beaver's and an OITF glimpse

beaver's
2310 decatur st. near washington ave

the chowhounds and i made it over to beaver's for lunch a couple weeks ago to say hi to newly posted chef jonathan jones (aka "JJ"). after some positive reports, we were anxious to see for ourselves what kind of progress he was making with improvements to the food. luckily for us we picked a wonderful day to come in. JJ had a bunch of surprises in store for the table.

i had not planned on blogging about the experience b/c really, i just couldn't bring myself to write another lukewarm review about beaver's - a place i wanted to love so much but couldn't. besides, in all fairness JJ hadn't been there very long enough, the menu was still the same, and i knew the camera in my purse had nearly dead batteries anyway. but that was before i knew what was coming to our table.

corn puppies. a definite improvement over the first time i had them almost a year ago. more pronounced beer flavor. i still find the remoulade dipping sauce a strange combination. fried pickles. this is something i would never order on my own. delish! i went back for another half pickle. buffaloaf sandwich. moist, tangy sauce, lots of mushrooms which i love. the bread is still the same and slightly sweet. i can't say i ever liked the sweet bread. others at my table enjoyed the new and improved beaver burger, the gyro wrap, chicken tacos (huge!), and the pulled pork and chopped brisket sandwiches. we all nodded in approval. we liked the changes we were seeing.

my only disappointment was seeing the sad little iceberg lettuce side salad arrive at the table. it came with my buffaloaf sandwich. seriously, it's a waste of lettuce with no tomato or other vegetable to be found in the small bowl. the old vinaigrette was tasteless, the new one is too sweet. some good ole non-fancy ranch on it would have pleased me more.

then we were told JJ was sending out a few items for us. keep in mind we had just eaten a full lunch. first out, a brunch item he was working on. think 2 thick slices of texas toast topped with a thick bisque-like sauce (tomato cream based?) with small bits of shrimp and 2 fried eggs on top. YUMMMMM. anything involving cream and fried eggs is a guaranteed winner in my book.

then a huge basket of some of the most tender pork ribs i've ever had. OMG. and warm bbq sauce came on the side which i definitely appreciated. everyone loved the sauce and slathered it generously all over their ribs. it wasn't overly vinegary and it wasn't overly sweet. it had a great kick. the table was quiet. we were all knawing on our ribs which is a good sign. our group today was a loud one.

then we got a platter of items JJ was preparing for the outstanding in the field dinner being held the next day. we knew exactly what dinner he was talking about. it had sold out well before summer. there were huge grins on our faces and maybe even a bit of anticipatory drool.

head cheese made with pig trotters, spine, knuckles, and various other head and body parts. it was the most appetizing head cheese (or what i like to call meat jello) i've ever seen or eaten. also on the plate were crostini sticks fried in pig fat neatly stacked on top of each other.

and still warm pork cracklings! pork valhalla. my tastebuds sung. the pork fat crostini were over the top. so yeah, i busted out my camera. i could no longer resist the urge to document this outstanding and outrageous meal. thankfully i got in a few photos before my batteries died again.

JJ sat down with us and showed us a photo of the whole pig that he had on his cell phone. his inspiration for the head cheese was a couple fergus henderson recipes. he said that he used 95% of that pig. talk about nose-to-tail eating. see photos from the OITF dinner on alison cook and cleverley's blogs. this is something i hope to participate in next year.

boy are we glad JJ is working inside the loop again. if you haven't yet, it's definitely time to go back to beaver's and give it another go.

raia's italian market

raia's italian market
4500 washington ave. suite 200 nr. shepherd

i was excited to hear that raia's opened and disappointed that i couldn't check them out right away. but me and a few other chowhounds finally made it there for lunch last week.


the crabcakes and crabclaws were fantastic in their cajun seasoning. the remoulade was delicious as well. it was a good start to a meal. my side caesar and a lentil soup hit the table next. both were just decent enough. chicken marsala had a little too much wine in it for my taste, but still better than many versions of it in houston.



eggplant parmesan was delicious. the eggplant wasn't sliced thin, battered, fried, topped with a slice of mozzarella and marinara like most. our dish looked more like a casserole and the eggplant was mushy. there was a little mozzerella cheese hidden in the cocoction that was topped with marinara and then sprinkled with a little more mozzarella on top. the flavors were great, but if you don't like mushy food, you might want to steer clear.

the pescatore which was the dish i was looking forward to trying the most (see my post on raia's opening) was the worst dish on the table. the dish was extremely fishy tasting and smelling. the pasta wasn't anything special. we determined that it was the calamari giving off the strong odor.

three people split all of the menu items above (1 app, 1 pasta, 2 entrees), a large and small pellegrino and our bill was $60. a little steep for a lunch w/o table service i'd say.

2 other chowhounds got lunch specials - basically you pick an entree from the steam table, a salad (caesar or house), and dessert or a veggie. one person picked seafood lasagne which was okay. the other picked the fish special of the day, snapper grandezza, which i didn't try. she made no comment about it so i assume it was just okay as well. both of them also chose caesar salad and tiramisu. the lunch specials at $6.50 aren't a bad deal even though half the plate is filled with salad.

so the cajun crabcakes/crabfingers and other cajun menu items such as muffaletta, cajun pizza, and cajun pasta made me wonder what kind of cajun connection was going on here. i guess i could have asked the employees at raia's today, but the guy at the register was having a hard enough time just getting our order into the computer. (we had to write down our order on a post-it for him and we didn't special request a thing.)

after some digging and investigative questions, i found out that luke raia, the owner of the place, is part of the houston italiano crew made up of the mandolas, carrabbas, buteras, and petronellas. i am told they were all cousins and grew up together. the family has louisiana roots which is responsible for tony mandola's seafood kitchen. luke mandola also owns the ragin cajun. now that i know it's legit, the crabcakes may be an indication of how good the other cajun items are on this menu.

raia's opens today

if i weren't on this damn fast, i would have had lunch at raia's italian market which opened today on the washington corridor 2 blocks east of shepherd.

the menu has a seafood linguine called the "pescatore" which is described as "linguini pasta, shrimp, calamari, crab claws, green olives and anchovies in a spicy marinara" for $12. i can't wait to try it. my hopes are that the pasta isn't overcooked, overly sauced, and the marinara isn't too sour, sweet, or thick and is reminiscent of fresh tomatoes. i found a pretty good version at cavatore called the "giancarlo" but i think it is overpriced for $22 especially at lunch. amici, opened by the vallone family in sugar land's town center does an even better seafood linguini dish called "linguine alla scoglio" for $19, but obviously distance places a huge limiting factor.

raia's menu interestingly enough also has some cajun influenced items such as the cajun pizza and new orleans pasta.

i would have liked to see more interesting meats and cheeses on the menu such as speck, a smoked proscuitto or sottocenere, my favorite truffle cheese. from the photos on the website, i'm hopeful that they will at least carry these items as the name suggests that raia's is more an italian market than restaurant.

if any of you make it there before me, please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

max's wine dive

max's wine dive
4720 washington ave @ shepherd

first of all, if you've never been here, this place is much more restaurant than wine bar and it certainly isn't a dive. max’s offers gourmet comfort food, decent wine prices, and a kitchen that closes late. it has a loud, energetic atmosphere, great for dinner with the girls on a tuesday or saturday night. if i didn’t worry about calories, i would eat here twice a week. but i've still been here at least a dozen times.

last night was my third visit since the departure of chef jonathan jones who left for the executive chef position at the new americas in the woodlands. the menu hasn't changed too much and i hadn't really noticed a drop in the quality of the food until last night. later on in the evening, i learned that max's has gone through three chefs since JJ left and a friend of mine was just recently hired there. we went in last night hoping he would be there. he was not.

i rave and rave about the fried chicken. in fact, i have probably ordered it the last 4 times i was here. it's wonderfully flavored and always moist inside. but last night i realized that i'm in love the composition of the whole dish -- crispy fried chicken, creamy marscapone mash, bitter collard greens, and sweet, smokey chipotle honey. texas toast is garnish b/c when i finally get around to it, it's always cold. last night the chicken was fine, maybe a little more greasy than usual, but the mashed potatoes were bland and the collard greens were undercooked & fibrous.

btw, i checked the description of the mashed potatoes on the menu online and it no longer says they have marscapone in them. cost cutting? come on, this IS an $18 plate of FRIED CHICKEN.

onto other people's food, michael got the softshell crab special. it was served as an open-faced sandwich and was dressed with a tasty aioli. he gave me a generous portion. i enjoyed the dish immensely. paul got the fried egg sandwich which i have had before. it is a monstrously messy affair. max's describes it as "Three pan fried eggs, drizzled with truffle oil and maldon sea salt, topped with three slabs of applewood smoked bacon and Veldehuizen gruyere, organic bibb lettuce, hot house tomato, and garlic black truffle aioli. All sandwiched between two pieces of artisan sourdough and served with hand-cut chips." unfortunately, this dish is anticlimatic for me. i end up with lots of runny yolk, good bacon flavors, but not enough truffle. what a tease!

lea got the caesar salad and truffled mac & cheese. i do like how the romaine lettuce leaves are served whole the way cardini conceptualized the dish. the leaves are supposed to be picked up and eaten with your hands. the huge white anchovies are a nice touch. the mac & cheese is rich and creamy, but not to die for. i prefer the truffled mac at oceanaire to this version.

steve had the yankee pot roast made with locally sourced kobe beef cheeks. i had a small bite and for cheek meat (my favorite), it wasn't very memorable. dimitre had the kobe burger topped with brie (photo above).

i'll give this place another go when i know there's a different guy in the kitchen. btw, if you are industry, they'll give you 15% off your bill. last night, they discounted our wine too.

beaver's got nuts

beaver's
2310 decatur st. near washington ave

11/30/07 review

i made it to beaver's for lunch today. it's been a really long time since my first visit. i'm attempting to eat healthy this week (detoxing from last weekend's binge) so i came to try beaver's nut burger. i doubt it was lo-cal, but it was delicious. the menu describes it as "a protein bomb with Texas brown rice, cashews, walnuts, herbs, cheddar cheese & spices." it was a tad greasy and the patty fell apart quite easily. it was served with a miso-mustard on the side, which i had to remind them to bring. the sauce was wonderfully flavorful and creamy. i wondered if there was mayo in it, but the kitchen confirmed the absence of any. i asked for a side salad instead of the chips it came with. the chips came to the table anyway (annoying b/c then i had to restrain myself from eating them) and the side salad came in a little dish that the sides normally come in. the simple salad was dressed with vinaigrette. they charged me a $2 substitution charge, which normally i wouldn't mind, but i didn't even touch it b/c it was tasteless and boring.

the three guys with me all ordered the sloppy pork sandwich. the guys all enjoyed their sandwiches which came with a side of coleslaw. the slaw brought back some unpleasant memories of my previous visit and i noticed it went untouched for the most part. 2 of them also got sides of mac and cheese. one of my friends claimed it was the best mac & cheese in town, so i had to try it. it is very strange looking. orrechiette pasta in cheese sauce topped with chunky cooked tomatoes and croutons. it was pretty good.


one of my friends also ordered the sweet potato fries to start with. they came to the table glistening with grease. they looked soggy. it was easy to pass on them. they were served with the same miso-mustard that my nut burger was served with. guy friend looked like he enjoyed it anyway.

service was pretty terrible even though the restaurant was slow and our server was very chatty. but the food was much better than my first visit. btw, i confirmed that they only serve ribs at lunch on thursdays. i'll be back again soon with some houston chowhounds next week. i'll try to bring back some photos of actual bar-be-que.

soma

4820 washington ave #A @ shepherd

did anyone read this article in the chronicle today about robert gadsby, formerly of noe? he is at soma now, the new franco-japanese place that opened on shepherd/washington by the azuma folks:

i've been to soma twice now since it's soft opening several weeks ago. i had higher expectations since it is owned by azuma and i want to see this place succeed b/c of the location. personally, i think there is much better sushi in houston than azuma, but the location is within a 5-10 min drive of my house and i'm excited to see washington ave. become the new, hip part of houston with all the recent openings of restaurants, bars, & clubs.

back to soma, my first visit was on the 4th day they were open. the sushi was mediocre, although the fresh salmon was wonderful. i don't normally order rolls but the soma roll was listed on their sushi menu as having cilantro and onion in it, so i couldn't pass it up. it came to the table with tempura crunch all over it and there was no onion or cilantro flavors to be found.

disappointing.... on my second visit, a week and a half later, again, the sushi was mediocre. they did have a live scallop special where they served it 2 ways and it was excellent. but both times, the quality of the sushi was worse than azuma (and i've frequented both locations). it seems to me that they have a different seafood purveyor for this establishment?

the non-sushi menu is all gadsby's doing. i have to say that is was very strange seeing a kitchen full of non-asians back there (is that un-PC of me to say that?). the menu is creative. think truffle oil, quail eggs, fois gras. my first night, i ordered a hot plate with ny strip loin and potatoes. the steak (about 4 oz.) was chewy, although cooked a perfect medium-rare. the potatoes were similar to an au gratin, but less saucy with a nice buttery finish. it was apparent to me that this dish could have been heavenly, if not for the low-quality of the meat. i think this small dish was $18. i would have gladly paid $25 for it with a better piece of beef.

on my second visit, the non-sushi menu had changed, although it was still printed on normal white copier paper stapled together with the word "DRAFT" stamped on it. there was a fois gras terrine with raw tuna on there that i could not pass up. it sounded interesting, scary even. it was served just like a slice of a terrine. there was a large hunk of tuna in the middle and fois gras wrapped around it. it was served with a mango relish. no regrets, it was very interesting, much better than i could have ever imagined, but a novelty. fois gras is much better in more classic preparations.

soma is already reeling in big crowds. expect a wait. expect a large bar crowd. expect loud techno music. give it a try, but stick to the non-sushi menu. they still have a lot of kinks to work out and the chronicle article says that gadsby will work on the sushi menu when he is done with the main menu. but really, he just needs to find a new fishmonger,some sushi chefs with better knife skills, and probably just add a few more rolls for the not-so-serious-sushi-eater types.

does beaver make good Q?

beaver's
2310 decatur st. near washington ave

this is monica pope (from t'afia) & co.’s new restaurant concept. i wanted to love it, but it just missed the mark too many times. the inner loop needed a BBQ joint with table service—a place to dine-out and drink with friends, b/c you know we love our meat in TX. the restaurant is in a great location just a block from the closed-down “pig stand” on the other side of washington. although this place is billed as an ice house, they have a full service bar. i wanted to be impressed, as i could see having many dinners with friends here before heading down washington to the drake for drinks afterwards.

the restaurant itself is sparse. the walls are barren, although they just opened and i’m sure it will be taken care of in time. the seating is arranged with banquettes along the walls and chairs or benches on the other side of the table. there is a great deal of space that is wasted, in my opinion.i dined there with my companion on a saturday night, 8:30-ish. it was a week after it’s opening. the restaurant was full, but we did not have to wait for a table.

we started with the corn “puppies” and chickpea two fry. the corn puppies were a hushpuppy/corn fritter hybrid. it was interesting, but the kitchen chose to serve it with a tartar sauce, which i found strange. the sauce was too overpowering and not complementary to the flavors at all. the chickpea two fry had broccoli florets in it, which again was a bit strange, but the seasoning and crispy texture of the chickpeas was surprisingly delicious.

for dinner, i ordered the texas cross quail which was served on wax paper in a red plastic basket, like the kind your food comes in at dairy queen. the quail was skewered to keep the bacon in place, but it was definitely a knife and fork effort. this was not easily performed on top of the wax paper inside the frail basket. the quail was stuffed with jalapeno cream cheese, wrapped in bacon, and grilled. this would have been much better as an appetizer. it was too rich and there was way too much cheese oozing out to enjoy the taste of the quail. but at a $10 price tag for 2 quail, it was an excellent value.

my friend had the pork ribs, again served in a wax paper lined plastic basket. i understand the kitsch of the basket, with the ribs, it worked better. the “berkshire country pork ribs” were prepared north carolina style in a dry rub and were barely sweet. i enjoyed them this way, although my friend prefers them in a more sweet, wet sauce. the house-made BBQ sauce sit on each table with the salt and pepper shakers. they were bottled in glass hot sauce bottles adorned with handwritten labels. it was more vinegary than i am accustomed to, but the sauce went very well with the dry rub on the ribs.

the two sides we ordered were the most disappointing part of the meal. i ordered the “old school” potato salad, which the menu said had eggs, red pepper, and cornichons. well, i wish the menu would have mentioned mustard, b/c i would have passed it up. well, it was very mustardy. also, i found lots of celery in the salad, but not enough egg and no sign of red pepper or cornichons. overall, the side was very bland and boring. the second side we ordered was the “killer coleslaw,” which was described as containing “colorful cabbage, jicama, and 3 seed dressing.” this slaw had no mayonnaise in it. i am a bit of a traditionalist, but open-minded as well. the slaw just didn’t work. we couldn’t find any jicama in it, or maybe because the slaw dressing was so acidic we couldn’t taste the jicama either. in either case, it is definitely not anything i will be ordering again.

so, i may give the restaurant a few more months to work out the kinks. the service was excellent—no complaints there. the prices are reasonable, especially entree prices. and there are a few other enticing menu items such as the brisket, veggie burger, philly style mac and cheese, and beaver burger (which contains beef and pork in their secret recipe). after all, this is monica pope’s place (which is why i had such high expectations) and she definitely deserves one more chance.