Greatest Houston restaurant dishes we ate in October: Ravioli, wagyu – Houston Chronicle

Madai tostada with uni, sansho and kinome at Neo

So many dishes stood out on the pop-up tasting menu the Neo sushi cooks staged with Mexico City chef Alex Bremont that it appears absurd to single out only one. Critically, the dinner was that good — as memorable a lights-out meal as I’ve had in years. But I discover myself returning to my saved photographs to ogle the glimmering kanpachi tostada once more…and once more. And I keep in mind the crackle of fried-to-order masa disks in opposition to the cool, clean chew of the cured uncooked sea bream; the refined richness of Maine sea urchin complicating issues; the bracing, minty tingle of leaves from the Japanese prickly-ash (kinome), which produces the inexperienced, numbing sansho peppercorns tinting the shiny baste. It was jewel-like in each look and multi-faceted style — and a tribute to the way in which the abilities of Luis Mercado and Paolo Justo merge with these of their pal Alex to provide an exciting expertise. Bremont, the previous head chef at Pujol, visits right here typically, so verify Neo’s site to see what’s arising on their schedule of personal omakase dinners. It’s definitely worth the effort and expense. 

Alison Cook dinner

 

Rooster banana flower salad at Com Ga Thuong Hai

I typically describe Com Ga Thuong Hai in Spring to buddies as “the Vietnamese rooster restaurant” as a result of just about each dish on the menu options rooster or duck. Rice plates, noodles and porridge are just some choices, however the perfect half is it’s also possible to choose white or darkish meat for many orders (I’m staff darkish meat each time).

Prior to now two months, I’ve been working my method via the restaurant’s menu and lately tried the goi ga, a Vietnamese model of rooster salad. Just like two earlier visits, the poached rooster was tender and juicy. The strands of curly banana flower can style bitter however right here it was completely balanced with the herbs and a candy fish sauce spiked with ginger and chiles. It’s a chilly salad you possibly can get pleasure from anytime of the 12 months, however there are simply too many extra gadgets to strive on my subsequent go to.

4010 N. Sam Houston Pkwy. W., Ste. 120

Bao Ong

 

Picadita at Puebla’s Mexican Kitchen

Typically the best and least costly dish on a menu can depart a long-lasting impression. Puebla’s Mexican Kitchen, a homey breakfast and lunch spot on the Close to Northside, serves a three-buck picadita that I can’t cease interested by. The saucer-sized masa shell is frivolously crisped on the skin, heat and mushy inside. It’s lined with refried beans and a selection of salsas — I like the dusky pink guajillo chile model, however you possibly can choose tomatillo or a very good mole sauce, too. On prime goes a snowstorm of queso fresco crumbles and crisp chopped onion for a bit extra textural snap. Elemental and completely satisfying, particularly with a mug of Puebla’s cinnamon-scented cafe de olla.

6320 N. Predominant

Alison Cook dinner

 

Pumpkin ravioli at Coltivare (pictured above)

Past pumpkin spice: the pumpkin-stuffed ravioli now on the menu at Coltivare carry a model new sparkle to this fall basic. Chef Ryan Pera lightens the pumpkin filling with a little bit of butternut squash, then provides tart pomegranate seeds and chopped walnuts for taste and texture pops. (The same old Texas play is to make use of pecans on this context, however the extra tannic walnuts add zing, and so they maintain up higher in opposition to the brittle, pungent, flash-fried sage leaves scattered throughout the plate.) I stored questioning what gave the brown-butter sauce its attention-grabbing edge, and it turned out to be angostura bitters — an excellent little savory twist on a dish that usually lands too candy.

3320 White Oak

Alison Cook dinner

 

Crab roll at Golfstrommen

Lobster rolls appear a bit overblown and apparent in comparison with the brand new crab roll at Golfstrommen, the Nordic/Texan seafood hybrid at downtown’s Post Market food hall. It’s a marvel, from the mushy springiness of its dewy mesh of crab, all delicate briny sweetness, to the refined regional notice of its smoked butter. (They used coldwater Jonah crab from Maine the day I attempted it, and so they change up with Gulf blue crab relying on provide.)Fronds of contemporary dill and pickled pink onion add a brisk Norwegian notice, courtesy of chef-partner Christian Haatuft’s affect. And wow, that pillowy bun baked by pastry chef Alyssa Dole, of the upcoming LuLoo’s Day & Night. It’s a marvel of inside softness held in harness by a taut, filmy sheath of crust. 

401 Franklin St. 

Alison Cook dinner

 

Raclette at Montrose Cheese & Wine

Ah, the cool season, when ideas flip to large wheels of funky Alpine cheese ritually melted and scraped onto a large number of little roasted potatoes and gherkins. Because of Montrose Cheese & Wine’s month-to-month Saturday raclette fests, this optimum plate of meals could be had with minimal fuss and maximal enjoyable, so long as you get there early sufficient — as a result of when the massive wheel(s) of cheese are gone, that’s all she wrote. It’s first come, first served. Purchase your ticket contained in the cheese and wine store, then line as much as undergo the melting-and-scraping line arrange within the charming, slim facet terrace. Add large jeroboams of appropriate white wines (October featured a very crisp, scrumptious Lugana) and also you’ve bought a celebration. The raclette plate is $20 a head, and there’s a double cheese possibility. You’ll need it.

1618 Westheimer

Alison Cook dinner

 

Seafood platter at Segari’s Restaurant and Bar

When a local Houstonian lately invited me to Segari’s, the old-fashioned seafood restaurant on Shepherd, I jumped on the likelihood. It has been a very good 12 years since I final dined at this darkish, quirky little lair the place traditions reign and the shoppers all appear to know one another.

I started with an expertly made martini and a cup of the wonderful home seafood and sausage gumbo. Segari’s tempts with grilled meat entrees, but it surely’s the kitchen’s seafood dishes that star. We did as regulars do and shared the seafood platter, loaded with shrimp cocktail, crab cocktail, fried oysters, fried shrimp and what must be town’s greatest onion rings. A shattering crisp crust hugging candy, agency onion goodness. I’d return in a jiff only for these wonderful onion wheels.

1503 Shepherd 

Greg Morago

 

Wagyu meatballs at Roma

The charming Roma has been via a lot of chef and menu adjustments because it opened in 2015 in Rice Village. Earlier this 12 months a major shift when proprietor Shanon Scott employed Kevin Bryant as government chef. The outcomes have introduced a brand new degree of finesse to the Italian restaurant, the place I lately had the pleasure of indulging in Bryant’s Texas wagyu meatballs. Bathed in a luscious marinara, the supple meatballs are served in a forged iron skillet, dotted with ricotta cheese and drizzled with pesto made with basil from Roma’s yard backyard. Some Houstonians will recall the outdated days when Houston had its personal annual meatball competition. If that competitors have been nonetheless round, these beauties could be the winner.

2347 College

Greg Morago

 

Kottu roti at LankaMex

In contrast to a very good chunk of Sri Lankans, I’m not the most important fan of kottu.

Possibly I haven’t had good kottu roti? The favored nighttime road meals is a jumble of elements — proteins, greens and, in fact, chopped godhamba roti. Once I had it final, it was a one-note, greasy mess of chopped carbs and beef.

So I used to be stunned that once I ordered beef kottu from LankaMex, I discovered one thing much less greasy spoon and extra taste bomb.

The tiny little Sri Lankan grocer off Westheimer and South Gessner seems to be like a comfort retailer and not using a gasoline pump. Inside, it’s chock stuffed with culinary nostalgia: bottles of kithul (palm syrup) line one of many cabinets, and idiyappam (string hoppers) and cutlets are organized with different meals below a sizzling lamp within the again.

Every chew of the kottu was a tiny symphony of flavors, from the spicy beef to the chopped and diced peppers and onions interspersed all through. A tiny cup of curry accompanied the dish.

9531 Westheimer 

John-Henry Sumal Perera