For Houston summer, one of the ways to escape the heat is to eat well. Every year, all the wannabe foodies like me look forward to Houston Restaurant Weeks. It had originally started as a one-week event, then it went on two-weeks, then some restaurants on their own extended to another week, and next thing you know, this year, it's a full month. You may ask, why not called it Houston Restaurant Month? Why, that's a good question. All I can tell you is that there's some conflict between 2 groups of people and it involves fame and glory and egos, and that's all I know. Either way, us as diners benefit as well as the Houston Food Bank.
Not only do us, the diners benefit by having these prix fixe menus to try out a place you may otherwise pass by either because of the food, price, or whatever. You get a nice little prix fixe to test out the fare. Of course, the restaurants love it because it brings in people that would've otherwise pass by, instead, the diners can choose from a great range from the prix fixe or go off the menu. How the Food Bank wins is that every dinner of prix fixe price of $35, $5 goes to the Food Bank. For every lunch of $20, $3 goes to the Food Bank.
For the first course, I ordered the almond crusted fois gras with some gelee. The whole palatte was light and airy. You don't feel like because you're eating fois gras and it's fatty and heavy. The crust added some flavor and different texture to the regular fois gras, but all of the flavors complements each other very well.
For the main entree', I had the venison medallion. I had ordered it medium well, but they mixed up my order than my friend's and I got the medium instead. It was good, even though I don't like them that red. There are some sweet potato bites and some brussel sprouts douzed with bacon flavor. I don't usually have venison, so this is a rare treat for me. This wasn't gamey or too chewy, so in my book, this is good stuff. The flavor was brought out nicely with the bacon flavor, and not one thing over empowering the other.
For dessert, I had their famous sticky toffee pudding topped with pitaschio ice cream. They are very well known for this dessert and have entered it in several of the local friendly competition. It was a great ending to the dinner. The pudding wasn't too rich, it was balanced out by the ice cream, and the caramel sauce that came with it.
Overall, I've been to BWT before, have enjoyed their food very much. I have yet to have anything bad there. They are known for getting food from farm to table as many of the newer generation restaurants are featuring. Their menu change as the season and availability change. One thing I would recommend is check out their extensive wine list. They also feature beer that you don't usually get at alot of eateries. Most importantly, if you don't get wine or beer, definitely order their cocktail. BWT has one of the better mixologist in house and create some pretty great drinks, well worth the $10 they charge you for it.
You're going to have to valet unless you venture into the neighborhood. So, either go early, or bring cash to tip the valet. The service is complimentary, but those guys are out in that heat in hope for something, so be generous.
Branch Water Tavern
510 Shepherd
Houston, Texas
713 • 863 • 7777
Reservations is recommended, not open on Mondays
http://www.branchwatertavern.com/photo-gallery/
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