Pat’s Pick
Pat's Pick
by Patricia Sharpe
January 2003
Pat's Pick
SEEING STARS Thank heaven the Riviera Grill has finally left that tatty suburban location and moved into glittering new digs in downtown Houston. The sleek Sam Houston Hotel is the perfect setting for chef-owner John Sheely's inspired French and Italian cuisine. At dinner, the menu showcases dishes like velvety grilled scallops with braised fennel and spectacularly moist olive oil-poached salmon filets. I also like Sunday brunch. It's a bit less ambitious, and the offerings (assorted egg dishes, French toast, and entrées like lamb T-bones accompanied by a great chunky, vinegary ratatouille and adorned with wisps of fried spinach) suit me just fine. But I'd drop by anytime for a salad or an appetizer and a chance to spend an hour in the smartly understated dining room. The amazing Austrian crystal light fixtures form rows of twinkling stars overhead that cast both food and guests in a flattering light.
PATRICIA SHARPE
Primary Flavors
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PASS THE PEAS, PLEASE We have a friend—an all-grown-up adult friend, mind you—whose mother won't let her leave the New Year's table without downing 365 black-eyed peas (gulp!). That's one seed of the lucky legume for each day of the upcoming year. But even if you have trouble swallowing this Southern belief—which has its roots in a Civil War-era tale in which Union troops wiped out all crops except the plucky cowpea—you might want to put away a few peas on January 1, just in case. If you don't have a family recipe, here are ideas from three Texas chefs to help you out. Oscar Trejo, of San Antonio's Liberty Bar (328 E. Josephine, 210-227-1187), cooks up a spunky cross-cultural stew with sausage, ham hock, fresh vegetables, and poblano. At Ouisie's Table (3939 San Felipe, 713-528-2264) in Houston, owner Elouise Jones honors tradition with hoppin' John black-eyed-pea relish, a chilled condiment that gets its kicks from tomato, onion, cilantro, jalapeño, and one smoked turkey neck. Chef Mynetta Cockerell, of Marty's Bistro (3316 Oak Lawn, 214-526-7796) in Dallas, does a mean pea salsa spiked with chile and cayenne.
STACY HOLLISTER
On The Road
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CABIN FEVER Call us affected big-city snobs, but we never thought we'd see Hawaiian lomi lomi salmon on a small-town East Texas menu. Actually, the cevichelike dish was a special on our first visit to the Homestead on 19th in Huntsville. A fine nut-crusted wahoo filet was another, as was a straight-from-the-oven macadamia nut layer cake—all were part of a Hawaiian-theme night, another twist we never would have predicted. But when in Rome—or Huntsville, as the case may be—we do as the natives do. On this occasion we ordered wine, donned a lei, and settled in at our front-porch table, a stone's throw from where Texas revolutionary hero Sam Houston used to practice law. The scene isn't always quite so surreal in this cluster of rustic-yet-elegant log cabins. Chef-owner John Eschenfelder, originally from Dallas, learned his cosmopolitan chops when he did a stint as executive sous chef at that city's Mansion on Turtle Creek, and he runs the show with urban finesse. Periodically, though, he likes to throw in something unexpected. By the time the hula dancers arrived, we wouldn't have been surprised if Sam himself had shown up to join the festivities.
EILEEN SCHWARTZ
My Library
