eagleton_g

For a late birthday dinner for my Mom I did 5 courses: 1st: Grilled pear, Braised rabbit sauteed in foie gras, beet vinaigrette 2nd: Wilted dandelion greens, thin sliced radish, hearts of palm, tossed in a sweet lemon vinaigrette 3rd: Wild Coho Salmon tartare and pickled red onion with grainy mustard spaetzle on the side surrounded with red wine sauce 4th: Spice rubbed and then grilled Flank steak,frisee salad, tarragon vinaigrette drizzled on the steak and salad, manchego cheese on the frisee, yukon potato/celery root puree 5th: Crenshaw melon and opal basil mousse, jicama and galia melon salad I might have photos a bit later.

"Rucker attended Johnson & Wales University in Providence, RI and graduated from the culinary program at the top of his class." "Rucker wants to provide Houston with a restaurant..." "Rucker wants to expose the people of Houston to..." "Rucker believes that restaurants such as..." Its not how the menu items were posted that sounds pretentious, it was you talking about yourself that sounded pretentious.

The whole talking in third person thing exemplifies what being pretentious is. H2o chestnut are you serious?

Where in Houston can you get a good hot pastrami sandwich. You know mounds of pastrami on rye with gobs of spicy mustard. We lack a "little Italy" in Houston. Donde deli?

No one ever mentions 17. It is easily one of the best restaurant in houston. Texas monthly had its yearly restaurant issue and 17 was #1 in Texas. Definitly go to 17(recently acquired Chef Ryan Pera). t'afia (Monica Pope) is also a must. On saturdays they have a farmers market in their parking lot and inside the restaurant. Hugos (Hugo Ortega) is great for sophisticated mexican fare. Get some vietnamese sandwiches from Cali Sandwich in midtown. Cheap and just awesome. Recently opened Gravitas on taft is a solid american bistro. Its partly owned by Scott Tycer, and the kitchen is run by his ex- Chef de Cuisine Jason Galude(thats not how you spell his name i just dont remember). Shade (Clair Smith/Jeb Stewart) in the Heights is good kind of semi-fusion southern food. Cafe Rebelais (Jason Blankenship) in the Village, casual French, awesome wine selection. So any more...

Try Paddy Thai. Small family owned place. Very authentic.

I recently took a trip to New York to eat at as many restaurants I could within the four day period I was able to sneak away from work and WD-50 was one of them. Overall with the whole restaurant I was impressed with the modern fine dining feel they have achieved. Along with the food, they have created (or have perpetuated) Eclectic American Dining. Interesting food and a youthful, brash, response to what used to be known as fine dining(stuffy dining rooms, chandeliers, white table cloths, pompus wait staff). In general the food was tasty, smart, and absolutely beautiful. I ordered the tasting menu, and in general I have to say that it was amazing. But, there was something that made me realize there is a price for the overly creative dishes. On the foie gras, beet juice, pea dirt, and candied olives, the "pea dirt" threw me off. To be used as a textural component they dehydrated/freeze dried(?) and crushed the peas, leaving them lacking the beautiful pea flavor that in-season peas have. They took away the pea-ness (yeah that sounds kind of funny if you say it out loud). Its essential to be creative and take things to different ends of what the whole ideal of food in restaurants is, but dont sacrifice perfect high quality produce to make flavorless, semi-interesting garnishes.