I had already tried Farrago's most highly recommended appetizer, the curried mussels, at lunch the day before. They aren't really curried; they're actually served in something closer to a Thai tom khasoup with lots of coconut milk and herbs. The broth makes a great dip for the juicy mussels and the toast provided on the side. However, when I try to use a soup spoon to finish the broth, I discover it's too salty to eat straight. Farrago's chicken curry topped with dried cherries, mango, cilantro and crushed peanuts really is a curry. The waiter described it as the restaurant's comfort food dish. It was a pleasant enough little chicken stew with Indian seasonings, but too mild by far for a real curry freak. I also think the cherries and mango unbalance the dish on the sweet side.
The best-conceived dish I had at Farrago was grilled salmon with nectarine and sun-dried tomato salsa over sweet potato puree with fresh greens and jerk dressing. Everything about the dish was absolutely perfect; the jerk seasoning was spicy enough to balance the sweet salsa, and the sweet potatoes were wonderfully buttery. It all would have come together in World Food Harmony with a juicy salmon fillet in the middle. But yesterday at lunch the salmon was so overdone and dry you needed a drink of water to choke it down.
Troy Fields
One bad apple: No trendy Houston diner should be seen without the crisp and pleasant apple martini.
Troy Fields
One bad apple: No trendy Houston diner should be seen without the crisp and pleasant apple martini.
Details
Bossa, 610 Main Street, (713)223-2622 Hours: Monday through Wednesday, 11 a.m. to midnight; Thursday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.; Saturday, 4 p.m. to 2 a.m.; and Sunday, 4 p.m. to midnight.
Dish, 2300 Westheimer, (713)528-2050. Dinner hours: Tuesday through Thursday, 5:45 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5:45 p.m. to 11 p.m. Lunch hours: Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; and Sunday brunch, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Farrago, 318 West Gray, (713)523-6404. Hours: Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday, 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Bossa
Big Seafood Platter, per person: $9.50
Xinxim: $15
Chargrilled New York strip: $18
Farrago
Curried mussels: $10
Tomato pizza salad, regular: $11; large: $14
Half rotisserie chicken: $9
Dish
Macaroni-and-cheese Cakes: $7.99
Buffalo meat loaf: $12.99
B.A.L.T. sandwich: $7.50
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"Thursday is our slowest night," the manager tells us when he comes over to our table. "Tuesday is the big night here." So we head back to Dish to see what's hopping on a Thursday night. We pull into the parking lot a few minutes after ten, but Dish is dead. A few diners are finishing their meals, but the bar is empty.
"I think we timed this wrong," Rebekah says. "We should have started at the trendy restaurants farther out first and then headed downtown." My disappointment is palpable. "I'll tell you what, you want to see divorcée night, I'll show you divorcée night," she says. I immediately break into a smile. Bachelors can be so predictable.
Swinging open the big wooden door at Carrabba's on Kirby Drive with a flourish, Rebekah leads me into the astonishing scene inside. I don't think I have ever seen so many gorgeous blonds in a restaurant in my life. They are lined up two and three deep at the long wooden bar. We can barely part the pulchritude to order our apple martinis. The drinks here are made with a splash of both Apple Pucker and Midori, "to take the edge off the sourness," the bartender says. The green drinks look Christmasy with a garnish of maraschino cherries.
There is, of course, a catch to this staggering display of feminine charms. The guys who are really knocking them dead are dressed in Italian designer suits, alligator tassel loafers or silk T-shirts that show off their body-builder physiques. And I am sporting none of the above. Rebekah and I sit at a table where she does a running fashion-show commentary, and I stare in wonder, sipping my apple martini.
It has been quite a night, and we have barely made a dent in the trendy restaurant scene. But much has been explained. I used to wonder why so many people would crowd into a popular restaurant, creating an interminable wait at one place while a quieter establishment with better food sat empty across town. Now I know. What seems like lemming behavior is actually singles seeking safety in numbers.
It is almost 11 o'clock, and the Thursday Night Fever is starting to kick in at Carrabba's as we head for the door. Outside, Rebekah tells me she once ran into Marilyn Manson at a Houston bar. She sang to him a few bars of "The Beautiful People." She is singing it again now.
