This week I made not one buy two trips to The Down House on Yale Street in the Houston Heights. This restaurant came onto my radar because via the local food scene in Houston. This restaurant makes a point to serve locally produced foods as much as possible including Buddy's free range chicken, Slow Dough breads, Pola Cheese, and Cuvee Coffee, just to name a few.
A group of about seven of us made a field trip up to the Down House last Saturday night. We found it less crowded than I would have expected for prime time Saturday. The building used to be a bank and is an open space inside. There are lots of comfortable, homey looking couches and booths as well as round tables and bar stools. It has a relaxed atmosphere and a mix of clientele from cool hipsters to families with kids.
After being seated, the waiter came over and asked us all of we planned to drink alcohol. Of course we said yes, and so he said then we would need to join the "club." The neighborhood in the Heights where Down House is located is considered a dry neighborhood. There is some kind of loophole though that if one has a member's club, one can still serve booze. Joining the club was as simple as handing over our licenses to be scanned. The waiter did inform me that this would have to be done every time we came to the bar. I still have my New Jersey license, so as an "out-of-stater," I had to actually fill out a little form with my contact information. The waiter reminded me that I could also choose to obey federal laws and change my license to Texas since I did live here...eh, laws are meant to be broken, right?
Now that we were cleared for boozing, we took a look at the menu. The Down House has an interesting list of cocktails made with fresh ingredients. It was reminiscent of Anvil's drink options, another bar with the "prohibition era" style cocktails, but a but more interesting still. They also have a bunch of good American craft beers and some import beers on tap. Anand got himself a Belgian beer that was dark and smooth. I got an Old Rasputin (Imperial Russion Stout by North Coast Brewing Company). After polishing those off, we also tried some cocktails. I was interested in one that contained IPA on the long list of ingredients. It is not every day that you get a cocktail with beer involved. It was called the India Express and contained Brandy, IPA, St Elizabeth's Allspice, fresh squeeze grapefruit, Peychauds, and honey. The drink was refreshing, citrus-y, and spicey. Someone else tried La Flama: Siembra Azul Blanco tequila, Grand Marnier, cucumber, fresh lime, house curry bitters, demerara. I made a note that next time I would try the Kaldi Cocktail with scotch, Kirsch, espresso, real maple syrup, cream, chocolate bitters.
The menu at Down House changes daily depending on what kind of local products they can get their hands on. I ordered a spicy chicken breast meal that came with a Napa cabbage slaw and a seriously hot habanero yogurt sauce. A few of the others got fried Grouper sliders with carmelized onions on Slow Dough mini buns. We tried a fruit salad with balsamic vinegar. The Redneck cheeseburger was well cooked and juicy. The fries were crispy. The flat bread pizza was also great. The dough was thin but still chewy and they used some awesome goat cheese on top. We were all quite satisfied with our experience there. Anand got a cappuccino for dessert that he said was pretty bad-ass. We decided that next time, we'd have to try their brunch.
Instead of brunch though, I returned again to Down House last night for more dinner and drinks. Nancy and I found the place pretty crowded at 8pm on a Thursday. We chose one of the high top marble tables near the bar and were greeted by a friendly waitress with some interesting arm tattoos. I have to say that I love how all of the staff at Down House are very hipster trendy looking. Admittedly, hipster-watching is one of my favorite past times.
After handing off our licenses again, we got our drinks. Nancy went for the India Express and I tried the St. Bernardus Abt 12 Quadrupel Belgian beer with ABV of 10%. It is a delicious beer, that goes down dangerously easily given it's high alcohol content. The menu this time was, of course, a bit different from last week's offerings but it seems like there are also some regular players. I got the pulled pork quesadillas with napa slaw and Nancy got the Ratatouille with goat cheese. I was thankful when the food finally came because I could already feel that beer going to my head. The quesadilla was great and I liked the spicy dipping sauce as well as the refried black bean spread.
We got to meet one of the owners, Forrest, that night. He is a friendly, spunky guy with a cool mohawk. He literally presents every drink to the table and he does it with excitement. It feels like Christmas morning; it's fantastic! He was very attentive, wanting to know if we were having a good experience. I got to hear a little more about the Down House which I discovered had only been open for about ninety days. Forrest co-owned it with two other guys, who he pointed out to us behind the bar. They each had their niche. Forrest did cocktails, another guy did food, and the third handled the coffee program. From what I read, the coffee guy actually owns a really popular coffee joint in Austin too. Forrest told us that Down House is most popular during brunch. He told is that if we want to come back for brunch, we'd better come early or on a week day unless we wanted to wait a long time for a table. He gave us his card in case we needed anything.
Before we asked for the check, I noticed that they had a beer called Hopadillo, which I had just read about. This is a beer out of Houston's newest microbrewery, Karbach. I don't even think the brewery has officially opened yet, but it was good to see their beers making it out to the bars. We finally asked for the check. When the Down House brings out the bill, they stick the receipt into an old book. Both times we came, our check was brought to us in a book about or by Darwin. Upon further inspection, one will notice that there are Darwin inspired pictures on the wall. I read online that The Down House is named after Darwin's country home, so it all made sense. I am more than happy to support an evolution-loving establishment, especially in state of Texas.
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