Latest news with #Viet-Cajun
Eater
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Eater
3 Houston Restaurants to Try This Weekend: May 16
Each week, we'll provide a trusty list of recommendations to answer the most pressing of questions: 'Where should I eat?' Here are four places to check out this weekend in Houston. And if you need ideas on where to drink, here's our list of the hottest places to get cocktails in town . For a masa experience: Maximo 6119 Edloe Street, West University Place Tucked into the charming neighborhood of West University, this Mexican restaurant has undergone some transition. The hospitality group behind Local Foods and Milton's first opened Maximo in 2024, touting nixtamalized tortillas and compelling taco combinations. But earlier this year, the restaurant took a mini-hiatus to regroup, tapping young chef and DACA-recipient Adrian Torres to reshape the menu. The result has been a vibrant lineup of dishes, including a confit brisket taco with pickled red onion and salsa macha taquera; a bright ceviche; and a refreshing heart of palm salad with strawberries, basil, queso enchilado, and champagne vinaigrette with just the right amount of acidity. The star is the homemade masa cornbread. Served over a buttery mole soubise, the bread is topped with an umami-loaded chicatana butter, made with fire ants — a Mexican delicacy, caviar for a bunch of salinity, and a hoja santa oil. For an affordable and well-rounded overview of what the restaurant offers, consider Maximo's new five-course tasting menu. Diners experience oysters served two ways, a squash blossom tetela, the masa cornbread, a sope crowned with tender truffle short rib and mole negro, and Maximo's must-have dessert: a banana pudding buñuelo filled with a creamy vanilla custard and served with a homemade banana ice cream craftily shaped like the yellow fruit. For the ultimate crawfish boil collaboration: EZ's Liquor Lounge 3302 White Oak Drive, Heights Crawfish season in Houston is still going strong, and two local spots are teaming up on one of the season's hottest pairings: crawdaddies and cold drinks. Midtown restaurant Josephine's will take residency at EZ's Liquor Lounge in the Heights on Sunday, May 18, starting at 1 p.m., serving chef Lucas McKinney's spicy crawfish. If you have a choice, order your mudbugs 'wet,' which means they'll come dripping in a Viet-Cajun style butter sauce comprised of a signature seasoning blend and a hint of fish sauce. Crawfish will be $9 per pound, with optional additions like $5 sausage links, and $4 servings of potatoes, corn, and mushrooms. The boil is first-come, first-served, so be sure to get there early. Don't forget the drinks. EZ's Liquor Lounge offers cocktails, beer, and frozen beverages, including freezer martinis, Ranch Waters, and its Slurrricane, a potent combination of two rums, sherry, citrus, Fassionola, and bitters to quell the spice and keep you cool. For one of the city's best imports: Rumi's Kitchen 1801 Post Oak Boulevard, Suite 120, Uptown Houstonians can be a tad protective over the dining scene, especially when it comes to restaurants from out of town. A Dallas or Austin restaurant opens up? Cue the skepticism. But every once in a while, an outsider opens in Houston that gets the locals' seal of approval. Although I initially dragged my feet to this Atlanta import, considered one of the city's most iconic Persian restaurants, dinner convinced me to have a more open mind. The labneh with charred tomato is a smart opener, simple yet thick and creamy with strained yogurt enhanced by tomato, Urfa chili, basil puree, and lemon salt. The restaurant also serves a flavorful Chilean sea bass with dill and fava bean basmati rice, an assortment of kabobs, and Shirin rice with a punchy combination of orange zest, barberry, pistachio, and almond. Rumi's might be more expensive than many other Mediterranean restaurants in Houston, but some of the higher price tag is due to its ambiance. The dimly lit dining room is punctuated by an illuminated bar with a spherical installation housing its many bottles. There's rustic decor and plating designed to evoke an old-world feel, ceiling fans that resemble the swirling skirts of Sufis, and other small touches that make the experience feel more personal. Most notably, Rumi's Old Fashioned, a cocktail composed of bourbon, Oleo, and bitters and an ode to the restaurant's poet namesake, features a poem as a garnish and souvenir. Sign up for our newsletter.
The Guardian
29-04-2025
- The Guardian
‘Your own Viet-Cajun party': Thi Le's spicy seafood boil-up recipe
Mum has told me a few iterations of how she ended up in Australia: one was because my biological father had been sent to Australia rather than the US after leaving the refugee camp; another because she heard Australia was a much nicer place. Either way, while my cousins made it to the US to meet up with the other relatives, Mum found her way into Australia. This dish takes inspiration from my cousins in the US. It's the ultimate viet kieu (which translates to 'overseas Vietnamese') story – migrants and naturalised Vietnamese forced to find a living in a new area, then adapting a local dish by amping it up with Vietnamese condiments: lemongrass, orange wedges, spring onion oil, ginger, butter, muối tiêu chanh (salt, pepper and citrus). The practice of boil-ups is hardly foreign to generations of Vietnamese regardless of location – fresh seafood hauled on to land, boiled, seasoned and enjoyed with lots of beer and a healthy dose of shit-talking. This recipe should give you the starting point for your own Viet-Cajun party. The beauty of Australia is the seafood – instead of crawfish, as you'd expect in the US, we have used prawns, mussels, shore crabs, calamari, fish and mud crabs. But you can use any combination of seafood here – just aim for a combined weight of 2.5-3kg. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning For side dishes, you can add corn doused in spring onion oil, collard greens, okra and blanched beans, as well as egg noodles and bread to soak it all up. It's a dish best enjoyed in a grassy back yard. Historically, we have tipped everything on to a table, hoed into the lot, and proceeded to hose down the entire table after a quick clean-up. Serves 6–8500g periwinkles 500g pipis, or clams of your choice1-2 bullet, bird's eye or green scud chillies, roughly chopped, to purge the clams2 blue swimmer crabs, or dungeness or jonah crabs, halved straight down the middle500g tiger prawns 500g yabbies (crayfish)500g mussels, beards removed250g new potatoes 2 corn cobs, cut into 5cm pieces, husks reserved for the broth250g okra 1 bunch Thai basil For the spice mix:100g hot or smoked paprika 60g cayenne pepper 60g lemongrass powder 60g ground ginger 60g onion powder 60g garlic powder 20g Chinese five spice 30g fennel seeds, blitzed or crushed1 green cardamom pod, crushed20g sea salt 10g granulated white sugar Store leftover spice mix in an airtight container. For the broth:3 litres chicken stock2 cups (500ml) coconut water (no added sugar, if using a packaged version)2 corn husks, tied8 oranges, juiced, skin reserved150g ginger, peeled and chopped2 lemongrass stems, cut into 5cm lengths1 onion, quartered1 garlic bulb, halved8 fresh bay leaves 6 star anise 1 cassia bark stick For the sauce:50ml vegetable oil 75g garlic, peeled50g ginger, peeled and roughly chopped50g lemongrass, very finely chopped25g red bird's eye chillies, very finely chopped125g unsalted butter 50ml fish sauce To serve:1 orange, juicedsalt, pepper and citrus or hot sauce Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion Combine all the spice mix ingredients in a bowl, mixing well. Place all the broth ingredients – including the orange skins – in a stockpot, along with 100g of the spice mix. Bring to the boil and leave to infuse over low heat for 30 minutes. Clean the seafood, depending on the types you have selected. If using periwinkles and/or pipis that are not labelled 'pot ready', purge them of sand by leaving them to soak in a bowl of cold water with two chopped chillies for at least one hour. The oils in the chillies stimulate bivalves to expel their sand. If using crabs, turn them over, pry off and remove the belly plate, and chop the body in half with a cleaver. If using prawns, you can remove the shells and intestinal tract. I like to keep the heads on for extra flavour during cooking. Rinse all the seafood under cold running water and leave to drain. To cook the seafood and vegetables, bring the stock back to the boil with the lid on. Add the crab, periwinkles, potatoes, corn and Thai basil to the stock and cook rapidly for 10 minutes, covered. Add the okra, pipis, prawns, yabbies and mussels and cook for a further five minutes, covered. While the seafood is simmering, heat the oil in a large wok over high heat. Add the garlic, ginger, lemongrass and chilli and fry for one minute. Add the butter and let it melt. Bring to a bubble and stir in the fish sauce and 150g of the spice mix. Check the seasoning; the sauce should be spicy and buttery, with a hint of sweetness on the back palate. Once you are happy, turn off the heat. Once the seafood is cooked, scoop it out of the broth and add it to the wok. Give the seafood a good toss to ensure it is evenly coated in the sauce. Check the seasoning, and add more spice blend to your liking. Stir the additional orange juice through the seafood to lighten the sauce. Toss in a good handful of Thai basil leaves, then empty the contents of the wok into a large vessel, like a paella pan, or straight on to a table covered in plastic wrap. Serve with salt, pepper and citrus, or your favourite hot sauce. This is an edited extract from Viet Kieu by Thi Le with Jia-Yen Lee, photography by Mark Chew. (Murdoch Books, RRP A$55)
