ride the wave

Fresh new Galleria seafood restaurant opens with surf-inspired, midcentury modern vibe

Galleria-area diners have a fresh new option for seafood. Balboa Surf Club has opened for lunch and dinner daily.

Courtesy of Western Addition

The restaurant serves four desserts.

Located in the former Masraff’s space at 1753 Post Oak Blvd., Balboa Surf Club is the latest concept from Western Addition, the Dallas-based hospitality group behind il Bracco, the Italian restaurant that is also located in the Post Oak Plaza shopping center. Western Addition vice president of design Mary Lucille Quick teamed up with Texas-based firm the Michael Hsu Office of Architecture to transform the 7,200-square-foot space.

Like il Bracco, Balboa Surf Club has a midcentury modern design that uses port windows and skylights to add natural light to the dining room. It also takes some inspiration from Brazilian brutalist design for its dramatic entryway and surf bungalows with its plant life throughout the space, according to press materials.

A 1,200-square-foot patio features a concrete fire pit and a 60-foot fountain. Artwork comes from the personal collection of Mary Lucille Quick and her husband, Western Addition president and CEO Robert Quick.

Turning to the menu, Balboa serves a menu of classic American seafood with a few global touches. Meals begin with dishes such as seafood cocktail, shrimp cocktail, or fried oysters. From there, diners may opt for sushi rolls — including a decadent king crab hand roll — or salads including a wedge, endive, or a Louie with shrimp and crab.

Entree selections start with seafood options such as a crab cake, grilled scallops, miso salmon, and grilled halibut. Non-seafood lovers will find a ribeye, a filet, and roasted chicken. Lunch features more entree-style salads as well as a cheeseburger and a fried grouper sandwich.

"We're dedicated to quality, freshness and attention to detail," COO Matt Gotlieb said in a statement. "Sushi rice is prepared fresh every 45 minutes, tortillas are made in house and then fried into tostadas to be served warm alongside made-to-order guacamole. Our burgers are a labor of love. Everything from the freshly baked bun, to the meat ground for service that day, even the cut size of the lettuce, freshness of the tomato, and thickness of the cheese has to be consistent for the perfect bite, every time."

Since it opened last year, il Bracco has been a hit, earning a CultureMap Tastemaker Award nomination for Best New Restaurant. By applying the Western Addition formula to seafood, Balboa seems poised to follow in its footsteps.

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when I dip, you dip

Heights restaurant's new lunch service will only offer 1 sandwich

Courtesy of La Lucha

La Lucha will begin serving French dips on Friday, June 12.

If a sandwich hall of fame existed, one of its plaques would surely be devoted to the French dip. Its combination of thinly-sliced beef, tangy horseradish sauce, and a savory au jus is a winning formula.

Beginning Friday, June 12, Heights restaurant La Lucha will be showcasing two takes on the venerable sandwich when it starts serving them for its new Friday-only lunch service, which will be held from 11 am-2 pm. To be clear, the two sandwiches (plus fries) will be the only menu items available at lunch — apologies to anyone hoping to ease into the weekend with La Lucha staples like fried chicken or the pharmacy burger.

The two sandwich choices are: a West Coast style French dip that’s just shaved meat and au jus or an East Coast style that adds provolone and caramelized onions. Both are served with horseradish aioli on bread from Houston’s Royal Bakery that “gets crispy and delicious,” according to executive chef Bobby Matos.

The meat is the same prime rib that newly opened steak joint Star Rover, La Lucha’s sister restaurant, serves as part of its viral, “I ate the 76’er” eating challenge. Priced at $26, the sandwich offers a healthy seven ounces of thinly-sliced beef.

“They’ve done this at Little Sparrow in Atlanta but for late night. It’s been a huge success and people are digging it,” Matos explains about the motivation to introduce the offering.

Limiting the menu to two variations of the same sandwich, fries, and beverages — both alcoholic and non-alcoholic — allows La Lucha to offer its Friday lunch service more easily than if Matos had to staff the kitchen to parepare its full menu.

“It’s just bringing more people to the Heights and giving them a chance to get to know our restaurants,” Matos adds. “There are still people who don’t know about La Lucha, and it’s been eight years.”

Although Matos moved to Texas from California, he says he prefers the East Coast French dip. “I want cheese and onions on mine. I like cheese on French dips,” he says.

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