Houston Food Blog

Photo by J.C. Reid

​Perhaps the saddest news out of this latest crop of restaurant shutterings comes from B4-U-Eat, which reports additional information out of the Cafe Zol (2411 S. Shepherd Drive) closing:

"We're going to have the biggest party at Cafe Zol on Sunday, February 14," says executive chef James Peterson. "Our owner, Elizabeth Knox, has decided to close." Peterson was brought in to re-launch the restaurant as an American Bistro, "but we were never able to find our audience." So what's next for the chef? "I'm busy trying to find my amazing staff new positions. Anyone need great kitchen help, give us a call."

J.C. Reid visited Cafe Zol shortly after it had completed its rebranding from Scandinavian tapas joint to American bistro, and found the food crowd-pleasing...but also found no crowd there to please. But judging from Peterson's evident talent and gracious attitude (not all chefs are so admirably poised when discussing their restaurant's demise), he'll hopefully find work soon.

In other news, the restaurant that Margaret Downing visited just a few weeks ago as Laurenzo's Grille (4412 Washington Avenue) has already decided to rebrand itself as simply "Laurenzo's." In keeping with the facelift, the restaurant also repainted the exterior (gone are blue and white in favor of earth tones) and completely revamped the menu. Does this sound similar to the situation above? It's actually having even more of an identity crisis, though -- this marks the third time since opening that the restaurant has changed its name (the first incarnation was the overly long Laurenzo's Dello Sports Grille). Drastic changes in tone when a restaurant is still so young never bode well to us, but time will tell if they're for the best at Laurenzo's.

@HTownChowDown even sent this mock-up to @TexasMonthly...

​If you follow @PapaBeav, you were either amused or annoyed by his recent Twitter campaign to get @TexasMonthly to do a cover story on him and the restaurant he heads as chef, Beavers. So many Twitter users bombarded @TexasMonthly with messages about @PapaBeav -- real name, Jonathan Jones -- that the person in charge of the @TexasMonthly account finally responded: "OK, fine. I'll bite. Who's @PapaBeav?"

To date, the campaign hasn't been successful, not that the press-hungry Jones doesn't already get plenty of coverage. (Several Eating Our Words commenters have subtly, politely let us know they've seen enough of Beaver's in these pages.) But he's in the news again...

Jones appeared in today's New York Times story on Houston's restaurant scene - right at the top of the article, there's a photo of him serving a beer to go with a cornmeal-fried oyster and shrimp po-boy at Beaver's. Problem is, he wasn't mentioned by name. We're pretty sure that hurt. Why didn't the paper identify him?

​As news that Tootsie's will be moving into the nearly completed and mostly unleased monument to conspicuous consumption, West Ave (the hulking mixed-development monolith at the corner of Westheimer and Kirby), and the River Oaks crowd coos happily, more news has also trickled out about the restaurants that will soon be occupying the development.

Of course, no upscale mixed-use center would be complete without a wine bar, so Cru will be moving in (you can check out the concept for yourself in The Woodlands, where Cru has been anchoring the Market Street development for a few years). And another Houston outpost of seafood restaurant Eddie V's will move in (the first is over at another pre-fab mixed-development location, CityCentre -- are we noticing a trend here?). Something that the River Oaks Examiner refers to as "a new concept by Ad West, an upscale restaurant and lounge from brothers Jeff and Darren Van Delden, known for creating, designing and operating sought-after destinations in Houston, Austin and San Antonio, such as The Drake and Red Door" is also planned, as is the one thing we're actually exicted about: Zaika, a new restaurant from Indika's amazing Anita Jaisinghani. We'll swallow our pride and valet for anything that Jainsinghani decides to do.

In other wine bar news, the Houston Business Journal had an insightful article this week on the closure of Washington Avenue wine bar The Corkscrew (1919 Washington). Owner Andrew Adams elaborated on his decision to close the popular bar, saying that the Houston market had become too saturated with similar concepts (at the same time as The Wine Bucket and the Midtown location of The Tasting Room decided to close), and saying that he was more interested in pioneering a "new" concept that involved fresh fruit-infused liquors and hand-crafted cocktails. To which the men at Anvil Bar & Refuge and Beaver's Ice House most likely responded with a confused, "Huh?"

​Fufu Café (9889 Bellaire Blvd) recently expanded, opening a new place in the same center as its previous location. On our first visit to the new locale, we noticed 32 more seats than the previous café, which means it can hold two-and-a-half times more people than before. The layout is simple and seems designed to fit as many seats as possible.

​Ziggy's Bar and Grill, the yellow restaurant in Montrose, is the latest business fighting with the city about parking, a problem usually reserved for all the new places popping up on Washington Avenue.

Last week, Ziggy's owner met with city council, according to the restaurant's Twitter page, to "discuss the city's goal for mixed use, walkable neighborhoods. Parking ordinance needs work."

The ordinance states that a restaurant must have at least eight parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of seating space, and bars are required to have ten spaces for the same amount of space.
 
Hair Balls has tried to contact Ziggy's owner, Kevin Strickland, since last week to find out what was discussed with the city, or what he plans to do about parking. We haven't heard anything back from Strickland, but we did talk to Marlene Gafrick, the director of the city's planning and development department.

Gafrick told us that Ziggy's -- located at the corner of Fairview and Taft streets -- had an ownership change last year, and the new owner didn't renew a lease on a parking lot that gave the restaurant the required number of spaces. When the lease expired, Ziggy's was in violation.

Parking spaces seems like an important issue, and we figured the city's parking people could slap Ziggy's with a few healthy fines until it got everything fixed. Gafrick said the department has much more power than that.

"We can shut them down," Grafrick told Hair Balls.

Photos courtesy of Sushi Raku

Ebi mayo

​If you're going out to eat and have time for an appetizer, ebi mayo is a pretty good way to start things off. The fried rock shrimp with spicy yuzu mayonnaise ($9) at Sushi Raku was crispy, zingy and delicious.

We were at a tasting at the new Midtown restaurant at 3201 Louisiana, where the walls are covered with hanging red rope. As the story goes, the truck bringing in the 60,000 pounds of heavy rope from Japan had three blowouts on its way here.

It was a Friday night, and the place stayed pretty full during the time we were there, from 8 to 9:30 p.m. The groups included young singles out on the town as well as families with children. On the walls are two imposing, large scale drawings of a geisha and a samurai. An artist comes in and works on them several times a week; a total of six of the drawings are planned in all.

As we rolled through the courses, a common theme emerged: Sushi Raku pays a lot of attention to presentation and to its sauces.

​Thai Bistro, the popular Houston Thai restaurant located at 3241 Southwest Freeway, recently opened a new location at 11660 Westheimer, the former location of Thyme Table Café. The Houston Chronicle's Alison Cook loved Thyme Table for reasons I never understood. I tried it and found it too boring to write about. The chef was Korean, but even the bulgogi was dull. I think he was trying too hard to sell wine.

Thai Bistro's original Southwest Parkway location was once the home of Dalat Vietnamese Bistro. That Vietnamese restaurant partnered with Kevin Tran and a Thai chef and changed its name to Mekong River in 2001. When I reported on that change, I made a really stupid geography mistake--I said that the Mekong River separated Thailand and Vietnam. My belated apologies to Laos and Cambodia.

Photo by Katharine Shilcutt

​For weeks, there have been rumors swirling about the impending demise of popular downtown eatery Ray's Franks. We first talked about our love affair with the horror movie-themed restaurant in July 2009, not long after it first opened its doors. The menu items consisted of cleverly named burgers and hot dogs like "The Mummy" (a bacon-wrapped hot dog covered in cheese) or "The Blob" (a chili cheeseburger) that were made fresh to order with quality ingredients. A soundtrack worthy of High Fidelity played over the speakers. The prices were right. And the building -- which once housed the Dharma Cafe -- was quaint and quirky, sunlight streaming through the high windows of the old structure and music bouncing off the high ceilings.

But just as Ray's was hitting its stride, strife was occurring in the kitchen. Fearing that the restaurant would soon close, the owners' son Aaron put out an APB to his friends, letting them know to get their Ray's Franks fix while they still could.

Wanting to let others know, we Tweeted about the precarious situation (albeit somewhat vaguely), and before long the word was all over the street and the Internet. "Save Ray's Franks!" soon became a rallying cry, but was the restaurant actually going to close? Although restaurant personnel assured guests that it wasn't closing, indications like this ad placed on Craigslist weren't assuaging anyone's fears.

We spoke with owner Jose Sainz this afternoon at the office of the leasing agent that owns the Ray's Franks building. "The restaurant isn't closing its doors," he assured us. But what about that ad?

​Smackdowns, showdowns, throwdowns. There's food violence aplenty coming up for your voyeuristic pleasure. Bread and circuses, served up daily by your Houston food community.

This Sunday, of course, is our very own Cupcake Smackdown at Block 7 Wine Company (720 Shepherd) from 4 to 6 p.m. You may have heard about it already. The judges have been chosen, the cupcakes ordered, the blindfolds purchased and the ballots printed. All that's left is for you to show up. Although the event is free, we're asking guests to bring at least two cans of food for the Houston Food Bank (which will get you an Eating Our Words T-shirt). Bring ten cans and you get a special surprise! And don't forget to sign in at the door so you're entered for the fabulous prizes we're giving away.

On Saturday, head over to Coffee Groundz (2503 Bagby) at 3 p.m. for a competition of another kind: the Texas Tequila Throwdown, organized by Bite Me Houston. Our photographer will be there capturing all the action as tequila companies like the local Riazul, Republic Tequila from Austin and Tequila Don Valente from Dallas put their tequilas to the test. Like the Cupcake Smackdown, the event is free and open to the public. And guess who's judging? You. To participate in the tasting and help choose the Tequila King, just bring a new or gently used blanket for the Star of Hope Mission. It goes without saying that this event is 21 and up only.

On a more non-violent note, Cafe Brasil (2604 Dunlavy) is having a fundraiser this weekend for employee Abbas Rachaman. The always cheerful barista is having to get his hip replaced with titanium, which -- while very cool in a Bionic Man sort of way -- is also very expensive. All tips and proceeds from coffee sales will go directly to help Rachaman out all day Saturday, January 23, so come get a cinnamon-y house blend and tip well.

Dolce Vita's fantastic roasted beets with horseradish and walnuts

​After four years, Dolce Vita (500 Westheimer) has finally expanded its hours. This casual wine bar and pizzeria has been feeding the hip Montrose crowd since January 2006 -- but never for weekday lunch. "We had a lot of requests to open for lunch, and we've been open for four years now," Marco Wiles, owner of Dolce Vita, told us. "It took some time, but now we have some great people in place, so we are ready."

But why did it take so long for Wiles to agree to open for lunch? "We had a lot of issues to address, like making sure the oven was at the right temperature and making sure the parking wasn't a problem," he explained. "Mostly, we had to have the right staff in place." Well, we're glad he finally decided to bite the bullet.

Dolce Vita will be open from noon until close Tuesdays through Fridays and will feature the same menu for lunch and dinner. The restaurant will have daily specials starting at noon, and there will be a lunch salad that will change regularly. Now, instead of just wishing we had one of their crispy pizzas during the day, we can actually have them.

Chef Philippe Schmit

​Exiciting news for Francophiles across Houston who miss Philippe Schmit's deft touch at the long-gone Bistro Moderne at the Hotel Derek: Reports from two reliable sources indicate that Schmit's new restaurant is getting closer to opening its doors. If Haven was the most anticipated opening of 2009, Philippe might be the most anticipated for 2010. Philippe promises "an exciting and accessible menu of traditional and eclectic French offerings combined with a stylish lounge and bar."

Our friends at B4-U-Eat reported in their weekly newsletter that Ludovic Poirier, the former director of operations at Bistro Moderne, will once again be joining Chef Schmit at Philippe. Having worked through several other hotel restaurants in town -- *17 at the Alden Hotel and VOICE at the Hotel Icon -- it appears that Poirier is striking into new yet familiar territory with Phillipe.

Jenny Wang of I'm Never Full ran into Chef Schmit at Block 7 Wine Company recently, where he assured her that the restaurant would not only be located inside the Loop (there had been rumors of a more suburban location) but that they were aiming for an August opening. With those tidbits of information, Houston diners can look forward to a cool restaurant as a reward for making it through a long, hot summer.

The prime rib was excellent.

​Open kitchen in the background, scurrying waiters darting around him, Domenic Laurenzo stood in the middle of his new place, Laurenzo's Grille, 4412 Washington Avenue, trying to make clear what they are and aren't and what they want to be.

First, even though the Rockets game is playing on all the flat-screen TVs and even though pro sports shirts hang on the walls, Laurenzo's is not a sports bar. That's the message Laurenzo and his publicists have been trying to get out, because the crowd they're looking for is something else. The sports shirts are for sale; the proceeds go to charity. There isn't a darts board or a pool table in sight. They're promoting their margaritas, not their beer.

And despite its location, Laurenzo's Grille should be a destination place, not a quick bite place before patrons hit the bars and clubs for which Washington Avenue is renowned, he said.

We were there for a media tasting on a weekday night, which means we have no way of knowing if parking is always this readily accessible (Laurenzo's has its own lot with an option for valet parking) or service always this great or the noise level this non-aggravating.

Domenic is the first of 18 grandchildren of the late great Ninfa Laurenzo (who opened the first Ninfa's in 1973 on Navigation), and his menu shows some of her influences, but really steers away from heavy-on-the-Tex-Mex. Instead there is a blend of American, Italian and Tex-Mex with an emphasis on the prime rib (prices range from $18 to $26 depending on the size), which is smart, because it is excellent.

"Prime rib is my favorite piece of meat when it's done correctly," Laurenzo told us. They've making their own au jus to go with it as well as their own horseradish sauce.

Ruggles Green finally has its big sister back

​First, a bit of good news from the streets of Montrose: Ruggles (903 Westheimer) has finally reopened after damages from Hurricane Ike and fire damage from renovations kept them closed for over a year. Head over this weekend and give them a warm welcome back to the fold, and keep yourself warm at the same time with a bowl of spicy shrimp pasta or the classic Ruggles crab cakes.

Earlier this week, Robb Walsh told us about Urban Harvest's 10th annual fruit tree sale. Despite the cold weather, it's still going on as planned starting at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning and running through noon at the Rice University stadium parking lot. And since so many area farmers and gardeners were clipping their crops in advance of the freeze, there should be a bounty of fresh produce and greens at area farmers' markets this weekend.

Yelapa Playa Mexicana is hosting the first of what it hopes to be a series of events called Reality Dinners: a multi-course menu featuring farm-fresh produce and as many local, sustainable and organic products as possible. It's Chef LJ Wiley's aim for people to know as much about their food and where it came from as possible -- a new reality for diners. The first dinner is this Sunday, January 17, and costs $65 per person (before tax and tip) or $130 with wine pairings. Call 281-501-0391 to RSVP.

Honefenger helped out in the kitchen at Stella Sola at the recent Bivalve Throwdown.

​Jonathan Honefenger is working as a waiter at Branch Water Tavern these days. Which is kind of odd, considering that he was one of the brightest new stars of the wine scene when he was hired away from Poscol by Tony Vallone a couple of months ago. His stint at Tony's restaurant was brief.

"Tony said I was burned out, that I had lost my passion," Honefenger said when he stopped by our table at Branch Water Tavern. Honefenger wasn't the only person who has been fired at Tony's lately. In what's being called "the Christmas Massacre," Chef Francesco Casetta got his walking papers too. Honefenger speculated that Vallone would save money by having lesser-paid assistants take over.

Tony Vallone responded that the partings took place some six weeks apart and were unrelated. He complained that Honefenger was badmouthing him "all over the blogs" with his nasty accusations. "To let somebody go over the holidays is not something I take lightly," Vallone said. "I let this young man go for some serious reasons -- very serious."

Honefenger helped out in the kitchen at Stella Sola at the recent Bivalve Throwdown.

​Jonathan Honefenger is working as a waiter at Branch Water Tavern these days. Which is kind of odd, considering that he was one of the brightest new stars of the wine scene when he was hired away from Poscol by Tony Vallone a couple of months ago. His stint at Tony's restaurant was brief.

"Tony said I was burned out, that I had lost my passion," Honefenger said when he stopped by our table at Branch Water Tavern. Honefenger wasn't the only person who has been fired at Tony's lately. In what's being called "the Christmas Massacre," Chef Francesco Casetta got his walking papers too. Honefenger speculated that Vallone would save money by having lesser-paid assistants take over.

Tony Vallone responded that the partings took place some six weeks apart and were unrelated. He complained that Honefenger was badmouthing him "all over the blogs" with his nasty accusations. "To let somebody go over the holidays is not something I take lightly," Vallone said. "I let this young man go for some serious reasons -- very serious."

​The year gone by marked some very exciting restaurant openings (such as Haven, Branchwater Tavern, Yelapa Playa Mexicana and Stella Sola) and some equally important closings (such as Cafe Annie, Bedford, Las Alamedas and Felix Mexican Restaurant). To close out the year, Robb Walsh recapped his favorite restaurant openings of the past decade as well as the biggest losses to the Houston restaurant scene in the last ten years, with many people chiming in on both posts.

Below, a review of all the restaurants in Houston that opened, closed or moved in the past year, in alphabetical order.

​Jungle Café and Patisserie recently made the move from the 9100 block of Bellaire and is now located in a new strip center just east of Beltway 8 on Bellaire. The new location is primed to set the standard for new cafes entering the Asian market, seizing on a modern and simple build-out -- the elegant marble and soft lighting are inviting and trendy all at the same time. It's a minimalist look that works great with Jungle Café's classic style of pastries.

We picked up an emeraude made from pistachio, almond meal, coconut and milk chocolate. Jungle is known for looking down upon too-sweet desserts, and this cake was in line with the other selections. The only issue we have ever had with Jungle is that its beautiful concoctions can sometimes lack in the flavor department, but these flavors melded nicely together.

Photo by emmiegrn

The Pig Stand, one of Houston's lost restaurants. Read about nine more of the most important restaurant closings of the decade below.

​1. Maxim's
Maxim's closed in January 2001. It was possibly the most influential restaurant in Houston's culinary history. It was the only upscale restaurant in the city for decades and its French cooking and quasi-French dining room became the very definition of fine dining for generations of Houstonians. Maxim's was named the "Restaurant of the Century" by Texas Monthly in the magazine's 1999 "Best of the Century" issue.

When the first fancy restaurant in Houston opened at the corner of Lamar and Milam in 1949, no one thought it odd that owner Camille Bermann had swiped the name from the famous restaurant in Paris. Camille Bermann's Maxim's of Houston later relocated to Greenway Plaza on Richmond.

Maxim's catered to Houston's new oil tycoons, like John De Menil, with fawning service and lavish prices. The restaurant had an extensive wine list and maintained "private club" status so patrons could store their booze in lockers. Bermann and many other American restaurant owners of the 1950s decorated their dining rooms in the "fin de siecle" bordello style. The décor, which included flocked red wallpaper, ornate chandeliers and cheap copies of French paintings, came to be known in the U.S. as the "French whorehouse" look.

Bermann, who the rich oilmen nicknamed "Frenchie," had trained under Georges Auguste Escoffier, and he brought French wine sauces and ingredients like endive to Houston for the first time. But at lunchtime, the menu always included a few meat-and-potatoes dishes, including chicken-fried steaks, for rough-and-tough wildcatters. Bermann became famous as the apostle of French cuisine, but he once remarked that it was the chicken-fried steaks that made him rich.

Maxim's never modernized its décor or menu, and it never found a younger audience. In the 1970s, Houston's first French restaurant lost its River Oaks patrons to a new generation of Italian "Rat Pack" restaurants like Tony's. Camille's son, Ronnie Bermann, sold the business to the Pappas organization, but plans to reopen never materialized after the restaurant closed its doors. While few Houston food lovers remember the place anymore, Maxim's stamp on Houston fine dining is indelible.

​We sampled the kimchee and bulgogi pizza at Cheese Berry Asian Pizza and Sweets at 9888 Bellaire this weekend. "That's our biggest seller," Jeanette Sun, the girl behind the counter, told us. There was also a kung pao chicken pizza and a red curry shrimp pizza available. The fusion pizzeria has only been open a couple of months, but it's already a hit.

​Blueberry Hill on West Alabama and Kirby silently opened a few months ago, and we haven't heard much about this frozen yogurt store.

We spoke with the owner, who told us the idea behind Blueberry Hill is to get the yogurt directly from one farming co-op -- this one being somewhere in Arkansas. They order by the truckload, so it is all made especially for Blueberry Hill and cannot be purchased from another retailer. The owner said that this was to provide more control of the product. Blueberry Hill wants to offer the highest quality yogurt with all the nutritional value still intact.

​Is there really such a thing as a jinxed restaurant location? Some say it is just a myth. But we beg to differ. In July, Eating Our Words featured its first list of jinxed restaurant locations. We are happy to see that some of these restaurants have beaten the curse. Feast even made it into Bon Appetite magazine. Unfortunately, not everyone can be as lucky. Here's our look at some of the less than lucky spots in Houston over the last decade.

1. 6540 San Felipe
Today: Shopping Center and Parking Lot
Yesterday: Scott Chen's, Third Coast

No one said having a fine-dining restaurant behind a gas station was a good idea. So far, we have only found gas station chicken and sushi to be successful. Fortunately, someone learned their lesson and tore down the restaurant for a shopping center.

2. 6401 Woodway Drive
Today: Sylvia's Mexican Kitchen
Yesterday: Grotto, Mi Cocina, PK's Blue Water Grill

Even the Grotto couldn't make it in this cursed spot. Maybe people are distracted by the Whole Foods in the same shopping center. You would think that a restaurant in the middle of a busy neighborhood across the street from an enormous church and school would make it. We are keeping our fingers crossed for Sylvia's.

3. 4315 Montrose
Today: Brasserie Max and Julie
Yesterday: Aries, Pic, Russo's Café Anthony, 43 Brasserie

It's a bad sign when some of Houston's most famous chefs, like Monica Pope and Scott Tycer, can't make this place work for a restaurant. Max and Julie's has been around since 2007, so maybe owners Laurence and Chris Paul have out-jinxed the location.

Photos by Katharine Shilcutt

Corndog shrimp with tabasco mash remoulade

​It can't be easy for Randy Evans right now. Once the executive chef at Brennan's -- one of Houston's most perenially popular restaurants -- and now the man behind what is easily the most anticipated restaurant opening of the year, Evans is carrying a weighty set of expectations upon his toqued head. And with hopes that high, and from so many of Houston's dining enthusiasts, it's easy to collapse under the pressure of all those expectations.

Working the dining room at Haven last night, though, Evans looked at ease as he moved between tables, greeting old regulars from Brennan's and new fans who've been following his restaurant build-out on Facebook or who've met the chef at any number of local farmers' markets, where he's been on a one-man slow-food mission for years. Then again, it could have been another tow-headed man in a chef's jacket -- our initial impression of Haven was that it was almost too dark to see three feet in front of you (something that shows in our ill-fated photos from the night). Sitting around a six-top, we commisserated with our friends that it might have been nice to see them...if we could actually see them. We could make out finely planed wood paneling and deep, crisp green colors amongst the candlelight, but all this talk of Haven's lovely dining space might be better appreciated during the day.

The dining room is like a cavern, but manages not to be too noisy. In fact, we did appreciate the fact that -- unlike some other restaurants in town -- we could actually carry on a pleasant conversation without having to shout. But despite the large size of the dining room, the tables are all but touching, making things excessively difficult for our waitress and her helpers, who squeezed desperately between chairs all night long, reaching repeatedly over our heads and apologizing profusely for having to hand us things instead of set them in front of us. If it was uncomfortable for us, it was doubly so for our poor waitress, who was otherwise splendid.

​So you've decided not to take any of our advice to stay home on New Year's Eve and cook a nice, memorable dinner. You're either brave or foolhardy and have somehow come to the conclusion that it's an awesome idea to ford the river of amateurs and drunks that will be coursing through the streets on New Year's Eve and want to go out.

​By now, most Houstonians have heard of the efforts to once again revitalize downtown's Market Square. The city block, which is bounded by Travis, Milam, Congress and Preston, has long been a park but has also long been ignored, despite many past efforts to revive it to its former glory.

Plans for the new Market Square Park were on display at a much-ballyhooed groundbreaking ceremony on December 15. The park's new design and footprint are entirely different from what currently exists -- a few mosaic-decorated concrete benches and some greenery -- and seem to be on par with Discovery Green, if on a smaller scale.

One of the most important factors in the park's success will be the restaurants that are planning on opening along Market Square. Currently, Les Givral's Kahve on Congress, Voice on Main and the brand new Byrd's Market on Main at Prairie are the strongest restaurants in the area. But they'll soon be getting company in the form of two new outposts of popular Houston restaurants and two brand-new restaurants from a familiar name.

Continue reading " Openings and Closings: Market Square"...

​We felt pretty smart nabbing a spot near the kitchen for the standing-room-only grand opening of Andalucia Tapas & Taverna last week. The waiters had to get through us to reach the rest of the crowd (the poor suckers by the door surely went hungry).

The cavernous restaurant, in the Downtown Pavilions at 1201 San Jacinto St., Suite 161, is part of Morocco native Youssef Nafaa's Bella Restaurants chain, which includes Cava Bistro, Mia Bella Trattoria, CoCo Crepes, Saffron and Cielo Mexican Bistro.

Whether it was Houstonians' love of Spanish food, a cultural interest in live flamenco dancing or downtown dwellers' joy at the Pavilions finally filling up (sort of), the place was packed. We hadn't used our ass that much in a crowd since ninth-grade basketball.

We also felt smart for picking our table because it put us next to David, a gregarious guy in a camel-hair blazer who was scouting the place out for his mother, a native of Madrid, Spain.

To draw the tapas to our table, David massaged the waiters on the shoulders and hollered, "Bring the good stuff!" Failing that, he walked up to the counter and intercepted several plates himself.

By the time we left, two hours into the madness, we'd tried eight dishes, several of them impressive.

Photos by Katharine Shilcutt

The Gin Blossom at Canopy

​Another new restaurant, another Sunday brunch "preview" in its opening days. This time, we landed at Canopy, Claire Smith's latest culinary endeavor (her most well-known being Shade, on 19th Street in the Heights). And landed is certainly an apt way to put it.

The interior of what used to be Salud! Winery at 3939 Montrose has changed for the better. And while the neighborhood was sad to see the Odom brothers shut down their boutique wine room, Canopy is an ever better addition. Large wood beams crisscross the two-story ceiling in the main dining room, looking for all the world like a giant bird's nest. Floor-to-ceiling panels that trick the eye with their prints of leafy shade trees and blue skies separate the dining room from a private dining area, while the cheerful green tabletops and modern wood chairs lend an elegant yet whimsical feel to the entire space. We instantly felt as if we were resting under a verdant canopy while dining outside.

While we weren't at all pleased to pull up and find half the parking lot choking in orange traffic cones and bored-looking valets, nor to find that we were some of the only people not in fur coats on this sunny, 60-degree Sunday morning -- this isn't River Oaks; valet parking and mink stoles are an instant turn-off in Montrose -- simply looking around Canopy put us in a better mood.

Service was shaky to start. We waited a good five minutes for anyone to even acknowledge us, and a surly hostess (we think? it was hard to tell) finally sat us with an attitude that implied we were seriously disrupting her morning. Our server was very pleasant, but had to be reminded about a cocktail that was never brought to the table. But that's where the difficulties ended. The rest of our visit was nothing short of perfect.

​Simposio chef Riccardo Palazzo-Giorgio has resigned after three months on the job. Manager Roberto Militello says Simposio will continue with its existing kitchen staff for now and that owner Vasco Luti may look for a new chef after the first of the year. When I reviewed Simposio in January of 2008, Igor Rosi, a young chef from Italy, was running the kitchen.

Igor is the guy who told the waiter to tell me the veal foreshanks he was serving for osso bucco were hind shanks and that the black, slimy lettuce in my salad wasn't old, it just reacted to the balsamic vinegar that way. Igor didn't last long either. It sure makes you miss old Alberto Baffoni. I wonder what happened to him after Bohemia closed.

Photo courtesy of Paula Murphy

The verdant interior of Canopy

​Two long-awaited restaurants have finally opened in the past week, just in time for the not-so-busy Christmas season. Here's your chance to check them both out before the masses pack into them come January.

Canopy (3939 Montrose) is Claire Smith's second restaurant. She currently owns and runs Shade, and Canopy is a kissing cousin to the popular Heights restaurant. The interior seems to be evocative -- fittingly -- of a shaded treehouse and looks like the perfect place to unwind with a slow meal and a table of friends. Canopy's menu lists items like St. Arnold's beer-battered snapper beignets with pommes frites and harissa lime mayo and sauteed yellow-edge grouper with field peas and garlic-lemon Swiss chard. It's now open for breakfast and dinner seven days a week starting at 7 a.m., with lunch served Monday through Friday.

Haven (2502 Algerian Way) is the much anticipated restaurant from Randy Evans, best known as the executive chef at Brennan's, and local dining impresario Rhea Wheeler. You may recall that Robb Walsh drove by Haven recently to see if they were open yet...and came away disappointed yet amused. Evans and the restaurant pride themselves on purchasing as much food as possible from local, organic and sustainable sources. The menu whimsically lists appetizers as "enticements" and offers dishes like free-range chicken with bacon spaetzle and crispy Brussels sprouts leaves and a Texas cheddar burger with housemade tater tots. As the menu is seasonal, expect it to change frequently.

​Famous for out-beefing the local competition with their 9-ounce burgers, 9ers is one of those diners that boast a menu of everything under the sun, so long as it's fried. It's not fancy and it's never cool, but if you're going to do something wrong, this is where you go to do it right.

Laced with something more powerful than MSG, the chicken-fried chicken looks like any other but tastes divine - the breading is flavorful and perfectly crisp, and the mashed potatoes and green beans accompanying it are buttery heaven. Don't know what you're hungry for? Just show up and decide later, because other menu items include seafood, fajitas, Philly subs, oversize spuds and even a salad or two.

​Street vendors in Houston are like championship sports teams: They're rare, they're captivating, and we'd sure like more of 'em around town. That's why we were so ecstatic to find Melange Creperie workin' the corner of Studewood and 10½ Street last Saturday in honor of Lights in the Heights.

Shielded behind a clever sign announcing "CREPES," Melangie Creperie is run by Buffalo Sean, a mellow kind of guy who first learned how to make crepes via YouTube before heading to Paris to perfect his skills. Lest you think the guy doesn't know his industry, he'll amiably talk your ear off about the business and pleasures of crepes, and he sure makes a mean one, too.