Texas Taco Co.'s "Poncho Lefty" — Blackened salmon topped with a roasted corn & black bean salsa, queso fresco and cilantro, drizzled with AVOCADO SAUCE, served with a wedge of lime on a corn tortilla.
Torchy's "The Independent" — Hand-battered and fried portobello mushroom strips with refried black beans, roasted corn, escabeche carrots, queso fresco, cilantro and avocado. Drizzled with ancho aioli on a flour tortilla.
Texas Taco Co.'s "William Travis" — Hand-battered and fried Portobello mushroom strips with refried black beans, roasted corn, escabeche carrots, queso fresco, cilantro & avocado. Drizzled with ancho aioli on a flour tortilla.
And lest you think it's tacos only...
Torchy's "Grande Burrito" — Your choice of beef, chicken, pork or veggies served with rice, beans, cheese, pico de gallo, sour cream and guacamole. Wrapped in a 12" flour tortilla.
Texas Taco Co.'s "Big Bad Bandito Burrito" — Your choice of beef, chicken, pork or veggies served with rice, beans, shredded cheese, pico de gallo, sour cream & guacamole. Choice of sauce and wrapped in a 12" flour tortilla.
Torchy's "Green Chile Queso & Chips" — Torchy's homemade chips with delicious green chile queso topped off with guacamole, queso fresco, cilantro & diablo sauce.
Texas Taco Co.'s "Green Chile Queso & Chips" — Homemade chips with delicious green chile queso topped off with guacamole, queso fresco, cilantro & DIABLO sauce.
_____________________
Restaurant News
Openings and Closings
Goodbye, Zushi, welcome back MF Sushi and hello Allô.
Molly Dunn
We heard of only one restaurant closing its doors last week (and it came without much of a shock).
It wasn't much longer after the Zushi on Memorial Drive at Westcott closed that the other Zushi location, in the Energy Corridor, shut its doors. Sushi Club of Houston President Carl Rosa reports on the club's Facebook page that the only remaining Zushi in Houston has officially closed. In one of the comments about the announcement, Rosa writes, "The management and ownership of the restaurant had no experience offering quality sushi and operating a restaurant. I worked with them for several months to establish a database and customer relationships...but inevitably, I had to excuse myself from Zushi altogether. There was no strategy, no mission, no focus and no genuine interest. The owners were never there. They used to watch the entire restaurant from video cameras in their home. They would visit Zushi once every two weeks."
Now let's move on to the openings from last week — lots of anticipated restaurants either opened or announced they are veeeery close to serving customers.
The sister restaurant of Liberty Kitchen opened on October 18 and began serving lunch and dinner on October 21. Eater reports that Liberty Kitchen Bar & Oysterette will serve seafood with a Southern touch. There's an oyster bar in the center of the restaurant, which will be open all day. CultureMap reports that the restaurant has a menu that is larger than Liberty Kitchen's — more oysters, more appetizers and a table-side prime-rib cart.
Little Dipper will open at the end of October; the bar concept comes from those behind Poison Girl, Black Hole Coffee House and Antidote Coffee. While the bar will be similar to Poison Girl — look for a pinball machine and jukebox — it will also have a few additional types of beer and wine. In fact, CultureMap reports that the team is working with a former Oxheart sommelier, Justin Vann, to develop the beer and wine list at Little Dipper.
Lowbrow Bar held a soft opening on October 24. Eater reports that the bar, from Free Press Summer Fest founder and Free Press Houston publisher Omar Afra, will represent Montrose — "just swanky enough and just sleazy enough." Eatsie Boys chef Matt Marcus was brought in as the culinary adviser and consultant. Lowbrow's online menu shows breakfast being served all day, including burritos and Cheddar biscuits with gravy, as well as "Not Breakfast" items, such as a pastrami brisket sandwich and a chicken-fried black bean burger — yum. According to the bar and restaurant's Facebook page, it will be one of the few places in Houston that represents all local breweries with draft selections.
Eater tells us that Allô French Rotisserie, from the former manager of The Woodlands' Hubbell & Hudson Bistro, Eric Goldner, opened on October 21. It's not an upscale French restaurant. Rather, Allô is meant to be casual and family-friendly. The restaurant will serve a rotisserie of the day, every day, such as herb pesto lamb on Saturdays and roasted short ribs on Tuesdays, along with all-natural rotisserie chicken every day. Typical French bistro items will be served, including quiche, potato croquettes, French shepherd's pie and croque monsieur.
MF Sushi will reopen next month, as reported by B4-U-Eat. A fire that broke out on September 29 forced the acclaimed sushi spot to close, and we are happy to hear MF will be back in business in a few weeks.