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发帖数: 11693 | 1 The challenge in choosing 10 of the best restaurants to open in Houston each
year is a daunting one: Many of the restaurants I think are "the best" have
little to nothing to do with each other, making for a list that falls all
over the map when it comes to price, cuisine and location.
Then again, the amusing disjointedness represents Houston itself -- as does
the fact that three of last year's top 10 best new restaurants no longer
exist in the same incarnations (Caffe Bello, Umai and Bootsie's). Houston is
nothing if not transitory, constantly tearing down and rebuilding itself
over the years.
The challenge this year is trying to overcome that mutability -- to select
restaurants that I hope and believe will be around in the future -- and to
also choose restaurants that best represent our current Third Coast culinary
climate and the bright direction in which it's headed.
These 10 restaurants are not only the best of a large group that have opened
this year, they are what makes Houston such a fun and unique city to dine
in. Dig in.
From run-down taqueria to vegan Tex-Mex paradise.
10. Radical Eats
A few years ago, it would have been unthinkable to me to place a vegan
restaurant on any year-end Best Of lists. But Radical Eats is about so much
more than just vegan food: It's about bringing a healthy, relatively
inexpensive dining option to a low-income neighborhood. It's about making
the most out of local and seasonal produce sourced from all over the city.
It's about taking a traditional Houston cuisine -- Tex-Mex -- and making it
new again with a few vegan twists on old standards. Owner Staci Davis does
all this and more in her remixed Northside Village taqueria. Oh, and did we
mention that Sunday's vegan brunch is all-you-can-eat?
Honorable mention also goes to Green Seed Vegan's food truck for doing the
same thing in its Third Ward neighborhood. I can't wait to see what becomes
of owners Rodney Perry and Matti Merrell when the have a full-fledged
restaurant of their own.
El XX's ceviches are works of art.
9. Xuco Xicana
Although the menu here is still inconsistent nearly a year after rebranding
as Xuco Xicana (or El XX) and moving away from its former El Patio roots,
Chef Jonathan Jones wows with dishes like his stunning Gulf Coast ceviche,
which secured the No. 2 spot in this year's list of our 100 Favorite Dishes.
The modern Tex-Mex joint also has our favorite wings in town right now, as
well as our favorite torta. (Hint: The beef fajita torta is not only the
most delicious dish currently on the menu, it's also one of the least
expensive.) And while the restaurant doesn't always fire on all pistons, it'
s an exciting -- if occasionally bumpy -- ride into the future of modern Tex
-Mex with wild and woolly Chef JJ at the helm.
This isn't your standard taqueria mural.
8. El Gran Malo
Although it's tempting to compare and contrast El Gran Malo with Xuco Xicana
, it would be folly. Because while both offer their own interpretations of
modern Gulf Coast-style Tex-Mex cuisine, each is unique. What makes El Gran
Malo all the more impressive is that its owners never intended the Heights-
area "gastrocantina" to serve food -- it was meant as a tequila bar first
and foremost. The house-infused tequilas are stunning, to be sure, as there'
s absolutely nothing else like them in town. But equally impressive are the
dishes like a massive torta-burger or Mexican Coca-Cola-braised pork belly
tacos.
Chinatown's newest restaurants, like Mala Sichuan, show depth and maturity.
7. Mala Sichuan
Mala Sichuan represents a new direction for Chinatown, which is itself
relatively new to Houston. "Old Chinatown" (now known, for better or worse,
as EaDo) died out in the 1980s as rents rose in the buildings and strip
malls east of downtown. New Chinatown -- which could more appropriately be
called Asia Town -- cropped up around the same time in the much cheaper area
around Beltway 8 and Bellaire Boulevard, and has been accumulating
excellent restaurants, bakeries, coffee houses and more over the years. Mala
Sichuan is one of the new "second generation" restaurants that focused on
serving authentic food (Sichuanese cuisine in this case) but with more
Western elements like snappy service and an easy-to-decipher menu. Owner
Cori Xiong's all-Sichuan team of chefs also ensures that nearly every dish
to come out of the kitchen is a winner, from the ginger sauce-braised,
softball-size pork meatballs to more exotic foods like the red chile oil-
laced Couple's Lung Dish.
Belly up to the beckoning bar at The Queen Vic.
6. The Queen Vic Pub & Kitchen
A pattern among most of the restaurants on this list is that the food they'
re creating -- be it Indian, Mexican, French or Italian -- is markedly Texan
. More specifically, it's influenced by the Third Coast/Gulf Coast trend
that's starting to emerge in Houston, whereby more of our native foods and
flavors are showcased across many different cuisines. In the case of The
Queen Vic, Chef Shiva Patel shows off her Indian roots through English pub
food with a Texan flair. Her creamed spinach and paneer-topped grilled Gulf
oysters remain one of the dining highlights of my year. The Queen Vic is
also notable for its strong cocktail and craft beer program, both of which
are full of intelligent choices that complement the modern pub vibe.
Give TQLA a shot. (Maybe pun intended.)
5. TQLA
One of my ongoing battles is fighting for TQLA to get the respect it
deserves despite its Washington Avenue location. I always wonder whether or
not I should even mention it, but someone always makes a point of saying
that they'd never go there because of the street it fronts. What a dumb,
terrible way to go about making dining decisions. Especially considering
that TQLA has no valet, but instead offers a secure -- and free! -- parking
garage for its guests behind the restaurant, as well as a beautiful dining
room with curvaceous copper sculptures and stately agave plants that make it
equally attractive for date nights as it is for happy hours. Chef Tommy
Birdwell's new Southwestern/nuevo Tex-Mex menu is just as unexpected, filled
with treasures such as blue corn-crusted Gulf oysters, pepita-studded
salmon or duck tamales in a silky sweet potato masa. It's also the only
restaurant in town with a certified tequiler, so come prepared to broaden
your horizons when it comes to TQLA's namesake spirit.
Sous chef Amanda McGraw plates a pan-roasted duck with figs.
4. Brasserie 19
I'm all in favor of fat, buttery Gulf Coast oysters -- as evidenced by the
last two entries on this list -- but there's a lot to be said for their
briny East and West Coast brethren. You can get some of the country's finest
oysters at Brasserie 19, one of the two Clark-Cooper restaurants to make
this year's list, but you can get some pretty outstanding local fare too: a
Houston Dairymaids cheese board, for example, or Gulf-caught red snapper
with a bright fennel salad. As befitting a brasserie, the portions here are
[mostly] heavy and rustic with an emphasis on French classics that pair well
with the beers on the small but well-composed beer list, like a croque
madame and frites with a Saison Dupont. Sure, it's pricey -- but you'll get
a show with your dinner here as you watch the River Oaks parade of wealth on
display, and maybe even some bread horns too.
The day's specials on the board at Coppa.
3. Coppa Ristorante Italiano
The closer to the top of the list, the more flawless the restaurants. In
fact, although other diners have reported some unsteady meals there, I've
yet to have a bad dish at the casual Italian restaurant that replaced
Catalan. Chef Brandi Key's low-key, high-impact cooking shines in dishes
like pumpkin ravioli garnished with dried cranberries, toasted pumpkin seeds
and simple brown butter sauce or her of-the-moment duck agnolotti with pine
nuts and crispy Brussels sprouts leaves. Add in a fun, lively bar and a
patio full of promise for the summer, and Coppa is one of the best new
additions to the city's dining scene.
2. Philippe
A stunning dining room. A menu full of well-executed French classics with
Texan twists. A wine list to match any price range or palate. A chef who
treats every diner and every dish as if they were cherished objects. Yet
Philippe is easily the most accessible -- both in cost and feel -- upscale
restaurant to open in Houston in years. There's no need to feel fussed over
when all you want to is to bury your face in one of Chef Philippe Schmit's
decadent terrines of foie gras or a heavy plate of rich coq au vin. The
restaurant manages to strike that delicate balance between graciously
elegant and comfortably intimate at the same time, while offering some of
the most impeccable French cuisine in the city.
Pondicheri: As if there was any question.
1. Pondicheri
I named Pondicheri my favorite new restaurant of the year all the way back
in June -- that's how striking the food, the ambiance, the craft beer list,
the baked goods program
and everything else about this Gulf Coast Indian restaurant was and still
remains. With only a few exceptions, Pondicheri is very near perfection. In
the intervening months, Pondicheri has continued to impress with improved
service and consistently delicious offerings from breakfast all the way
through dinner: a bowl of warm, peanut-topped uppma to start the day and a
plate of Gulf shrimp chaat for dinner, and all is right with the world. I
have a feeling that -- as with Indika, chef/owner Anita Jaisinghani's other
restaurant -- we'll be singing Pondicheri's praises for many years to come. |
