Charcuterie is typically a shared experience, and you take what’s offered to you. Not so at The Board Room, a new restaurant in Houston’s upscale CityCentre, where you can order a perfectly-sized meal all for yourself. And you can choose what goes on the board.
Of course there are also boards for two, family boards and towers that serve five or six people.
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With the build-your-own board you shop from a list that includes premium meats and aged cheeses, spiced nuts, grapes and other fruits and fig jam. Or if all that selecting is too much trouble, just go for one of the standard menu options such as Crudite Harvest Spread, Fruit Focused, Butcher Board or Breads and Spreads.
“As far as I know, we are the only Houston restaurant that leads with charcuterie,” said John Whitehurst, co-owner with his wife, Carly. The couple also own a Houston-based wine brand, Sauvignon John.
Houston is known nationwide for its vast number of unique restaurants, Whitehurst said, “so you have to have something that sets you apart.”
The Board Room’s chef also designed a main dish menu that includes chicken piccata, seared redfish and sauteed shrimp, and appetizers such as crab cakes, melon and feta and poblano artichoke dip.
In a nod to the busy folks who work in the 47-acre shopping, dining and entertainment community in Houston’s Memorial City area, The Board Room offers a grab-and-go lunch menu of sandwiches, salads, wraps and power bowls, all priced at $15 or less.
If you have something nice tucked away in your suitcase, you can bring it out for dinner or weekend brunch at Chardon. It’s a French bistro with lovely décor and it is a splurge, but still welcoming enough for a vacationing family.
Entrees include wagyu beef cheek bourguignon, Maine lobster pot pie and lamb loin provencal. But you can also order crepes spread with Nutella and bananas.
Houston is home to more than 12,000 restaurants including six that have a Michelin Star. An additional seven are “recommended” in the Michelin Guide, including Candente in the Museum District. It bills itself as Tex-Mex but with a smoky twist: its most popular entrée is Taco Birria De Res, fashioned from smoked and braised beef short rib and beef shank, griddled asadero cheese, beef consomé and bone marrow.
Candente was created by Michael Sambrooks, who also owns the acclaimed barbecue restaurant known as The Pit Room, and features the same mesquite fire cooking techniques.
If you like the idea of modern Indian food and you love being pampered, Kitchen Rumors should be right up your alley. It’s well-staffed with ever-cheerful personnel including General Manger Mike Raymond and Executive Chef Jassi Bindra, who always seem to be working the room.
The star of the menu is Atta Chicken, described by the restaurant as a “showstopper” dish featuring a marinated chicken slow-roasted inside a sealed wheat dough crust known as atta. The dough forms a golden shell that is cracked open tableside, releasing a burst of steam and spices.
I had planned to skip the appetizer, but Bindra insisted I sample his crispy kale and wasabi white peas with yogurt sauce, artfully arranged atop a mildly spiced fried potato patty. It was heavenly.
That dish, Raymond said, “made me re-evaluate everything about my life.”
Raymond went on to explain that he didn’t care much for kale until he tried Bindra’s version, which made him wonder what other vegetables he would grow to love if they were better-prepared.
Many of Houston’s ethnic restaurants feature some sort of nod to Texas cuisine. At Kitchen Rumors it’s the pecan pie-like base that supports a small loaf of the traditional Indian confectionary gulab jamun. Perfectly-tart lemon curd finishes the dish.
Related:Immersive Art Meets Natural Science: New Must-See Houston Museum Experiences
Kimberly Burk
Freelance travel writer
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