New HRW Options

Five late additions to Houston Restaurant Weeks you won't want to miss

Houston Restaurant Weeks has almost reached its halfway point, and diners all over the city are flocking to the participating restaurants. That’s a very good thing, since every meal sold raises money for the Houston Food Bank.

Since the initial lineup release on July 15, organizer Cleverley Stone has added a number of restaurants to the event, including the 2016 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards Restaurant of the Year. For those who made their reservations early and haven’t checked the HRW website in awhile, here are five late additions that people won’t want to miss.

Pax Americana
Rather than follow the typical HRW format of offering a three-course meal with three (or more) choices per course, this intimate Montrose restaurant offers a five-course prix fixe that includes some of chef Adam Dorris’s most popular dishes like smoked beef tartare and nine-spiced brisket. Thankfully, the $45 price offers a $5 discount over the meal’s regular price. It’s a great way to discover why Pax Americana earned the title of CultureMap Tastemaker Awards Restaurant of the Year.

Bernadine’s
Speaking of Tastemakers winners, Rising Star Chef of the Year Graham Laborde’s Gulf Coast restaurant is another late addition to HRW. The three-course, $35 menu contains many of the dishes that have earned the Heights spot such acclaim, including starters like chargrilled oysters and smoked ribs with sorghum “popcorn.” For pork lovers, the cochon de lait is the must order entree, but the fried catfish is a strong option, too. Finish up with rice beignets or oeufs a la neige, a version of the legendary floating island dessert.

Hubbell & Hudson Bistro
The best restaurant in the Woodlands is a first-time HRW participant. The three-course, $45 menu offers lots of tempting choices. Starters include a seasonally-appropriate heirloom tomato and watermelon salad and an inventive riff on shrimp toast on a housemade baguette. Entree options include a dry-aged, Texas wagyu sirloin flap, Alaskan halibut, and black truffle pasta ($5 supplement). The black out sponge cake would be my dessert choice, but all of pastry chef Erika Lucio’s desserts are winners.

Enoteca Rossa
This Italian restaurant has been a welcome addition to Bellaire, and its three-course, $35 menu offers some solid values. Starters options include salad, a cheese plate, and a selection of charcuterie. Asparagus risotto and tagliatelle with sausage lead the five entree choices. For dessert, it’s hard to pass on tiramisu.

Le Bistro
With the departure of chef Kris Jakobs, now the owner of Brasserie 1895 in Friendswood, the Culinary Institute LeNôtre has rebranded its in-house restaurant as Le Bistro. Thankfully, it’s still serving classic French fare prepared by the Institute’s students. Starter choices on the three-course, $45 menu include a crab and avocado salad and an heirloom tomato and goat cheese tarte. Both the sweet tea-brined pork chop and chicken chasseur are tempting entree options, but vegetarians will appreciate the Israeli couscous with portabello mushroom. A seven-layer opera cake looks like the top dessert choice, but creme brulee duo is also available.

Chef Austin Simmons has dry-aged beef on the menu at Hubbell & Hudson Bistro.

Photo by Julie Soefer

Chef Austin Simmons has dry-aged beef on the menu at Hubbell & Hudson Bistro.

fundraisers news-you-can-eat lists dinner

firing up Montrose

New Houston seafood restaurant adds live-fire flair to Japanese flavors

Photo by Becca Wright

Spanish sea bass, scallop crudo, nigiri, bluefin binchotan, and bluefin crudo.

An ambitious new seafood restaurant is coming to Montrose next week. Casa Kenji will open on Tuesday, December 9.

Located in the former Andiron space (3201 Allen Pkwy), Casa Kenji is the first Houston project for New Orleans restaurateur Malachi DuPre, a former LSU standout who played briefly in the NFL before establishing Kenji and Kenji Kazoku restaurants in New Orleans. Together with former LSU teammate John “B-John” Ballis and Houston chef Bigler “Biggie” Cruz, Casa Kenji will blend Latin and Japanese influences while also incorporating live-fire elements into the restaurant’s dishes. Cruz, whose resume includes a lengthy stint at Uchi as well as working at critically acclaimed Houston seafood restaurant Golfstrømmen, tells CultureMap that Casa Kenji’s approach is the first time he can be himself in the kitchen.

“My perfect restaurant was always based on the live fire and sushi combination,” Cruz says. “My mom cooked with wood for my entire life. The live fire creates completely different flavors. The smoky flavors, the sear from the charcoal — they create a different type of memory for me.”

The use of live fire techniques will permeate Casa Kenji’s menus in ways both big and small. For example, diners will be able to feast on prawns grilled directly on charcoal and served with yuzu chili garlic, or savor lightly seared Japanese wagyu tataki paired with mushrooms. Even raw dishes will benefit from the restaurant’s wood-burning grill and stove.

“Every vegetable we peel, we make into an ash that’s a topping for the dishes. It adds a different layer of flavor,” Cruz says. Look for it in the scallop aguachile, among others.

Even vegetables get a smoky component, as in a cabbage dish that’s braised with dashi and soy sauce before being roasted and served with an onion soubise that Cruz says he developed based on techniques he learned from Golfstrømmen chef Christopher Haatuft.

“It’s rich, super savory, with smoky layers, and you get brightness from the shiso gremolata. I think it will be a signature dish for us,” the chef says.

One change to the interior is the addition of a six-seat omakase counter that looks into the kitchen. Cruz promises those diners will have an even more elevated experience than the restaurant’s regular menu, including ingredients such as Japanese wagyu and premium fish flown in from Tokyo’s Toyosu fish market.

Beyond its cuisine, Casa Kenji hopes to stand out with its spacious outdoor patio. Since very few Japanese-inspired restaurants in Houston offer outdoor seating, it should appeal to diners who want a little vitamin D along with their tuna crudo.

“We’re proud to showcase the craft and creativity that defines Casa Kenji,” co-founders Cruz, Ballis, and DuPre said in a statement. “With chef Bigler Cruz at the helm — blending live-fire technique with the discipline of Japanese tradition — we’re equally honored and excited to share a unique concept that is truly rooted in passion, culture, and community.”

Casa Kenji will be open for dinner Tuesday through Sunday beginning at 4 pm. Reservations are available on Resy.

Photo by Becca Wright

Spanish sea bass, scallop crudo, nigiri, bluefin binchotan, and bluefin crudo.