Chef Michael Kramer; Sandy Collet, director of sales and marketing for Hotel ICON; and Ludovic Poirer, general manager
Last night was a celebration at Voice, the restaurant in the Hotel Icon known for its basement wine cellar and kitchen and its sterling food at the bar. Famed restaurant critic John Mariani of Esquire magazine has named it one of the top 20 best new restaurants in the United States and the drinks and munchies were flowing freely.
At unaccustomed center stage at 220 Main wa
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Tonight's the night that the results of a gingerbread house baking and design contest orchestrated by VOICE Restaurant Executive Chef Michael Kramer will be revealed to the world.
In keeping with the season, Kramer challenged the city's best pastry chefs to put together the perfect gingerbread house - but one with a twist from the traditional offering.
Voice Restaurant in the Hotel Icon (220 Main Street)
has come up with another special dinner, a five-course tasting menu and wine pairing for $75 a person on January 21. This time they are teaming up with Axel Schug of Schug Cameros Estate Winery in California.
Here's the menu from Executive Chef Michael Kramer, Pastry Chef Charles Allen and Wine Director Todd Leveritt:
Photo by Margaret DowningThe scene last night was the wine vault at Voice in the basement of the Hotel Icon, 220 Main Street, and the occasion was a tequila cocktail pairing dinner for members of the media. Voice Chef Michael Kramer served up his usual magic with a dinner that started with a hearts of palm salad, took in a serving of crab in pasta, followed by a main course of steak covered in ground coffee, topped off by a crème brulee.
But the reason we were there was the upper end tequila b
Photo by Katharine ShilcuttVoice in the Hotel IconIf you like good food but elaborate wine pairings just give you a headache, then consider this upcoming meal put together by Voice Executive Chef Michael Kramer, in which he pairs good food with craft (no Bud) beer.
On May 28 at the Hotel Icon, Kramer will offer a reception and a five-course dinner, paired with different kinds of craft beer, for $75 plus tax and tip.
The reception, which starts at 7 p.m., will offer "house cured salumi, local c
Mother's Day is quickly approaching, and if you've already made plans to take your dear, sainted mother out to a lovely meal on Sunday...wonderful! You're ahead of about 90 percent of us. Make us all look bad, why don't you?
If you're like the rest of us, you're probably still trying to decide on a place for mom and the rest of the family to enjoy a meal. Need a place that's kid-friendly but still nice? Looking for something different from the same old routine? Adventurous enough for
Photo by jk5854It is a dinner that begins with pheasant sausage coupled with a robust pumpkin beer and ends with a stout (beer) ice cream.
Along the way there will be more sausage and bratwurst, a beer-braised duck and an apple tart (to go with the beer ice cream).
Once again, Chef Michael Kramer of VOICE (in Hotel ICON, 220 Main) will host a Fall Harvest Beer Dinner on Tuesday, October 13, at 7 p.m., complete with four-course meal and a variety of different kinds of beer -- all for $55
Photos by Katharine ShilcuttIn the heat of battle last night, the oysters -- and the chefs -- kept their cool. The fourth such event organized by Jenny Wang and the Houston Chowhounds, the Bivalve Throwdown at Stella Sola on Sunday afternoon saw 11 of the city's best chefs compete to create the best oyster dishes for a panel of distinguished judges. But that's where the "distinguished" part of the event ended: The afternoon was a celebration of the first Gulf oysters of the season that
