Inside My Table #58 | Restaurant listings
Wonder Bars
Bar food is a concept that is hard to corral. The term covers everything from freebie happy-hour buffets such as Jalapenos’ Tex-Mex selection to the weekly steak night at West Alabama Ice House. Bar food might mean a jar of pickled hardboiled eggs at one place, complimentary pizza at another, or simply the kitchen’s most ambitious food in smaller servings. In the listings below, we’ve tried to highlight all of these bar-food styles.
Bar Annie, 1728 Post Oak Blvd. in Cafe Annie, 713-840-1111. Under the menu orchestration of chef Ben Berryhill, this little nook has become the city’s most urbane place to eat. Offerings include salmon tartare with both fresh and smoked salmon, steak tartare (the manly version, with a raw egg on top), shrimp cocktail and filet mignon. After a hard day’s night, there’s not much that can beat Berryhill’s cheeseburger washed down with a balloon glass of red wine. Prix-fixe lunch in the bar is $25. $$-$$$
Benjy’s, 2424 Dunstan at Kelvin, 713-522-7602. Upstairs in The Lounge, Benji’s chef Tommy Child offers a $5 happy-hour menu Monday through Saturday that includes crabcakes, gingered beef potstickers, crisp tuna spring rolls, smoked salmon shortstack and individual-sized pizzas. For private parties, there’s also a menu of party foods available in quantity. Twenty-plus wines by the glass are always available. $-$$
Black Lab Pub, 4100 Montrose north of Richmond Ave., 713-529-1199. We love to eat at the Black Lab during a cold snap, as it’s hard to get much cozier than this. So arrive before the crowd, get a seat near the fireplace and have a long winter’s talk with a dear friend. To eat, order a burger, cheese soup and Irish soda bread, or a plate of pork chops. Guinness is fine for washing it down, or have a selection from the single-malt menu. $-$$
Brian O’Neill’s, 5555 Morningside bet. Rice. Blvd. & University, 713-522-2603. Fine appetizers/bar food, such as fried calamari, huge salads, queso, real British “chips.” The menu has a little of everything, and they offer 15-minute lunch specials. Great place to watch sports, too: The place stayed open for every single game during the 2002 World Cup, whether or not they could serve beer. More than 500 people showed up for the US-Germany quarterfinal at 6 in the morning. They started serving pancakes at 6 am and Guinness at 7. $-$$
Christian’s Totem, 7340 Washington Ave. off I-10, 713-864-9744. Some have argued that the city’s best hamburger is served at this ice house. Steve Christian is his family’s third generation to run the place. His secret: never-frozen hamburger. Once ordered, Christian grabs a handful of meat and slaps it on the hot grill. The burger basket is less than $5 and comes with a basketful of fries and a 24-oz. drink. This also happens to be Billy Gibbons home-away-from-home when ZZ Top is in town. Note: always crowded and hard to park. $
Grappino di Nino, 2817 W. Dallas bet. Montrose & Waugh, 713-528-7002. Check out the spuntini menu at Vincent Mandola’s pretty tucked-away bar. In this super-sized world, scale down a bit and try the tasty Tuscan tapas, if you will, which range in price from $4 to $8. Choose from antipasto items, pizzettes, salads, as well as reasonably priced beers, wines, grappa and granitas. Work it off dancing to the open-air jazz band. $-$$
McCormick & Schmick’s, 1151 Uptown Park off Post Oak Blvd., 713-840-7900. Who would have guessed that McCormick & Schmick’s has an inexpensive bar menu? Great burgers and other fun stuff, such as oyster shooters, fried catfish fingers, steamed mussels, Korean-style short ribs and bay shrimp quesadillas, are just $1.95 during happy hour. Best of all, the bar features not one, but two happy hours: 3:30 to 6:30 pm and 9:30 to 11 pm. $$-$$$
McGonigel’s Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk east of Kirby Dr., 713-528-5999. It’s all about the music at this popular outpost for Celtic, folk and bluegrass music. The menu is fun, too, and includes pub snacks (e.g. Scotch eggs, baked brie, smoked salmon with brown bread), salads and sandwiches, as well as traditional pub fare, like shepherd’s pie, steak and kidney pie, fish and chips, and beef Guinness served in a French bread bowl. $
Slainte Irish Pub, 509 Main St. at Prairie, 713-222-1033. Slainte’s pseudo-Irish bill of fare sticks to American bar tradition. Among the offerings here — Slainte reopened last June — are Quinlan’s quesadillas (choice of chicken, beef or vegetables), Irish red hots (cheddar-filled jalapenos), Corrib potato skins (filled with choice of corned beef or bacon, cheddar cheese, green onions and sour cream) and “Lucky ‘Shrooms” (fried mushrooms). Ask to be seated in a snug. Open Thursday through Saturday nights only. $
St. Pete’s Dancing Marlin, 300 Main St. at Congress, 713-227-1511. Half of John Zotos’ downtowner is a restaurant, and half is an oyster bar spotlighting Texas bands. From the raw bar, order oysters on the half shell, a tuna crouton, shrimp or, heck, just order the sampler. The kitchen sends out burgers, chili, nachos, fried pickles, cheese fries and such. Imported draft beer and cocktails are $3 during happy hour. $
The Remington Bar, 1919 Briar Oaks Lane in the St. Regis Hotel, 713-403-2631. This sexy meeting spot for grown-ups has it all: comfy sofas and banquettes, low lights, discrete employees. The bar menu is simply one grand lagniappe. Chef Toby Joseph’s offerings include cold boiled prawn and snow crab platter, cheese plate, tortilla soup, she-crab bisque, grilled ribeye, seafood risotto … and dessert, of course. But you knew that. $$-$$$
A+, 1117 Prairie St. in the Alden Hotel, 832-200-8800. The bar menu is small but well conceived at this stylish downtown spot: Gulf Coast lump crab salad, old-style romaine hearts with Caesar dressing (it’s okay to eat with your fingers), pressed Cuban sandwich with roast pork, steak frites. Good choice before a Rockets or Astros game. $$-$$$
