Author Archives: John DeMers

For the first time since opening its doors this past summer, Aldo’s Cucina Italiana started serving lunch this week, bringing a level of individual, casual, personal cooking and service to a Woodlands area that’s far more familiar with chain-restaurant predictability.

With his impressive dinner menu as guide, chef-owner Aldo el Sharif has spent the months since opening creating quicker, more midday-sized versions of the dishes his dinner customers have loved the best. These include all the evening meal’s favorite “food groups”: primi piatti to start, zuppe and insalate, pastas, and then main courses in Italy’s popular seafood, chicken, veal and meat categories. El Sharif says he has worked extra hard to present some of his best dishes, mastered over the past four decades of cooking, at affordable, competitive prices.

“I think of lunch as casual and comfortable, a chance to get away from the pressure of our work lives,” says the chef, who for a decade was a Houston legend with Aldo’s Dining con Amore on lower Westheimer. “But I also think the food has to be quality, you know. In that sense, lunch is no different from our dinner or our Sunday brunch.”

Ways to start a great lunch Monday-Saturday at the new Aldo’s include beef tenderloin carpaccio with arugula and the ever-popular fried calamari and zucchini with marinara dipping sauce. Favorite pastas include the mezzaluna (half-moons) with shrimp, roasted peppers and citrus cream sauce, while shrimp Provencal leads the Pesce list and chargrilled skirt steak with fine herbs sounds great among the Carne. All of Aldo’s signature desserts will be available at lunch as well.

For more information on the new lunchtime at Aldo’s Cucina Italiana, go to the restaurant’s website www.aldoscucinaitaliana.com or call 936.447.9623.

 

NOW HEARD IN THREE GREAT TEXAS CITIES!

AUSTIN Saturdays 10-11 a.m., Talk 1370

A Presentation of Spec’s Wines, Spirits & Finer Foods

We’re in Dallas this week, settling down to taste and talk with one of the Lone Star State’s most famous chefs, Dean Fearing. Long of the Mansion on Turtle Creek but now operating the much-praised Fearing’s at the Ritz-Carlton, Dean shares many stories from his life, literally, home on the range. And in our Grape & Grain segment, we zero in on the wines of Wild Horse from California’s Central Coast, chatting with director of winemaking Clay Brock.

HOUSTON Saturdays 2-3 p.m., News Talk 1070 KNTH

A Presentation of Spec’s Wines, Spirits & Finer Foods

We’re in Dallas this week, settling down to taste and talk with one of the Lone Star State’s most famous chefs, Dean Fearing. Long of the Mansion on Turtle Creek but now operating the much-praised Fearing’s at the Ritz-Carlton, Dean shares many stories from his life, literally, home on the range. And in our Grape & Grain segment, we zero in on the wines of Wild Horse from California’s Central Coast, chatting with director of winemaking Clay Brock.

DALLAS Saturdays 7-8 p.m., 570 KLIF

A Presentation of Spec’s Wines, Spirits & Finer Foods

We’re in Dallas this week, settling down to taste and talk with one of the Lone Star State’s most famous chefs, Dean Fearing. Long of the Mansion on Turtle Creek but now operating the much-praised Fearing’s at the Ritz-Carlton, Dean shares many stories from his life, literally, home on the range. And in our Grape & Grain segment, we zero in on the wines of Wild Horse from California’s Central Coast, chatting with director of winemaking Clay Brock.

Our 22nd Year of Eating, Drinking and Telling You About It!

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe

DEAN FEARING’S LOBSTER COCONUT BISQUE

Coconut Bisque:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 each large yellow onion, chopped

2 clove garlic, chopped

1 tablespoon ginger root, peeled and chopped

1 stalk lemongrass

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 quart lobster stock

1 quart coconut milk

1 packet tom ka paste

2 kaffir lime leaves

½ teaspoon fish sauce

1 cup cooked white rice

Salt and pepper to taste

Lime juice to taste

Sizzling Rice, recipe to follow

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

Heat oil in a large pot over medium high heat and add the onion, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, and celery. Sauté for 5 minutes, then add the lobster stock and the coconut milk. Bring to a boil and add the cooked white rice. Lower the bisque to a simmer, cook for 15 minutes while continuously stirring to prevent scorching. Remove the soup from the heat and puree all the ingredients in a bar blender for a smooth texture.

Strain the bisque back into a large pot and simmer over medium heat with the kaffir lime leaves and the fish sauce for another 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and season to taste with salt, pepper, and fresh lime juice. Before serving, remove the kaffir lime leaves. In each warm soup bowl, evenly distribute the sizzling rice, and 6 oz of coconut bisque into each bowl. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Sizzling Rice:

2 cups medium grain rice

2 tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

½ cup diced yellow onion

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced ginger root

½ cup diced carrots

¼ cup diced red bell pepper

¼ cup diced yellow bell pepper

¼ cup shelled fresh English peas

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Measure two cups of normal, medium grain rice into a pot. Pour two and a half cups of cold water into the pot. Place the pot over a moderate to high heat. Turn down the heat to the minimum possible when the rice comes to a rolling boil, and continue heating for five more minutes. Place a well sealed lid on the pot. Turn off the heat after five minutes. Do not lift the lid, it is important to leave the steam inside to cook the rice through. The pot of rice will be fully cooked, after about 10 minutes. Pour the rice out onto a sheet pan in a single layer. Using a fork, break the rice apart while sprinkling the seasoned rice vinegar throughout. Allow the rice to cool.

It’s certainly not everyday that two chefs I’ve liked and respected for many years open a new restaurant together - thus, despite their traditional French training, defying the old maxim that “Too many chefs spoil the broth.” In fact, since chef-owner David Denis and his wine-crazed brother Sylvain (billed collectively more and more as “The Denis Brothers,” like they work in a circus) are so busy out at Le Mistral that chef-partner Jacques Fox generally has the kitchen at Artisans to himself.

And quite a kitchen it is too. As Fox told me recording radio today… “We’ve always taken guests to the kitchen. Here, we’re actually taking the kitchen to the guests.” By all accounts, the chefs talked about the design of what would become Artisans for years - all the while Fox was teaching at Culinary Institute LeNotre (where he met Denis as he was getting ready to open Le Mistral) and then as Denis was pushing his little strip-center “friendly French” restaurant till he and his brother could buy and build on the prime real estate next door.

From its menu to its design, Artisans (which shares the neighborhood with such respected eateries as Brennan’s of Houston and Sushi Raku) is unrelentingly French - lock, stock and fleur de lys. The chefs were smart enough to engage Austin-based architect Michael Hsu, also on display locally with his chic new Uchi. Still, the guys insist they rejected any ideas that struck them as too hip, too happenin’ for the food they knew would follow.

In keeping with the name, the three Frenchmen (Sylvain handles the wines at Artisans, naturally) even found an artisan in Paris who could bring a rustic touch to a design that also has modern elements. When in doubt, that guy seemed to think, make it out of wood and burn a rooster onto it. Here, for instance, is the board behind the printed-out dinner menu. There’s also a wooden box for delivering guest checks to each table. Rooster burned on that thing too.

Of the appetizers I tucked into today, my favorite was Fox’s spin on seared scallops. Yeah yeah, every chef sears scallops. But these babies show up as though they were a soup waiting to happen, which they kind of are when your waiter lifts up that glass and a lush amoricaine sauce (lobster bisque, pretty much) pours out around the tender, sweet shellfish. I thought the foie gras starter was great too, with seared duck breast and a bit of baby quail.

And if you think I’m generally “over” seared scallops, don’t even get me started on Chilean sea bass. I mean, I feel like I’m what’s overfished, not this Patagonian toothfish that somehow adopted a really catchy market name. Here, however, the sea bass gets a coating of pistachios that keeps the flaky meat inside super-moist. And the fact that this fish shows up atop amazing risotto doesn’t hurt one bit.

Ready for some serious YUM? Ready for some lamb that isn’t a rack? Well, if so, run don’t walk to get your mouth around Artisans’ lamb loin. It comes out (like most things here: on an ultra-large white plate that lets the chefs pretend to be Picasso by way of Rothko) with perfect fingerling mashed potatoes (in that covered red pot) and something called a “corn galette.” That’s like a loose-knit, ultra delicious version of cornbread dressing, with plenty of actual kernels to remind you how it got that way.

I’m not 100% certain what the secret to Artisans’ best-ever steak au poivre is, except that for me it’s all about the sauce. The meat, sure… Fox and Denis are crazed tasters of beef products, searching long and hard for the perfect filet. But then Fox went back to his notes from cooking at the legendary Prunier in Paris in the ’70s, and found this extraordinary roadmap for onion, cognac, cream and demi-glaze. At its (and perhaps my) best, I told listeners this sauce is ”liquid meat.”

Apparently, while Artisans offers several versions of “dessert sampler,” the one we tasted for the radio was created “only for me.” Then again, I’ve been told stuff like that before. This again-large and again-white plate includes a superb apple tart (flipped and baked something like three times, with more butter brushed on each time - how French!), poached pear, cappuccino creme brule and a combination of lush flourless chocolate cake alongside what classicists call an “opera cake.” I was singing the arias myself before these two wildly talented French chefs had finished feeding me lunch.

Tonight, something like 800 invited movers and shakers of Houston will descend upon the new Katsuya by Starck, an LA-based Japanese restaurant concept that chose us for its first foray outside the Golden State. The guys who brought Katsuya here, including VP of Restaurant Operations Matt Erickson and corporate chef Danny Elmaleh, say Texans have been so warm andc welcoming. I hope they think the same tomorrow, after dealing with 800 of us in our party outfits.

The full name of the restaurant - Katsuya being the inspirational chef, Starck being the inspirational designer - really does say a mouthful, even before any food arrives. I suppose in keeping with how most of us imagine LA, this is a large, noisy (they prefer the phrase ”high energy”) restaurant that’s as much about how it looks and feels to be here as how it tastes. And even though that is seldom my personal mantra, a tasting last night has me convinced that Katsuya’s big, bold flavors are 100% real.

A perfect example is Katsuya’s version of Lobster Thermidor. No, they don’t call it that - but that’s what it surely is. Weaving Asian flavors throughout the topping spread across and around the tender lobster chunks before broiling, the chefs creating these recipes have managed to make a great dish even greater. They can name it whatever they want; it’s the best Lobster Thermidor I’ve ever tasted.

Not everything here is a wild and crazy spin on some classic. Sometimes it’s best to let a traditional and almost familiar item speak for itself. If you love (as I do) anything that’s equally spicy and sweet, then you will go nuts for this tempura rock shrimp appetizer. We actually had a small portion to taste and talk about on the radio show, and then we asked (make that, begged) for a full portion later on.

Though Katsuya hails from a part of the country with surely more vegans that any other, and then more folks who eat only seafood for protein, the place hasn’t breezed through location after location by scrimping on beef. Katsuya by Starck hardly bills itself as a steakhouse, Japanese or otherwise, but it does a bangup job with this particular spin on steak. Chef Danny says they ship some special wood in from Japan, a kind that burns extra fast and hot. As we all know, steak loves it that way.

And in this country, even in body-crazed southern California, you’d better not scrimp on dessert. Apparently all you need to do is make is sound healthy. This sweet finale, for instance, is billed as “Fuji apple.” Sounds healthy enough, yes? Yet it so obviously is not. It’s a kind of tart Tatin, really, except with the apples oh-so-attractively placed inside a nest of crisp, delicate phyllo. And yes, that is vanilla ice cream on top and plenty of caramel painted onto everything that sits still long enough.

And surely, Houston chocolate lovers will converge on this molten chocolate cake - even if, for my taste, that vanilla ice cream is sitting way too far from the warm chocolate it was intended to embrace. Besides, maybe I should say Texas chocolate lovers, since the company has every intention of expanding to Dallas, Austin and perhaps elsewhere in the state. They just don’t want such ambitious thoughts to get in the way of tonight’s 800 people. Like Scarlett O’Hara, they’ll think about that tomorrow.

The trick, when you’re invited to a 24-course tasting of new spring items at a posh joint like Triniti, is to say Yes right away - and only later worry about survivability. The courses would be small, you reassure yourself, and be paced out over three or maybe even four hours. Still, nothing can keep a 24-course dinner from being something of a journey, with some segments more to your liking than others.

You’ve seen one of these before. In the restauraurant industry, it’s known as a menu - and it’s what you order two or three things from and call it a night. Except last night at Triniti, when this was the menu of what we were all actually having. It’s inevitable that throughout such a night you glance at this menu and count how far you’ve come, or perhaps how far you still have to go.

Seen here last night at their usual battle stations, Triniti chef-owner Ryan Hildebrand and his crew made serving 24 courses to - what, maybe 48 diners? - seem like the easiest and most natural thing in the world. The service was a knockout, even adjusting for everyone in the dining room eating the same dish at the same time. This menu was born during just over a week of being closed. Triniti reopens to the public today.

Honestly, there’s no way I can show you or tell you about all the terrific tastes and textures - or even the “merely” interesting ones - that paraded about last night in the name of spring. If traditional bouillabaise, for instance, ran off with molecular gastronomy, it might come back looking like this: an intense seafood broth poured at your table over things like seafood sausage, saffron garlic panna cotta and ”rouille crumble.”

One or two dishes served last night were clear variations on Triniti classics - if indeed there can be “classics” at a restaurant open only since Christmas Eve. For example, this freshened-up spin on the cleverly named Foie Gras Breakfast. My table went nuts just seeing this one on the menu. The title item shows up with a tiny piece of sausage, brioche, blueberry balsamic jam and a quail egg. Old-fashioned bacon and eggs never had it so good.

It isn’t often on a tasting menu that any fish shows up after any meat, but all such bets were off at Triniti last night. This dish, titled CAPELLINI in the restaurant’s sometimes bizarre nomenclature, actually featured red mullet as its protein. Yet somebody must have figured out that the best thing on the plate was the pasta - cooked perfectly, slathered in a seafood cream enriched with uni (that’s sea urchin to you and me) and speckled with English peas. I could have this pasta all by itself for dinner, though I would need a lot more of it.

One of the best new desserts I’ve tasted in a long time, this one titled CHEESECAKE was an amazing salute to Texas springtime edging toward the long, hot summer. Yes, there is some cheesecake involved - the creamy-custardy stuff lightly caramelized on top and looking for all the world like creme brulee. But the best thing was the strawberry element, which perfumed the entire dining room before I even took my spoon to it. This sorbet proved the ultimate companion to almond shortbread. This was the dessert - one of six last night - that collected the most oohs and ahhs.