late night eats in midtown

tacos a go-go, 3704 main st @ alabama

continental club, 3700 main st @ alabama

reef, 2600 travis @ mcgowen

last weekend around 1 am i found myself on main street enraptured with the late night food choices in midtown. the plan: tacos a go-go for tacos to go to pair with continental club margaritas. tacos a go go was hopping busy. S. and i ordered a pollo guisada, grilled fish, and bacon egg & cheese taco. we found an empty booth and then i decided we needed some frito pie too. we scarfed down our tacos while waiting for the "pie." the tortillas were soft and warm and the eggs hot and fluffy. i looked up from our food and see some of my guy friends hovering above us. i make a drunken promise to post their photo on my blog this week then excuse ourselves, pick up the FP, and walk next door talking the door guy at continental into letting us in for free although there was a cover that night.

with margaritas in hand, we find an empty place to sit in the back room passing by the barbeque guy! mmm brisket! (suddenly the frito pie isn't that exciting anymore.) bbq guy's name is adam fisher, who is brothers with bill fisher of kozy kitchen - yes the same kozy kitchen that lost every round of the bbq smackdown. granted i've never had adam's bbq sober, but i always remember it being better than what we picked up from kozy. i order a brisket sandwich chalking it up to investigative journalism. the meats are kept warm in the largest slow cooker i've ever seen. adam cuts each brisket to order. tender smokey meat, just enough fat, delish! adam was also serving links and boudin that night.

before signing out, i must mention reef's 3rd bar on travis which is open late thu-sat. i think they are suppose to be open until 2 or 3, but when we drove by at 2 the lights were already out. super fabulous food and specialty cocktails. try the juicy beef sliders which are awesome and fries with sriracha mayo. snapper carpaccio is also uber fresh and memorable. although it's harder catching a glimpse of hottie chef bryan caswell, the bar is quieter and more intimate than the main dining room which closes at 11 anyway. caswell recently tried out for top chef in new orleans. wouldn't he make a great contestant? not only is he talented, he seems like a really nice guy and isn't too hard on the eyes either.

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.