Despite only opening in mid-March, Oxheart is already winning hearts across Houston and breaking ones too far away to grab a bite. Justin Yu was on to something with his pop-up dinners, but he is really on to the extraordinary with his first restaurant. He explained to TEXAS MONTHLY that the menu is still evolving and changing. “Not everybody loves the idea of being asked to do tasting menus, but Houston is ready for a restaurant like this,” he said. “When I was growing up in Houston, it didn’t seem like people were all that progressive or had an outlook on newer food trends. When I came back and did the pop-up restaurant, we had such a huge response and I realized there was a craving for something that was different and wasn’t tired.” Yu had been ready to open a restaurant for a while, but admits he was waiting around for the right inspiration and concept to spring itself on him. “I wanted the restaurant to have aggressive, progressive food, but not overly formal. The idea for Oxheart really clicked when I went to a restaurant called Relae in Copenhagen, and it was a sum of the ideas I had ever had. I was like, ‘These guys are doing exactly what I want to do.’ It was out of this world.” Oxheart recently featured Gulf oysters with spring onions and brown butter on its menu, and the dish quickly became a favorite. “The idea of using the roots, the bulbs, and the green parts of a spring onion is great. Those parts are often discarded by a lot of people, but they are really tasty,” Yu said. Oddly, the unique concept behind the dish came to Yu by “crappy accident.” “A chef was letting me play around with some different dishes, but I was getting in the way of one of his cooks by using the oven, so I turned it to steam, didn’t let it steam very long, and pulled them out when he needed to use the oven. It wasn’t cooked all the way through because if it did it would have popped open, but I just ate it anyway. It had this great raw flavor to it.” Gulf Oysters Steamed in their Shells with Spring Onions and Brown Butter from Oxheart. Recipe from Justin Yu.
Eat My Words