Reef restaurant

This past weekend Erik and I went out to dinner at Reef restaurant. I was incredibly excited to try Reef. Bon Appetit magazine named the number one seafood restaurant in the country, an incredibly lofty statement. Bryan Caswell, the chef, has worked for Jean Georges and it shows. Reef uses seasonal ingredients and locally sources his fish. I wish more places would start doing this. Plus, Bryan Caswell, the chef and owner, gets his fish from Airline Seafood on Shepherd. Airline Seafood has beautiful, gleaming, fresh fish mostly from local resources.
Reef is reminiscent of the ocean. Along one wall is relaxing white waves. The candles and light fixtures almost reminded me of coral. Additionally, the tables are made of mother of pearl, mimicking white sand and the wine cellar almost reminded me of being encased in an aquarium. The whole vibe of the place was completely transporting.
Reef has really interesting fish selections, like sea bream, tile fish, and amberjack. There was even something his friend caught in a spearfishing competition that he drove over to the restaurant because he wanted it to be on the menu, how cool!
The bread, which kind of reminded me of the stuff you get at bbq joints, was a white, mini burger roll looking thing that came with jalapeno jelly (so Texas). I loved the idea of the jelly, but I wish the bread was a bit more refined for such an amazing place. The jelly was great though.
We ordered the kanzuri cured yellow tail in cucumber water. The waitress told us that kanzuri is a chili paste from the mountains of Japan where the peppers have been exposed to the snow. I was really excited to try it. When the dish came I immediately dipped my piece of fish in the paste. It was a bit over powering. I liked it better with a smidgeon of the paste and the cucumber water. The dish was light and had really bright flavors. It was a perfect start to a meal.
For our main dishes we ordered redfish on the half shell with fried macaroni and collard greens and asparagus tips dressed with what tasted like asian fish oil as well as the grilled scallops with the truffle polenta and mushroom ragout. We also ordered a side dish of the fries with the Sriracha Remoulade because it was listed on the 100 Southern foods you must have before you die...and let me tell you that list was RIGHT!
The food took about an hour to arrive. I was starting to get cranky and give our server the hairy eyeball towards the end. I like to linger and enjoy my meal, but we felt a bit forgotten about.
The fried macaroni and cheese was divine. It came out in a square surrounded by a crispy bread crust, so each bit had crunch to it. The collard greens were perfectly salty and sweet. The redfish was OK though. It was seasoned well, with traditional Lousianan spices, but it was just a tad overcooked. The fish was moist, but not as much as it should have been considering how fresh it was. It came with the scales in tact, which is why it says its on the half shell. All in all I expected a bit more from the fish. The grilled scallops were also OK. They were excpetionally fresh, bit I wanted more of a nice, grilled crust on the outside. They were a little soft. The polenta was nice, but I did not taste truffle. I enjoyed the meal, but perhaps other dishes may have been better. The fries and Sriracha Remoulade were phenonmenal. I wanted to like the dish (I am not kidding). I am on a mission to replicate the dip which I think was a combination of oil and egg (mayonnaise) combined with sriracha, lime, and salt, heaven.
Overall is was a good dining experience. I want to go back and try the mussels and crab cake. Supposedly one of the soux chefs that created the recipe is from Baltimore, so that crab cakes gotta be good. Erik and I will be back to give it another chance. There were many dishes on the menu that sounded interesting, plus I gotta have that remoulade again. Go.

reefhouston.com
2600 Travis