Uchi-Houston

Sometimes (and I do mean on occasion) a meal will come along that makes you sit back in your seat and breathe a sigh of relief. It also makes you want to shout for joy, moan with pleasure (just a little) and shed a tear.You couldn’t be happier.

Such is what occurred last week when I had the great pleasure of dining at Uchi for their “soft opening”. A “soft opening” is what restaurants do prior to opening, where menu items are tested, friends and peers are invited and sometimes even food critics get a sneak peek at what is to come.

After several bites of the Machi Cure (see below) I literally put my chopsticks down, sat back and proclaimed out loud- that this was the best meal I’d had in 3 months. Mind you I was several bites into the first dish. Believe me when I say, I am not exaggerating.

Machi Cure/ smoked baby yellow tail, yucca crisp, garlic brittle, asian pear

In case you are wondering, I have not gone hungry in the last few months, but the last truly great meal I’ve had prior to Uchi, was 3 months ago at Foreign and Domestic. It was October and I had just moved back to Texas, fresh off the boat from living in the Bay area. Think what you will, the truth is I have become accustomed to a certain level of dining (even at the lowest form) after living in the San Francisco area. The meal at Foreign and Domestic, awakened the senses, inspired me, made me both sit up in my seat and sit back with satisfaction. In my opinion that is what a truly great meal should do.That is precisely what every meal at Aziza did for me. Pure bliss.

Insert Uchi. I’ve known Chef Philip Speer for quite a long time, and have had the opportunity to briefly work alongside him in the past as well. It’s incredibly impressive and astounding to observe someone with his caliber of talent, remain continually humble (the humblest), gracious and relaxed throughout the years. Just remarkable. He just never-let it go to his head. Bravo to that.

When he extended an invite, I was more than excited to try Uchi-Houston.

Bacon Tataki/ pork belly, fennel, black lime, coriander, espresso fish caramel

I brought along a girlfriend of mine and we embarked on an incredible journey though the menu, oscillating between hot and cold items. After we got the green light, we just kept going. There was Viognier, far too much (in a good way) Pinot, tempura, rolls and finally ending with not 1 but 3 desserts. It’s hard to believe I woke up hungry the following morning.

Walu tempura

Yokai Berry/atlantic salmon, dinosaur kale, asian pear, yuzu

Brie Ringo/tempura fried brie, apple chutney, sweet potato crisp

Decidingly beautiful remains of the Brie Ringo. Apple brunoise.

This is Nobu-san the Sushi Chef (next to ours). He most recently hails from Morimoto Napa. We had a nice exchange as I waxed poetic over the Uni Carbonara and Melon tempura.

Walu Walu/oak grilled escolar, candied citrus, yuzupon, myoga

Madia Carpaccio/Japanese sea brea, citrus,olive oil, myoga

Hamachi and Saba (with shaved Truffle and cherry tomato)

Mustang/ Eel…

Ham and Eggs/Katsu pork belly, yolk,custard, esplette

Fried Milk (Milk 3 ways)/chocolate milk, ice milk, toasted milk

Lemon gelato/white balsamic, pistachios

Lime Cremeaux/chocolate croquant, thai chili meringue, vanilla lime gel, kefir lime sorbet

It was a glorious evening of beautiful food. It was also a pleasure to watch and enjoy the spectacle and commotion of near perfection and seamlessness occurring in this premature setting. Not only is Philip the Corporate Pastry Chef for Uchi and Uchiko in Austin, he is also the Culinary Director for the restaurants. He has been based here in Houston, overseeing, directing and assembling a large cast of extremely talented restaurant professionals to staff Uchi. It shows.

And sure the servers are still in training and our delayed waiting at the host stand meant participating in a short “training” exercise. To be expected. Though with that being said, every dish that emerged from the hot kitchen and from the Sushi Chef in front of us was flawless in presentation, taste, and composition. Blindfolded, I’d have never guessed this place was not even “open” and only on day two of serving food to the general public. Un-blindfolded, I was ecstatic to receive and participate in such an incredible and truly memorable meal. That is saying a lot.

I read a tweet from a food truck called The Modular (whom I’ve heard so much of but have yet to try) which sums it up completely: ..“and I will be the first to admit it. They have the total package already on day 2 what others restaurant will never get”.

That’s it. The bar is raised, the standards are pretty high. Welcome to the fourth largest city in the country. Stay a while will you.

I have no complaints. I’d happily eat here more than once a week. Every day in fact.

2011

Poppy seed kolache (Rebecca Rather recipe)

Salmon with fresh herbs and ginger rice at Chez George

Tuna Pizza at Morimoto Napa

Melon tempura with Jamon Iberico at Morimoto Napa

Grapes and Meatballs at Aziza

Porchetta sandwich at Roli Roti

Sweet Potato fries with roasted garlic aioli at Chez Henson

Geso at Tsukiji in Mill Valley

Lamb Merguez “zilla style” at 4505 Meats

Bone marrow at Marlowe

Dessert (carrot cake) in a jar at Marlowe

Uni Carbonara at Bar Agricole

Oyster stew at Plum

(Almost) Sardines and Brioche at Aziza

Chicken Charmoula, Jidori egg, potato foam “Kabanos in a cup” at Aziza

Oyster 5 ways at Fifth Floor

Hot and cold Foie at Fifth Floor

Runny egg, toast and Confituras Strawberry jam

“Caprese” at Sketch in London

Pimm’s cup at a Private Club

Brioche, Apricots, Vanilla at St.John in London

Crab ravioli with tomato consomme at Lambert’s in Balham

Iced Raspberry nougat, Summer Pudding, Raspberry sorbet at Lambert’s in Balham

Sazerac at Comstock Saloon

Hangtown toast at Comstock Saloon

Pimento cheeseburger at Brick and Bottle

Cherry inspired Foie tasting at Redd in Napa

Cherry, Coffee, Almond at Redd in Napa

“Shrimp cocktail” at The Bazaar

Foie Gras cotton candy at The Bazaar

Prawn/ black garlic, corn, yolk, shellfish at Aziza

Cappuccino at Bluebottle

Cannelle at Boulette’s Larder

Orange blossom and Salted-Caramel at Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous

Tripe and Beef head tacos at La Taqueria

Basil risotto and charred romaine at Plum

Bone Marrow with bacon marmalade at RN74

1.50$ Oysters at the Ferry Building

Caramelized Onion Brioche with peach butter at Foreign and Domestic

Bacon Cheeseburger and onion rings at Stanton’s City Bites

Turkey Posole at Hernandez Casa

2011 rewarded me with many (and many) a wonderful meal.This is just a glimpse of some of the memorable dishes I enjoyed. I tried to include a range of food that I ate, but it is clear that my taste buds gravitate towards the: oozy, runny, luscious, comforting and decadent. Looking back at these images, I can’t help but feel fortunate to have enjoyed so much great food (and in good company) in 1 country and 2 states. This year I hope to eat in at least 3 states (beside my own) and 2 countries.

Happy New Year!

Note: that Ici ice cream in Berkeley is not pictured. I couldn’t find an image, but let it be known that ice cream at Ici is some of the best I have ever tasted. I’ve included an image from Mr. and Mrs. which is a close second choice.

And p.s., the wandering “Gypsy” that I am is now living in Texas. I promise the food that I post will not be completely centered around BBQ and Mexican…but I wouldn’t count on much sushi (except of course until the new Uchi opens)!

Cheers.

Gulkand

Right after Orange Blossom water, Gulkand might just be one of my favorite ingredients. It is nice to have easy access to this jarred goodness again. Because besides bacon marmalade, what’s better than candied rose petals? And I must admit things got a little messy when making this bread the other morning. Sometimes bread can be well, uncooperative. But in the end I won. FYI, this isn’t always the case, so I savour the moment when it does occur (like when the Metro is on time).

Wenceslao

My family story begins like that of a many Shakespearean drama or Roman trilogy. It is filled with tales of love, romance, greed and deception. Cousins marrying cousins (though not knowing they were cousins), revenge, mayhem, compelling decisions and repercussions. It also involves death, though unlike love, death is always inevitable.
The story begins with my great-great-grandmother Carmen. Well I’ll begin the story with Carmen.
It was in Cadereyta, Mexico. The year is unknown. Carmen leaves her 3 children with her sister to head for greener pastures in America (i.e. marry another man).

These were times when people made difficult choices and had names of substance. Names with weight. And names of Spanish Saints.

Carmen marries Espinoza, a man of unknown origin. Carmen went on to have 3 more children with Espinoza: Carmela, Lupe and Trina. Incidentally none of these sound like Spanish Saints. These would be the half-siblings of my great-grandmother Lucita.

Christmas eve night, I sat with my mother in my kitchen and she told me this fascinating story of her mother’s family. In between bites of Posole, I took notes on a page of the New York Times. I might add my mother cooked the Posole. I might also add that this was her first ever (yes, really) time making Posole and that the Posole consisted of ground turkey and not pork. At this point you might be asking your self what kind of Mexican are you? And what kind of Mexican is your mother?

“Spanish and Indian produce: Mestizo“

We are Mexican, yes. As the saying goes: “Our fathers were the Spaniards, but our grandfathers were the Arabs”. We might also have some German in us, maybe some French, we definitely have Spanish blood.
In a land before time, there was a woman they call La Malinche. Depending on who you ask she was either a heroine, a traitor and possibly the mother of the “first Mexican”.

I’m not quite sure why my Mother never got around to making Posole until this year. It’s not as though she didn’t grow up eating it. According to she, my great-grandmother Lucita (Luz) was the one who made it every year for Christmas. And here is my Mom, finally making it for the first time and using ground turkey instead of the traditional pork. Posole is a bit like the Mestizo of Mexican food. Rooted in indigenous background (corn and chili) but swimming with Spanish and European flavors (pork and spices). My mother’s version turned out to be very, very good. I was impressed. Very. I couldn’t help think of Lucita and her estranged mother Carmen and what they’d think of this “healthy” modern-day version of Posole.

I thought of Carmen and the new family she began with Espinoza. One of their daughters Carmela, went on to marry a man called Wenceslao. When my mother told me this I couldn’t help repeating, who? what? And what kind of Spanish name is that? Naturally I was compelled to investigate such a name: Wenceslao.

Wenceslao is derived from Vaclav, which is Slavic in background.

My great-grandmother’s half-sister Carmela went on to produce 8 children with Wenceslao. They also had original names like: Carmelita, Waterio, Wilfredo (Wifi), Christela, Colida, Christiana, Clemen, and Wenceslao Jr. And there you were thinking every Mexican was name Jose or Maria. Not to worry, I have a few of those in my family as well.

Christmas morning I woke up craving Mom’s “steamed apples” (applesauce), sweet German sausage and potato latkes, which I made using sweet potatoes. I don’t know why I wanted any of it. I had the sausage, I was thinking of latkes and there was the applesauce from the previous night. It all sounded good together. We drank strong coffee, mine splashed with egg nog. A few hours later we gathered back in the kitchen for more tamales and left-over Posole.

I’m intrigued (as you know) by the history of food. Food, like life, can bring us great pleasure and great pain. It promotes intrigue, mystery and can be thought-provoking. Food can define us, bring us together and warm us to the core. I hope to one day visit Cadereyta.

Different corner

5:44 p.m. at McKinney
Urban Harvest Farmer’s market produce: butternut squash, tomatoes, green beans
Early morning sky
Work scene: pom. gelee, chocolate, cookies, creme anglaise
5:53 p.m. at McKinney
Combination Pho from Mai’s
More early morning sky
Chilaquiles: perfection

Confluence

Main street
Sausage, Gruyère, Mizuna green filled crepe from  Melange Creperie at Urban Harvest Farmer’s Market at City Hall
Building lines
Produce in late November: Padron peppers, spinach, tomatoes (Urban Harvest @ City Hall)
Birds circling the star
Kitchen snack @ 7:35 p.m.: fried chicken neck with Serrano and lime

Simplicity

I made a wonderful dinner tonight. Admittedly, I have no picture to prove it. Life is going a million miles an hour right now. It is truly that time of year. My roller skates are on and snuggly fastened…but it’s good (it’s necessary) to slow down. It’s necessary to keep it all in perspective and not lose sight of the big picture (what ever that may mean to you). Kindness versus consumerism for example.

Savour the moment (literally), appreciate the simplicity of things in life and just keep it simple. Like my dinner: simple. Sausage (Pederson Farms), peas, mint, chili flakes. A glass of an acceptable nondescript Syrah/Cab. blend to accompany. What could be better? Well, bone marrow, but besides that this dinner was near perfect. 4 ingredients, 5 counting butter.

Other than that this is also simple perfection to me. Peonies, Ilex berry, hot cocoa and marshmallows. And this: Fleet Foxes / Blue Ridge Mountains /Take Away Show. Still gives me chills watching it every time.

Simple, beautiful, passionate, filled with intent, pure, un-complicated.

Like life should be.

Tastes like Chicken

deep fried Red fish head

“It tastes like chicken,” is what I told the older of my two nephews one recent afternoon while presenting him with an afternoon snack. I was accompanying my nephews (ages 4 and 7) back to their Montessori school for a little fundraising event, and I came bearing snacks to recharge their little batteries. I must say that deep-fried red fish head is certainly a step up from the usual Pirates Booty (amazing cheddar popped goodness) I bring. Only snag is that M. doesn’t like fish. So I was kinda sneaky and told him it was a taco filled with some mango and cucumber, and something else….and oh by the way, it might be a little spicy. I wanted him to try it. I knew it was a good taco and I really had a feeling he’d like it. So he grabbed the taco from my hand and I turned away while he began eating it. Furiously.

In between these furious bites, I attempted to distract him by directing him to look at a kid in a funny cape. And at a very fat cat that was crossing the street. It worked. He kept eating and enjoying the fish head taco.

His mom (my step-sister) got into the car and I casually brought up that M. was such a foodie (Well he is.Favorite food: Gruyère and pitted green olives) and how he had just eaten a delicious red fish head taco with mango and cucumber. His Mom was equally impressed, as last time she checked (5 minutes prior), he didn’t like, nor would he eat fish. At all.

There was some brief hissing, hollering and shrieking, from he. Then it sunk in and he sat back and seemed to gloat in the fact that he had just eaten the meat (fish meat) from a deep fried, red fish head. He thought it was cool and good, as much as he made a fuss about being tricked into eating fish. And he still brings it up. It’s now an ongoing joke.

Truth: it did taste a little like chicken and everything tastes that much better deep fried. Wouldn’t you agree?

Beet & Vegetable soup

On this appropriately rainy December day, this is my offering to you. A simple vegetable soup that’s heavy with beets, green beans, spinach, carrots, celery, onion, garlic and padron peppers. It’s also swimming with cappellini. Because I happen to love cappellini and it was in closer reach than the brown rice. Applaud me.

I garnish my bowl with a good dollop of greek yogurt. Beets and yogurt are perfect together. In case you didn’t know…..I hope it brings warmth, joy and equilibrium to your table.

Directions:
In a large soup pot, brown about 5 cloves of garlic in olive oil. Add chopped onion (1), chopped celery and carrot ( 2 or 3 of ea.) and continue to saute until soft. Add chopped padron peppers ( about 5 or 6 depending how hot you like it). Add salt and pepper to taste. Add water and fill about half way. Add chopped green beans and beets. Put the lid on and go sit down with your glass of wine. When vegetables are al dente, add fresh spinach (tear with your hands) and as much pasta (hand full) or rice (about 1 cup) as you like. Taste for seasoning. Fresh herbs would have been nice had I had some, so I decided to keep it simple and let the vegetables speak clearly for themselves. They did.

Incidentally I picked up the green beans (heaping pile below), spinach, padron peppers, tomatoes and a butternut squash at the Wednesday Urban Harvest Farmer’s Market at City Hall. It is quite a cute market with an interesting turnout in the middle of the week. I’m slowly getting accustomed and acclimated again. As for the green beans, I’ve barely scratched the surface. I either need to make a casserole (joking) or poach some eggs and crisp some bacon…but back to that craving for basil pesto with cappellini. Of course with green beans.

Cream cheese

I belong to the percentile of people (the many) who strongly believe that many things taste better when topped (or covered) in cream cheese. I’m also one of those people who loves some cream cheese that is covered in salsa. Yes, salsa. You heard right. But take for instance this pumpkin cake. Goes from ordinary-good to extraordinary -great when topped with a dollop of cream cheese frosting.

I fixed these bite-sized pumpkin cakes for a special order recently. The next day I turned it into a cupcake. Overnight hit. People love it. I think people just love cupcakes. I also think people love things covered in cream cheese frosting. Or partially covered. Maybe it’s the candied ginger or even the local figs (from Urban Harvest Saturday market). Don’t get me wrong they are good. Whatever works. It’s usually balance…

Good times.