TrendySomething in SoMo

A visit to the church of fine dining for Houston Restaurant Weeks: It's allabout second chances

The interior of Mark's American Cuisine.
A seared tenderloin of beef with field mushrooms, roasted squash and crispysweet "tater tots" embedded in mashed potatoes.
Photo by Steven Thomson
A seared ahi tuna at Mark's American Cuisine.
Photo by Steven Thomson

Mark's American Cuisine is inherently a hub of second chances. Situated on a strip of Westheimer that's just on the cusp of grungy to simply gay, the restaurant boldly re-envisions a quaint 1920s church into a bastion of romantic decadence.

Chef Mark Cox is himself a master of reinvention. A small town West Virginia native, Cox brought a degree from the Culinary Institute of America to Texas and rose to executive chef at Brennan's before revitalizing the lionized Tony's. After stints as executive chef at Anthony's, Grotto and La Griglia, he ventured out to create a restaurant all his own.

For this year's Houston Restaurant Weeks, I took a page from Cox' example of turning a new leaf. It was six years ago that I first sat in that hallowed nave, trying to salvage a botched friendship that had unraveled after I abruptly canceled filling in as an impromptu prom date. That period of 19-year-old meandering isn't remembered as a high point: Months before I had dropped out of art school and was wading through a lackluster shift at a gourmet grocer between shameful marathon sessions of watching DVDs of The OC in my childhood bedroom, all while avoiding the streaming content of friends' fun college lives on a new website called Facebook.

Anyway, clearly this girl was fairly upset with me for multiple reasons, and I knew it was time to clear the air. In an act of unprecedented chivalry, I swept her off her feet (in a now-discontinued Mazda 626) and we spent a memorable evening at Mark's, which was tempered after sauntering across the street to Poison Girl. (This was back in the days before they hired the no-nonsense deaf doorman.)

And so I effectively leveraged this gorgeous 1920s steeple and salvaged a fruitful friendship that has led to exchanges of art and reunions/run-ins with Southside Place cops.

It was with this celestial memory that I reentered Mark's to taste its Houston Restaurant Weeks dinner menu with a cadre of quality friends, armed with the palettes and proper identification to appreciate the suggested wine pairings.

I began by sharing a cup of expectedly rich lobster bisque with generous lumps of meat, along with an artfully plated seared Hudson Valley foie gras.

The foie gras (which apparently derives from ethically raised free-range ducks) almost took a back seat to the plate's centerpiece, a trio of serrano ham-wrapped bites of Texas quail. Prosciutto-wrapped anything frequently suffers from scant bands of meat dominated by stringy fat, but this course avoided that pattern. Scattered at the plate's edges were bits of bing cherry compote and sassy micro greens.

For all of its flourishes, Mark's also commands basic dishes with ease, as was the case with my seared tenderloin of beef with field mushrooms, roasted squash and crispy sweet "tater tots" — golden, starchy lumps with a texture akin to gnocchi embedded in a heap of mashed potatoes. This entree bled testosterone, as evidenced by the informal mushrooms (which looked picked from Kroger rather than an actual field) and slightly overcooked squash that bordered on a stewed mush. A spiced cabernet sauvignon sauce added a necessary enhancement to the hunk of meat.

A duo of surprise entrees snuck on the Mark's Houston Restaurant Weeks dinner menu that I hadn't previously unearthed online: a seared sea bass and seared ahi tuna served with a flash-fried zucchini blossom stuffed with crab meat beside shrimp and crab risotto. Together, that makes four seared plates that arrived on our table. I can only imagine that the reduced energy required in minimal cooking outweighs the questionable ethics of supporting the duck liver industry.

But who am I to say? Mark's hasn't been a church for 15 years now, and while I've gotten back on track from my 2005 state, I'm still no saint.

unspecified

steak and putt

Michelin-recognized chef plans 2 new restaurants at proposed Houston golf club

Courtesy of Field Guide Festival

undefined

A bold new plan is taking shaping that will bring a world-class golf course and Michelin-quality restaurant to Houston. Called The Burn Club at Cypress Forest, the proposal aims to transform the former Raveneaux Country Club into a Scottish, links-style course with a restaurant by Michael Fojtasek, chef-owner of Michelin-starred Olamaie in Austin.

The project is being led by Grover Smith, a hospitality professional with a resume that includes time at Austin’s Foreign & Domestic as well as Houston restaurants such as The Pass & Provisions and Bernadine’s. More recently, Smith operated Indie Chefs Week, which held a series of dinners around the country to showcase up-and-coming culinary talent.

Smith has submitted a proposal to the Cypress Forest Public Utility District, the government entity that owns the roughly 200-acre property, to lease the land to him for The Burn Club. Using an innovative nonprofit structure, the club would include two restaurants that will be open to the public, a casual concept called Campfire and a more elevated restaurant that's still unnamed.

The restaurants

As Fojtasek tells CultureMap, he and Smith reconnected via a mutual friend who knew they both loved golf. Chef Fojtasek is a regular at downtown Austin’s Butler Pitch & Putt, a par-3 golf course where he operates a food truck called Gimme Burger.

That experience informs his plans for Campfire. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, the restaurant will serve sandwiches, burgers, and comfort food such as fried chicken and a chili-glazed pork chop.

As for the more fine dining-style restaurant, Fojtasek cites Maie Day, his Michelin-recommend steakhouse at the South Congress Hotel, as a starting point for the menu.

“I don’t want to call it a steakhouse, but certainly a live fire aspect,” he says. “A restaurant that speaks to what I want to cook, and the dining experience that we want to offer in relation to a place that feels easy to go to.”

The restaurant’s menu covers a wide range, with starters such as black pepper potato chips with smoked trout roe, tasso ham spoonbread and crab salad, Texas beef tartare, and a throwback chilled tomato aspic. Entrees could include whole grilled red snapper, a tomahawk ribeye, and barbecue grille shrimp.

“It’s mostly American fare,” he adds. “That’s the vernacular that I’ve traveled in for a long time. Taking some ideas from Olamaie and Maie Day and putting them together to create something that’s good for the neighborhood and folks who live around there.”

The neighborhood

Count area resident Braxton Watson as one of the plan’s supporters. He and some of his neighbors recently launched a website to urge other area residents to lobby the PUD board to consider Smith’s proposal, which includes reduced greens and membership fees for homeowners who have already contributed their tax dollars via a bond referendum that was approved in 2025.

“The problem is we don’t vote on [how to use the land],” Watson says. “People want to know what they can do to help. Be vocal. Share your comments with the PUD. The more and more people we talk to who have no idea what’s going on is frustrating. Our tax dollars are funding the purchase of this land.”

Watson got a first taste of Fojtasek’s food at a private party Smith held for friends and neighbors. “I’m excited about Michael’s restaurant. Olamaie is amazing. We thought it was an unbelievable deal,” he says.

The golf course

Smith has assembled a veteran team to help bring the Burn Clubs to life, including golf course architect Mike Nuzzo, former PGA Tour player Steve Elkington, architect Alex Warr, and golf course builder Heritage Links.

Members of the PUD board are also considering a proposal from the Dunn Golf Group, which operates courses in Amarillo, San Angelo, and the Dallas-area town of Rockwall. CultureMap reached out to a PUD board member for comment on the proposals but has yet to receive a response.

Still, Fojtasek has a simple message for his potential landlords.

“There are two young and hungry operators with great experience, looking to do something for the neighborhood and offer something that’s exceptional for a good value. I think the project is unique and interesting from the perspective of a golf outing . . . that can shine a light on Spring and also Houston at large”

openings news-you-can-eat golf chefs