The best of the decade? Wish I been assigned this job 10 years ago. My memory is feeble. Seriously, it’s tough to just whip this stuff out in time to make a deadline with little forewarning. Come Jan. 1, 2010, I will be taking notes should my opinion remain relevant 10 years on.
But no worries. Houston’s a big city in love with food, and I am never short of oddball opinions.
1. Genius chef: Robert Del Grande. Mega-talented Del Grande is one smart cookie. In danger of becoming old and dated, Del Grande played himself and the stunning new RDG + Bar Annie smack dab to the forefront of the Houston food scene, serving long-time Café Annie faves and some whiz-bang new dishes in a slick, hip, gotta-be-seen-in atmosphere. He has been reborn, hotter and better than ever. The place is sure to be a national food media magnet.
2. I knew he was a master when Bryan Caswell presented the tuna ribbons sashimi while chefing at Bank. Now the whole country knows, thanks to the chef/owner of Reef being named one of the year’s top 10 chefs by Food & Wine Magazine. A champion of local, underused species and a keen fisherman, Caswell also writes a witty blog and co-hosts a raucous weekly radio show. With his Little Bigs and the recently opened Stella Sola, Caswell takes the leap from chef to restaurateur.
3. With the only Houston restaurant to get a front-page story on the dining section of the NY Times, Feast co-owners James Silk, Meagan Silk and Richard Knight elevate odd cuts to an art form. Ox heart with a carrot and coriander salad? Frank Bruni said it all when he wrote, “Feast has no real peer in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and other major cities that pride themselves on their epicurean adventurousness." Me? I like their reverence. Prior to Feast, the building housed Chez Georges, the brief home to the mighty fine French food of Georges Guy. Feast folks have left the gold-tone GUY letters on the building. Nice touch.
4. Connecting city dwellers with farm-fresh food, the emergence of farmers' markets in Houston has made food shopping fun, tasty, nutritional and seasonal. Queen of the markets, chef/owner Monica Pope, took the direct approach. She wanted a market, so she created one in t'afia’s parking lot. Now to encourage purchasing, she runs a Saturday morning cooking class at the market. Urban Harvest sponsors the biggest Saturday market in the city. Highland Village and Houston farmers' markets have recently opened Saturday morning market as well. Rain or shine, hot or hotter, Houstonians politely queue for farm-fresh produce, carry cold, hard cash and most remember their canvas totes. Will wonders never cease?
5. Best advocate of the other white meat: Chris Shepherd of Catalan. Pork waddled onto restaurant tables all over town, but Shepherd’s pork belly cubes on a stick with Steen cane syrup won my heart and threatened my waistline from the get-go. Much missed this year is Catalan’s aromatic garlic soup with perfectly poached egg (hint, hint).
6. Best cooking school in town? Toques tipped to the culinary program of The Art Institute of Houston. Alumni of the culinary arts program are headlining all over town—Charles Clark at Ibiza, Chris Shepherd at Catalan, Randy Evans at Haven, Jonathan Jones at Beaver’s. Sure, nobody was an overnight success, but these grads of the '90s got their basics and their work ethics down right and early. I'm anxiously awaiting the maturation of culinary students from this decade.
7. Best chef who deserves more national press (but rarely gets any): The modest, gracious Hugo Ortega, whose namesake restaurant, Hugo’s, elevates interior Mexican food to an art form. Moles of distinction, squash blossom soup of perfection and shockingly authentic grasshopper tacos, Ortega is committed to offering the authentic flavors of his homeland in an elegant far south of the border atmosphere. A teenager who came north looking for a better life, dishwasher, office cleaner, busboy, cook and now chef/owner—hell, not only should Ortega get more national press, his life could be a movie.
8. Best flavor heroine: Anita Jaisinghani, chef/owner of Indika, takes the alluring spices and textures of her childhood and contemporizes them, creating modern Indian food of staggering excellence. Instead of cranking out curries, Jaisinghani creatively evolves the cuisine of her homeland to gastronomic heights. One bite of the corn-and-garbanzo chaat appetizer or her startlingly fresh chutneys will convince you I am right. Nationally, Jaisinghani has had her share of glowing national press, just seems that locally the buzz could be louder.
9. Diligently crisscrossing rural Texas, Lindsey Schechter and her Houston Dairymaids has single-handedly introduced Houstonians to a plethora of boutique cheeses from micro-producers whose tasty goods would otherwise lanquish in far-flung counties. To cheesemakers, Schechter is a lifeline; to chefs committed to sustainable, local foods, she is priceless; and to farmers’ market attendees, she’s the cheese lady. Simply stated, Schechter has put Texas cheese on the national scene—Wisconsin and Vermont, watch out!
10. Best food provider: Houston Food Bank. Not even Hurricane Ike could keep these devoted folks from their mission of feeding Houston’s hungry. Prior to Ike, they stocked shelters of last resort with food and water. In the immediate aftermath, as in the day after, while the rest of the city reeled, the Food Bank shifted into overdrive—operating at four times their normal capacity. (FEMA folks should take notes.) During the tedious and trying months that followed, they continued with the post-Ike relief effort, distributing a whopping 20 million pounds of food, water and personal care products.
Honorable Mention: Discovery Green. This inner-city park provides food venues that cross socio-economic boundaries: picnic space for inner-city dwellers, casual fast food of exceptional quality, Del Grande's stunning The Grove for the well-heeled, a Sunday farmers' market for all and just added, Grizzaffi Coffee kiosk, serving coffee and espresso drinks made from Fontana Coffee Roasters.
Genius chef: Robert Del Grande
