Houston Restaurant Weeks - Sorrel Urban Bistro

If you live in Houston, you know that August is a huge month for those in the culinary world. August is Houston Restaurant Weeks, where restaurants in Houston and surrounding areas offer prefixed menus for brunch, lunch, and dinner. They donate part of the proceeds to the Houston Food Bank and for me there is nothing better than eating for a cause! (Plus I get to do some work on my restaurants to try list) Sorrel Urban Bistro has been on my list for quite some time and I am ashamed that it took me so long to try. I ended up trying some of the items on their regular menu as well as participating in the Houston Restaurant Weeks promotion. We started off with the Gulf shrimp bisque topped with a bit of creme fraiche. It was silky and had a nice richness to it. It didn't had an overwhelming seafood taste to it and the creme fraiche helped lighten the soup. Next was an order of pomme frites with garlic confit. The garlic aroma from these was delicious and they had a touch of salt. They were still crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Much better than your average french fry.

The entree portion of the meal included a porkchop with braised cabbage and snapper with polenta. The pork chop was topped with a peach semi-sweet barbecue sauce. The braised cabbage was a bit too salty for me, but it wasn't terrible. I can't say that I would eat it again, but I am glad that I tried it. The pork chop was well cooked and wasn't too dry. The peach added the necessary touch of sweetness and the barbecue sauce made it a very summery dish. The snapper was caught that morning and apparently almost didn't make it on the menu because they weren't sure they were going to be able to get it. The snapper was very mild and the chipotle cream sauce didn't drown the fish or overwhelm it. The polenta was creamy and added texture and depth to the snapper. Both of these choices were perfect for a summer night dinner.

To round out the meal, we chose a Belgium chocolate cake with a dark cherry sauce. I was surprised when the dessert came out because this was one of the first cakes that I have seen that haven't been served with an icing. The cake was a very dense cake that had a lovely chocolate taste to it with only a touch of sweetness to it. There wasn't a ton of the sauce - just enough to keep the cake moist. There were two whole cherries served with the cake to make it look pretty. My visit to Sorrel Urban Bistro was fairly good. The restaurant has an intimate feel to it and an ever changing menu due to the locally sourced ingredients. Thank you Sorrel and Houston Restaurant Weeks for such a wonderful experience!