The Inn at Dos Brisas

I recently had the good fortune of joining a group of Houston food bloggers on a trip to The Inn at Dos Brisas, a resort and restaurant in Washington County near Brenham. Our hosts were the owners, Doug and Jennifer Bosch.

Dos Brisas ("two breezes") is distinguished by both a Mobil Five-Star rating and an admittance into the Relais & Chateaux association of luxury resorts. In addition to the accommodations ("casitas") on the property, the dining room — helmed by Chef Jason Robinson — is known for dishes created with ingredients from the property's own extensive produce gardens. The folks at Dos Brisas like to say they are not just a farm-to-table operation, they are literally a table-on-farm experience.

We were invited to a complimentary lunch on a weekday that showcased the produce grown on the farm. Except for one protein course (halibut), all of the dishes were made from fruits and vegetables from the Dos Brisas farm and garden. Wine/drink pairings were included. We also took a tour of the property and were tutored on the craft of cheesemaking (they make their own cheese too) by property manager Christopher Bates.

Below you will find a review of my experiences during our visit to Dos Brisas.

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Upon arrival at Dos Brisas, the most overwhelming sensation you get is that of an attention to detail in everything around you — the grounds, the buildings, the service. The staff is imminently professional and experienced. This commitment to uncompromising detail and service is a credit to the owners who are obviously passionate about Dos Brisas. That passion comes through from the time you enter the gates of the property to the time you leave. For someone like myself who has been both an emplyee and a guest of some of the best resorts in the world, that passion and attention to detail is greatly appreciated.

After a meet-and-greet in the bar area, complete with Canapés and one of the best Bloody Marys I have ever had, we went on a tour of the grounds. Ranch manager and horticulturist Johnnie Boyd Baker provided an extensive overview of the farm and garden operations. Back in the main pavilion, we settled in for a multi-course lunch experience.

The first course was a garden tomato salad with micro arugula, housemade goat's milk ricotta, and lemon essence. It was paired with a 2002 Lucien Crochet Sancerre wine. This dish proves the axiom that less is more -- the perfectly fresh flavors of the sweet tomatoes combined with the slight bitterness of the arugula and the earthiness of the cheese was inspired.

The second course was organic risotto and corn balls, sweet basil purée, and remoulade. It was paired with a champagne: Krug NM, Brut, "Grande Cuvée." Preparation was perfect on all levels, with a bit more complexity added with both the basil purée and the remoulade.

The third course was a roasted day boat halibut with poached rhubarb in a cucumber broth. It was paired with a specially concocted "Dos Brisas Cucumber Cocktail." The cucumber broth itself was wonderfully restrained — not overseasoned — and worked well with the salty crust of the halibut. The sweet, mellow cucumber cocktail paired perfectly with the cucumber broth.

The fourth course was a summer squash tian and garden ratatouille with a balsamic dressing and elephant garlic emulsion. It was paired with a 1990 Joseph Biffar Riesling. Until this dish, I never knew a "vegetarian" dish could have such an incredible depth and complexity of flavor. If more "vegetarian" dishes tasted like this, there would be alot more vegetarians in the world. The wine, too, matched the dish in complexity. I had never tasted a riesling of this age, and it was a revelation.

I'll make a brief aside and relate a discussion I had with Jennifer Bosch at about this time in the lunch. After I had commented on the complexity of the flavors, Jennifer mentioned a philosophy that she and Doug (as well as many of the best restaurants) aspire to. And that is within a given dining experience, the goal is to create a sense of increasing complexity and interest so that towards the end of the meal there is a sense of building intensity and climax. The lunch we had a Dos Brisas captured this idea perfectly, and was one more example of the attention to detail practiced here.

The dessert course was a dish of eggplant beignets, eggplant cardamom ice cream, caramel, and lavender foam. It was paired with a 2005 Kerpen Riesling. Again the execution was suberb. It was a light, refreshing end to the meal.

After lunch we got a cheesemaking tutorial (including a tasting), a tour of the world-class wine vault, and finally a visit to one of the casitas.

A stay at The Inn at Dos Brisas is not inexpensive — averaging about $600 a night. You can, of course, just come for dinner. Even with the cost in mind, I can wholeheartedly recommend a stay at Dos Brisas. The uncompromising quality of the food and the service, the attention to detail, not to mention the beautiful countryside around Brenham, make Dos Brisas a great destination for a special getaway weekend or a special event.

The Inn at Dos Brisas
10000 Champion Drive
Washington, Texas 77880
979.277.7750
http://www.dosbrisas.com

Testing flickr to blog

Testing flickr to blog, originally uploaded by houstonfoodie.

This is a test of the flickr blog broadcast system.

Enjoy!

NB: This was a test of the iPhone-to-Flickr-to-Blog functionality I hope to use on my upcoming European vacation. Specifically, you take a picture with your iPhone, choose to Email the photo, the subject of the email is the blog title and then the body of the email is the blog content. Pretty cool. Blog functionality looks great, just hope to get good pics with the iPhone. This picture is from a dinner at Tinto's Tapas Restaurant in Houston.

Michelada Me, Baby: The Genesis of a Throwdown

The story of how an offhand remark on Twitter resulted in a Michelada Throwdown at Anvil Bar & Refuge.

Not Bobby Heugel

One of the more interesting developments in the last few years is how people use social media sites like Twitter to discuss common interests and then meet IRL (in real life) to explore those interests.

A recent event organized by a loose group of Houston foodies, chefs, bartenders, and bloggers is a perfect example. The genesis of this event is a fascinating look into how social media can be used in a seemingly haphazard and impromptu way to create a snowball effect of buzz and interest. And with most social media-generated events of this type, it began with a completely offhand remark.

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Offhand Twitter Remark. Snowball Effect. Meme Created.

The event is a "Michelada Throwdown" that will happen at Anvil Bar and Refuge in Houston at 5pm on Sunday, May 24th. The event will feature well-known bartenders and chefs creating their own versions of that venerable Mexican adult beverage, the Michelada.

The genesis of the event occurred at 10:17pm on May 11th, 2009. A local Houston food blogger, @ruthiejsf, submitted the following offhand remark/tweet to her Twitter feed:

14 minutes later, @psandalio, the pastry chef at the acclaimed Textile Restaurant in Houston (@TextileRest), responded the way any self-respecting beer lover would when someone (even jokingly) mentions Michelob beer:

The next morning, @ruthiejsf replied back:

And with that seemingly innocuous tweet, a Twitter meme/movement was born.

Over the next few days the snowball effect took over and the Michelada convo gained traction. Other Houston food tweeps joined the conversation: @viva_victoria, @esandler, @theoshu, @treelight, @EatingOurWords, and yours truly @houston_foodie.

@ruthiejsf would eventually write a blog post Michelada Me, Baby documenting a trip to Taqueria Arandas to satisfy her Twitter-inspired craving for Micheladas.

Undoubtedly the foodie community in Houston is an eccentric and lively bunch — a fact which can almost explain this eruption of Michelada-envy on Twitter. But other factors were involved in fanning the flames of the growing Michelada-madness, as I mentioned in one of my tweets during the convo:

The New Flea Market.

For a small group of Houston food lovers, Micheladas and the New Flea Market hold a special place in the pantheon of Houston food adventures. And it all started with a taco truck crawl some months before.

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Taco Truck Crawl. New Flea Market. The Dead-Enders.

The New Flea Market on Long Point Road in Houston is a wild-and-wooly bastion of Hispanic American-inspired capitalism. Housed in a gigantic barn-like structure in an even more gigantic parking lot, the New Flea Market specializes in selling, among other things, lots of jewelry sold by Asian Americans to Hispanic Americans, garish T-shirts, belt buckles, cowboy boots, DVDs and music CDs, haircuts, tires, and the occasional fake ID. Along the back wall of the building is a string of Mexican restaurants and churro stands which seem to be a favorite target of the city health department.

And that is just inside the Flea Market. Outside in the parking lot is an even more chaotic atmosphere where homemade goodies and products of questionable provenance (CDs and DVDs primarily) are hawked with the fervor of a Middle-Eastern bazaar.

Back in February, the Houston Chowhounds, a group of food lovers dedicated to exploring the culinary delights of Houston, organized a crawl of several prized taco trucks. The final stop was the well-known El Norteño taco truck which is actually a big blue bus and is known for pollos asados — roast chicken — rather than tacos. It also happens to be parked in the New Flea Market parking lot.

A wonderful time was had by all and everyone left stuffed to the gills with tacos and roast chicken. However, as often happens with a Chowhounds event, there will always be a small group who stay long past when the others have left. I affectionately refer to this rotating group of members as the dead-enders (I'm usually one of them). We refuse to go home. We refuse to give up. There is always one more dish to eat, one more restaurant to visit, one more drink to swill. "I dare you to eat one more taco" is a typical challenge. It is a hilarious, dizzying culture of culinary one-upsmanship. And for those in the know, it is indeed only after the official event is over and only the dead-enders are left that the real fun begins.

For this event the dead-enders were myself, @viva_victoria, @esandler, @collierchin, and @jodycakes. After a final round of tacos, chicken, churros, and raspas, we ventured inside the Flea Market for the final adventure — authentic Micheladas at one of the restaurants lining the back wall of the building. It was a Saturday so the places were packed (everyone Mexican American) and soccer games were blaring from overhead flatscreens. All of the customers were sipping Micheladas.

We picked a place called El Oceano that had Michelada glasses lined up on the bar. We ordered a round. The waitress and owner were very accommodating. They even sent over a batch of complimentary seafood tostadas which we ate heartily, health department reports be damned.

As for the Micheladas (which we can only assume to be completely authentic considering the surroundings), they were, let's just say, memorable. The flavor of the Tabasco, Clamato, and/or Worcestershire sauce was intense and completely overwhelmed the beer. Some in our group sipped tentatively, others gulped it down. Either way, we were all hooked. Micheladas were in our future.

As we left the New Flea Market for good, we got an order of churros to go.

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Double Dog Dare. Twitter Harassment. Challenge Issued.

So back to the current Michelada mania on Twitter. The New Flea Market Michelada veterans ratcheted up the pressure like any true Chowhound would. @esandler fired the first volley. Invoking the wildly popular new bar Anvil, he wondered if the Anvil mixologists could come up with an artisanal version of the Michelada. Anvil is known for making old-style, Prohibition-era cocktails, made from scratch and with an obsessive attention to detail and craft.

@psandalio, perhaps smelling blood (or at least Worcestershire sauce), immediately dared @esandler to order a Michelada at Anvil.

Later that day, @viva_victoria cheekily pushed the action by calling for a Twitter campaign to get @bobby_heugel, one of the owners of Anvil, to come up with his own version of the Michelada. A possible visit to the Flea Market was indicated.

After two days of intense lobbying and convo, @bobby_heugel enthusiastically agreed.

But that wasn't the end of it. In true Houston foodie and Chowhound fashion, @bobby_heugel threw down the gauntlet to @psandalio to come up with his own version of the Michelada and bring it to Anvil for a side-by-side comparison.

It's on! @psandalio agreed to the throwdown.

In the following days, as the snowball kept rolling and the buzz kept building, several other notable Houston chefs/bartenders signed on to bring their own version of the Michelada.

And of course the Chowhounds, led by @esandler and not content with just one stop on a Michelada Sunday tour, organized an all day Michelada crawl to several of Houston's best known Michelada sources — Connie's Seafood, Teotihuacan, and Taqueria Arandas. But the real question is, where will we go after Anvil?

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Below is the threaded Twitter discussion documenting the genesis of Michelada Throwdown. Scroll to the bottom to see the earliest tweets. It is by no means comprehensive and may have left out a few participants, but it is a good timeline for reviewing the overall discussion. Of course it is still ongoing...

JB's BBQ in Orange, Texas

Top notch BBQ joint in deep Southeast Texas? Do tell.

If a tree falls in the forest and there's no one there to hear it, does it make a sound? Similarly, if a Texas BBQ joint is not listed in the yearly Texas Monthly BBQ issue, can it possibly make good BBQ? Questionable analogy, but you get the point.

Until this past weekend I've never experienced a Texas BBQ joint that I felt was incorrectly left off the list. There are lots of middling BBQ joints in Texas.

I also grudgingly condone TM's central Texas bias with the 2008 top five all within a north-south corridor just east of Austin (Taylor, Lockhart, Luling, et. al.) generally referred to as the Texas BBQ Trail.

So it was with raised eyebrows and watering mouth that I welcomed a surprise southeast Texas BBQ recommendation from my friend Jim Gossen, CEO of Louisiana Foods here in Houston. There are probably few people who have traveled the I-10 corridor between Houston and Louisiana more than Gossen. Having founded the Landry's seafood restaurant chain with his Lafayette (LA) high school classmates Billy and Floyd Landry, Gossen and the Landry brothers would eventually pepper south Louisiana and southeast Texas with popular restaurants such as Don's Seafood, Willy G's, and Magnolia Bar and Grill.

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On a recent drive to Lake Charles I decided to stop by JB's to check it out for myself. The restaurant is just off of I-10 but located in such a way that it is not easily noticeable when driving by.

After a brief detour due to an incorrect Google map, me and fellow foodie/LC poker player @collierchin pulled in to JB's parking lot.

The joint was quiet on a late Saturday afternoon — we were the only guests other than a large group of locals occupying a private dining room.

Gossen had specified that the brisket was the dish to get here. Certainly high praise considering that brisket is the cornerstone of the central Texas BBQ joints. Gossen mentioned they prepared the brisket in a special way that removed the chewy connective tissue and only left the most desirable collagen that breaks down into gelatin when slow-cooked. It's this gelatin that is both flavorful in itself and drenches the meat in fatty, rich goodness.

I ordered up a plate of brisket doused in BBQ sauce with beans and dirty rice, onions and pickles, and a dinner roll (nice substitution for the usual slice of white bread).

After placing the order, the ceremonial slicing of the brisket commenced. I've stood in the smoke rooms of the central Texas BBQ joints and damn near saluted when I watched the pit masters slice the buttery brisket into thin, long strips, dump the result on to butcher paper, weight it, and hand it over to me.

The traditional cross section of a brisket slice is of course: meat, smoke ring, fat cap.

So it was with great interest and provocation that the brisket at JB's is not sliced but rather chopped. Sacrilege you might think. But this plate of big brisket cubes drenched in an above-average BBQ sauce was oustanding. Some chunks were pure falling-apart meat, some a succulent combination of tender meat and buttery gelatin. There was not a stringy, tough, or dry piece in the batch. Gossen was right — this is Texas-class BBQ brisket with a southeast Texas twist.

The side of beans was simple and flavorful and not mucked up with alot of onion or bell pepper chunks. The dirty rice was on the dry side but still good.

@collierchin got a plate of ribs and sausage. Both were excellent. Ribs were tender and tasty if a bit dry. Sausage was spicy and rich, with a finer texture than the chunky sausage you get at most BBQ joints.

I have no idea if JB's is going to make an appearance in the impending 2009 TM BBQ issue. If it's not included, it should be. I highly recommend visiting JB's BBQ the next time you are passing through Orange, Texas.

5750 Old Highway 90
Orange, TX 77630
(409) 886-9823

View JBs BBQ in a map

Barbacoa Tacos

Sometimes a food pic is just too damn sexy not to have its own blog post.

Such is the case here. Meet the barbacoa tacos from Noemi's Tacos in Houston's East End neighborhood.

Barbacoa tacos are (not quite literally) a dime a dozen in Houston. They are a specialty of the many taco trucks and taco stands that adventurous Houston foodies have been blessed with.

A barbacoa taco is a simple construct. Two (layered) corn tortillas, a generous heaping of barbacoa de cabeza, onions and cilantro. On the side, two sauces — traditionally red and green.

And if the taco itself is the canvas, the sauces are the paint. Taco vendors often stamp both their personality and their family background on the sauces they offer.

For a gringo like me the barbacoa taco is the default taco for those taquerias where the staff speaks no English. No matter how much I stumble through Spanish when ordering, they always seem to hand me a barbacoa taco. Another barbacoa taco? OK, I'll eat it if I must...

2009 World's 50 Best Restaurants

That time of the year for San Pellegrino's list of 50 best restos in the world.

Alas, not alot of drama in this year's list sponsored by Restaurant magazine and San Pellegrino. El Bulli and The Fat Duck are one-two again.

The list is compiled by a worldwide poll of 806 chefs, critics and other industry experts collectively known as Nespresso World's 50 Best Restaurants Academy.

The only real news is the absence of muy macho Chef Gordon Ramsay's flagship Royal Hospital Road restaurant in London. It dropped from 13th last year to not even in the top 100 this year.

Spain had a staggering 4 of the top 8 places. The top U.S. restaurant is Per Se in New York City in 6th place.

Full list below. U.S. restos in red.

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1 El Bulli, Spain (=)
2 The Fat Duck, U.K. (=)
3 Noma, Denmark (+7)
4 Mugaritz, Spain (=)
5 El Celler de Can Roca, Spain (+21)
6 Per Se, U.S. (=)
7 Bras, France (=)
8 Arzak, Spain (=)
9 Pierre Gagnaire, France (-6)
10 Alinea, U.S. (+11)
11 L’Astrance, France (=)
12 The French Laundry U.S. (-7)
13 Osteria Francescana, Italy (New Entry)
14 St. John, U.K. (+2)
15 Le Bernardin, U.S. (+5)
16 Restaurant de l’Hotel de Ville, Switzerland (+11)
17 Tetsuya’s, Australia (-8)
18 L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, France (-4)
19 Jean Georges, U.S. (-2)
20 Les Creations de Narisawa, Japan (New Entry)
21 Chez Dominique, Finland (+18)
22 Ristorante Cracco, Italy (+21)
23 Die Schwarzwaldstube, Germany (+12)
24 D.O.M., Brazil (+16)
25 Vendome, Germany (+9)
26 Hof van Cleve, Belgium (+2)
27 Masa, U.S., (Re-entry)
28 Gambero Rosso, Italy (-16)
29 Oud Sluis, Netherlands (+13)
30 Steirereck, Austria (New Entry)
31 Momofuku Ssam Bar, U.S. (New Entry)
32 Oaxen Skaergaardskrog, Sweden (+16)
33 Martin Berasategui, Spain (-4)
34 Nobu U.K. (-4)
35 Mirazur, France (New Entry)
36 Hakkasan, U.K. (-17)
37 Le Quartier Francais, South Africa (+13)
38 La Colombe, South Africa (Re-entry)
39 Asador Etxebarri, Spain (+5)
40 Le Chateaubriand, France (New Entry)
41 Daniel, U.S. (=)
42 Combal Zero, Italy (Re-entry)
43 Le Louis XV, France (-28)
44 Tantris, Germany (+3)
45 Iggy’s, Singapore (New Entry)
46 Quay, Australia (New Entry)
47 Les Ambassadeurs, France (-2)
48 Dal Pescatore, Italy (-25)
49 Le Calandre, Italy (-13)
50 Mathias Dahlgren, Sweden (New Entry)

51 Zuma, China
52 Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley, U.K.
53 Spondi, Greece
54 L’Arpege, France
55 L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, China
56 Hibiscus, U.K.
57 Aqua, Germany
58 Le Gavroche, U.K.
59 Chez Panisse, U.S.
60 Les Amis, Singapore
61 El Poblet, Spain
62 Maison Pic, France
63 Cafe Pushkin, Russia
64 Le Meurice, France
65 Bukhara, India
66 Varvari, Russia
67 Schauenstein, Germany
68 RyuGin, Japan
69 La Maison Troisgros, France
70 Wasabi, India
71 The River Cafe, U.K.
72 Enoteca Pinchiorri, Italy
73 Le Cinq, France
74 Allegro, Czech Republic
75 Quintessence, Japan
76 Restaurant Dieter Mueller, Germany
77 Geranium, Denmark
78 Caprice, China
79 Jardines, South Africa
80 Amador, Germany
81 Biko, Mexico
82 L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon U.S
83 Fasano, Brazil
84 Mozaic, Bali
85 Obauer, Austria
86 Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athenee, France
87 L’Ambroisie, France
88 Maison Boulud, China
89 De Librije, Netherlands
90 Babbo, U.S.
91 Maze, U.K.
92 Zuma, U.K.
93 Manresa, U.S.
94 Pier, Australia
95 De Karmeliet, Belgium
96 Aubergine, South Africa
97 Bo Innovation, China
98 Rust en Vrede, South Africa
99 Del Posto U.S.
100 Reflets par Pierre Gagnaire, UAE

Peju Wine Dinner at Voice 4.15.09

Voice restaurant in Houston recently hosted a dinner featuring wines from the Peju Province Winery.

The major draw for this dinner was, frankly, the price. A 5-course dinner at the highly regarded Voice restaurant at the Hotel Icon, with wine pairings by the Napa Valley (Rutherford Appellation) boutique winery Peju, all for $85?

That's a no-brainer.

After many conversations with my foodie friends I can state confidently that the days of instantly attending the one-off, triple-digit-price tasting dinners are over for now. The exception being something truly spectacular — a visit by the likes of Thomas Keller or Gordon Ramsay might qualify, or possibly something tied to a charity event. But that doesn't mean $200+ dinner events will go away. There's still plenty of demand from Houstonians with money to burn (and there are plenty of those), just not from the food blogger/foodie crowd I run with. There are just too many events to choose from and too many great dinners out there for well under $100. Plus all this eating is packing on the pounds. No need to be fat and poor.

O.K., rant over. Bottom line, the price point for this dinner was just right. On to the food and wine!

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First course. English pea and mascarpone ravioli with mint, tomato, and lemon.

Superbly conceived dish. Flavor combination extraordinary. Simple yet complex. More than the sum of the parts.

The standout here was the lemon/citrus/butter sauce. It's hard to pull off just the right balance between the acidity of the citrus and the richness of the butter. This was perfectly executed.

The dish was paired nicely with a Peju 2008 Sauvignon Blanc. The wine was bright and crisp, heavy on the citrus notes. My dining companion, @javapeg, took some time to evaluate and eventually came up with strong grapefruit, passion fruit, and pineapple notes. Reviewing the winemaker's tasting notes after the fact, flavors of passion fruit and pineapple are prominently noted. Nailed it!

Second course. Alaskan halibut with spring onions, caramelized salsify, and truffle butter.

This was one of the best worst dishes I've ever had. Let me explain. Yes, it was the worst dish of the evening. Nothing about it "popped." Generally underseasoned and bland. Flavors of the accompanying onions and salsify were M.I.A. And truffle butter? Sorry, didn't taste any truffle.

Why? I imagine Chef Michael Kramer struggled with how to balance the pungency of the truffle with the mildness of the halibut. He may have pulled his punches a bit too much on the truffle part.

Fortunately, the halibut itself was perfectly cooked and perfectly fresh with a nice salt and pepper crust. Tender, flakey, savory, and steaming. Would I like Chef Kramer to make a version of this dish with a larger portion of halibut in a simple beurre blanc or meuniere sauce? Yes, please!

This dish was paired with a Peju 2005 Merlot.

Or was it?

When the wine was poured, @javapeg and I sniffed and sipped and wrinkled our collective brows. Damn, that's a big Merlot. Whatever. We dug into the fish and sipped what was left of the Sauvignon Blanc.

Some moments later our host, Lisa Peju, courageously stood up and announced there had been a mistake. The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon meant for the next course had been mistakenly poured for this course! Whaaaaa?

It was an excusable mistake I suppose. All of the red wine labels for the evening were virtually identical except for the varietal in small letters.

The Peju 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon itself was excellent, if not a bit pricey at $50 retail. My still-developing wine evaluation skills immediately noted a smoky, charcoal-y aroma and flavor. @javapeg refined that by noting chocolate and cocoa. After the fact review of the tasting notes mention chocolate, cocoa, and tobacco. Nailed it again!

Lisa announced that they were going with the flow and would serve the 2005 Merlot with the next course (this was the wine originally paired with the halibut). And it turned out surprisingly well.

Third course. Coriander scented venison (sous-vide) with young carrots, morels, and sour cherries.

Excellent dish. Again the flavor combinations reveal a chef at the top of his game. The venison was tender and not gamey, with what appeared to be a quick sear after the sous-vide to add some complexity of flavor. The musky morels added a nice complement to the meat (yes, morels are visually freaky). The cherry sauce added a nice sweet/sour dimension. The preparation of the baby carrots, often taken for granted by many chefs, was spot on.

The wine poured for this course was in fact the 2005 Merlot. I asked to see the label. And it worked perfectly with the venison, much better than the Cab actually. Tasting notes mention cherries, cocoa, and cranberries. This pairing worked so well that @javapeg and I wondered if the wine pouring snafu may have been one of those "made a mistake on purpose" type deals. Made for good convo anyway.

Fourth course. Braised beef cheeks with shallots, fingerlings, and braising juices.

[Sorry, pic didn't come out!]

This was the best dish of the evening. After explaining to one of our dining companions about which cheek this meat comes from (the cow head), I cut off a piece with my fork (no knife needed) and tasted. It was as tender, flavorful, and rich as you would expect beef cheek to be. The shallots and potatoes all worked well soaking in the braising liquid. A sprinking of microgreens, often assumed by diners to be inedible garnish (damn you parsley!), added a surprising note of tangy pepper to the dish.

A Peju 2006 Cabernet Franc was poured with this dish. As a stand-alone wine it's maybe not something I'd drink regularly. But the spicy/peppery flavors went well with the beef and braising liquid.

Fifth course. Vanilla panna cotta with grapefruit sorbet and pomegranate coulis.

A nice dessert course. The vanilla panna cotta was rich with a creamy/gelatin-y texture and crushed vanilla beans on top. The strong flavor of the grapefruit sorbet, although a refreshing palate cleanser, was jarring side-by-side with the panna cotta. A peach or mango sorbet may have worked better.

The dessert wine was a non-Peju Naughty Sticky wine from Naughty Cellars. It was chosen by Voice. It had a deep golden color, almost like apple juice. The staff made a full pour in a regular wine glass. Hello! Alas, the wine was sub-par in my opinion.

Some notes about everything else.

Host Lisa Peju, daughter of the winemakers, was charming and accessible. She sat down and visited every table, answering questions (Peju is French-Basque by the way).

The dinner took place in a private dining room on a mezzanine level overlooking the main dining room and bar area, separated by glass. As a reformed architect myself, I know how much designers love mezzanines. They look great in section drawings. But they often have a significant flaw — a low ceiling height resulting in a claustrophobic effect. Combine that with giant round tables seating 10 people and the space seemed crowded. More than once I peaked out to the main dining room with its soaring, airy, and well-lit space and wished I were dining out there.

I love the 10-to-a-table seating arrangement for dinners like this. Our dining companions were friendly and fun. Most of them found out about the dinner because had visited the Peju winery in Napa and had signed up for the mailing list.

Service was O.K., with the wine snafu already mentioned. I think the staff sometimes struggled with the close quarters. Strangely, the service tradition of serving women first was completely disregarded. Dishes were delivered randomly. At least once during the dinner everyone at the table was served except one person. We all thought that person had made a special order so we waited to eat. But no, it just took a few extra minutes for the last dish to arrive.

At the end of the dinner Chef Michael Kramer came out and visited with every table. That's always classy.

I had never tasted a Peju wine before this dinner. All of their wines served for this dinner were notable. Any future visit to Napa will definitely include a visit to the Peju Province Winery.

All in all a wonderful dinner, especially for the price. The service and space issues were minor, at least for me. Voice is a restaurant with a considerable reputation not just in Houston but also in Texas and the US. It lived up to its reputation.

NB. On the same day this write-up was posted my good friend ytee posted his review of Voice. An excellent read.