[Houston] Rio Ranch

[fifi]

Thanks for starting this thread, FoodMan. I would like to see it continued and brought up from time to time as some of our fellow Houstonians share experience.

I do have a question... I am going to Rio Ranch for a dinner this coming Thursday with some Europeans. I am not sure if it qualifies as "haute cuisine" but I sort of think of it that way, with a rustic overtone. I guess the fact that it is a Robert DelGrande (sp?) restaurant slides it into that category. When we did this about a year ago, the Chicken Fried Steak was a DISASTER. (I have reported that on other threads.) Does anyone have any opinions on their other offerings? BTW... This is not my choice. I am stuck with it. And... I KNOW some of the guys are going to ask for suggestions on what to order. HELP!

[fifi]

Fifi sorry, I cannot help because personally I've never been to Rio Ranch. I do believe someone mentioned that their steaks are pretty good once though. So maybe a nicely grilled steak should be ordered rather than the CFS.

FM

Thanks anyway. I will report back on this thread.

[fifi]

The dinner at Rio Ranch went well from a social point of view. No one ordered Chicken Fried Steak! They were warned!

I am not much of a restaurant reviewer but I will try to give you my impressions. The starters were taken communally while standing around with drinks. I couldn't figure out how to manage the chicken wings but they were going fast so I did have a taste. I guess I was expecting something like Buffalo wings and they weren't that. They were quite nice, though. The mounting pile of bones means that they obviously appealed to a broad range of tastes. The salad was nicely done and the greens were fresh. The croutons were indifferent. There were three big pitchers of dressing on a tray at intervals on the long table. I grabbed one and couldn't see what it was. Unfortunately it turned out to be honey mustard. I hate sweet dressing. Fortunately, this one wasn't overly sweet and I actually liked it. I had the petite filets with the bacon wrapped shrimp. The shrimp was nicely done... meaning not over done. The bacon wasn't crisped enough for my taste. The medium rare steak was a little chewy in places. That is hard to figure. But it was pretty tasty. This is not the best steak I have ever had... not even close. But it was respectable. Most steak looked pretty good. I respect the opinion of some of the diners and they pronounced their steaks as very good but not necessarily spectacular. About the only dessert anyone ordered were a couple of ice creams so I can't report on that. The service was really well done. Obviously, someone is putting some effort into training here. Our main waiter was knowlegeable about the dishes and knew the proper way to serve. He was even graceful in handling some awkward situations with having to reach across a very long table with not enough clearance on one side. That was handled with aplomb.

All in all, it was a pleasant evening. The company was exceptional. The food was adequate, sometimes bordering on quite good. The setting is pleasant, somewhat spectacular in its own way. More importantly, they are well prepared to handle a large group (we were 24) and did a very good job of that. I would go back with a large group. The brunch menu looks interesting.

Clickety here for a look.

Edited September 19, 2003 by fifi (log)

[KAPDADDY]

Thanks for the report on Rio Ranch, Fifi. Sounds interesting. I've been for their brunch twice and can say that it was quite good. Del Grande is a very knowledgeable owner and chef and it appears he has staffed this place quite well.

[fifi]

In retrospect, the charm of Rio Ranch was in the service. This is really a case of the "front of the house" making the game.

[Dana]

I enjoyed an early dinner at Rio Ranch with my son's gf this evening. The decor has a hill country feel with the native stone, and is really Texas-y, but cute. We had a cocktail each - I had a Cosmopolitan and she had a Margarita, both very good. We had the onion rings. labeled the "best in Houston" by some magazine, I can't remember which one. It was accompanied by a spicy ketchup, which was delish. The salad dressing I ordered was a citrus viniagrette - wish I had the recipe. Brooke ordered blue cheese, which was also a viniagrette. That caught her off guard,she was expecting creamy, but she really liked it. I ordered Red Snapper with avocado and crab, while she ordered Mahi. The server soon came back to say they were out of the mahi (he should have known that when we placed the order), so she got the snapper as well. It had a nice, crispy crust and a light sauce. The side we got was grilled asparagus. They were pencil thin, perfectly cooked, but brushed them with BBQ sauce. Plain grilled asparagus would have been better with the fish. Save the BBQ sauce for a steak plate. Our dinner came with a basket of biscuits (pretty good) and cornbread(too dry), but we didn't really want bread anyway. Both of us were too full for dessert. We really enjoyed the dinner, would go back again, but it's not what I would call haute cuisine. The ambiance was too casual for that title.

[Richard Kilgore]

Thanks for your report, Dana. We have had enough discusion on this one restaurant that it deserves its own thread.

[FoodMan]

We had our client visiting on Tuesday and they wanted to have something Texas themed for dinner. So Rio Ranch was picked as the venue and we met there for dinner. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.

The bread basket had both biscuits and corn bread. I was not too crazy about their biscuits which were a little too fluffy with no texture. However the cornbread was pretty good. It was crumbly but not too dry, with a very good corn not-too-sweet flavor.

We shared an appetizer that had vegetable taquitos and I think chicken quesadillas. This was also excellent with good flavors and not greasy at all the way taquitos tend to be.

The salads were standard issue house salads and I opted for the blue cheese dressing which like was mentioned earlier is a vinaigrette. Again, this was also a hit. I enjoyed the blue cheese flavor with the tangy and not cloying vinegar/oil emulsion.

For a main course I really had a tough time to decide but I avoided the CFS per the previous warnings on this thread and went with the pork chop. This was truly awesome. The chop was bone in (I made sure to ask before I ordered), cut about an inch thick. It is lightly smoked and then grilled perfectly still slightly pink in the middle and very juicy. I could not have asked for it to be cooked any different than that. It gets better. This comes with two finger size smoked SPICY sausages that are also fantastic. The both meats are sitting on top of a zesty red spicy/sweet sauce that the menu I think calls “Chile sauce”. Since we were with clients I did not think it was wise to gnaw on the bone…but after a few beers I did not think anyone would care so I cleaned that bone up.

For a side dish I almost got the “Sautéed wild Mushrooms”, then I asked if the mushrooms are really “wild” or are they button mushrooms, our very courteous waiter informed me that they are white button and Portobello mushrooms so I opted for asparagus. This was also done right.

The dessert menu did not sound very interesting but I still got a blueberry apple cobbler with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The filling tasted good but the crust and topping fell short. Just like the biscuits it had no texture.

Overall Rio Ranch is well worth a visit, especially for some out of towners who want a nice setting and a Texas style meal.

Elie