Reef's Smoked Pork Chop

By Stacy Zane Wed., Jun. 29 2011 at 9:00 AM

Photo by Stacy Zane

Pork chops taste goooood.

Recently, I ordered the smoked pork chop at Reef, an upscale seafood restaurant headed by famed Houston chef Bryan Caswell.

Back in May, this pork chop was featured on The Food Network's program "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" and was recommended by chef Marc Forgione, Bryan Caswell's co-star on and winner of "The Next Iron Chef - Season 3." While I didn't catch this episode myself, I had heard all about it and was eager to try this double-thick, bone-in pork chop. And considering Reef is highly regarded for its seafood, I was curious to see how the pork chop would hold up.

Stacy Zane

The good news is, Forgione wasn't just kissing ass. I see many more people flocking to Reef in the near future purely for this pork chop, which is pecan-smoked, grilled, and then baked with a brushing of herb butter.

It's served atop some spicy cabbage, field peas, and finished off with a splash of cherry mustard. For such a gargantuan piece of meat, it is surprisingly tender and juicy. Not to mention, extremely flavorful. I guess sometimes it pays to order the unexpected.

And I don't think you'll find a better pork chop at a seafood restaurant, or a better pork chop in general, than this one from Reef. I must recommend that you also order some of Reef's crispy fries to accompany your meal. They're served with a special Sriracha remoulade that's out of this world.

Follow Eating Our Words on Facebook and on Twitter @EatingOurWords

Location Info

Venue

Map

Reef

2600 Travis St., Houston, TX

Category: Restaurant

11 user reviews	Write A Review
Save to foursquare

Tags:

Bryan Caswell, food network, fries, pork chops, reef, seafood

We Recommend

Dspencer

Forgione has never even been to Reef. None of the cooks, hostesses, bartenders, servers have ever seen him in there.

Stacy Zane

Well he's had this pork chop. Caswell must have made it for him or something. Like I said, I didn't catch the show. Maybe someone who did can tell us how Forgione came to try it. Anyone?

Ali

I saw it. I don't remember if he actually said he ate it at the restaurant, but I think he did say that Brian cooked it for him. Regardless, he obviously ate it. I always find it amusing to see the haterade that some people break out for him. It just comes across like jealousy.

SirRon

Haterade is really a double edged sword, because it is totally wrong, but it tastes so damned good.

Katharine Shilcutt

Reef once served me the best dry-aged hanger steak I've ever had, so I'm willing to be this porkchop is the motherload too. Looks great.

Jonathan R. Cohen

Monica Pope served me my favorite Hanger Steak at Boulevard Bistro. Too bad that isn't around anymore.

TQro

For those of you bringing up Perry's, have you tried Reef's?

trisch

I've had both. They're both damn good. On the one hand, Perry's pork chop can feed me for a week (two, if I'm trying to diet). On the other, Reef's makes me blow my diet and consume the whole thing in one sitting. They're not mutually exclusive, so have the one at Perry's when your friends are craving steak and have the one at Reef when you're friends are craving fish.

Stacy Zane

Really? I'm impressed. Three of us couldn't even finish Reef's, and two of us are men. I'm not one of them, FYI.

trisch

I have been known to do serious damage to cows, pigs and baby sheep. :) But I have to admit that my husband and my sister were both "picking" at the chop, too, and I'm not even an also-ran compared to my sister when it comes to carnivorous hedonism.

justme

Second Perry's pork chop as reigning supreme. And the cool thing is you can visit one of their meat markets and buy the things ready to go - just heat in the microwave for three minutes or so, and enjoy the discounted goodness in the comfort of your own home.

Bruce R

While the heat-n-eat Perry's chops are good, they're not nearly as good as the ones you get at the restaurant. Hey, today is Wednesday. You can get a proper pork chop meal at Perry's Meat Market (Scarsdale or Friendswood) for only $8.95. It's the best deal in town.

Rob Hays

You lost me at "microwave".

Bruce R

Although that pork chop looks very good, Perry's pork chop is the reigning champ. Also, please please please include prices in your write-up. Maybe like this:

"Recently, I ordered the smoked pork chop ($27) at Reef, an upscale seafood restaurant headed by famed Houston chef Bryan Caswell."

Bruce R

Fatty and Stacy, the Reef chop looks like a smaller version of Perry's. Having said that, I am not suggesting that the chops Perry's and Reef are mutually exclusive. One reason for my Perry's bias is that there's one three minutes from where I work, and at lunch on Friday I can get an awesome pork chop meal for $11.95.

Fatty FatBastard

All I can ask is that you try it. And, even at $27, it was big enough to split with a date along with an appetizer.

Stacy Zane

Ok, sorry. Will try to do. And yes, I knew Perry's would be brought up by many, since it's famous and all. I just thought Reef's deserved some love as well. It is surprisingly good.

Pam

Great article -- will have to try it sometime!!

Maggie_May

Good little article.

But don't worry about including prices in every blog post. The full blown reviews in your print edition do let us know how much various dishes cost. But many of us reading on the internet also know how to find restaurant websites--which include menus, addresses, hours & lots of other useful stuff.

Bruce R

I'm wondering why this is controversial. Adding the price like this ($27) adds six characters. It's useful information. I also appreciate prices on wine, something Jeremy Parzen does a good job with in his reviews.

Cheflambo

Prices don't really need to be included here, unless you are listing several restaurants and comparing the prices of the same dish.

Kelli

@Bruce R When you write the post, you can include what you want.

Bruce R

Maggie_May, some restaurants do not include prices on their websites--some restaurants don't even have websites. How hard is it to simply put the price in parentheses? That is useful information.