This week in dining

These are the 14 best food and drink events in Houston this week

There's a bunch happening in food and drink this week, a lot of it clustered on Thursday. Those who are experts at double — and even triple — booking won't be daunted, but others might have to pick and choose. Good luck with that.

There's also a birthday celebration for Houston that's not exactly a food event, but features Bayou City food and beer favorites, so we're including it because we love Houston. This week also marks the unofficial end of summer with Labor Day Weekend, complete with its own set of fun doings.

Tuesday, August 27

Truth Barbeque collaboration at Ramen Tatsu-Ya
Ramen Tatsu-Ya’s signature tonkotsu broth — a condensed pork bone broth that takes more than 70 hours to make — will be enhanced with shoyu (a type of soy sauce) smoked by Truth Barbeque's pitmaster-owner Leonard Botello IV and, of course, a slice of Botello's acclaimed brisket. The two entities have collaborated on this dish previously, resulting in long lines and happy diners. Don't miss this; it's available from 11 am until sold out.

Live Fire Tuesdays with Khoi BBQ at Eight Row Flint
Starting at 5 pm and until it's gone, Don and Theo Nguyen of Khoi BBQ bring their signature dishes to this pop-up. Named for the Vietnamese word for smoke, the Vietnamese-influenced barbecue selections include brisket pho, 44 Farms beef ribs, Japanese kielbasa, and compart duroc spare ribs.

Wente Wine Dinner at Caracol
Carolyn Wente comes to Houston to talk about her family's wines, which will be paired with chef Hugo Ortega's cuisine. Dinner begins at 7 pm, and its four courses include pairings such as corn-and-lobster-infused tamal with sauteed lobster and a cream of corn sauce along with Wente's 2017 Riva Ranch Chardonnay and the 2017 Wente Morning Fog Chardonnay, and braised beef cheeks with blackberry mole served with Wente 2016 South Hill Cabernet and 2016 Wente Charles Wetmore Cabernet. Tickets are $99 per person, plus tax and gratuity, and can be purchased online.

Hope Family Wine Dinner at Whiskey Cake
The Paso Robles Winery comes to Texas for a six-course dinner at the Katy favorite. Look for pairings like cured, smoked Alaskan salmon partnered with the Hope Family Treana Blanc, a blend of Viognier, Marsanne, and Roussanne with vibrant tropical fruit notes and a silky finish, and lamb chops served with the Austin Hope Grenache, with its bang of black fruit notes and layered with licorice. Tickets are $85 per person, plus tax and tip. For reservations call 832-430-2253. Dinner starts at 7 pm.

Wednesday, August 28

Rosé for The Rose at Avondale Food & Wine
The Montrose wine bar and restaurant is hosting a fundraiser for The Rose Houston, a breast cancer charity that offers comprehensive breast health services such as preventive and diagnostic screening, treatment, and counseling for women and men regardless of ability to pay. For just $20, attendees have the opportunity to sample 10 different rosés "from bubbles and Pet Nat to Provence." Best of all, those who like what they taste can take home a bottle from Avondale's retail shop for 25 percent off. The event takes place from 4:30-8 pm.

Thursday, August 29

Birthday Celebration at Dandelion Cafe
The Bellaire favorite turns three today and celebrates with $3 biscuits, toaster strudel, pancakes, lattes, and Mimosas, available from 7 am to 6 pm. There's also a thoroughly Instagrammable photo opp, in front of a colorful, summertime paper flower art installation created by VyVa Event Design.

Ike's Love & Sandwiches Grand Opening
The San Francisco import debuts its first Bayou City location today, and the first 50 people in the doors get a free sandwich. The chain is a partnership between founder Ike Shehadeh and former Major League Baseball player Mark Appel. This marks the third Texas outpost for Ike's, following openings in Austin. Located in The Heights, Ike's is open from 10 am to 8 pm.

Burger Pop-Up at Fluff Bake Bar
Tejas Burger Joint shows its stuff from 6-9 pm, with this sneak peek that's the brainchild of the team behind Tomball's Tejas Chocolate & Barbecue. One hundred tickets are available for $12 each, which buys guests an 8-ounce prime, all natural brisket-and-clod-blend smoked burger with house-cured bacon, caramelized onions, green onion aioli, and smoked cheddar on toasted brioche. Elote salad, potato salad, coleslaw, and dessert of a special Tejas and Fluff Bake Bar truffle will be available for purchase. Tickets are available online.

Veuve Clicquot Champagne Dinner at Quattro
This five-course seated dinner features an array of Veuve Clicquot Champagnes paired with Quattro's Italian-style menu items. Pairings include a baby beets and Brie salad partnered with Clicquot rosé; butter poached lobster with a 2008 Veuve Clicquot; and a veal tenderloin with a 2008 La Grande Dame. Tickets are $165 per person, plus tax and gratuity. To reserve a space, call 713-276-4700.

Southold Farm + Cellar Wine Dinner at Reef
Fredericksburg wines and creations from chef Bryan Caswell are on the menu at this dinner, which begins with a reception at 6:30 pm. Wine offerings include the the 2016 Horseshoes & Handgrenades NY Pet-Nat Chardonnay, the 2018 Apera Picpoul Blanc, the 2018 Same as it Ever Was Chardonnay, and the 2018 Therapy for Liars Grenache Field Blend. At press time, Caswell's menu was unavailable, but expect both signature dishes and some surprises from his Gulf Coast-infused offerings. Tickets are $130 per person, plus tax and booking fee. Seating is limited, so advance purchases are strongly recommended. To book, call 713-526-8282 or email events@reef-3rdbar.com.

Friday, August 30 - Sunday, September 1

10th Annual Brewmaster's Craft Brew Festival at Moody Gardens Hotel, Spa and Convention Center
This weekend-long celebration of all things brewing brings together craft beer makers like Brooklyn Brewery, Galveston Island Brewing, Karbach Brewing Co., Oskar Blues Brewery, and more. There's a tequila tasting, barbecue and a host of other events. Purchase a $165 weekend pass (excluding tax and convenience fees) to enjoy all the happenings, including the Nach-Yo Ordinary Tequila Tasting, the Brew-Ha-Ha Grand Tasting, and the Brew-B-Cue on Sunday. Individual tickets to events are also available.

Saturday, August 31

Bake sale with John Granato and Lance Zierlein at Fluff Bake Bar
The two hosts of ESPN 97.5's The Bench morning show square off head-to-head in a bakery battle. Neither man has released his menu yet, but culinary bragging rights are on the line. Get there early; we expect a line to form before doors open at 10 am.

Houston's 183rd Birthday at The Heritage Society
In an example of how Houston food and drink purveyors get together to celebrate love for the Bayou City, look no further than this birthday bash that kicks off at 4:30 pm. Saint Arnold Brewing Co. donated beer, Bollo Woodfired Pizza kicked in some food, and Three Brothers Bakery donated a big ol' birthday cake, which Mayor Sylvester Turner will cut around 5 pm. Partygoers can tour the historic homes in Sam Houston Park and learn more about the city's history. The free event is a testament to the city's can-do spirit.

Sunday, September 1

New Brunch Debut at Verandah
The Upper Kirby progressive Indian restaurant rolls out a new menu, a two-course brunch for $20 per person, plus tax and gratuity. First course options include orange and beetroot salad with a goat cheese kebab, chicken tikka vol-au-vents with radish and cucumber slaw, or masala poached eggs Benedict; the second course offers selections like masala fried fish with curry leaves and cumin, tomato rice and spiced onion marmalade; and dosa with layers of avocado cream, coconut chutney, and potato and peas mash. Brunch hours are 11 am to 3 pm.

Sample a Tejas cheeseburger without driving to Tomball on Thursday.

Tejas Chocolate & Barbecue smoked cheeseburger

Tejas Chocolate & Barbecue/Facebook

Sample a Tejas cheeseburger without driving to Tomball on Thursday.

news-you-can-eat

roll out

Self-taught chef slices into Houston with high-quality sushi to go

Courtesy of Kaisen Sushi Houston

Each order of nigiri comes with a house made sushi sauce.

The ghost kitchen phenomenon may have diminished somewhat since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the idea of a delivery and to-go-only restaurant still draws talented chefs who want to focus on food at a lower overhead than a traditional brick-and-mortar. One of those chefs is Sunny Bertsch, whose restaurant Kaisen Sushi Houston is already drawing buzz from inner loopers looking for a more affordable, at-home sushi experience.

Located at the Blodgett Food Hall in Third Ward, Kaisen Sushi serves typical nigiri, maki, and temaki (hand rolls), along with a steak bowl. Prices are a little lower than what someone would find at a typical sushi restaurant, with an eight-piece nigiri set priced at $18.99 when ordered through the Blodgett Food Hall website (expect to pay more if ordering via a third-party delivery service such as Uber Eats or DoorDash).

While Bertsch’s food may be familiar, his story is not. The diners who’ve rated Kaisen with 4.9 stars on Google may be surprised to learn that he’s only been cooking professionally for two years. As Bertsch tells CultureMap, prior to becoming a professional chef, he worked in fields as varied as aerospace and dog walking.

“I’d always been interested in cooking,” he says. “I was blessed to be born into a great Korean American family. My dad and my grandparents always cooked great food. I learned by osmosis.”

Bertsch began his career as a private chef by working for friends. He built his business by catering lunches to powerhouse law firm Vinson & Elkins. Eventually, his clients asked for private sushi dinners, and he had to figure things out.

“I got an opportunity to do a sushi omakase. It was brutal. It was messy. But I knew once I did that, I wanted to dedicate my life to sushi,” he says. “Since then, I have studied and practiced. I threw a lot of money and time and fish at it.”

Bertsch improved his speed and knife skills by taking a $13-per-hour job at Japanese grocery store Seiwa Market. While there, he says he made thousands of pieces of nigiri, rolls, and sushi bowls. That experience, along with meals from similar to-go-only concepts in New York and San Francisco, convinced him to open Kaisen as a ghost kitchen.

“So far, I’ve spent $90,000. That’s more than the average investment for a food hall kitchen,” Bertsch explains. “I’m a clean freak. I’m a technology freak. I’m an authenticity freak. I outfitted my kitchen in the way I thought was necessary for long-term success.”

Just as he spared no expense in specing out his kitchen, Bertsch puts thoughtful touches into his food, too. For example, every order of nigiri comes with a dipping sauce Bertsch makes himself from low sodium soy sauce, kombu, vinegar, and sake.

“It’s a complex sauce that’s less salty and tastes good,” he says. “You know when you don’t have it and you’re given cheap soy sauce.”

Similarly, his California rolls use imitation crab (as do most restaurants), but it’s seasoned with a housemade, Japanese-style kewpie mayo, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and sesame oil for more umami and less sweetness. Since the chef uses more crab mix than other restaurants do in their rolls, Kaisen’s California roll not only tastes better — at $11.99, it’s a better value, too.

The chef showcases Japanese techniques and Korean influences with his $25 steak bowl. A USDA Choice ribeye or strip is cooked sous vide with a marinade made from garlic, tamari, and seasoning salt. Once a diner orders the entree, the steak is seared in a pan, basted with Kerrygold butter, seasoned with furikake and sesame oil, and served with short-grain sushi rice and microgreens from local farm Zero Point Organics.

Word of mouth has been building. Even though it’s only been open for a month, Kaisen already has over 2,000 followers on Instagram. Once he’s able to hire a full roster of cooks, Bertsch plans to expand the menu and offer lunch service. Despite some challenges, he’s pleased with the restaurant’s progress.

“The support I've gotten on social media has blown me away,” he says. “It’s been amazing. I could not have done it without Instagram. It blows my mind.”

Courtesy of Kaisen Sushi Houston

Each order of nigiri comes with a house made sushi sauce.

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