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Pesce
This entry was posted on 7/15/2008 6:49 PM and is filed under Seafood.
UPDATED: JULY 2008
We intended to dine at Danton's Gulf Coast Seafood Kitchen but found it closed over the July 4th weekend. Based on our experience described below, we weren't overly eager to give Pesce another shot. But, we wanted seafood, and we didn't feel like going quite as casual as Goode Company or driving downtown to the oh so trendy Reef. So, we headed over to Pesce, which was packed, with no tables available without a reservation (and even then, as we experienced, sometimes not). But we were happy to sit at the oyster bar as we weren't sure how much of Pesce's high end fare we wanted to order.
Lenny, our amiable wait person who seems to rule the oyster bar, took good care of us. We forgave him for crashing the first signature seafood martini on the counter and dropping the shrimp off the second one. The third arrived fully intact, and we carefully ate every bite of it. Chunks of lobster and shrimp sat on top of creamy, kim chee spiced shrimp slaw. Although perhaps less seafood than when Pesce first introduced us to this dish, it remains a unique, very enjoyable start to a meal, slightly pricey at $17. We then tried the seafood gumbo. Dark and quite spicy, it had plenty of seafood, including a couple of fried oysters. While not over the top hot, this gumbo is not for the faint of heart. We then debated over the $32 crab cakes (for which Pesce is well known) or the scallops. We had wanted the stuffed soft shell crab (also $32 for one crab), but they ran out just before we ordered, with the couple sitting next to us getting the last one. We opted for the scallops as we were getting full. Listed as an appetizer on the menu, we got three large seared sea scallops, coated in crushed arborio rice, in a delicious lemon butter sauce. We didn't love the rice crust, but the scallops were perfectly cooked and the added crunch was an interesting twist. One of us had the urge to end the meal with something citrus, but the couple sitting next to us also got the last piece of the lemon meringue pie. As a consolation prize, we ended the evening on a nice note as Lenny graciously offered us one of the extra loaves of olive bread. Then, we headed over to the Dessert Gallery a couple doors down on Kirby.
We may not race back to Pesce, although sitting at the oyster bar made for a fun experience. From its initial opening, Pesce has been the high end, place to be seen seafood restaurant in Houston. And it seems none the worse for the wear now that it's owned by the Fertitta group. So, we have removed Pesce from the "Disappointment" category.
3029 Kirby Drive
713/522-4858
http://www.pescehouston.com/
FIRST REVIEWED: NOVEMBER 2007
This is a brief entry as we did not actually eat at Pesce. Rather, we had made a reservation on Wednesday for 8:00 Saturday evening. At 4:30 Saturday afternoon, we received a call that the restaurant was overbooked, and they needed to cancel our reservation. That's a first for us in 25 years of dining in Houston. They did offer us a 9:00 reservation, which was late for us, and we didn't, in any event, have confidence it would have been honored at that time. Pesce is a large restaurant, and it's hard to imagine they couldn't have accommodated two persons at the reserved time. At least they could have offered to comp our bar tab as we waited for the table. The whole situation didn't sit well with us. We guess Tillman Fertitta's financial struggles have resulted in a lack of investment in reservations software or competent reception staff. Or perhaps he made last minute plans to entertain a large group of lenders.
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