I should be a card-carrying Grumpy Old Man any moment now. That’s what I think every time I go to a “progressive,” “chef-driven” restaurant where the chef chooses what I eat - and especially one at which I have to order some multi-course tasting menu. So yes, Oxheart, this means you. For my real review, you’ll have to wait for the October HOUSTON magazine, but I thought you all might enjoy some of the photos and emotional outtakes from last night’s initial engagement.
Somehow the phrase “It’s a young man’s game” keeps flashing through my mind when I think of Oxheart chef-owner Justin Yu. The Houston native is all of 27, and it shows. In previous generations, he might still be peeling potatoes or plucking chickens in the back (unless, of course, he started European-style at age 13). Now, in the America of the Food Network, he owns his own restaurant. The confidence exuding from each plate at Oxheart is bedazzling.
As the spot east of downtown that launched Dharma Cafe and later Latin Bites, Oxheart is one of the smallest restaurants you’ll ever settle into. And its configuration now makes it even “smaller” than in the past. From its 11-person food bar they call The Counter to its five-person round table by the window to its seven or eight two-tops strewn along the longest wall, the place can handle just over 30 people at one time. Even with what amounts to a reservation-only policy, some people with reservations find themselves waiting outside. Yes, on an August evening. In Houston, Texas.
Once you “liberate” yourself from the old a la carte standard of appetizer-entree-dessert, what you have at Oxheart are a series of set menus: the Summer Menu, the Garden Menu (vegetarian), each priced at $49 with “selected beverage” pairings for $30 more, and the full-bore Tasting Menu for $75 with liquids for $40 more. Visual highlights of last night’s meal included the slow-roasted okra dish at the very top, the pickled and dried peaches and figs above, and the roasted summer squash underneath that. Just above these words, however, is proof that looks can be deceiving. The muscadine grape creation, with turnbull pear, oregano leaves and buds, and “unripe” Meyer lemon tasted way better than it looked.
One of the problems I have with tasting menus of the sort enforced at Oxheart is what I call The Search for Comfort Food, or perhaps The Search for Mythologized Mama’s Cooking. Not only do such dishes almost never look like anybody’s mother made them, but they seldom permeate your heart with a sense of well-being. Last night’s sole exception was this “stew” with neither meat nor seafood in it. What it had was barley and sunflower seeds - yep, believe it or not - plus some wilted kale (nice touch!), pickled eggplant and the greens sprinkled across the top called purslane, which I first heard of from hillbillies in the Ozarks three decades ago. Count on hillbillies, I suppose, to know how to make even food like this make you feel better. I loved this one!
Humorously, whenever I’m helping my chef friends write or edit menus (and, of course, correcting their spelling every inch of the way), I preach at them, “Lead with the money.” That means no “cannellini beans with arborio rice and Swiss chard with lobster.” You’ need to say, “Lobster with, etc.” Oxheart plays a variation on this mistake, hiding proteins on the plate (when you’re lucky enough to get any) at all cost. Above is the “gently steamed” Gulf barrelfish, which tasted really great once discovered underneath those “sweet potato” leaves, and also the “young goat braised with fragrant spices” hidden beneath that impressively endless peel of cucumber.
At Oxheart, the question is not really: Was I still hungry after seven courses from the Tasting Menu plus a couple other items scavenged from the Garden Menu? Of course I wasn’t hungry. Even with smallish tasting portions, this stuff adds up, plus I did eat nearly all of this lovely tart of summer figs, fig jam and the restaurant’s seemingly omnipresent lemon thyme. The question raised by the Oxhearts of the world is: What is eating about, or perhaps, What is eating even for? How you answer that question will certainly determine whether you become anything resembling a regular.
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