The Bird and the Bear

The Bird and the Bear is a new establishment from the people behind Oussie's. It's located in a shopping center, and although attempts have been made to create a cozy space, it's hard to forget that this space is supposed to be a store-front. There are just too many windows that let in too much light.

It's also hard to forget that this is a new restaurant. Little notebooks and pencils are on every table (why I don't know), and they're emblazoned with the name "Oussie's." Things like that make you feel like this restaurant is secondary to to the older one. If they're using leftover notepads, will the recipes be afterthoughts too?

Thankfully, the food is good. The menu feels fresh and different from Oussie's, with lots of fun little touches (ie: a dish called "damn eggplant"). They also have a large selection of vegetarian dishes, which, as a former vegetarian, I appreciate. And they aren't all pastas either! I had the creative vegetable paella.



This paella is comprised of mushrooms, a variety of peppers, onions and saffron rice. At first I wasn't sure I liked it -- without meat or seafood, paella is inherently a little bland -- but I gave it a second to linger, and I discovered something. It wasn't bland, it was delicate. It was also warm, filling, and very good.

We also enjoyed an escargot appetizer. This dish was different than other escargot, as it wasn't covered in cream or puff pastry. It was just snails cooked in a savory, garlicky butter sauce, with good bread on the side for dipping. This is not a snail starter dish, since you really get the taste and texture of the snails, but if you like them this is a great way to get an escargot fix.

Dessert is NOT to be missed. We had a chocolate cake with banana filling. It was perfectly done, and worth the extra calories.

Service is good, but green. Our waiter seemed nervous, even though he was doing a great job. He overcompensated by using the same script of quips with every customer. Typical new restaurant stuff, I think. He just needs to find his stride. The whole place does. But once it gets there -- and I think it will -- this place might just outshine its predecessor. It certainly won't be an afterthought.

Soma

I'm not going to lie: we wanted to try Soma because we liked the name. Say it aloud: SOOOOMAA. It's fun, and guess what: so is the restaurant.

The menu at Soma is HUGE and very creative. We started with some fun custom cocktails and two pieces of yellowtail with foie gras and Asian pear jam.



Unfortunately, these little pieces weren't particularly easy to eat. The fish was so tender that a chopstick easily cut through it, leaving us with small pieces of fish and large pieces of foie to eat separately. A great idea, but the execution just wasn't perfect.

Another fun idea was the Crazy Irish Man roll. I wish I could remember what was in this little baby; the menu on the website said it has shrimp, but I know that's not true, because my husband is allergic to shrimp and he shared it with me. All I know is that it's green, it's nowhere near traditional sushi, and it's one of the most delicious fried foods I've ever had. And I love fried food.



We also had some yellowtail sashimi. It was fresh, clean, and a good balance to the otherwise insane meal.



Oh, and we had sake. Lots of sake.

Service at Soma was friendly (with the exception of the hostess, who may have been having a bad ... life) and accommodating. Our waitress happily split the bill and gave us plenty of time to examine the massive menu. And although the decor is chic and the food is delicious, the prices aren't too bad either -- this is truly upscale dining that anyone could (and should) enjoy.

Mockingbird Bistro

Occasionally, you find a place that is so comforting, so cozy, just such a great space to occupy that the food seems almost secondary. Mockingbird Bistro is such a place. Tucked inside a tiny little brick building on the corner of Welch and McDuffie, Mockingbird beckons with a beautiful hardwood bar, gold and brick walls, and a sweet little upstairs dining room that almost encourages quiet conversation.

When I say the food is secondary to the atmosphere, I mean that in a very literal sense: the food follows the decor, so that just by looking at the restaurant you can tell what kind of meal to expect. It's going to be high-quality, expensive (but not pretentious), satisfying and comforting. I'm happy to report that the food at Mockingbird was all of those things.

I didn't take pictures (it just felt wrong to disturb the mood with a flash), but I had the onion soup and a warm spinach salad, as well as a glass of the house white. My husband went with the chef's special, kobe beef short ribs. My meal was good; quality ingredients, prepared simply. My husband's meal was truly a thing of beauty. The ribs were so incredibly tender, they pretty much dwarf any other beef dish I've ever had. Ever.

For dessert we shared apple bread pudding with cinnamon ice-cream. This was a very creative take on the traditional apple pie a la mode. The texture of the bread pudding was perfectly dense, and the ice cream had a light cinnamon flavor that tasted great paired with the pudding and alone. Another truly wonderful dish, and worth saving room for.

Service at Mockingbird was attentive. My husband commented that we didn't seem like our waiter's first priority, but I didn't get that impression. We never needed anything for very long before he appeared, usually with a smile, suggestion or joke. His demeanor fit the atmosphere -- laid-back but professional. I feel that if he had checked in on us any more than he did it would have disturbed our conversation and the experience as a whole.

Chef John Sheely has created a very special little bistro on the corner of Welch and McDuffie. From the moment you arrive, you feel like you belong to a special club. A club full of hip, friendly and upscale people who know how to relax and how to eat. Go once, and you'll want to go back.

Tommy Bahama

Before we begin the review, let me cut you off at the pass here and make two points:

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.