SUPER BOWLS
Houston’s happening food scene rockets beyond BBQ
WEEP not for Austin, Texas. It still has South by Southwest. This thought crossed my mind during a dinner at the cozy, urban-rustic Oxheart — located not in Austin, but in Houston — where I was served veggie-heavy creations like mung bean crepe parcels of potato, allium and miso, and a transcendent congee-inspired porridge. These are just two of the reasons why chef-owner Justin Yu — a Houston native who trained at Copenhagen’s foraging-driven Noma — earned the 2016 James Beard Best Chef Southwest award
( OxheartHouston.com).
Thanks to a 2016 explosion of James Beard Award winners and semifinalists, Houston, which hosted the Super Bowl on Sunday, has officially upstaged the state capital as Texas’ foodie mecca. In a November GQ piece, Momofuku guru David Chang praised the cooking of Yu and 2014 Best Chef Southwest winner Chris Shepherd of Underbelly ( Underbel
lyHouston.com), and declared that Houston “just might be the next food capital of America.”
Both chefs made their names combining the traditions of the city’s sizable ethnic populations (including Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese) with local food. For example, Shepherd — whose hotly anticipated take on a steakhouse, One Fifth, just opened in late January ( One
FifthHouston.com) — uses an exclusive heirloom corn as the base for his unique grits dishes and a “Texas-style” miso. Meanwhile, a nose-totail in-house butchery is the rule of his kitchen.
Situated in a warehouselike space that previously housed a lesbian nightclub, the 5-year-old Underbelly has only two permanent items on its menu: a version of tteokbokki, Korea’s chewy, chili sauce-enrobed rice cake cylinder that he complements with succulent braised goat meat, and, inspired by a 2015 visit to Vietnam, cha ca grouper prepared with turmeric and dill.
A restaurant-within-a-restaurant entered via a door that slides forward as you push it — not unlike a portal into a Harry Potter secret chamber — The Pass (Pass And Provisions. com) adheres to Yu and Shepherd’s ethos while adding Eleven Madison-esque molecular playfulness and presentation. Seth Siegel-Gardner and Terrence Gallivan, joint semifinalists for 2016 Best Chef Southwest, offer nine-course prix-fixe menus — omnivore, vegetarian or vegan — for $105 ($180 with pairings). Each course has a name indicating an ingredient, essence, or familiar dish it’s riffing on. One titled Zucca (Italian for squash), which features small green-and-yellow flower-shaped al dente pasta shells with rabbit leg-meat filling, squash and a broth for sipping, proved so addictive that I returned for more. The Pass boasts a 2016 Outstanding Service semifinalist distinction to boot.
Seafood and sushi with a pinch of French fusion have landed Japan-born chef Manabu “Hori” Horiuchi of the 9-year-old
Kata Robata ( KataRobata. com) James Beard Best Chef Southwest nominations in 2012 and 2016. Despite its
milquetoast stripmall location and aggressively suburban signage (a Houston norm, don’t be alarmed), this 7-yearold venue serves up primo ocean critters sourced from Japan, Spain and both US coasts, Wagyu A5 grade beef and, often overlooked but critical, quality rice and soy sauce (Hori customizes the latter from an existing base).
Sustainable seafood rules at Caracol ( Caracol.
net), whose power couple, Hugo Ortega and Tracy Vaught, were semifinalists for 2016’s Best Chef Southwest and Outstanding Restaurateur, respectively. Their H Town Restaurant Group includes Backstreet Café ( BackstreetCafe.net) and the recently opened Hugo’s ( HugosRestaurant.net).
Caracol’s menu represents a culinary tour of Mexico’s coastal states. A custom wood-burning oven roasts Gulf oysters with chipotle butter to perfection; ceviche
de caracol (conch/snail) with pineapple, ginger and red jalapeño is palate-tingling; and anything with the seasonal, house-made mole sauces is mandatory.
Located near Rice University, 2016 Best New Restaurant nominee Helen Greek Food and Wine (Helen GreekFoodAndWine.com) ushers in a broader-than-most, locavore-driven survey of Hellenic regional cuisine. It also has an exclusively Greek vino selection second only in scope to New York City’s Molyvos. Owner-sommelier Evan Turner lived in Greece for seven years and will passionately discuss the selections, while 28-yearold chef William Wright, a Kentucky-born veteran of Manhattan’s A Voce, elevates dishes like spanakopita into a Greens-n-Cheese pie.
Prefer cocktails over wine? The 8-year-old Anvil Bar &
Refuge ( AnvilHouston.com), a semifinalist in 2016 for Outstanding Bar Program, paved the way for today’s booming Houston mixology culture and, indeed, many former employees have since established their own spinoffs downtown. A former tire shop, Anvil has an everchanging cocktail menu with seasonal creations and “Anvil Classics,” crediting each libation’s originator and season/ year. Try Matt Tanner’s Cuba Libre, served via nitro tap: a smooth, sweet amalgamation of two rums, Mexican CocaCola and Angostura bitters.