Terrace 54 Bar & Table
THE CONCEPT
A breakfast/lunch/ dinner restaurant-with-aview at the new 273-room Westin Houston Medical Center.
THE SPACE
A dapper midcenturymodern design has been employed to celebrate the building’s International Style legacy that includes a curated collection of artwork in the fifth-floor lobby, which features skylights that pay homage to James Turrell’s Skyspace at Rice University.
THE FOOD
While executive chef Peter Cox’s menu champions “wellness,” its flavors and techniques touch on the global pantry. Roasted carrots are hit with vadouvan spices and served with whipped goat cheese. A rubble of fried cauliflower hides a feta mousse and dilled serrano purée. Preserved lemon cuts through the richness of duck confit swathed in crème fraîche and winter mushrooms. Seared duck breast on braised cabbage makes nice with the flavors of caraway, juniper and smoked sunchoke. Even his burgers, whether the grass-fed beef or the Beyond Meat meatless version, get flavorbombed with Gruyère and fig mostarda or smoked cheddar, roasted tomato and umami mayonnaise. And when’s the last time you saw a pavlova on a hotel dining-room menu? The artful creation is dotted with mixed berries and swooshes of Texas ruby grapefruit curd.
THE DRINKS
Cox, a former bartender, also had a hand in the cocktail menu that includes the Monkey See, Monkey Do (bourbon, banana liqueur, crème de cacao, allspice dram and a slice of roasted banana); Berry Rose Tale (vodka, Italian aperitif, coconut simple syrup, oat milk and strawberry); Cleanse Appeal (mezcal, celery juice, lemon, agave and tonic); and Right on Thyme (bourbon, lemon juice, local honey, thyme and egg white). A selection of beer and wine, too.
ONE MORE THING
The fifth-floor restaurant takes its name from the landmark Medical Towers building, which began construction in 1954. THE DETAILS
1709 Dryden, 713-7302404; westinhouston medicalcenter.com