Inside My Table #41 | Restaurant listings
2000’s Best New Restaurants
Every year in the February-March issue we offer our choices for the previous year’s best new restaurants. The year 2000 was notable not only for the sheer number of new eateries to open in the city, but also for the unusually high quality. We can’t recall a more difficult selection process. Here, then, are our candidates for best of class, with this note: At least five more eateries could easily have been included.
CLOSED/*ARIES*, 4315 Montrose south of Richmond, 713-526-4404. Scott and Annika Tycer revamped the space that was briefly Monica Pope’s 43 Brasserie. The new design is subtly sophisiticated, the menu an appealing round-up of eclectic American classics: dry-aged New York steak with sauce bordelaise and goat cheese gratin, oven-roasted monkfish and lamb Wellington. $$$
CLOSED/*CANTON*, 2649 Richmond at Kirby, 713-526-1688. This strip-center Chinese, under the direction of Sam Siew, doesn’t look like much, but don’t let that distract you. And if you are handed the laminated luncheon menu, give it back. What you want is the regular menu. Beneath its typical “with five you get eggroll” wrapper, this is a splendid Hong Kong-style restaurant waiting to be discovered by adventurous eaters. $$
MOVED in 2006 to 219 Westheimer at Taft, 713-529-7788.
CHEZ GEORGES, 11920-J Westheimer at Kirkwood, 281-558-5095. This much-missed classic French spot has been reincarnated. Half of Georges and Monique Guy’s Bistro Provence has been appropriated to again feature the indulgent dinners for which Georges is so well known. It’s got a cozy new look with just seven tables. Open for set-menu dinner only Wednesday through Saturday. $$-$$$ (CLOSED)
DA MARCO, 1520 Westheimer near Ridgewood, 713-807-8857. This solo effort from chef/owner Marco Wiles is a lovely, tiny, yellow-washed dining room set in an old bungalow that formerly was Awash Ethiopian. Wiles and wife Gloria Fernandez have assembled an authentic Italian menu that includes shaved celery salad with beets and pecorino, sea bass with grapefruit and balsamic vinegar, and pork shank zia Milena. $$
FARRAGO, 318 Gray at Bagby, 713-523-6404. This diner-esque newcomer takes its name from the Italian term for “hodgepodge.” Chuck Russell, who was a partner at Solero, has joined with chef Todd Stevens to devise a menu obviously inspired by the restaurant name. Look for mussels in Thai coconut curry, pizzas, roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and the grilled salmon that has become the restaurant’s signature dish. $$
FOGO DE CHÃO, 8250 Westheimer at Old Farm, 713-978-6500. This wasn’t Houston’s first Brazilian-style churrascaria, but it is the best to date. Each skewer of meat is grilled by its own gaucho-outfitted waiter, thus assuring a deft hand in the cooking. The free-standing island of side dishes is full of excellent possibilities (salads, vegetables, soup), and the cheese bread is first rate. $$-$$$
GOODE CO. SEAFOOD, 10211 Katy Freeway near Gessner, 713-464-7933. When this second edition of the Westpark original opened last spring, there was a collective sigh of “Finally!” heard throughout West Houston. Jim and Levi Goode remade this defunct Pappamia’s into a casually attractive setting with with grainy black and white photos, boat propellers and other coastal paraphernalia. Wide-ranging seafood menu. $$-$$$
MAGGIANO’S LITTLE ITALY, 2019 S. Post Oak Blvd. north of Westheimer, 713-961-2700. This import sends nothing revolutionary out of the kitchen, but the comfy Brooklyn-Italian-style setting—checkered tableclothes, brass lighting, oak wainscoting—and menu seem to utterly satisfy a certain hunger. The large menu includes pasta of all kinds, roast chicken, veal and seafood. (The chopped salad is particularly good.) Huge portions make doggie bags a way of life.
PESCE, 3029 Kirby Drive at W. Alabama, 713-522-4858. Damian Mandola’s return to upscale dining in October boasts gorgeous appointments—marble oyster bar, dramatic mirrors, heavy flatware—and an outstanding staff (e.g. chef Mark Holley is a Brennan’s alumnus). Bold, top quality and pricy. This is the upscale seafood restaurant Houston has been waiting for. $$$
REMINGTON GRILL, 1919 Briar Oaks Lane at San Felipe in the St. Regis, 713-840-7600. Chef Toby Joseph, who comes here from the St. Regis in Philadelphia, has taken what he terms a “simplistic” approach to food, letting fresh quality ingredients—raw bar, veal chops, rib eyes, a 26-oz. porterhouse steak—speak for themselves. The new look suggests the traditional broiler and grillrooms of the 1930s and 40s. $$$
CLOSED/*SABA BLUE WATER GRILL*, 416 Main at Prairie, 713-228-7222. It would have been easier for chef/owner Larry Perdido and executive chef Dylan Murray to have produced just another fuzzy-focused fusion restaurant. Instead, their East-meets-West-meets-Latin kitchen keeps the best from those respective culinary traditions and deftly braids them into something wholly new and delicious. $-$$
CLOSED/*SUSHI KANOK*, 6100 Westheimer in Briargrove Plaza, 713-334-6688. This Japanese-Thai hybrid in a well-worn location (Semolina, Saints & Sinners, Cafe Chino Pacific Rim) is from Kenneth Leong, who was long associated with the Japon restaurant group. We haven’t eaten anything here we didn’t like, but especially recommend the Firecracker (A5) appetizer—it’s truly remarkable. $-$$
VIETOPIA, 5176 Buffalo Speedway at Westpark, 713-664-7303. Nghiem Nguyen’s lovely, soaring space is a far cry from her two much more modest pho noodle houses. With its mechanical fanning contraption, the dining room is both whimsical and well-grounded. The kitchen turns out a slew of Vietnamese classics, but seafood is the highlight. Try any of the house specials, especially the “special crispy fish” topped with peanuts, scallions and roasted onions. $$
ZULA, 705 Main Street—enter on Capitol between Main and Fannin—713-227-7052. This highly ambitious restaurant, which opened in October, takes up where The Mercury Room leaves off. It features swell food (e.g. Carolina-style crabcakes, risotto, grilled tenderloin nestled among a color guard of fried oysters) and service in a big-ticket setting from David Edwards and his team. $$$
