Bouncing about town for holiday treats
I can’t stay away from tthe new food hall at the Post Houston, the exciting rehab of downtown’s Barbara Jordan Post Office.he new food hall at the Post Houston, the exciting rehab of downtown’s Barbara Jordan Post Office. But I bounced around for holiday treats to Midtown and Fourth Ward, too.
Ceviche at Golfstrommen
“Golfstrommen” is Norwegian for “Gulf Stream,” the warm current that runs from the Gulf Coast to Scandinavia. So Bergen chef Christopher Haatuft — renowned for his modern “fjordic” seafood cuisine at Lysverket restaurant — has encouraged an interesting Texas spin at his first American outpost, now open for lunch (starting this Wednesday) and a sit-down dinner service at Post Houston.
Ceviche pops up in a form that handsprings from Old World to New. Sweet, supple Gulf tilefish, fresh off the boat from Freeport, meets a tart “Bergen broth” that’s like soupy yogurt cut with a bracing shiver of horseradish. Batons of apple, celery leaves and dill fronds add texture and seasonal garden freshness. Afloat with dots of the green, vegetal oils Haatuft favors in his contemporary platings — he infuses them with everything from leeks to fig leaves — it’s thrilling stuff.
Just add a brisk $13 glass of Muscadet (served in plastic tumblers at lunch, fine glassware at dinner) and you have a worldclass experience. Order a half dozen impeccably cleaned and opened oysters on the half shell, most harvested from cold waters off Maine to Canada, and you have a meal.
Golfstrommen Seafood Market , Post Houston, 401 Franklin
Tarte Flambée at Bludorn
The sight of tarte flambée on Bludorn’s autumn menu spurred me into action. This thin-crusted Alsatian bacon-and-onion tart was a Cook family obsession in decades past. It’s only a slight exaggeration to say that we would drive from northern Vermont to Montreal solely to eat this delicacy; and it’s not an exaggeration at all to say that a couple of times, we picked our hotel based on the presence of a chef who baked a particularly fine version.
Tarte flambée, also known in the French/German region of its birth as flammekueche, is a rarity in Houston. Some years back, I was delighted to find a good one produced in the wood-fired pizza ovens at Fielding’s Local Kitchen in The Woodlands. The combo of crème fraîche, bacon lardons and onion was a natural fit for Fielding’s executive chef, who grew up in Paris and is grounded in French cuisine.
Now comes chef Aaron Bludorn, last of Cafe Boulud in New York City, whose handsome Fourth Ward restaurant melds French technique with American ideas, with a kick of Houstonfriendly flavors and ingredients. Bludorn’s version of Tarte Flambée is distinctly personal and finely detailed. Its rectangular crust comes out of the wood oven super thin and crackly, and the traditional underpinning of fromage blanc is all but covered in a tumble of lightly dressed arugula showered with freshly microplaned squiggles of lemon zest.
There’s an earthy current of arugula-and-sunflower pesto underneath, echoed by fat leaves of sunflower sprout on top. Meaty bacon lardons and onion bring the tradition, and pickled Fresno chile wheels bring the Houston.
This is the kind of pie that can serve a tableful of diners as an appetizer. Or you might want to eat it all yourself, like I did, sitting at the oyster bar overlooking the wood oven, with a glass of champagne to go along.
Bludorn , 807 Taft, 713-9990146
Peace Maker Po’boy at Winnie’s
Prepare yourself for a mindbending explosion of Christmas lights and décor tumbling forth from the ceiling when you walk into this Midtown cocktail bar and “fancy sandwich” shop. Winnie’s, the project of former Bernadine’s chef Graham Laborde, Johnny’s Gold Brick owner Benjy Mason and chef Chris Roy, is currently in the throes of the nationwide Christmas cocktail extravaganza called Christmas Miracle (a cousin to the tiki-themed Sippin Santa), so they spent three days affixing a battalion of 2-foot Christmas trees to the rafters, among many, many other embellishments.
Their regular cocktail list and menu are on hiatus until January, but some of their classics remain on the holiday bill of fare — most notably the Peace Maker, the fried-oyster-and-shrimp po’boy I had set my heart on. I remember Laborde’s version from Bernadine’s fondly — particularly his ingenious tweak of julienned Savoy cabbage as a garnish rather than the usual iceberg lettuce. Which often gets “wilted and slimy,” notes Laborde, as the hot sandwich sits.
The cabbage shreds add a cool, clean crunch to the proceedings against the hot, fried shellfish, each of which gets its own distinct fry job — the oysters clad in a knobby rubble, the shrimp coated in finer, smoother crumbs. Emphatic sour pickles, Duke’s mayo and tomato round out the classic garnishes, to which I added a little Crystal hot sauce. I am happy to report that the revered Leidenheimer’ s Bakery Loaf, shipped from New Orleans, was soft and light on the inside and crackled across the exterior, just as it should be.
My eyes widened at the $18.50 price tag. That was without the forgettable french fries — well executed, but with the cottony interior texture of frozen — I ordered on the side. But then I did some due diligence and found that seafood po’boy prices have risen across the board in recent years. A similar combo goes for $17 at Goode Co. Seafood, where it comes with their peerless fries; and $17.99 at Acme Oyster House, where it doesn’t. At Ragin’ Cajun, a fried oyster po’boy now goes for $20.25 when you order it online.
So Winnie’s is in line. I’ll be back for the regular menu in the new year. I’m hearing great things about the katsu-fried bacon sandwich, which involves bacon marinated in collard green juice. No kidding!
Winnie’s, 3622 Main, Suite A, 713-520-0060
‘Baby’ Slab Salad at Georgia James Tavern
I am a huge fan of the mighty Slab Salad at Georgia James steakhouse. But however much I admire chef Chris Shepherd’s crosswise wedge treatment, which allows the rambunctiously blackpeppered buttermilk dressing to seep throughout the slab, I have never been able to eat the whole thing. It’s very much a group project.
Which is why I was overjoyed to see a junior version of the salad on the menu at Georgia James Tavern, the steakhouse’s new downtown sibling. “Baby slab!” the bartender exclaimed when I ordered the smaller version, which rings in at $14, instead of the $20 whole version.
My salad was every bit as good as I remembered: jumping with lively nuggets of Shropshire blue cheese and smoky lardons of Benton’s bacon, with plenty of ripe cherry tomatoes and that unexpected note of fresh dill — just enough — to set off that neutral crunch of lettuce.
Georgia James Tavern , 737 Preston , Market Square Tower, 281-846-6938
The Motherland combo at ChopnBlok
Vegetarian alert: I’ve got a vivid new meal option for you from ChopnBlok, the inviting West African fast-casual restaurant (yes, there’s a bit of in-store seating) at the new Post Houston food hall.
The Motherland is a combo of rice topped with graceful coconut-curried vegetables, including sweet peppers and black-eyed peas; plus a crunch of roasted vegetables (mostly cauliflorets) and a knockout side of sweet plantains in “Nigerian red stew.”
The gentle salt/sweet tone of the curry balanced the intense sweet-sour tang of the plantains, with the neutral rice as a canvas and the clean notes of the “Yajispiced” cauliflower as a refresher. (There seemed to be just a smidge of the peanut-based, garlicky yaji dry rub in the mix.)
It all made an enormously satisfying meal for $13 — and it was packaged to travel well, with the liquid curry housed in its own plastic container. I’m eager to return for more of chef-owner Ope Amosu’s ideas. And more of those red-stewed plantains, please.
ChopnBlok , Post Houston, 401 Franklin, 281-631-5009