If an earthquake swallowed up downtown Houston, would anybody notice? Sure, a bunch of shiny glass and metal office buildings would disappear, along with innumerable parkades (they do love their parkades), a convention centre and the many, many hotels that serve it, but, otherwise, what would be lost? Well, OK, Minute Maid Park, but otherwise...
Houston was right up there with Atlanta as far as cities that have a moribund (yet quite large) downtown core. As with Atlanta, I was only there for less than 48 hours and decided to go to a second ballgame, essentially, to kill time.
That may not be entirely fair; there is a museum district, which ended up not being quite where I thought it was. By the time I had wasted a chunk of my morning dealing with Visa, taking in an afternoon, indoor ballgame seemed like a safer, easier bet than hitting a random museum or travelling to the NASA Space Centre, which is a fair ways from downtown.
I was ready to give up on Houston as anything other than a baseball destination, until it redeemed itself through, what else, a restaurant.
I had been wondering about a mysterious note in my BlackBerry that simply said 'Underbelly (Houston)', which I do not remember typing, nor, obviously, what prompted me to do so. It turns out that Underbelly is a relatively new Houston restaurant, having been open for less than a year. Since then, it evidently has had write-ups in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, so it has garnered a fair bit of attention in that short time.
Unfortunately, through opentable.com, the restaurant would not take a reservation for one, but an e-mail solved that. The assistant manager promptly got back to me, assuring me he could accommodate me and sit me a communal table. (Evidently, there is no bar; sitting at a restaurant's bar has been my preferred option during the trip. Bartenders are generally a valuable source of information and of the odd free drink.) Not only did he meet at the door when I came in, he swung by a few times during my meal to see if I was enjoying myself. The server was also quite enthusiastic (but not to the point of annoyance, a fine line to walk) and quick to provide useful information on the menu items. I was also getting tips on the menu from the couple across from which the staff seated me; not only were they Underbelly regulars, they were quite friendly. From the assistant manager's comments when I came in, I am assuming that I this seating arrangement was not a random choice. What I am clearly getting at is that the service at Underbelly was extremely and noticeably friendly, attentive and useful.
The restaurant describes its approach as providing a 'history of Houston food'; i.e., it aims to reflect the various culinary influences which have been found in Houston over the years. This leads to a menu that reflects Southern and ethnic influences (e.g., Greek, Asian) as well as seafood from the Gulf. Now whether the 'history' aspect is just an excuse to present an eclectic menu is irrelevant, because that menu, a mixture of small and not-so-small plates along with family-sized orders of mostly comfort food, by all indications, is solid. I opened with an order of fried shrimp (they serve the whole shrimp, head and all), with a wheat berry radish and a confit egg yolk; it reminded me of some of the more modern takes on Cajun cuisine (with shrimp instead of crawfish), that I had encountered in new Orleans (at Cochon, for example). I followed that with the Korean braised goat with dumplings, which had that same tangyness (i.e., that delicate balance of spicyness that is enough to taste and give a nice kick but not to overwhelm) that I have encountered while eating at Korean restaurants. My last small entrée was something called 'Strapstrami', which is lamb, prepared pastrami-style, with a strawberry mustard and fennel. It was the only plate which I found ordinary; there was something missing to the overall flavour, but that might have been because the taste of the Korean goat would have overwhelmed anything that followed.
Upon the recommendation of my table-mate (also a big IPA fan), I accompanied the meal with a locally-brewed Buffalo Bayou More Cowbell Double IPA, which , while hoppy, was surprisingly mellow for a double IPA (a 9% Double IPA at that).
The dessert menu had about half a dozen items, all variations on traditional, home-style desserts. I skipped the vinegar pie (evidently, something akin to key lime pie), to have a fried strawberry pie with white rice ice cream, which was great. The white rice ice cream had an interesting texture, a little grainy, and more in line with sherbert or gelatto than ice cream.
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I ended the evening at the Hay Merchant, a bar located in the same building as Underbelly, with some common ownership. It describes itself as serving craft beer and craft food. While I cannot speak to the food, it did have 85 or so taps, with a good number of Texas beers. I tried a Buffalo Bayou brown ale and a Karbach Hopadillo IPA (love the name), both from Houston and both OK, but nothing out of the ordinary. Service was a bit of an issue (and, surprisingly, it is really the first time on this trip I have noticed less than stellar service), unless, it seems, you know the bartenders. It reminded me of a few Ottawa barkeeps and, no, it certainly did not make me homesick.
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Random observations:
- At quick glance, Houston seems to have a fairly decent public transit system and, Ottawa folk, please sit down or hold on to something when you read this, the single ride fare is $1.25. I do not know if there is a zone system with progressive fares, but, still, $1.25! Once again: are you hearing this OC Transpo?
- There is an Elgin Street in Houston, but it is pronounced with a soft 'g'.
- The city bus I was on went by the Maple Leaf Pub, on Elgin Street, which is evidently not run by a Canadian, but is Canadian-friendly: Canadian flag inside; the bar logo looks like the Molson Canadian logo, etc. I did not get a chance to check it out.
- On the way in from Dallas, we drove through Fairfield, which proudly advertised itself as the 'Home of Miss Teen Texas 2010'. Gotta love Texas.
- I had my first 'meal' at a major franchise (Subway) during a pit stop between Dallas and Houston. Given I have been on the road for almost five weeks, that is a fairly decent run of avoiding fast food chains, if I may say so.
Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.
