HRW Additions

8 last-minute additions to Houston Restaurant Weeks serve up sizzling deals

Houston Restaurant Weeks runs through Labor Day, and diners across the city are deciding which restaurants to patronize. While most of the menus appear on July 15, organizer Cleverley Stone has added a number of additional options during the last two weeks.

As with all HRW participants, the restaurant will make a donation to the Houston Food Bank for each menu sold: $3 for every $20 lunch or brunch; $5 for every $35 dinner; and $7 for every $45. Those donations added up to more than $2.4 million in 2017.

Some of these late additions are from returning participants like Peli Peli and The Palm steakhouse, but several are from first-time participants, including one restaurant that only opened in the last few weeks. These eight restaurants are all new (or new-ish) places that diners should be particularly excited to visit for the first time or offer exceptional value. Don’t let August slip by without trying at least one.

Riel
CultureMap’s pick for the best new restaurant of 2017 has just signed on to HRW. The three-course, $45 dinner menu starts with a choice of watermelon salad, fried rice with shrimp and chinese sausage, or tempura cauliflower. Entree choices include the signature hanger steak with cheddar and potato pierogi and fish with bacon tomato consomme. Of the three dessert options, the sticky toffee pudding with foie gras torchon is the most delicious, but a chocolate ice box cake with malted milk ice cream sounds pretty good, too. 1927 Fairview St.; 832-831-9109

Yauatcha
Sample some of the newest offerings at this upscale dim sum restaurant with its three-course, $45 dinner menu. Starters include scallop shu mai, edamame truffle dumpling, and a spicy pork wonton. For an entree, choose from steamed chili prawns, stir-fried beef tenderloin, or truffle pork belly rib. We can never say no to the elegant raspberry delice dessert, but two other options are also available. 5045 Westheimer Rd.; 713-357-7588

Pappas Delta Blues Smokehouse
This Clear Lake restaurant offers some of the best deals for meat lovers in all of HRW. The entree choices on the three-course, $35 dinner menu include a two-meat barbecue plate, chicken fried ribeye, a 10-ounce filet, and a 16-ounce dry-aged ribeye. Upgrade to 16-ounce USDA Prime, dry-aged New York strip or a massive 26-ounce Prime, dry-aged porterhouse for only $10 more. When the entrees are that appealing, do the appetizer or dessert choices even matter? 19901 Gulf Freeway; 281-332-0024

The Pass
Get a three-course sample of this tasting menu restaurant’s usual five-course offering for only $45 during HRW. Start with tuna belly with black sesame béarnaise, cauliflower panna cotta, or country-style sweetbread pate. Chef-owners Seth Siegel-Gardner and Terrence Gallivan’s creative cooking is on display in entree choices that include short rib dumplings, burrata raviolo, or shrimp-stuffed corn on the cob. For dessert, choose from lime curd with grilled pineapple, chocolate ganache with chocolate puffed rice, or honey-whipped cheese cannoli. 807 Taft St.; 713-628-9020

Oporto Fooding House & Wine
Use HRW as an opportunity to revisit one of Houston’s most underrated restaurants by sampling its three-course, $35 dinner menu. Starters include baked goat cheese, rocket salad with prosciutto, or crab and avocado crostini. For an entree, choose a wood-grilled hanger steak with fried egg, seafood curry with house-baked naan, or wood-grilled octopus with mustard seed shaak potatoes. Dessert choices include madeira bread pudding and espresso chocolate torte. 125 West Gray Ave.; 713-528-0115

Chapman & Kirby
Known for its hopping nightlife scene, this EaDo hotspot is earning raves for its food, too. The three-course, $35 dinner menu starts with salmon croquettes, tuna tiradito, or burrata salad with peach and pear. Entree options include classic boef bourguignon, chicken over mushroom risotto, and blackened mahi mahi with garlic chickpea puree. A diner could choose grilled peaches or a sorbet trio, but we’re betting the build-your-own s’mores will be the most popular dessert option. 2118 Lamar St.; 713-636-9615

El Big Bad
The downtown taco and tequila bar delivers great value with a four-course, $35 dinner menu. Start with queso, guacamole, or salsa. Continue with one of four veggie options. For an entree, choose from chicken, beef, or mushroom fajitas or veggie enchiladas. Finish up with bread pudding, tres leches, or fruit salad. 419 Travis St.; 713-229-8181

La Villa Saint Tropez
Houston’s newest French restaurant is offering a three-course, $45 dinner menu. Starter choices include arugula salad and herb-buttered scallops. Entree choices include a six-ounce duck breast with mushroom polenta and a Riviera bouillabaisse with saffron potatoes. Finish the meal with chocolate lava cake, fruit salad, or strawberry banoffee pie. 4315 Montrose Blvd.; 713-524-0070

Sample The Pass at a discount during HRW.

Photo by Ralph Smith Photography

Sample The Pass at a discount during HRW.

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bring on the Bacalhau

Michelin-starred Houston restaurant heads to Portugal for new season

Photo by Zach Horst

No conversation about Houston’s best restaurants would be complete without mentioning March, Goodnight Hospitality’s Mediterranean-inspired, fine dining, tasting menu restaurant in Montrose.

For its 12th season, which begins this Friday, August 7, March will take a broad look at Portugal. Over the course of pre-dinner snacks in its lounge, seven courses in its dining room, and take away desserts, chef-partner Felipe Riccio and his team will guide diners through all aspects of Portuguese cuisine, including its trade routes with China, India, and North Africa.

Riccio tells CultureMap that Portugal was the logical follow up to March’s 11th season, which examined northern Spain. He began the research process a few months ago, drawing upon published literature, cookbooks, and his own experiences as a stage at a restaurant in Lisbon. More than a menu update, seasons at March also include changes to the beverage offerings and creating service touches that enhance the experience.

Photo by Zach Horst

Rabbit cozido.

“Portugal is so close geographically to the north of Spain, and there’s a lot of similarities,” he says. “The menu really explores a lot of places outside of the Mediterranean where the Portuguese had influence and were influenced by. It’s all these trade routes.”

Priced at $230 plus drinks, tax, and gratuity, a meal at March begins in the lounge with four snacks, including a peri peri-spiced duck rillette, a delicate tart with lobster and caviar, a tempura-fried fish (peixinhos da horta) and the Macau-inspired porcho balichao made with manilla clams.

As always, March brings premium ingredients to its take on classic dishes. For example, it sources Japanese Almaco Jack for a crudo that’s inspired by Portuguese salt cod (bacalahua). Cozido, a slow-cooked stew that’s a staple of Portuguese cooking, gets reinterpreted as a house made rabbit sauce with foie gras. Riccio acknowledges that diners expect a certain level of luxury at this price point, but diners may not always realize how valuable properly-sourced ingredients are.

“I don’t think it always has to be so overt. I think the majority of people, the experience as a whole delivers that value,” Riccio says.

Similarly, the Portugal menu continues March’s move to a set, seven-course menu instead of giving diners the choice of either six or nine courses. Riccio see that as another sign of the restaurant’s maturity.

“A tasting menu is restrictive. We needed to earn that trust and give people options. I felt like people trust us and we’ve proved we can create an experience,” he says.

Since part of the criteria for a Michelin star is consistency across visits, March’s ability to hold its star while still changing its menu twice a year is a testament to the kitchen’s skill. Add in the server’s deep knowledge of every dish on the menu, its comprehensive beverage offerings, and a dining room that features museum- quality art, and it’s reasonable to think that March might become Texas’ first restaurant to earn a two-star rating. For his part, Riccio would welcome the recognition.

“I think March as an entire experience, as a restaurant day-in and day-out, we can be at that level. We strive to give people that experience to where they have that menu and feel it’s well worth it,” he says. “That recognition. I’ve seen what it means for the team, for the guests, and for the validation of the experience, and, obviously, for my career and the restaurant as a business.”

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