked; they weren't gloppy, overly sauced or underdone, which can be common problems with low cost Asian food. The other winner on the plate was the fried sweet potato slices. I don't even LIKE sweet potatoes, and I ate both of mine. They were a perfect combination of flavors and textures, and they should be sold in big batches at every fair and movie theater in the country.
I didn't try to rice or salad, because neither seemed very interesting to me, and there was a LOT of food to try.
Service at Tony Thai was relatively fast and competent. There were some delays with some of our food, but it was a large group and that's not totally unexpected. English is not the first language for most of the staff, but they were certainly friendly and did their best.
I would absolutely recommend Tony Thai. The atmosphere and food were both exemplary, and the prices were unusually low. Give it a shot; if my lunch experience was the norm, you won't be disappointed at all.
Crave Cupcakes
I love desserts as much as the next girl, but I've never fully understood the cupcakes thing. I'll never be the one standing in line for an hour outside of sprinkles, or the one ordering a trendy wedding cake made entirely out of cupcakes. That said, when a friend of mine brought Crave cupcakes into work, I couldn't let the opportunity for an on-the-fly review to pass me by. So purely in the interest of research, I had one.
Mine was the dark chocolate one with all the sprinkles. When I first bit into the cake alone, I didn't think I would like it. It was a little dry, a little bitter, and not chocolaty enough for my taste. But then I took a bite of it with the icing, and I realized that all of those characteristics helped it balance the terrifically sweet, thick chocolate frosting and sprinkles. It was good. Was it worth waiting on a line or paying an exorbitant amount of money? No. Do I understand the cupcake obsession better having had it? Not really. Was it a nice little treat and a good pick-me-up at work? Absolutely.
By the way, I read in Newsweek that the cupcake trend is going to end soon, but that "pie will have a moment." I know at least one local business that would appreciate that!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Giacomo's
I wanted to try Giacomo's before we move out of the River Oaks area in a few weeks. When I overheard one of my coworkers singing it's praises, I decided it was time. We got seats on the patio on a warm Saturday evening. The sky was threatening rain, but it held out, and the atmosphere couldn't have been more welcoming or comfortable.
Our waiter looked young, but he knew his stuff, including the history of the restaurant, the best dishes on the menu, and how to politely deal with the rude and demanding couple sitting at the other end of our long table. Check plus smiley-face for service.
We started out with a reasonably priced bottle of "pink" wine from the extensive list and a bread basket. Bread costs three dollars at Giacomo's, which seemed odd at an Italian restaurant. Half of the bread (focaccia) was good, and the other half seemed like store-bought sandwich rolls. Unless they change their policy and make it free, skip it.
My husband had a house salad with the green goddess dressing, as well as the pork butt with cannellini beans that my coworker so enjoyed. His pork was "aggressively seasoned" with fennel and served over a warm, rustic stew of beans and tomato. The meat was very tender and the seasoning, though bold, was tamed by the meat and the beans. He described his meal as "scrumptious."
I had gnocchi with cream sauce and mushrooms. These gnocchi were light as air, and the sauce was comforting without being too heavy for a summer evening. I ate every bite on my plate and even broke down and sopped some of the sauce up with the bread (which still probably didn't make it worth the $3).
For dessert we tried the hazelnut mocha cream. All I can say is this: real whipped cream. LOTS of it, on top of the thick, cold, creamy, amazingly chocolaty love-child of mousse and pudding. Get it.
Giacomo is a lovely little place that serves authentic Italian comfort food in a cozy atmosphere. My husband didn't think he liked Italian food before we ate here, having spent his life believing that all Italy had to offer was pasta, tomatoes and mozzarella. He was surprised by the variety and quality of Giacomo's offerings, and he left feeling like maybe, just maybe, he liked Italian cuisine. That alone is a huge compliment to the chef, and a good reason why you should try this place.
Our waiter looked young, but he knew his stuff, including the history of the restaurant, the best dishes on the menu, and how to politely deal with the rude and demanding couple sitting at the other end of our long table. Check plus smiley-face for service.
We started out with a reasonably priced bottle of "pink" wine from the extensive list and a bread basket. Bread costs three dollars at Giacomo's, which seemed odd at an Italian restaurant. Half of the bread (focaccia) was good, and the other half seemed like store-bought sandwich rolls. Unless they change their policy and make it free, skip it.
My husband had a house salad with the green goddess dressing, as well as the pork butt with cannellini beans that my coworker so enjoyed. His pork was "aggressively seasoned" with fennel and served over a warm, rustic stew of beans and tomato. The meat was very tender and the seasoning, though bold, was tamed by the meat and the beans. He described his meal as "scrumptious."
I had gnocchi with cream sauce and mushrooms. These gnocchi were light as air, and the sauce was comforting without being too heavy for a summer evening. I ate every bite on my plate and even broke down and sopped some of the sauce up with the bread (which still probably didn't make it worth the $3).
For dessert we tried the hazelnut mocha cream. All I can say is this: real whipped cream. LOTS of it, on top of the thick, cold, creamy, amazingly chocolaty love-child of mousse and pudding. Get it.
Giacomo is a lovely little place that serves authentic Italian comfort food in a cozy atmosphere. My husband didn't think he liked Italian food before we ate here, having spent his life believing that all Italy had to offer was pasta, tomatoes and mozzarella. He was surprised by the variety and quality of Giacomo's offerings, and he left feeling like maybe, just maybe, he liked Italian cuisine. That alone is a huge compliment to the chef, and a good reason why you should try this place.
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