Shrimp corn dogs, lemonade, tabasco mash remoulade
Pork chop, foie gras, grilled peach, red skin mash potato, peach-bourbon glaze
Peanut crusted soft-shell crab, green beans, eggplant, okra, onion, squash, nuoc mam
I don’t usually do full food and restaurant reviews, but IMMA START. Plus, I just had the urge to gratuitously write stuff.
Had dinner with clouds-of-tulle, seoxcookie, and Karine at Haven, a “seasonal kitchen”-type restaurant that has a “farm-to-plate” focus. Headed by Chef/Owner Randy Evans (Houstonians will know him from Brennan’s), Haven uses ingredients sourced from local farmers and ranchers to create what it calls Texas Regional cuisine.
My thoughts? Finally! Texas is what, the 4th largest city in the US? We have tons of restaurants, many of which are great, but so much of the focus is on quantity and “flavor.” And by “flavor,” I mean salt. A LOT of salt.
Haven brings the focus back to the ingredients and the preparation of the food. This isn’t a new concept by any means, but Haven can actually execute. Best example would be the pork chop. I’m always a little wary of ordering pork at restaurants because it’s often prepared medium-well to well done. I mean, I get it – raw pork, salmonella. But pork isn’t good cooked that long! Seo actually asked the waiter about this and he assured us that the pork could be prepared medium without fear since it was brought in fresh that morning from a local rancher.
Success! The pork was amazingly tender with the slightest hint of pink in the middle. The glaze added a salty-sweet note without masking the pork flavor. Be still my heart – a perfectly grilled pork chop! And that’s before you add on the seared foie gras.
So this soft-shell crab. It’s STUFFED. With lump crab meat. They stuffed CRAB INSIDE CRAB. That is all that needs to be said about this dish.
Not pictured, but we also had the most AMAZING caprese salad. Homegrown tomato, capriella mozzarella, 1015 onions, field greens, and cane vinaigrette. The sweetest tomatoes you’ll ever taste, paired with fresh mozarella that practically melted on your tongue. The greens added a hint of peppery texture and the slightly sweet vinaigrette was the perfect amount of acid. I’m still thinking about this salad. The flavors were so harmonious. I mean, if a salad is making me sigh with content, you know it’s good.
And now, the ugly. Well, maybe not ugly. I was underwhelmed by the pork belly appetizer, as well as the house-made meats. The supposedly “seared” pork belly, while tender, was missing the crisp seared fatty top. It seemed like it had been braised instead. The shelling peas and mire poix it was served on top of was perfectly cooked (and I’m not a fan of peas), but the meat itself felt lacking. The house-made meats weren’t particularly memorable. Maybe I’ve just been spoiled by the testa and veal lingua at Poscol which are absolutely delicious.
Bottom line – Would do business again. The salad and pork chop alone are enough to have me come back for more. Recommended!
Haven
www.havenhouston.com
2502 Algerian Way
Houston, TX 77098
Reasons Why Alinea (Chicago, IL) is Cool:
- MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY.
- Chef Grant Achatz was diagnosed with tongue cancer in 2008 and subsequently lost his sense of taste as a result of chemotherapy and radiation.
- It is currently the #10 Restaurant in the World.
- Chef Grant Achatz studied under Thomas Keller at the age of 23.
- The readily apparent focus on the play between flavors and textures.
- I MEAN, LOOK AT IT:
The functional centerpiece – to be continued.
Flatware was set up before each course on top of a padded plate.
Steelhead Roe – with traditional garnishes, including creme fraiche and “bread and butter” in the form of foam.
Pork Belly – with compressed iceberg lettuce, cucumber, micro cilantro, coriander seeds, and a “thai distillation” shot (background) to prep the palate.
Lilac - with scallop, mussels, razor clams, celery leaves, and honeydew foam.
Wagyu Beef – with powdered A-1, fried potato custard covered with crushed salt & pepper chips and micro chives.
The chef tried to recreate the flavors of A-1, but with natural ingredients and in powder form.
It just deserves another photo.
A broth was poured into “functional centerpiece” to create the aroma of a grill. And also to make our table look awesome.
Heirloom Tomato – with fig, nicoise olive, pine nut cheese, and olive oil snow (THAT WHITE THING IS OLIVE OIL).
Bacon - wrapped with butterscotch, apple, and thyme.
Lavender air filled pillow.
Rhubarb - with goats milk cheesecake, vidalia onion, and lavender air (COMING FROM THE PILLOW).
These weren’t all the courses from the tasting menu, but gives you a pretty good sense of our dining experience. An “experience” was exactly what it was – you can’t even call it a mere “meal.” Anyways, I wish the photos turned out better (or that there was better lighting/I had a faster lens/I wasn’t so hungry) because the food was truly beautiful. Not to take away from the TASTE of the food, of course, b/c MAN DID YOU SEE THE MARBLING ON THAT WAGYU.
Cherries are in season!
Since they were $0.99/lb, I bought several pounds at the grocery store and have been looking for cherry recipes to utilize the cherries.
I’ve never baked a pie before, but bought a pie pan a couple months ago with the intent of learning how to make pies. Perfect opportunity for a homemade cherry pie!
So I didn’t really think about the fact that I would have to pit 2 pounds of cherries by hand. I used a chopstick. Because I’m Asian and that’s what we do.
Eat this pie with vanilla icecream (Bluebell’s Homemade Vanilla preferably). That’s not a suggestion, it’s an order.
Martha Stewart’s Sweet Cherry Pie
(with my own adjustments)
2 pounds Bing cherries, pitted and halved
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice*
All-purpose flour, for rolling
1 tablespoon water, for glaze
1 tablespoon turbinado or granulated sugar, for sprinkling
*I prefer sour cherries over sweet cherries for pie, but only sweet cherries were available so I soaked the 2 pounds of pitted cherries in lemon juice (4 lemons) for about an hour
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees, with rack in lowest position. On a floured piece of parchment paper, roll one disk of dough (for recipe, see below) to a 14-inch round. Wrap dough around rolling pin; unroll over a 9-inch pie plate. Gently fit into bottom and sides of plate (do not stretch dough). Using kitchen shears, trim dough to a 1-inch overhand all around.
- In a large bowl, combine cherries, granulated sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice; toss until cherries are coated. [Here I added more lemon juice and soaked for an hour] Pour into prepared bottom crust.
- On a floured piece of parchment paper, roll second disk of dough to a 14-inch round. Cut into eight 1 1/2-inch-wide strips. [Here I put the strips in freezer for 15 minutes or until firm so they would stay straighter upon baking.] Weave frozen strips over filling to form a lattice. Using kitchen shears, trim strips so they hang over rim by 1 inch. Tuck strips under rim of bottom crust; press to seal. Crimp with fingers all around the edge.
- Using a pastry brush, lightly brush lattice with water, and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
- Place pie on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until filling is bubbling rapidly all over, 60 to 70 minutes (tent with aluminum foil when crust starts to brown, about 40 minutes). Transfer pie to a wire rack, and let cool to room temperature, at least 3 hours.
Martha Stewart’s Basic Pate Brisee
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for rolling
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water
- In a food processor, combine flour, salt, and sugar; pulse briefly. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few pea-size pieces of butter remaining. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup ice water. Pulse until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed (if necessary, add up to 1/4 cup water, 1 tablespoon at a time). Do not overmix.
- Divide dough in half, and turn out onto two large pieces of plastic wrap. Fold plastic over each portion of dough; press to shape into two 3/4-inch-thick disks. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour (and up to 3 days); dough can also be frozen up to 3 months (thaw before using).
Urban Outfitters crop halter top, Burberry shorts, Chinese Laundry sandals
Thank you for all the birthday wishes!
On my birthday date, Fiance and I had mexican food at
Hugo’s where we had, among other things,
fried grasshoppers as an appetizer. I told my fellow foodie friend Audrey about it the next day:
Audrey: were they good?
me: they’re not bad…
Audrey: LOL.
did you finish the bowl?
me: i mean, i didn’t have seconds or anything
no we did not
hahaha
Audrey: did you eat more than one?
me: grasshopper?
Audrey: yes
me: yeah, they’re small.
Audrey: oh ok
me: i ate maybe…30 of them.
LOL
Audrey: LOL
omg, i’m laughing out loud
“they’re not bad. i ate like 30.”
me: LOL
Here’s a bad photo I took of them ON MY NEW IPHONE. It’s the first time in life I’ve ever had internet on my phone and let me tell you – IT’S GREAT. Oh you already know? Well then I’d like to welcome myself to the 21st century.
Here’s a picture of myself from the 20th century. Probably 1985-1986 to be exact. My sister felt inspired to upload a plethora of [embarassing] photos from our childhood onto Facebook last week. GET A LOAD OF ME!
So apparently almost 25 years pass and not much has changed…. This both comforts and alarms me.
