a matter of taste

Breaking down Alison Cook's top 100: What makes a restaurant the best?

Kata Robata tops Alison Cook's list.

Photo by Julie Soefer

Kata Robata is Houston’s best restaurant, according to Alison Cook. The Upper Kirby sushi restaurant tops the venerable critic’s list of Houston’s top 100 restaurants.

Seems reasonable enough. Kata Robata chef Manabu Horiuchi is the current CultureMap Tastemaker Awards chef of the year, and his restaurant balances both traditional sushi techniques with an appealing, Gulf Coast perspective that includes dishes like heritage pork shu mai and Texas wagyu yakitori skewers.

“What lands a restaurant on the list? It’s a personal judgment, one based on more than four decades of observing and reporting on Houston’s food scene,” Cook writes in the list’s introductory essay. “It’s not about hot takes or adding scads of new places just to appear … well, new.”

Despite not wanting to “appear new,” she has made major changes to both the restaurants that are included on the list and how they’re ranked relative to each other. The top 10 contains four new members: Tony’s, 5; Indigo, 6; Squable, 8; and Giacomo’s, 10. Similarly, Cook welcomed a number of newcomers to the ranked, top 30 portion of her list, including Georgia James (12), Caracol (18), Verandah Progressive Indian Cuisine (20), Kau Ba Kitchen (22), Eunice (24), 1751 Sea & Bar (26), Costa Brava Bistro (28), Tejas Chocolate and Barbecue (29), and Bravery Chef Hall (30).

Newcomers in the alphabetical, non-ranked section of Cook’s list include: Blood Bros. BBQ, International Smoke, La Lucha, MAD, Rudyard’s, Truth Barbeque, and others.

Elevating certain restaurants means that many others have been removed. The most prominent victim of this reshuffling is Ronnie Killen. Killen’s Barbecue drops from third to 23, and Killen’s Steakhouse, ranked 16 in 2018, falls off the list entirely. On the bright side, Killen’s STQ moves up from 27 to 15, making it the city’s second best steakhouse behind Georgia James.

Of the four French-inspired restaurants Cook included in last year’s top 20, only La Table (21) remains in the ranked section. The others, Brasserie 1895, Lucienne, and Maison Pucha Bistro, have been dropped into the alphabetical section.

Other restaurants that remain open but are off the list include some restaurants that Cook has previously championed, such as Habanero & the Guero, Hubcap Grill, and Mezzanote. Bernie’s Burger Bus, Morningstar, Oporto Fooding House & Wine, Pappas Delta Blues, Pizaro’s Pizza, Potente, and Revival Market are also among the restaurants that appeared on the last year’s edition but didn’t make the cut in 2019.

Cook’s list also offers a significantly different take on the state of Houston’s dining scene than CultureMap’s own list of Houston’s top 100 restaurants. That starts at the top; Riel, CultureMap’s number one restaurant, only comes in at 27 on Cook’s list. (Maybe someone should buy Riel chef-owner Ryan Lachaine a Jose Altuve jersey to celebrate his ranking.)

Overall, the two top tens contain only four restaurants in common: Theodore Rex, Kata Robata, UB Preserv, and Himalaya. Some restaurants in CultureMap’s top 30 — Potente, Roka Akor, and Mein — don’t appear on Cook’s list at all.

CultureMap’s Top 100 list is different in all the ways I promised it would be back in September. For example, it prefers eclectic, casual atmospheres to fine dining. Cook has two upscale restaurants in her top five, but BCN doesn’t show up on the CultureMap list until 20 and Tony's comes in at 40.

With a focus on the Inner Loop, the CultureMap list makes room for casual restaurants like Paulie’s, Relish, Les Ba’get, Alma Latina, The Classic, and La Calle that are vital parts of their respective neighborhoods but get replaced on Cook’s list with suburban establishments like Fielding’s Local, Soto’s Cantina, and Pierogi Queen.

Ultimately, it’s up to readers to decide which list is more useful to them. Is Nobie’s one of Houston’s very best restaurants, or is it merely a good one? Does Izakaya Wa provide diners with a traditional Japanese experience, or do they prefer the high style, more expensive offerings at Kuu? Is Weights + Measures serving some of the city’s best pasta, or should people splurge on Da Marco instead? Does using an offset smoker and making brisket fat tortillas make The Pit Room one of Houston’s best barbecue joints, or do people prefer the East Texas touches at Ray’s BBQ Shack?

Answering these questions comes down as much to personal taste as an objective assessment of quality.

lists

no cap

Chef-backed nonprofit will train the next generation of Houston hospitality

Courtesy of Culinary Careers Program

Aaron Bludorn has been involved with Culinary Careers Program for many years.

A culinary training program founded by one of America’s most prominent celebrity chefs is coming to Houston. Culinary Careers Program (C•CAP) will launch in Houston with a sold out dinner this Wednesday, September 16.

Founded by multiple time James Beard Award winner Marcus Samuelsson, Culinary Careers Program is a national workforce development nonprofit that partners with public schools to provide under-resourced students with the skills they need to succeed in jobs in the hospitality industry.

The nonprofit provides education, job training, apprenticeships, scholarships, and career opportunities that both help students find good jobs and supply restaurants with well-trained, highly-motivated employees.

To date, Culinary Careers Program has reached close to 400,000 students across the United States and awarded $79 million in college scholarships.

Houston chef and restaurateur Aaron Bludorn became involved with C•CAP when he served as executive chef of Cafe Boulud in New York City. He’s leading the charge to bring the program to Houston by hosting a sold out fundraiser at Bar Bludorn this Wednesday in collaboration with chef Nick Wong (Agnes and Sherman) and Leonard Botello IV (Truth BBQ).

“It’s so important that C•CAP comes to Houston. I think it’s very similar to, if we’re going to get good at soccer in the United States we need to focus on youth soccer and getting kids interested early,” Bludorn tells CultureMap.

“For Houston to continue to become a major culinary city in the United States, it’s important to focus on the next generation of chefs. C•CAP gives that opportunity to high school students to have on the job training while still being in school.”

As the owner of a growing group of restaurants, Bludorn recognizes that businesses need a steady stream of people. C•CAP participants arrive with basic skills that allow them to get up to speed more quickly than other applicants.

“It provides chefs with young talented cooks that have been vetted and given proper training. You’re not taking a guess on someone,” Bludorn says.

Botello IV’s participation shows that C•CAP is adapting to Texas. Students will have the opportunity to work at Truth BBQ, a Michelin Bib Gourmand recipient that Texas Monthly ranks as the state’s 10th best barbecue joint.

“There will be opportunities to become a chef or a general manager, but also to learn barbecue and get your foot in the door at a place like Truth and become a pitmaster. That on-the-job training is the most valuable,” Bludorn says.

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