OUR REVIEW OF MAX'S WINE DIVE

Don’t you ever get tired of restaurants where you have to pray to your food? Where the chefs consider their creations and presumably themselves the center of the universe? And where the wine guys are even worse, if that’s possible? A lot of people are tired of such restaurants, and you can find those people each night squeezed into booths, strewn about shared banquettes and just standing three-deep at the bar at Max’s Wine Dive on Washington Avenue, almost certainly tasting from each other’s plates. Such bad manners are par for the course at Max’s, a place where it’s always the damn good time that matters.

It says something about our dining culture – and not necessarily something good – that the concept of a restaurant meal and a good time have come to be viewed separately. It’s a sad evolution that America by no means started, showing up in France as chefs seeking Michelin stars sought to distinguish their cooking from the bistro down the street. It showed up too in the labors of Italian chefs, particularly in that country’s economically superior north, to distinguish their food from that of the long-impoverished south – and, with a special vengeance, from the Italian-American red-sauce cuisine refugees from that south carried to the Little Italys of the world. Still, within the French and Italian cultures – especially those formed alongside the Mediterranean – there remained enough sheer gusto that mealtime seldom seemed dreary.

Leave that step to the upstart Americans, who from the beginnings of our history felt a need to out-Europe the Europeans. Taking on the pomposity of Europe at its worst, that fetish for the rarest foods and the oldest and/or most expensive wines, we created a dining mythology based on pecking order. Or even worse: on money. It is restaurants like Max’s Wine Dive, starting with the name alone, that force us back to the Old Country (even when it’s only in our minds) to reconsider where and how we’ve ended up. Max’s isn’t a French bistro or an Italian trattoria, or for that matter a Greek taverna or a Spanish tapas bar. On the other hand, this being America, maybe it’s able to be all those things at once.

Born from the success of The Tasting Room in different locations around Houston, Max’s is a wine bar with Very Serious Food. Or, since we’re not liking the word “serious” here, it might be more accurate to say… Very Big Food. Pushed along by this scope and scale, Chef Jonathan Jones delivers us from any notions of delicate or discreet, subtle or stylish. If it tastes good, Jones serves it. And generally, if a little of something tastes good at Max’s, a lot of it almost certainly tastes better. Any other approach might make diners less happy when perfect and even imperfect strangers ask to taste off their plates!

The menu at Max’s Wine Dive is a slagheap of bad puns and sexual innuendo, which only helps disarm us from notions of any propriety whatsoever. Even traditional “fancy” items like foie gras or bone marrow turn up as, in the first case, P, B & J (foie gras between Max’s tirelessly oversized Texas toast with native pecan butter and cherry-orange-ancho jam) and the second as the stark-sounding Chef JJ’s Big White Bones. Even more memorable than those starters are the Nacho Mama’s Oysters, delightfully fried and served with aioli on crispy fried wontons, the Quail Cakes (chicken-fried semi-boneless quail on lush sweet corn pancakes) and Max and Jack’s Frites – unbelievably addictive French fries dusted with something both hot and sweet and sided with a dip that’s definitely not ketchup.

At Max’s, appetizers may well fill you up; they absolutely will if you order enough of them – and satisfy your entrée cravings as well. But if you want a real entrée, Jones has picked out some really big dinner plates and seems hell-bent on filling them. Crazy things crash together and cohabitate happily: like the Lobster Thermadelphia that sounds more like an ancient Greek battle (it’s Texas-Philly cheesesteak, except made with lobster), the Lambwich (a kind of over-the-top Sloppy Joe with goat cheese), and, our favorite joke-becomes-dinner of all time, the Texas Haute Dog. This one makes the weiner from grass-fed gourmet beef, wraps it in an artisan bun, covers it in what may be the best “Texas red” chili anywhere (venison or otherwise) and sprinkles it with cotija cheese, crispy fried onions and pickled jalapenos. As young IM-ers love to put it… OMG!

When it comes to wine at Max’s Wine Dive, Tasting Room wine director Michael Housewright is often around to make vivid, dead-on and often surprising suggestions – most available by the glass for those of us who love to bounce from wine to wine and food to food like a slightly demented pinball machine. And when it comes to dessert, get both the brownie and the lighter-than-usual bread pudding spiked with white chocolate. Happily, in keeping with Max’s approach, there’s absolutely nothing light about the caramel sauce spooned around your dessert plate.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR JUNE 9

A TALE OF TWO FOODS
With all the aura surrounding Texas-ness, especially here in Texas, you might be tempted to think it’s easy launching a food line themed around the Lone Star State. Yet food remains a super-tough, competitive business, whether you’re trying to open a restaurant or sell a bottle of hot sauce. We have a chat with the founders of two Texas food companies – Smokin’ Dave’s and Didgy’s BBQ – to learn how they’ve risen to the challenge.

YES, WINE FROM LOUISIANA
Having tasted many Louisiana wines over the past couple decades, we didn’t think any would ever end up on the shelves of Spec’s. And as best we can tell, the wines crafted by John Seago at Pontchartrain Vineyards are the first from Louisiana to do so. As you’ll hear, John is a passionate advocate for good wine wherever it’s made – and especially for a series of grape varietals he feels are perfect for Louisiana and parts of Texas where the Frenchified “noble grapes” refuse to grow.

WOODLANDS WINE WEEK
We love the explosion of food and especially wine festivals all over the greater Houston area, with yet another coming up. For those on the northern edges of town, it’s hard to beat Wine Week in the Woodlands for convenience and good taste. We’ll be visiting with Clifton McDerby, one of the event’s organizers, as well as with Bill Chenault, winemaker with California’s time-honored Sebastiani & Sons.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
PINEAPPLE STUFFED WITH CURRIED SEAFOOD

2 ripe pineapples
½ pound small shrimp
4 ounces canned water-packed tuna
½ pound crabmeat
¼ cup coarsely chopped peanuts
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons pimentos, diced
1 tablespoon chives, finely chopped
2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
1 tablespoon A-1 sauce
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
Pinch of salt and a few drops Tabasco sauce

Peel and cook the shrimp in boiling water for 6 minutes. Chill the shrimp in cold water, drain and dry the shrimp with a paper towel, then place them in a large mixing bowl. Flake the tuna, crabmeat, and add to the shrimp. Sprinkle with curry powder, add all the other ingredients and mix well. Set aside in the refrigerator. Cut off the top of each pineapple and spit in half from top to bottom. With a small sharp knife cut along both sides of the core at an angle, pull out the core and discard. Carefully cut out the ripe pineapple flesh and cut into thin strips. Combine with the seafood salad and mix thoroughly. Fill each pineapple shell with the mixture and chill before serving. Serve on a bed of Boston lettuce and garnish with fresh cilantro and a wedge of lemon. Serves 4.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR JUNE 2

YATRA COMES TO HOUSTON
The owner of Yatra Brasserie was enjoying considerable success with his Indian restaurant-nightclub concept in the posh Mayfair district of London when someone suggested he open a variation in downtown Houston. That, amazingly, he has done – a restaurant serving Indian and Pakistani cuisine good enough to delight even the pickiest Englishman – for whom a “curry” like chicken tikka masala is now the country’s national dish. Sonu Lalvani joins us in the studio for a tasting of Yatra’s best dishes.

ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE
Longtime Monty Python member Eric Idle took the stuff dreams are made of, or at least the stuff their hit film “Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail” was made of, and turned it into a major Broadway blockbuster. Christopher Gurr, one of the stars of the musical “Spamalot,” sits down to discuss not only his role in the touring production now playing at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts but the show’s lasting appeal.

WHAT’S NEW WITH BARBI
A few years back, Chef Barbara Farrar was the toast of the town – and considering the menu at her Chez Nous in Humble, that would mean she had to be French toast. In recent years, while consulting for quite a few successful food operations, the chef friends know as Barbi has settled on a much more casual approach to dining. In her latest incarnation, at a place called TTR Gourmet, she’ll make you a delicious sandwich but she sure won’t make you croque, monsieur.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
GERMAN APPLE PANCAKES

Pancake Batter:
1 ½ cup flour
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
2 eggs
2 tablespoon melted butter
1 dash of nutmeg
½ cup sugar and ¼ cup melted butter for caramelizing the pancakes
½ cup vegetable oil

Apple topping:
3 medium-size Golden Delicious Apples
3 tablespoons sugar, mixed with 1-teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Peel and core the apples, cut the apple in quarters, then slice each quarter into thin slices. Place apples in a ceramic bowl and combine with cinnamon-sugar and lemon juice, set aside. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl, and make a well in the center. Whisk the eggs, butter, milk and vanilla, pour into the well and whisk until smooth and creamy. Generously oil a 10-inch Teflon sauté pan and heat over moderate heat, pour a quarter of the pancake mix into the pan. Tilt the pan first to one side, then to the other side, until the batter coats the bottom of the pan.

Arrange the sliced apples into the batter and cook the pancake, first on one side, then by using a spatula to turn on the other side. The pancakes should be golden brown, place on a heated serving platter and keep warm. Just before serving heat the melted butter, add the sugar and return each pancake for a few seconds into the butter – sugar mixture. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Serves 4.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR MAY 26

THIS BARBECUE NATION
At this time of year, the smell of wonderful smoke – wood or coal, or maybe simply food cooking on a hot gas grill – becomes part and parcel to tell us we’re in America. At least that’s the way Fred Thompson sees things, and he’s traveled up and down this whole country cooking and tasting so he can tell us all about it. Texas certainly enjoys a place of honor in his book “Barbecue Nation: 350 Hot-Off-the-Grill, Tried-and-True Recipes from America’s Backyard,” but there are many surprises from many surprising places as well.

THE ZINS OF RAVENSWOOD
Under the battle cry “No Wimpy Wines!”, Joel Peterson of Ravenswood has done exactly what a lot of folks told him couldn’t be done when he was just getting started in the 1970s. He has produced wines in a California then known primarily for cheap jugs of plonk that rival some of the best made in Europe. On top of that, he and his Sonoma winery have become famous using a grape no one else back then was very interested in – zinfandel. Joel joins us for much tasting and talking – and, we promise, it won’t be wimpy!

VIRTUOSI AT A TENDER AGE
Everybody can picture a classical chamber music concert, and the movies have taught to expect plenty of white hair onstage as well as in the audience. Still, a group called Virtuosi of Houston plays concerts sure to impress, and all the musicians are 18 or younger. We sit down with the people who coordinate Virtuosi – and even one Virtuoso himself – to learn how this music 300 or more years old is thriving in the Land of Hip Hop – and seldom sounding better.

PANNA COTTA WITH BLOOD ORANGE SAUCE

2 whole vanilla beans
1 quart whipping cream
1 ½ cups sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
8 sheets unflavored gelatin

Blood Orange Sauce:
2 cups blood orange juice
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch, dissolved in water

Split the vanilla beans with a sharp knife and scrape out the seeds. Combine the seeds in a heavy saucepan with the cream, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil. In a bowl of warm water, dissolve the gelatin, then whisk this into the hot cream. Remove from heat and strain. Pour into dessert cups (2-4 ounces) and refrigerate until chilled, 4-5 hours. Prepare the sauce by boiling the blood orange juice with the sugar for 20 minutes to concentrate. Whisk in the cornstarch. Strain and let cool. To serve, spoon the sauce around a dessert plate and unmold the panna cotta on top. If it sticks, set the cup in shallow warm water for 30-60 seconds to loosen the custard. Serves 8-10.

SHOW & RECIPE FOR MAY 19

CHEF PHILIPPE ON CUISINE MODERNE
The second most amazing thing about Bistro Moderne at the Hotel Derek is that it’s still there. Several concepts came and went in the space before it took over. But the most amazing thing is simply how good it is, and how well Chef Philippe Schmidt has translated his background in France and his success in New York into a cuisine that makes Houston palates happy. Philippe is always an excellent guest, full of excitement about the latest fresh ingredients he has found and what he can’t wait to do with them.

A TASTING WITH CLOS DU BOIS
Over the years, the winery known as Clos du Bois has evolved into one of the best loved names in California – in Sonoma, to be more precise. Winemaker Erik Olsen joins us to talk about and taste some of his latest releases, as well as to discuss the things he’s seen, heard and learned in two decades making wine for the likes of Robert Mondavi, Simi and, a bit north in Washington state, the very popular Chateau Ste. Michelle.

RIDING THE RAILS TO THE ALDEN’S 17
When the restaurant 17 opened a few years back, there was much talk about its name – how it referred to the 17 railway lines that, at one point, came together at the site that became Houston. Since Chef Ryan Pera’s arrival, presumably not by freight train, the talk has switched dramatically from what’s on the rail to what’s on the plate. Ryan joins us for talk about his newest menu items.

SOUTHERN-STYLE PORK TENDERLOIN

½ cup ground pistachios
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
¼ cup Panko Japanese breadcrumbs
Salt and black pepper
1 pound pork tenderloin, trimmed
¼ up clarified butter
3 Granny Smith apples, thinly sliced

Sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons chopped shallots
½ cup balsamic reduction (1 cup balsamic vinegar and ½ cup sugar, reduced by ½ over high heat)
3 tablespoons good-quality honey
Seeds scraped from 2 fresh vanilla beans
½ cup red wine
¼ cup beef stock

Form a coating by mixing the pistachios, Parmesan and breadcrumbs, then seasoning to taste with salt and pepper. Roll the pork tenderloin in the coating, pressing it into the meat. Heat the clarified butter in a skillet and brown the pork on all sides. Transfer to a baking pan and set in a preheated 350-degree oven for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, sauté the apple slices in the skillet juices, seasoning with salt and pepper. Prepare the sauce in a separate pan by melting the butter, sautéing the shallots and incorporating all remaining ingredients. Keep the sauce hot. When ready to serve, spread the apple slices out on an oblong platter. Slice the pork tenderloin and set the slices atop the apple. Spoon sauce generously over the platter. Serves 4.

SHOW & REVIEW FOR MAY 12

HOME IS WHERE THE PASTA IS
After a generation of chefs devoted to making Italian cooking in the United States as fancy and expensive as possible, there has been a welcome sea change. Italian chefs everywhere are recognizing that the best cooks they ever knew were not their professional mentors but their mothers and grandmothers. Of the books coming out of this epiphany, I was lucky enough to co-author one – “My Home Is Your Home,” written with Chef Andrea Apuzzo, of Capri by way of New Orleans. We sit down with Andrea to talk about the book and this return to the rustic.

SAN FELICE MAKES US HAPPY
By now, most folks know that the Italian region of Tuscany is where Chianti comes from. And we hope most folks now that Chianti is no longer – and in fact, never was – only that cheap red wine that gave us straw-covered bottles to put candles in. No, Chianti has always been one of Italy’s most respected wine regions, the kingdom ruled by the glorious sangiovese grape. We taste wines today with our new friends from San Felice – and hear about their efforts to save a grape that almost got away.

NOW IS THE TIME FOR NOWFE
It’s no secret that the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience created the model now used by many wine and food festivals around the country, including at least a couple successful ones in the greater Houston area. This year, as New Orleans continues it long climb back into the world of tourism, NOWFE promises to be bigger and better than ever. We prepare for the VERY long weekend later this month chatting with the president and the executive director about what there will be to eat and drink.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
PERE AL VINO BIANCO

6 large, ripe pears, peeled and cored but left whole
1 cup sugar
2 cups dry Italian wine
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 cloves
1 stick cinnamon
3 tablespoons toasted and chopped pistachios
1 dozen Italian almond macaroons

Place the pears in an enamel fireproof baking pan small enough so that they can stand upright. In a separate saucepan, bring the wine, cloves, cinnamon and sugar to a boil, simmer for 5 minutes. Strain over the pears, seal the dish with foil and poach over moderate heat until the pears are pierced easily with a fork. Remove them with a slotted spoon and place them in a glass-serving bowl. Raise the heat and reduce the liquid to about ¾ cup. Pour though a fine sieve over the pears, and refrigerate until well chilled. Just before serving, sprinkle them with the toasted pistachios and serve almond macaroons on the side. Serves 6.

OUR REVIEW OF PICAZO

Pablo Picasso’s most famous child is named Paloma – a fact that plays pleasurably around your mind as you enjoy the newly minted artistry of Alejandro Picazo and David Palomo. Working in the shadows of Minute Maid Park, the two veterans of fine dining both here and elsewhere have crafted a casual, something-for-everyone destination eatery that works before or after an Astros game or as an entire evening’s sport. And if you think more than once of the 20th century’s best-known artist or his daughter’s line of fragrances, that’s probably all right with the partners as well.

Most of the lineage behind the project is Spanish, like Picasso himself. And there’s definitely something from contemporary Spain about the surroundings, blending comfortable elements of stylish city-tapas-bar-meets-rustic-village-bodega. The feeling is one in which you are welcome, with none of that fear of needing to dress up, study cooking at the CIA or take out a home equity loan. The idea is straightforward. It’s easy and pleasant to be sitting inside Picazo with a glass or three of red wine, and the owners hope you’ll choose to be there often – not just on those mythical but too-far-distant special occasions.

Still, when it comes to firepower in food and service, it’s worth remembering that Picazo spent considerable time at the old Aldo’s Dining con Amore on lower Westheimer, the place that played host to $20,000 dinners of Enron deal-closing. That company, those days and that restaurant are all gone now, which is probably just as well. Few restaurants give no thought to prices anymore; and in the case of Picazo, we certainly approve of both the affordability and the quality on each plate. Along the same lines, we’re delighted (personally as well as professionally) with their interpretation of World Cuisine – Spanish, Italian and Latin American. Any restaurant that has steaks this good, plus pizzas and pastas – plus tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole and the best seafood enchiladas we’ve ever tasted seems poised to establish itself as a regular hangout for many Houstonians.


Appetizers at Picazo ramble around the globe, from something as close as New Orleans-style barbecue shrimp to sashimi-like “Spanish” tuna cubes that are actually more Asian: thick (maybe too thick) squares of glorious tuna waiting for us at the end of a bamboo skewer with soy, sesame seeds and shaved ginger that’s been crystallized into something with the texture of sea salt. As we say, there are all the standard-issues Tex-Mex starters, even chile con queso. But perhaps the best appetizer is the fried calamari. Though a typical marinara version is offered, turn it down in favor of the Asianized sauce of sweet chili and tamarind. If there were such as thing as General Tso’s Calamari, it would taste a lot like this.

Several popular pastas are served, including one with seafood that’s patterned after the flavors of Spanish paella. Our favorites, though, come from closer to the Italian wellspring from which Aldo’s drew inspiration, the absolute best being pasta (make it penne, please) alla Russa. Whether the name is supposed to be spelled Russa (implying Russian, as in the dressing) or Rossa (as in red or pink from tomato), this penne tossed in a creamy tomato sauce with pancetta and parmesan, plus chicken or shrimp if you want it to be your entree, is a dish we’ll go back for again and again. From the pizza list, be sure to try the Mediterranean, its roasted tomato sauce holding together goat cheese and fresh herbs, plus roasted pequillo peppers, plus an expected side of spicy aioli, presumably for dipping. It all works.

Not surprisingly, one of our favorite parts of this or any other menu is the section called “TexMex & Mexican.” Here you find several of Picazo’s instant greatest hits, including those seafood enchiladas (lobster, shrimp and crabmeat) all lushly bedded down in creamy cilantro sauce, and their versions of chiles en nogado, the peppers stuffed with piccadillo and topped with plenty of a pecan sauce. If you think this restaurant is too “nice” to be serving Tex-Mex, happily you need to think again: both the cilantro-kissed Mexican rice and the refried beans with crumbled cheese are traditional and terrific. Of the seafood entrees, the salmon al champagne and the snapper Picazo (topped with more creamy cilantro sauce) are the standouts. Unless you get waylaid by the wonderful chicken piccata, you carnivores out there are sure to find happiness with the 22-ounce Chicago-cut rib chop. With any meat or no meat at all, be sure to order the three-cheese au gratin potatoes. You’ll thank me later.