But at a Southwest cooking conference at the then-newly minted Four Seasons Hotel Houston, fellow chefs were impressed by Del Grande's Tex-Mex take on a classic foie gras terrine. It's all part of Del Grande's virtual return to a place and time where "culture met counter-culture" as he put it. We can only imagine what that irreverence will bring in the years to come.
Image: Julie Soefer. Image: Alice Levitt. Filed under. I will definitely go back. The food and service were impeccable. Bday event. We loved it. Beautiful place and awesome atmosphere!
A great place to celebrate something special! Nice ambience. Great service. Crab cake tostadas! Waygu ribeye was amazing, as were the scallops. Brussel sprouts were also some of the best we have had. Will definitely be back! No hostess, waited for 5 minutes. Late lunch.. We are told its noisy at prime time. Higher end on price but expected for the area. Good food and service was great. Would definitely dine again.
Worst service ever. The food was delicious and I have absolutely no complaints there. I made a reservation to specifically sit outside with me and my friend. Once outside.
I cousin see why. I was a little disappointed and annoyed that clearly our umbrella was taken, as every other table had one. We ended up sitting inside because of it and getting a table that was half the size. We enjoyed Annie's caviar for an appetizer.
We had the filet and the salmon for our main course. Both were excellent! Lousy service. Totally indifferent to us white folks. Robert has lost the magic.
We went for an early dinner out on terrace. Many tables were not cleaned off the whole time we were present. Waiter in a hurry and did not want to spend much time explaining the menu. Gave a purse stand for some guest but not my wife. Fly got into my cocktail and had to send it back.
Covered side dish with napkin to keep flies out. Food was good but had to eat it fast before flies got into it. They should be in this restaurant. This is not the Annie's we use to go to. Our server was very slow and barely added anything to the experience. Food and service were wonderful.
The noise level was a bit too loud, and I would like for them to space out the seating more. Overall, a nice dining experience.
Perfect table on the terrace, lovely servers and amazing food! Easily my favorite restaurant in Houston. Nice meal. It was very cold in the restaurant and waitstaff seems inexperienced. The food tonight was excellent. Truly excellent. The service left a lot to be desired. A lot. The waiter disappeared for the first 15 minutes I was there. Not even so much as a glass of water when the food started to arrived, the service improved.
Then the waiter disappeared again. For close to 30 minutes. I wanted a cup of coffee. No waiter anywhere in sight. I finally got up to go find a waiter preferably my waiter and by the time I found him I was so frustrated I could not think about what I had wanted, just thapt he was nowhere to be found. I told the waiter that our meals were excellent, but the poor service really spoiled an otherwise lovely evening. The waiter said that he " had been in back" whatever that means. I told him that I had no idea why he had "been in back", and I could not imagine why is should be OK for him to disappear for so long.
After I had spoken with our waiter, the gentleman at the table next to me got up and told the waiter that he seconded what I had already said. Went to try for Houston restaurant week and it was very nice. First time and love the food and experience. We will return. Our service was outstanding. Really enjoyed it. It was like a badge of honor that you could survive it. We would do all this elaborate stuff. There were two seatings — the quiet 6 pm and, later, the wild second seating.
And it was. After the eve of , in the wake of Y2K, they closed out the last year of the millennium with no fanfare whatsoever. But there was a certain group who would eat at the bar.
Then a light went off in my head. You can eat bar food with your fingers! That was the difference. While people were still wearing coats and ties in the dining room, the bar was surreptitiously gaining a certain cachet. In the years leading up to , things changed in a bigger way: Their landlord had other plans for the space they occupied, near the intersection of San Felipe and Post Oak Boulevard. His idea was to move the restaurant a few yards up the street to occupy an expansive two-story space.
We never had a chance to really think it all through. When the foursome had initially made the move from Westheimer to their first Post Oak space, the layout was almost identical, save for a quick flip of the blueprints. Others would drive past its former stead, see a construction site, and wonder where it had gone, never realizing it was only a block away. And then there were the out-of-towners who had no idea what was going on. But that was the least of their problems. It was nuts. We had to have someone downstairs collecting their drinks.
The restaurant was not set up for that, we never anticipated it… A lot of people got the wrong message in the beginning. And just about this time, younger diners were heading everywhere else, as a veritable boom of restaurants was hitting Houston. A city that had always staunchly supported those who started their careers in town began to embrace outsiders, making competition for dining dollars fierce.
Cafe Annie began losing pivotal, long-tenured front- and back-of-the-house employees, but Del Grande and company took each departure in stride. As the 35th anniversary approached in June , they contemplated ways to mark it. Nixing the idea of a big party, they decided instead to bring a few Cafe Annie signature menu items back to RDG. Then someone on the team no one is sure just who thought it would be a brilliant idea to change the name back to Cafe Annie, typography and all, which led to nothing but more confusion.
In , in an outward sign of business slowing significantly, the Schiller Del Grande Restaurant Group as they are collectively known decided to refashion what was essentially a dead first-floor entry space into a small retro eatery, serving wood-grilled steaks and oysters.
Now 64 years old, Robert Del Grande is stepping up for his grand redux and stepping out on the stage solo. Mimi has retired, and the Schillers are busy consulting on hotel and restaurant projects elsewhere, although the foursome still retain operations at the downtown eatery The Grove at Discovery Green.
Berg, a native New Yorker and alum of the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, moved from Manhattan to Houston several years ago with his wife and three young children in search of a better quality of life. Shortly after, two Houston locations of his more casual concept, B. Lemon, premiered.
0コメント