Houston Restaurant Weeks began August 1 and social media across Houston is teeming with photos and reviews from enthusiastic diners. The citywide fundraising event from the Cleverley Stone Foundation raises funds for Houston Food Bank and brings in business for local restaurants while offering Houstonians the opportunity to take advantage of the prix-fixe multi-course meals for brunch, lunch or dinner. Many excited gourmands make a vision board for the HRW, which runs from August 1 through September 4. It's like a weeks-long, triple-digit Thanksgiving and we're all a little fatter come fall. 
Some restaurants offer better deals than others so we set out to find one offering a delicious bargain on our side of town. While there are some great options in the northern reaches of The Woodlands, the suburbs still lack the bounty that can be found in the city proper. I wanted a place near my neighborhood in Cypress but soon discovered that there weren't a whole lot of choices for lunch.

After what seemed like hours perusing and comparing the menus, I decided that I would give Dario's Steakhouse & Seafood in Cypress a try because their HRW lunch menu offered three courses for $25. Most HRW brunch and lunch menus offer two courses for $25, so the extra bonus of a dessert is a sweet deal. Literally.

Though both Dario's restaurant and my house are in Cypress, it was still a 22-minute drive and I have never driven that far north for a meal even though there is a multitude of eateries in the Fairfield/290 area.  For this hot, steamy afternoon outing, I brought along my adult daughter because I knew the menu would suit her tastes.

Dario's is part of the  Grupo Herrera portfolio, a locally-owned  hospitality group from the Herrera family who also operate Alicia's Mexican Grille, Marvino's Italian Steakhouse and Galiana's Tex Mex & Agave Bar. Dario's first opened in 2009, so it has been a staple in the Cypress fine dining scene for nearly 15 years.  When it first opened, there wasn't much else to compare. Even though there have been more and more restaurants opening as the suburbs expand, Dario's still manages to appeal to a loyal clientele with its traditional fine dining.
When my daughter and I first entered Dario's, we were hit with a blast of cold air, a relief from the 101 degrees we encountered in the parking lot. And it stayed cold. It was quite chilly throughout our meal.

The decor may seem dated to inner-loopers who flock to the newest retro-chic, craft-cocktail, high-end and buzzy restaurants, but it was charming to me. I have always wanted to be like Olympia Dukakis from Moonstruck and enter a neighborhood restaurant saying, "Hello, Bobo. Yeah. Let me have a martini. No ice. Two olives." Dario's waiters, with their black slacks, vests, white shirts and bow ties make that a possibility.

There's a large cabinet of wine and several dining rooms with white cloth-covered tables and oil-fueled candles. We were given a table in the bar area where most patrons were seated. Though the interior is dark wood and dimly lit, there are large windows letting in light during the day. At night, I imagine it to be candle-lit and romantic.
An older server came to take our drink order. My daughter had water because she had to work afterwards but I opted for the Strawberry Spritzer, a summery cocktail of Stoli Strasberi vodka and lime juice topped with Rekorderlig strawberry lime cider. I held onto the wine list for later. I watched our server make the cocktail just a few feet away at the bar. While it was a refreshing beverage, it was on the tart side. I love sour cocktails but I was expecting this one to be a little sweeter than it was. No matter. I munched on the fresh strawberries garnishing the drink and sipped it through the rest of my meal.

We ordered our three courses ahead of time. It was easy for me. My daughter however could not decide between the pork chop and the filet tips. I steered her toward the filet tips because I didn't think she would care for the mint glaze on the pork chop. Yes, I still guide the culinary choices of my grown children. And I wanted to try the filet tips, too.
Our first courses arrived, delivered by a younger server. My Boston salad was somewhere between a regular green salad and a chopped salad. It was loaded with candied pecans, which I loved, but I could have used a little more acid in the honey balsamic dressing to give it some vibrancy and just a wee bit more feta cheese. Still, it was a cooling start to my meal and I ate almost all of it.

My daughter's starter was the bacon-wrapped shrimp with lentils. That seemed like an odd pairing but it was rather tasty. The jumbo shrimp were perfectly cooked as were the lentils. They were well-seasoned with teeny dices of root vegetables and a smattering of buerre blanc sauce. On the regular menu, the dish is made with scallops and is quite a bit pricier.
When our mains were delivered, by yet another server, I considered ordering a wine to go with my fish but I was still sipping on my cocktail and decided that I would forego another drink since it was early afternoon. My daughter's filet tips were served with asparagus and mashed potatoes. It was the same size as the dish on the dinner menu so it was truly a bargain. She loved the brandy cognac sauce in which the steak tips were swimming and she kept happily dipping the French bread from the basket into the "gravy". And that  bread was some quality stuff, worthy of a carb-cheat.

My rainbow trout was topped with a little buerre blanc.  I could have used a tad more, but then I am a glutton for sauce. It also had artichoke leaves, finely-diced fresh tomatoes and a good heap of capers. The skin was crispy, as was a little of the outer edges of the flesh itself. It gave some textural contrast to the soft flakes of the trout. The brininess of the capers and artichoke worked well with the mild trout and despite the butter sauce, I felt like I was having a healthy meal.
Our mashed potatoes were pretty standard, meant for soaking up the sauces. However, we were disappointed and yet, at the same time,  delighted by our vegetables. The asparagus on my daughter's plate was beautifully seasoned but tough. I stuck to eating the tops. The broccolini on my plate was the same, as far as the stems went, but the florets were so deliciously seasoned that we both made good work of them and my daughter discovered a new favorite vegetable.

I saved some of my fish to take home because I knew dessert was coming next. My daughter loves cheesecake and the strawberry-drizzled slice at Dario's satisfied. I ordered the creme brulee, a dessert I haven't had in years. Dario's version gave a wonderful crackle as my spoon broke through the caramelized sugar. The flavor was reminiscent of a toasted marshmallow and the fresh berries on top blended beautifully in the custard. I wondered why I hadn't eaten creme brulee in so long and then thought, " I know why; restaurants rarely make it anymore."
And that's the feeling I got from Dario's. In the early 2000s, Tuscan-style ristorantes were all the rage. Walls of wine bottles and prints of the Italian countryside were meant to give guests an elegant dining experience. Personally, I like it still. Sure, I enjoy the mid-century furniture and pop art decor that many new establishments are using. And the culinary world always benefits from innovative cooking techniques and unusual ingredients.

But well-made plates of food, formal service and a dining room in which you can still hear your companions is never going to go out of style. And Dario's offers all of these things. While we dined, a trio of ladies of a certain age sat at the bar and ordered their drinks in a way that only repeat clientele do. Another party next to us was two elderly folks and their grown son. As they left, the father put his arm around his son and patted him on the back. I have a feeling Dario's is in their rotation of restaurants.
Dario's is still delivering a fine dining experience in the suburbs and at dinner, the prices are fine dining as well. However, for those who want to have a reasonably-priced meal in the next few weeks, its three-course HRW menu is $25 while the three-course HRW dinner menu is $55 and both are a good deal for a good meal. And it might just tempt you to be a regular customer the rest of the year. Plus, they have a happy hour in their comfortable bar, where you can order a martini as you like it.

Though we don't know if any of the waiters are named Bobo.

Dario's Steakhouse & Seafood
14315 Cypress Rosehill
281-304-1825
dariossteakhouse.com