Seems I’ve been taking up booth space more and more often at Houston’s in the food and entertainment complex at Jamboree Road and Michelson Drive in Irvine. A couple of recent business lunches got me in the door at the behest of my hosts, but we also dropped by when craving a good burger last week and on another occasion when several previous nights of eating rich and creative food left us wanting only to give the tummy a rest with a savory salad. I blew the latter attempt, though, by ending the meal with their enticing apple walnut cobbler, with French vanilla ice cream on top. Oh well.
I do like very much the ambiance here. It’s quite pretty and yet exudes friendliness. The architecture sort of soars with the great trestled ceiling overhead, the vast expanse of copper fronting the open kitchen at the back of the big room, the two-level floor plan with a double row of bar-style seating marching right through the middle of it and comfortable red leather booths galore beyond. In a tribute to its proximity to John Wayne Airport, a couple of scaled down vintage planes hang from the massive beams. Three sides of the building are almost full walls of glass.
And, there’s the neatness of the staff that visually says so much. Servers are attired in quasi chef’s tops, all pristinely white, that sends a subliminal message that they know what they’re doing. The corporation gives them a nicely balanced one-page menu of items to serve. I like the menu of late better than the one they used when the Houston-based restaurant first came to town about three years ago. I think they opened with what they thought would work, and after settling in, refined the menu to suit our particular lifestyle.
At one of the business lunches, I asked my host, who confessed to eating “all the time” at Houston’s, why he kept going to the same place. “Because I can always find a burger, a salad or even an entr & #233;e worthy of pricier restaurants that just plain tastes good, and they sure don’t shortchange me on the portions.” That’s a good summation.
The menu actually starts out by listing the burgers and sandwiches at the top. The burgers are big affairs made with certified Angus beef ground daily in-house. I’m particularly fond of the hickory burger: a beef patty topped with Canadian bacon, onion, cheddar cheese and hickory-perfumed sauce that’s a signature condiment of the restaurant.
Texas-style hospitality creeps in via the Firehouse Chili Burger (a full-bodied chili laced with cheddar cheese and onions makes it messy and delicious) but, unfortunately, it’s only available on Saturdays.
There’s always a fresh fish sandwich served on a toasted egg bun, another made with a stack of thinly sliced prime rib, and a creative sandwich of the day. All are served with beans cooked in an iron skillet, French fries or a creamy cole slaw.
You’ll see lots of people around you eating big salads. That’s because the portions are ever-so-generous and their signature dressings are really good. Those include a chunky blue cheese, a terrific buttermilk-garlic, 1000 Island and a sweet and spicy honey-mustard vinaigrette. The club salad is a best-seller whose pile of greens is mingled with not only bits of crispy bacon, chopped egg, tomatoes and avocado, but also a lot of big chunks of fried chicken. That and the salad topped with grilled chicken and served with its own honey-lime vinaigrette and even a homemade peanut sauce drizzled on for added pizazz are my runaway favorites.
Entr & #233;e plates are also hefty construction efforts, coming with some kind of starch and vegetable, depending on the dish. You’ll find in this section of the menu a grilled double-cut pork chop that’s house-cured, a tender lamb shank slow-roasted with artichokes and garlic, roasted prime rib of beef, a wonderful marinated rib-eye (though grilled, it’s juicy and very flavorful), half a roasted chicken served with couscous, a rack of barbecued ribs and even a grilled filet mignon.
Then, there’s the Flying Chicken Platter. The latter, which I have when craving fried chicken, consists of a very big stack of fried chicken tenderloins sided with French fries and cole slaw. It’s just plain homey and satisfying. There are always three fresh fish selections, varying by day.
Another thing that has impressed me lately is the wine list: 36 selections with two-thirds of them available by the glass. They range from about $15 to $52 (that would be for a bottle of the Far Niente Chardonnay). With such a wide selection by the glass, I can try a different wine every time and it certainly broadens the horizon beyond a couple of Chardonnays and three or four Merlots and Cabs that seem to be the standard at even fussier places.
I already mentioned one favorite dessert above. For the time being, they’ve removed the authentic Key Lime pie I used to always have. But, one other interesting dessert added to the menu is the five-nut brownie served warm. A healthy dose of chocolate to be sure, the texture of all those nuts of course, and the added sweetness of caramel sauce. A bit of sensory overload, but worth sharing with about three other people because it is decadently good.
It’s easy to like Houston’s. There’s that Texas sort of hospitality that wafts through the whole place. Even at times like lunch, when a short wait might be necessary, the attitude is gracious and attentive. The servers are friendly, very well trained and helpful to a fault in making sure you get just the meal you want. For a chain operation, they’ve lined up all their ducks quite nicely.
