RESTAURANT REVIEW: Latuli

HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT: I have figured out how to enable comments on posts, so feel free to tell me how much my writing sucks if you so desire.

Before Chris Shepherd, Benchawan Jabthong Painter, Evelyn Garcia and the like, Bryan Caswell was one of Houston's original "celebrity chefs". His flagship Midtown restaurant Reef opened in 2007, but somehow I never made it there prior to its closure in 2019. While I did admire Little Bigs' sliders and El Real's Tex-Mex (also both now closed unfortunately), I wanted to be able to experience his real creativity and culinary flair. So needless to say I was pretty excited when he announced he was opening Latuli not far from my house.

The gorgeous Spanish-style building was constructed on the site of the former Gorman's Cleaners (RIP) off I-10 near Voss. Similar to Reef, this is Gulf Coast cuisine (and there are actually a lot of dishes that made the jump), though there are a lot of interesting twists on the menu that incorporate other styles of cooking. Though if you're looking for a diverse clientele... well let's just say you won't exactly see a variety of faces here, if you catch my drift. Not surprising for the area, but still a bit jarring for Houston.

A solid cocktail menu included both house and classic options: as you would expect I stuck to the far more interesting former page. "La Ultima Palabra" is their take on the Last Word, which substitutes mezcal for the traditional gin, and is paired with green Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur, and lime juice for a tart, slightly smoky flavor. A "Cigar Old Fashioned" could best be described as... an old fashioned. Not sure where the "cigar" was supposed to come into play, and the candied bacon promised on the menu was nowhere to be found. Still though, O.F. is my favorite cocktail, so even though this was a fairly vanilla take on the drink, it was well balanced and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

I strongly encourage starting with the optional bread service: fluffy yeast rolls and a deliciously moist gruyere cornbread were served alongside sorghum butter and jalapeño jam. The butter had a subtle nutty sweetness and the jalapeño jam just enough of a kick to accentuate the bread. If you're a party of two, four pieces of each can lead to filling up pretty fast before any other dishes arrive, but honestly it's worth it.

Another great appetizer was the Shiner Bock mussels, steamed to absolute perfection. Often I find mussels to be a bit overcooked, but these were delightfully soft and plump, and the sauce with beer and rajas (strips of poblano pepper) was a vibrant complement to the mollusk morsels. Dip some of the accompanying grilled garlic bread (or your leftover cornbread from the first course!). The best mussels I've ever had were at the now-shuttered Sandra Bullock-owned Bess Bistro in Austin, but these weren't far off.

Our server was excellent, but I do have to mention something bizarre that I had noticed around this point. There was a literal child (not older than 12) dressed in uniform and walking around the restaurant like he worked there. On multiple occasions during these first two courses he came up to our table and asked us if we were done or if we wanted it boxed up, when we had clearly barely started eating and there was more than half of the dish still remaining. I was truly perplexed at what was happening; as it turned out, he was chef Caswell's son and I guess he was getting his feet wet in the family business early on (or maybe it was just a clever ploy to save money on labor costs). Not really a negative, but just an oddity.

For a main course, I went with the wagyu barbacoa. The effortlessly tender braised beef cheek fell apart at the lightest touch (in a good way), and the spices and seasonings really shone through. It sat atop a light sunchoke (or Jerusalem artichoke, if you like) puree, and was garnished with a fresh jalapeño and pear salad. No tortillas or other accoutrements in sight: this was all about the meat, and it was exceptional.

I also got to try the Jay-Z approved (from Reef) jumbo lump crab cake, which was a quite-frankly massive patty fried to a lovely golden brown. There were pickled runner beans (a new legume for me) and a hot mustard tinged with some of the sorghum that is apparently a favorite ingredient here. Thumbs up emoji.

By this point we were pretty full, but couldn't resist ordering an adorable plate of mignardises (bite-size sweets) for dessert. Starting with the best there were: bourbon bonbons, hazelnut chocolate crunch squares, macarons, lemon madeleines, and peanut butter truffles, cleverly formed into the shape of a peanut. Something for everyone, and a nice way to end the meal.

This doesn't quite crack my top 5 New American restaurants, but it is still a pretty impressive effort. Unfortunately it is located just down the street from the superior Bar Bludorn, but there's room for both I think. Add in Credence, Jonathan's The Rub, and Haywire all within a few minutes drive, and you can see what the aforementioned monochrome population of the Memorial Villages prefers. Would it kill someone to open an Indian restaurant over here??

NEXT UP: Not that there's a massive selection, but probably the best African restaurant in Houston? (Definitely not in Memorial)