TALK ABOUT YOUR FIFTEEN minutes of fame. Dallas chef and restaurateur Avner Samuel has certainly had his: Avner’s on McKinney, Yellow, Okeanos, Bistro A, Bistro K, not to mention stints at the Mansion on Turtle Creek and the Pyramid Room, back when those behemoths were forces to be reckoned with.
East meets West for a culinary summit in this smashing recipe from Houston’s Sake Lounge (550 Texas Avenue). Chef de cuisine Steven Vanderpool brightens all-American crab cakes with a splash of soy sauce and a dash of curry powder; for emphasis, he adds a few pungent leaves of Chinese parsley
Dine at the right time, get the right server, and order the right things, and you can have a dazzling meal at Dallas’s very own Nobu, an outpost of renowned chef Nobu Matsuhisa’s eponymous restaurant empire. I, for one, liked my seared toro (the prized “fatty tuna”) with jalapeño,
Nobu, Dallas
Will you enjoy the smoke-roasted shrimp at Houston’s Moose Cafe? You can plank on it.
Shellfish? Swellfish. One bite of miso-glazed shrimp at Dallas’ Green Room and you’ll be hooked.
Anaqua Grill, San Antonio
A backpacking adventure after college led Michael Bomberg in a different direction. He never intended to make a living as a chef, but a trek through Western Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East gave him food for thought.Now Bomberg is guiding San Antonio’s Anaqua Grill (555 S. Alamo) through
Jaden’s formula for success involves equal parts style and sustenance. Totally of the moment, this new Dallas restaurant sports the obligatory slick fifties motifs set off by exposed ductwork and oversized hanging lamp shades. Some nice original art—like the sinuous copper-wire-and-stainless-steel sculpture near the entrance—adds to the equation. As for
When it grains, it scores: The smoothest risotto yet, courtesy of Salve! in Dallas.
Thierry Burkle’s L’Etoile is a guiding light in French country cooking. The smart neighborhood brasserie succeeds because of a constellation of moderately priced, well-thought-out offerings, including this lemon sole.The mild fish is perfectly suited to a special-occasion dressing up. With a bread-crumb crust as a toasty counterpoint, the moist and
From Austin’s new Coyote Cafe (612 W. Sixth) comes the classiest club sandwich you’ll ever eat, and quite possibly the best. Offered as an occasional special at the Texas spin-off of Santa Fe’s original Coyote Cafe, the sandwich makes some key substitutions: Chile-seasoned grilled swordfish stands in for boring old
The grilled scallops at Houston’s Bistro Lancaster are morsels of edible silk.
Spinning in its own distinctive orbit, Austin’s Mars has created a stylishly multicultural menu, with Middle Eastern, Pacific Rim, and Mediterranean cooking styles all getting their due. This grilled salmon in a velvety sauce punched up with Japanese horseradish demonstrates how the small, trendy restaurant makes culinary worlds collide. Owner
At Dallas’ Toscana, it’s a time to grill—shrimp, that is.
Chef Stephan Pyles grew up in the food business—his parents owned the Big Spring Truck Stop Cafe—and despite a degree in music and the best intentions, he’s still cooking. With two restaurants in Dallas and two in Minneapolis, Pyles and partner John Dayton have enthusiastically spread the word about Southwestern
Will you enjoy the wrapped sea bass at San Antonio's Biga on the Banks? That depends on how you filo.
These crispy salmon and spinach spring rolls have Saks appeal.
Get hooked on the sea bass at Dallas' Bistral.
What are they doing here, hiding $100 bills in the booths? Spraying Love Potion Number Nine around the dining room? Flashing subliminal messages on the big-screen TVs (“You love the Porch, you must eat at the Porch . . .”)? I ask this in all seriousness, because now that
It was the long-ago winter when my family’s two superannuated cats expired right before the holidays that Mother issued a surprising edict: “We’re having Christmas dinner at the Four Seasons this year.” It took three days to pry the reason out of her: She couldn’t bear the thought of
The only fish you can’t eat at Pesce are the sensuous subjects of the still lifes on the walls and the gaudy tropical inhabitants of the big aquarium by the door. If you want to occupy the center stage at this smart Houston seafood house (3029 Kirby), grab a perch
A sumptuous cream sauce gilds crab cakes that are so good you’ll never even look at another recipe.
I don’t know about you, but every time I go out to eat, I say a little prayer to the kitchen gods: “Oh please, oh please, oh please, let there be something fabulous on the menu tonight.” Usually, however, the kitchen gods are out having a smoke in the alley
Remembrance of things pasta: The capellini salad from Dallas’ Nana Grill will live on in your memory.
With the Four Seasons Hotel’s sweeping view of one of Austin’s most unusual vistas—nightly bat flights snake out from under the Congress Avenue bridge and push east along Town Lake—dinners at the hotel’s Riverside Cafe (98 San Jacinto) are a double feature that’s hard to top. But the food here
Seldom has the buzz been so great for something so small. After months of anticipation, the Sandbar has finally opened in downtown San Antonio. Does the minuscule urban fish house live up to the hype? Decidedly. Scrunch around one of the seven paper-topped tables and order a sumptuous bowl
Dallas’ AquaKnox offers ceviche with a smile—three kinds, in fact.
Dallas’ Seventeen Seventeen has mastered the art of the catfish taco.
At Aurora, the key word is “drama.” You step into the small, curtained vestibule of this new Dallas restaurant. The hostess ceremoniously verifies your reservation (“Omigod,” you think. “What if they don’t have my name?”). Then she flings open the draperies to reveal a jewel box of a dining
Houston
Like a summer blockbuster that’s been anticipated for months, überchef Dean Fearing’s domain at the new Ritz-Carlton in Dallas finally opened for business in mid-August—and how. The seven dining rooms (yes, seven, each with its own ambience) filled up immediately, and the hotel’s Rattlesnake Bar was colonized by the
October in Texas doesn’t always mean cool weather, but it does mean the beginning of quail season. At Anthony’s in Houston, chef Bruce McMillian stuffs the small succulent birds with seasoned wild rice and couscous, roasts them to a turn, and finishes them with a garnet-hued blackberry sauce. Hunters may
Austin’s Mezzaluna and its San Antonio sibling, Luna Notte, are high-profile, high-tech Italian eateries where the hungry and the hungry-to-be-seen congregate. Chef Harvey Harris is a former art major who applies his creative temperament to the restaurants’ rustic southern Italian fare. How is it that Italian country food brings out
The bird on your Thanksgiving table this year should be pheasant—specifically, the savory roast pheasant with garlicky sausage jambalaya dressing from Cheryl and Bill Jamison’s new cookbook, Texas Home Cooking (Harvard Common Press). Rubbed with a pungent Tabasco seasoning, this handsome variation on the holiday menu takes an excursion through
Revenge of the bird: A pleasant pheasant from the Rough Creek Lodge near Glen Rose.
Evan Daily wants to improve the environment; so when he opened Evan’s at 3939 Montrose in Houston the week of Earth Day 1990, he took steps beyond using recycled-paper menus and business cards. At Evan’s, organic produce and chemical-free meats are the basis of the meal, not just food for
“We thought about closing Hilltop after we bought it, but we just about had a mutiny on our hands,” says James D. Smith, Jr. He was speaking of the legendary country eating place that Madalene Hill opened 38 years ago in Cleveland, just a few miles from its present incarnation
Dean Fearing, the guitar-strumming executive chef at Dallas’ swanky Mansion on Turtle Creek, hits all the right notes when he’s in the kitchen.The Eastern Kentucky native and graduate of New York’s Culinary Institute came to Texas in 1979 to explore new frontiers in cooking and ended up pioneering Southwestern cuisine.
When Bruce Pike was 16, he was doing chateaubriand and baked Alaska at the University Club in San Antonio. Now at 31—having migrated through some of that city’s fancier restaurants (including La Buca and Biga)—he is doing his own thing at Luna Notte (6402 N. New Braunfels).“I’m going for a
Think fig: The chef at Austin’s Vespaio does, and his crispy duck is delicious.
A savory couscous with a long Shelf life.
Underscoring the “comfort” in comfort food, the Roaring Fork in Dallas (14866 Montfort) has brought classic roasted chicken into the nineties with a dish that’s a breeze to fix and soul-satisfying to eat. Chef Lance Youngs generously bastes the fowl with a lemon-and-honey glaze brightened by thyme and chives. The
Autumn along San Antonio’s Paseo del Rio is truly a season of change—especially at the Zuni Grill (511 River Walk), where chef David James’s revamped menu creates a casual and innovative bill of fare with an intentional nod to the Southwest. But don’t expect a run-of-the-mill chile relleno at Zuni.James
The cooking of Northern Mexico got its spark from ranching culture, in which food was prepared with indigenous ingredients and cooked over a wood fire; it has long been overshadowed by the more glamorous and complex cuisine of the South. But former restaurateur James W. Peyton of San Antonio redresses
Roasted poblanos, toasted pumpkin seeds, tomatillos: At Houston’s Taco Milagro, you’ll want to eat the whole enchilada.
Avner Samuel has been around. Born in Jerusalem, he earned his chef’s toque at the celebrated La Varenne cooking school in Paris and has successfully navigated the tricky culinary waters of London and Dallas. He did stints at the Mansion on Turtle Creek and at the Pyramid in the Fairmont
Instead of a margarita with your chicken breast in red mole, try a Cabernet Sauvignon from Mexico's growing wine country.
MOONSTRUCK “Luna” means “moon” in Italian and Spanish, but San Antonio newcomer Luna Blue Café will be on my must-visit list way more often than once in a blue moon. To begin with, the service at this bright, light ristorante is excellent—the waiters watched our table like hawks, and the
CrostiniUse any rustic style bread, such as ciabatta or sourdough. Slice bread and brush with extra virgin olive oil. Either grill or toast bread slices. Rub garlic cloves into hot bread.Mussels1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 16 to 18 Prince Edward Island mussels, cleaned with beards removed 1/4 ounce white
