Five great dishes worthy of a summer embrace.
Editor’s note: Houston Chronicle restaurant critic Alison Cook eats many meals that often don’t make it to full review format immediately. Here, she shares her favorite dishes from recent outings, at places well worth a visit.
Sautéed crab claws at Segari’s
Angela Segari, owner and host at old-school seafood restaurant Segari’s, has a well-deserved reputation for serving the best Gulf lump crab in Houston. She’s picky about what she’ll accept from her suppliers. And when she can, and the product looks good, she’ll jump on the crab claws (or “fingers”) that are an old-timey Houston treat.
I’ve been lucky enough to take advantage of them twice this season, out of the four occasions on which she has chosen to serve them. I ordered them sautéed in the lightest garlicbuttered cream, subtle enough to make the sweet, briny crabmeat shine — but spirited enough to add a rich, supple boost. Picking these babies up by their jagged, crimson claws and sucking off the meat is a primal Gulf Coast experience.
The menu in this snug, dim redoubt has no prices, which adds to the restaurant’s privateclub aura, as if you’ve stumbled into a secret supper club on the coastal prairie back roads. I paid $21.95 for a whole mess of the crab claws, and considered it a bargain. Then, for dessert, I polished off half a lump crab salad with avocado, tomato and racy blue cheese vinaigrette.
Segari’s , 1503 Shepherd, 713880-2470
Last Word cheesecake at Trash Panda
I’ve always loved green Chartreuse, the complex herbal liqueur from the French Alps. That’s why the Prohibition-era Last Word cocktail is a favorite of mine, its gin and Chartreuse components sharpened with lime juice and smoothed out with maraschino liqueur.
So when I saw that the brandnew Trash Panda Drinking Club in Lindale Park had a Last Word Cheesecake on its menu, I had to have it. Just to see whether chef Lyle Bento and his team at the cocktail bar could carry off such a cheeky idea.
They could. Tart and sweet and salty and mysteriously, deeply herbal all at once, the satiny green wedge was as opulent as could be. With tiny mint leaves, lime zest and sultry Luxardo cherries for garnish, this cheesecake was strikingly handsome, too.
It’s typical of the jokey-butserious menu that goes with the well-made cocktails here. (The bar is under the auspices of owner Greg Perez.) There’s a big patio, but be sure to stick your head inside to goggle at the ceiling art, the neon slogan and yes, the various raccoon-themed embellishments.
Trash Panda Drinking Club , 4203 Edison
Roasted zucchini with almond butter at Nancy’s Hustle
In summer, one’s thoughts turn to zucchini. And more zucchini. And even more zucchini.
Nancy’s Hustle, the wine-andcocktail-savvy bistro in EaDo, gives the prolific summer squash a delicious new twist — anointing the roasted slabs with sweetly nutty almond butter, then picking up those gentle flavors with a wild flurry of herbs and a punctuation of hazelnuts and crispy shallots.
The dish is both mild mannered and arresting, not to mention expressive of the season. If you think you’re tired of zucchini, try it this way. Preferably with a glass of the Hungarian furmint, Kiralyudvar Sec, chosen by manager and wine whiz Justin Vann; and a plate of the magnificent Einkorn sourdough bread with the restaurant’s cultured butter deepened with shio koji, a fermented rice mixture that boosts umami.
There’s a big new covered patio in back on which to enjoy all this, too.
Nancy’s Hustle , 2704 Polk, 346-571-7931
Madonna pie from Angie’s Pizza Pies
I got to taste pizzaiolo Angelo Emiliani’s wares at a pop-up over the weekend, and his Madonna pie made a huge impression on me. The heart of his pizza’s appeal is the excellent ingredients he uses (many of them local and seasonal), along with a crust that just doesn’t quit. It crackles. It stretches. It bubbles up high on the crown and scorches a bit for that nice, sooty edge. It has just enough salt, and just enough of a fermenty tang.
Credit Houston native Emiliani’s stint in Los Angeles under the tutelage of Phoenix’s illustrious Chris Bianco, whose Pizzeria Bianco first blew my mind back in the late ’90s. His style is crisper than classic Neapolitan pies (no floppy middle), and it’s baked in a wood-fired oven a
little longer and at lower temperatures.
Emiliani’s results are stunning — especially when he adds wellcalibrated ingredients like bracingly hot, translucently thin-cut schiachiatta picante, a Calabrian salumi; and summer peppers, including shishito. Watch his Instagram (@angiespizzapies) for news of his next pop-up; and for word of a forthcoming brick-andmortar location.
Chocolate-orange and fig-mascarpone gelati at Dolce Neve
August would not be complete without a pilgrimage to my favorite Houston scoop shop, Dolce Neve, in a modern strip mall off North Main in the Heights area.
The Austin import has the intense flavors and dense, satiny textures that I crave. I’ve never tried a flavor I didn’t like, but I keep coming back to the rich chocolate that exerts an almost gravitational pull, its suavity sharpened by citric shocks of orange rind.
This time, I had it in a cup with a passing seasonal fancy: mascarpone ice cream with figs, its delicate savory quality like a passing summer breeze out on the parking lot’s sidewalk, where I devoured my treasures in solitary splendor.