It’s hard to figure out where Texas cooking is headed right now. There are a lot of different trends going on and they have little to do with each other. In fact, sometimes it seems like the chefs in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin arrived here from different planets. In this series, I’ll [...]]]> It’s hard to figure out where Texas cooking is headed right now. There are a lot of different trends going on and they have little to do with each other. In fact, sometimes it seems like the chefs in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin arrived here from different planets. In this series, I’ll check out food from some hot Texas chefs and look for clues about the big picture.

Felipe Riccio’s “Rainbow Runner-Mayhaw Ceviche” appetizer at Reef in Houston, is a marvel. It combines two unique ingredients in a sensational dish that neatly sums up the restaurant’s philosophy.

While restaurants in Dallas and San Antonio concentrate on finding local sources for produce and meats, chef Bryan Caswell at Reef in Houston has led the way in expanding the definition of locavore to include local waters. Reef was one of the first restaurants to identify Galveston Bay oysters by specific reef names. Caswell and fishmonger P.J Stoops have helped launch the “Texas trash fish movement” in Houston and Austin.

“Trash fish” refers to underutilized species like sea bream, tripletail, and rainbow runner. These bycatch fish are harvested accidentaly while fisherman are targetting something else; creating demand for them is one key to building a sustainable fishery.

Rainbow runner is a member of the jack family. To make Reef’s rainbow runner ceviche, the flesh of the fish is salt cured and the bones are used to make a fish jus that is reduced with Maderia. The fish is marinated in mayhaw vinegar, which “cooks” the ceviche. The fish is served with blood orange supremes, pickled Gulf sea beans (a kind of seaweed), and pickled mayhaws.

Mayhaws were once gathered wild and turned into the mayhaw jelly sold at East Texas farmstands. The “haw” is the fruit of the hawthorne tree, and May is the season when its ripe, hence “mayhaw.” The traditional East Texas fruit has become rare in the wild and is now grown on a handful of farms including Jackson’s Fruit Farm in the Big Thicket where Reef gets its mayhaws.

Pickled mayhaws, pickled sea beans and candied kumquats are among the jars and jars of things you’ll find in Reef’s refrigerator–the kitchen turns out a steady stream of pickles, vinegars, syrups and preserves made from local produce on a weekly basis.

Riccio has been at Reef for two years now, he became sous chef one year ago. He received his training at HCC’s Culinary Arts program. In his last job, he worked with French chef Frederic Perrier at Aura Restaurant. The French have long been an inspiration when it comes to trash fish–bouillabasse was first concocted by fishermen’s wives as a way to use the varieties of fish that no one wanted to buy.

Felipe Riccio, Bryan Caswell, Adam Saxenian

It’s hard to figure out where Texas cooking is headed right now. There are a lot of different trends going on and they have little to do with each other. In fact, sometimes it seems like the chefs in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin arrived here from different planets. In this series, I’ll [...]]]> It’s hard to figure out where Texas cooking is headed right now. There are a lot of different trends going on and they have little to do with each other. In fact, sometimes it seems like the chefs in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin arrived here from different planets. In this series, I’ll check out food from some hot Texas chefs and look for clues about the big picture.

Chef Matt McAllister

I watched as the salads were assembled by McCallister and his volunteer assistants. You sure can’t call this tweezer food–the chef encouraged his helpers not to waste time arranging things, but rather to put the ingredients randomly around the plate. Carrots, kohlrabi and beets were the roots, the leaves included dinosaur kale, chard and lettuce, dill and other herbs were the stems. The soil was an amazing blend of brown powders including sumac (a Middle Eastern ingredient sometimes used in zaatar), cocoa powder, nuts and spices. Olive oil powder was sprinkled here and there among the vegetables–it turned slippery when you reconstituted it in your mouth.

Windy Hill goat breast with rack, tongue, mousse and farro puree, yogurt, mint, poppy and carrot jam was the meat course. The goat chops were big, juicy and rare. Windy Hill in Austin raises the big meaty Boer-cross goats called “redheads.” The condiments were all very charming, but the most amazing thing on the plate was the “mousse,” a creamy goat liver paste that might be the boldest liver preparation I have ever tasted. McCallister confessed in his remarks after lunch that he had never made goat liver mousse before. I just wished I had a glass of Malbec, or a Russian Imperial Stout to savor with it. The iced tea wasn’t doing it justice.

Dessert was a careening joyride of flavors you would have never thought of combining–caramel popcorn ice cream with Texas cheddar, a reduced sweet soy sauce called kepap manis, and sesame granola. McCallister, who has renounced molecular meddling, now embraces a Dallas version of a rustic seasonal cuisine that seeks to include local and regional influences. It’s a welcome sharpening of focus for a dining scene dysfunctional enough to inspire a departing restaurant critic to write an goodbye titled: “How Dallas became a Dining Nowhereville.”

Matt McCallister helped open Campo Modern Country Bistro in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas. “The modern bistro features a seasonal menu inspired by a trip to the City of Buenos Aires and Mendoza region…reflecting French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese influences,” states the restaurant’s website. The biggest gripe McCallister got from customers at Campo was about the size of his portions. In an interview with the Dallas Observer, McCallister responded that Dallas diners need to eat less. McCallister doesn’t work at Campo anymore, and the Dallas Morning News restaurant critic observed that the food has declined in quality since he left.

Matt McAllister’s cooking career began in 2006 with a job at Stephan Pyles in Dallas. After rising quickly through the ranks there, the ink-sporting, self-taught kitchen wiz became executive chef at the molecular-gastronomy lab at Pyles’s Fuego. Before opening Campo, he staged at the one of the foremost molecular restaurants in the country, Alinea in Chicago.

McCallister is slated to open his own restaurant, FT-33 in the fall with chef Brady Williams as his second in command. In the meantime watch for surprise appearances and guest chef gigs. You’ll find news about him on the facebook pages for Chef Matt McCallister and Matthew McCallister.

Thanks to my daughter Julia Walsh for the photos.

It’s hard to figure out where Texas cooking is headed right now. There are a lot of different trends going on and they have little to do with each other. In fact, sometimes it seems like the chefs in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin arrived here from different planets. In this series, I’ll [...]]]> It’s hard to figure out where Texas cooking is headed right now. There are a lot of different trends going on and they have little to do with each other. In fact, sometimes it seems like the chefs in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin arrived here from different planets. In this series, I’ll check out food from some hot Texas chefs and look for clues about the big picture.

Arctic Char with Bananas and Apple Slice

The title on the menu at the new restaurant in the Elian Hotel in the Hill Country outside of San Antonio reads: “Sustenio, Modern Southwestern Cuisine by Stephan Pyles.” The test tube full of melon puree had a capsule inside that exploded in my mouth as I drank it–it was melon juice. The flavor reminded me it would soon be time for Pecos cantaloupes. The crispy-skinned arctic char with creamy rutabaga puree, freeze-dried banana chunks and a glazed apple slice with a perfect star in the middle was wonderful. Though it brought to mind the question that restaurant critics and chefs in Texas used to grapple with: “What makes this dish ‘Southwestern?’”

Stephan Pyles was one of the founding fathers of the Southwestern cuisine movement. Traditionalists can still order such Stephan Pyles trademarks as tamale tart custard and cowboy ribeye at Sustenio. The surprise is that the kitchen serves ten kinds of Peruvian-style ceviche, imports oysters and fish from Canada, and dabbles in molecular gastronomy.

Gilbert & Pyles

Of course, Stephan Pyles is busy building a new restaurant in Dallas, so he’s not working at Sustenio full time. Sustenio’s Executive Chef David Gilbert is the mad scientist in the kitchen here. Raised in Dallas, the 34 year-old Gilbert graduated from the culinary arts program at Johnson and Wales University and externed at Michelin-starred Restaurant Vermeer in Amsterdam with Edwin Katz.

After working at some top restaurants across the U.S., Gilbert came home to Dallas to work at Luqa, where he became known for molecular effects like table side activation of rosemary aromas, having patrons suck mousses out of tubes, and encapsulating crème brulée caramel over the custard. In recognition of his cutting edge culinary techniques, Gilbert was the proud recipient of the 2007 Rising Star Chef award from Starchefs.com.

It’s worth visiting Sustenio just to get a tour of the new technology employed in the modernistic kitchen. You can follow Stephan @ChefPyles and Gilbert @beyondthekit on twitter.

Food TV would be a cool thing to do. Mess around in the kitchen–take a few videos. Eat good. What could be better?

Meet food TV mega-producer Irene Wong. After Irene Wong produced half a dozen hits for the Food Network, she went independent and started her own production company, IW Productions. These [...]]]>

Food TV would be a cool thing to do. Mess around in the kitchen–take a few videos. Eat good. What could be better?

Meet food TV mega-producer Irene Wong. After Irene Wong produced half a dozen hits for the Food Network, she went independent and started her own production company, IW Productions. These days, she spends nine months a year on the road shooting 6 days a week for a grueling 12 hours a day.

Irene and her crew came to El Real Tex-Mex on Saturday to shoot a segment for Unique Eats on the Cooking Channel. Irene and company got there at 4 AM! That’s one hour after we close on Friday night. Chef Bryan Caswell and I were asked to arrive at the leisurely hour of 6 AM. Irene’s gang had already lit the entire kitchen and were testing equipment when we got there. They had Caswell wired up with a microphone before he got a cup of coffee in his mouth.

I was flattered when Irene told me she had all my cookbooks. To make myself useful, I ran out and got everyone some hot glazed and boudin kolaches from the North Main Shipley’s. The crew scarfed the doughnuts and kolaches without ever taking a break. One camera crew did crowd shots when the restaurant opened at 11, while another crew set up food close-ups upstairs on the balcony. By the time the 9 hour shoot was over, I was exhausted.

I won’t ruin the movie by telling you the ending or what dishes the show wanted to feature. I am not sure when, or even if, the footage shot at El Real footage will make it on TV. Irene Wong and crew didn’t hang around to socialize. They had several more shoots scheduled for Houston restaurants and stores.

Dang, that food TV thing looks like a blast–right?

The RobbWalsh.com “Texas Eats” website was down for more than a week due to technical difficulties. If you tried to find us while were out of commission, we apologize.

It seems our server got raided by interweb evil doers. We ended up with the  “WordPress Pharma Hack.” Every time we tried to send [...]]]> The RobbWalsh.com “Texas Eats” website was down for more than a week due to technical difficulties. If you tried to find us while were out of commission, we apologize.

It seems our server got raided by interweb evil doers. We ended up with the  “WordPress Pharma Hack.” Every time we tried to send a link of our site to Facebook, or anywhere else, we transmitted a message about where to buy drugs online.

Cleaning things up and moving to a new server was a little more complicated than it sounded. Our technical department (Pableaux “Bayou Dog” Johnson) had to redo all the photo links and otherwise tinker under the hood.

Thinking about people who spread Spam (not you Hormel) and hack websites makes me angry. Sometimes I daydream about what I would do if I ever got hold of one of these slimeballs. Hacking is a form of theft, right? So would a convicted hacker get his hands chopped off under Islamic law? I know a pitmaster in South Carolina named Tim Hyman who would be perfect for the job of punishing hackers–he is a sort of hacker himself.

Seafood chef Denis Wilson, the name behind Denis’ Seafood and the late Jimmy Wilson’s Seafood and Chop House, is back in business in a North Houston fast casual restaurant called Louisiana Homestyle Kitchen. Only this time, instead of seafood, he is specializing in free range chicken.

The menu is a veritable Bubba Gump litany [...]]]> Seafood chef Denis Wilson, the name behind Denis’ Seafood and the late Jimmy Wilson’s Seafood and Chop House, is back in business in a North Houston fast casual restaurant called Louisiana Homestyle Kitchen. Only this time, instead of seafood, he is specializing in free range chicken.

The menu is a veritable Bubba Gump litany (only with chicken instead of shrimp). Offerings include: Free range fried chicken, free range rotisserie chicken, free range chicken fricasee, free range chicken chef salad, free range chicken wedge salad, free range chicken homestyle salad, free range chicken gumbo, free range chicken tortilla soup, and a free range chicken strip poor boy.

The menu also includes fried shrimp, boiled shrimp, fried crawfish tails, red beans and rice, smothered pork chops, an awesome pot roast and a couple of poor boys.

The fried chicken that I sampled was sensational and so were the butterflied fried shrimp. Wilson’s tartar sauce alone is worth the trip. I poured the intense, chocolate-brown gravy that came with the pot roast over some rice. Wow. I can’t wait to try Wilson’s roast beef poor boy.

At this writing, the restaurant isn’t open yet. Wilson said he would be open just before Thanksgiving, so keep an eye out.

Louisiana Home Kitchen
16950 Ella Blvd.
281 580 8400

Chef Maurizio Ferrarese of Quattro Restaurant in the Houston Four Seasons hotel and I collaborated on a Texas cioppino last Friday. Maurizio invited me to join him in the kitchen as part of the Guest Chef series there. I know, I know, I am not really a chef. But I do work in [...]]]>
Chef Maurizio Ferrarese of Quattro Restaurant in the Houston Four Seasons hotel and I collaborated on a Texas cioppino last Friday. Maurizio invited me to join him in the kitchen as part of the Guest Chef series there. I know, I know, I am not really a chef. But I do work in a lot of kitchens–mainly developing Tex-Mex recipes.

My guest chef gig in an Italian restaurant started over a plate of spaghetti at the Sacred Heart Society spaghetti lunch, Maurizio and I were debating the provenance of the fish stew called cioppino. I thought it was invented by Italian-American fishermen in San Francisco. But chef Maurizio, who is Italian, insisted it originated in Liguria.

I also told Maurizio that I was working on a Texas version of cioppino for the Italian-Texan chapter of my upcoming book “Texas Eats” (Ten Speed Press, March 2012). Not that it’s any big innovation–a Gulf version of cioppino is already served at Tony Mandola’s on Waugh St. in Houston. My partner at El Real, Bryan Caswell, had a similiar Texas-Tuscan seafood stew on the menu at Stella Sola for awhile too. But for my Texas cioppino, I wanted to leave out non-Gulf ingredients like scallops. I also wanted to include lots of blue crab.

My recipe was inspired by the crab cioppino that was once served at the Gold Spike on Columbus Avenue in San Francisco. (The restaurant closed in 2005.)That dungeness crab soup was served family style in a huge bowl in the middle of the table. You cracked crab and dunked sourdough in the red gravy to your heart’s content. Maurizio wanted to tinker with my recipe and serve Texas cioppino at Quattro one night. And so we set it up.

Chef Maurizio

For the antipasti on our collaboration menu, we served sausage and peppers to honor the Sacred Heart Society for bringing us together over spaghetti. We tried to buy 10 pounds of Tony Leago’s fabulous Italian sausage, but Tony wouldn’t take our money. Tony’s sausage is served every week at the Thursday spaghetti lunch–go by and say hello. (Call him at 713 591 8532 if you want to order sausage.)

All in all, we had a lot of fun. Quite a few people showed up for dinner. We plan on doing it again when the book comes out in March. Meanwhile, here’s my Texas Cioppino recipe:

Texas Cioppino (from Texas Eats: The New Lone Star Heritage Cookbook)

Cioppino is an Italian-American seafood stew that originated in San Franciso. Some say it as originally made aboard fishing boats. This Gulf version using brown shrimp, redfish and blue crab make an excellent Texas-Italian cioppino.

Serves 8

4 pounds uncooked heads-on shrimp
One 4 pound whole redfish
8 live crabs
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup chopped green onions
4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 jalapeño, minced
Small can tomato paste
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 cups white wine
3 bay leaves

Shell the shrimp and filet the fish. Make a stock with the fish bones and head and the shrimp shells and heads. When the stock boils, add the crabs and cook until done, about ten minutes. Remove the crabs and allow to cool. Reserve the crab bodies and claws and return the rest of the crab including the innards to the stockpot. Simmer the stock for a total of 30 minutes adding water as needed, then turn off the heat. You should have 8 cups of stock.
Heat the oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery and salt and saute until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the green onion and garlic and jalapeño, and saute 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste. Add tomatoes and liquid, wine and bay leaf. Strain the stock and pour the strained liquid into the soup pot. Cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until the flavors blend, about 30 minutes.
Cut the fish into 2 inch chunks. Add the shrimp and fish to the soup. Simmer gently until the fish and shrimp are just cooked through. Season the soup, to taste, with more salt and some pepper sauce if desired.
Ladle the soup into 8 bowls, hang a crab body on the rim of each bowl with the body in the soup and a claw on the outside. Serve with crusty bread and nutcrackers for the crab claws.

In the cookbook published years ago by Antoine’s restaurant of New Orleans, the author claims that when the dish known as Oysters Rockefeller was first invented, the French chef was actually looking for a substitute for escargot. Had that chef looked a little harder, he might have found a much closer cousin to [...]]]>

In the cookbook published years ago by Antoine’s restaurant of New Orleans, the author claims that when the dish known as Oysters Rockefeller was first invented, the French chef was actually looking for a substitute for escargot. Had that chef looked a little harder, he might have found a much closer cousin to the European snail.

In a recent post titled Bycatch of the Day: Texas Whelks,we wrote about the oyster-eating sea snails variously known as oyster drills, biganos and whelks. As mentioned, Chris Shepherd served these at the Foodways Texas symposium lunch in Galveston simmered in a spicy crawfish boil. We loved the flavor–but craved a little garlic butter.

Tommy Tollet at Tommy’s Steaks and Oyster Bar in Clear Lake took that idea to it’s logical end. After simmering Texas whelks until tender, he dressed them up like escargot. Each whelk gets wrapped in a spinach leaf and broiled in garlic butter with a topping of parmesan in one of those cute little escargot dishes. The result is amazing. The whelks have a little more flavor and chewier texture than the snails–I ate mine with garlic toast and single malt Scotch.

Tommy’s Steaks and Oyster Bar is considering putting Texas whelks on the menu. Reef and several other Houston restaurants also feature them as specials.

Chris Shepherd

Chef Chris Shepherd’s new restaurant, Underbelly, will be next door to the Hay Merchant Craft Beer Bar in the old Chances building–across the street from our very own Tex-Mex joint, El Real! I ran into Shepherd at the Farmer’s Market last weekend. Alison Cook had just reported the news. Underbelly will [...]]]>

Chris Shepherd

Chef Chris Shepherd’s new restaurant, Underbelly, will be next door to the Hay Merchant Craft Beer Bar in the old Chances building–across the street from our very own Tex-Mex joint, El Real! I ran into Shepherd at the Farmer’s Market last weekend. Alison Cook had just reported the news. Underbelly will be a Farm-to-Table establishment with a Nose-to-Tail butcher shop. Shepherd told Alison Cook that the name is not only a nod to his famous dish–fried pork belly with Steen’s syrup–it’s also a reference to the seedy neighborhood where he is locating the place. Hey, wait a minute!

I told him he should put some outdoor dining tables on the sidewalk so that our customers and his customers can hit beach balls back and forth across Westheimer!

Maurizio Ferrarese

Chef Maurizio Ferrarese of Quattro Restaurant in the Houston Four Seasons hotel was very kind to me when I paid the restaurant a visit last week. As I reported here, when he heard I was disappointed that Vitello Tonnato had been taken off the menu, he whipped up a plate of [...]]]>

Maurizio Ferrarese

Chef Maurizio Ferrarese of Quattro Restaurant in the Houston Four Seasons hotel was very kind to me when I paid the restaurant a visit last week. As I reported here, when he heard I was disappointed that Vitello Tonnato had been taken off the menu, he whipped up a plate of the wonderfully bizarre veal and canned tuna combination for me. Chef Ferrarese, who is a native of the region near Milan, has only been in Houston since July and he hasn’t had much of a chance to look around. So I offered to take him out to lunch. Where did I take the young Italian chef?

I took him the Sacred Heart Society Spaghetti Lunch, of course. I sort of expected chef Ferrarese to turn up his nose at the Italian-American spaghetti and meatball plate, but he was actually quite charmed. The scene reminded him of a typical civic event in an Italian village, he said. And as for the well-cooked spaghetti, well that’s the way everyone in his family eats pasta. The whole al dente thing is really just a foodie invention, he said. The meatballs were okay, but the high praise was reserved for Tony Leago’s sausage. Along with the Spaghetti Lunch, Tony supplies lots of Italian restaurants around town. (Call him at 713 591 8532 if you want to order sausage.)

Tony Leago

This Thursday, I will accompany another guest to the Spaghetti Lunch. Laurel Evans lives in Italy where she started a blog that turned into a cookbook called Un Americana in Cucina (An American in the Kitchen). “I love Italian food, but I started to miss mac n’ cheese and cupcakes,” she explained. Now she teaches American cooking for Italians. American food is surprisingly popular in Italy. “They love our brownies,” Laurel Evans laughs.

I figured she would have a ball talking Italian-American recipes with the guys in the kitchen at the Spaghetti lunch. Come on out Thursday at noon and sit down at our table!

Sacred Heart Society Houston
816 East Whitney Street
Houston, TX 77022-3540
(713) 692-0198