One of this burger lover's saddest days of 2010 was the day that Tesar's Modern Steakhouse closed in the Woodlands. Tesar's Magic burger had become the thing of local legend; to this day I've been searching for a burger that comes close to that remarkable creation.
But good things have followed for those involved with Tesar's. Chef Jeromy Robison landed the exec spot at La Colombe d'Or's popular new CINQ restaurant, and has been on everyone's short list of talented young chefs.
The other member of the dynamic duo, Chef Austin Simmons, was recently promoted to Executive Chef at Hubbel & Hudson, the hot gourmet market and bistro in the Woodlands. Austin and I talked burgers on numerous occasions at Tesar's, and I was excited to see how he'd influence the already excellent burgers at H & H.
So I was pleasantly surprised not only to learn of Chef Austin's promotion, but to be invited to sample some of his new dishes on the winter Hubbell & Hudson menu. And I was hoping a burger would be one of the offerings.
After rolling out several new dishes (which will be written about soon) a burger appeared.
Wagyu Burger at Hubbell & Hudson |
I smiled when I noticed that instead of one of H & H's excellent buns, Chef Austin had selected an English Muffin as the foundation for his burger. The half-pound patty was hand-formed Wagyu beef, from an American breed of cattle that produces Kobe beef in Japan. Instead of bacon, crispy prosciutto di Parma was artfully arranged. Fresh arugula and a unique tomato remoulade were piled atop a sunny-side-up egg. No ordinary condiments were to be found. These prime ingredients do not result in a bargain burger - served with the excellent house cut double dip frites, the cost of the burger is $25, not an insubstantial sum.
(I hate to second-guess a chef, but I'm not an egg-on-a-burger guy. When I mentioned this, the burger was whisked into the kitchen, and reemerged in short order without the egg.)
I bit into the burger, and it was a revelation. Front and center was the lush, beefy flavor. The wagyu had been expertly ground; so many times super premium beef doesn't stand up well to grinding, but in this case it had been handled expertly and cooked to a perfect medium rare. The juicy ooze was in full force; this was a rare case where wagyu beef delivered fully on its promise.
The tang of the tomato chutney was a delicious counterpoint to the swaggeringly rich beefy flavor, and this is coming from someone who typically doesn't like tomatoes on a burger. The smooth, almost sweet flavor of the cured prosciutto provided balance, and the subtle crunch added textural interest.
This could very well be the best burger I've ever tasted.
Chef Austin is still fine tuning the burger. He's contemplating a version replacing the egg with one of Hubbell & Hudson's artisan cheeses.
I shudder to think about the difficulty in resisting the result.
Hubbell & Hudson Bistro | 24 Waterway Ave, Suite 125 | The Woodlands, Texas 77380
281-203-5641 | hubbellandhudson.com
I just saw a very curious tweet from El Real Tex-Mex, the hot new Montrose-area restaurant:
@ElRealTexMex tweets:
"Come one, come all. Montrosians eat half-priced with TDL @elrealtexmex for Montrose Mondays!"
While I applaud the idea of a great deal on a slow night, I'm more than a little put off by the exclusionary nature of the offer. If you don't live in the right neighborhood, you don't get the deal.
To me, this smacks of the worst sort of price discrimination. If you aren't fortunate enough to live in the right upscale neighborhood, you pay a higher price on Monday nights.
Folks who don't live in Montrose: How do you feel about this sort of offer, where you're excluded because you live in the wrong zip code?
It's a nightmare scenario:
It doesn't matter whether the meal was prepared at home, or whether you enlisted the help of a professional kitchen - once the bird is on your table, someone has to do the carving.
Thanksgiving is this week, and I'll bet that many of our readers have yet to finalize their plans for the traditional holiday meal. While we're fans of a home-cooked extravaganza, we realize that busy schedules often make this impossible. Heck, out here in the Woodlands, football playoffs have resulted in practice on Thanksgiving Day, further complicating plans.
Hubbell & Hudson's Ho-Ka Roasted Turkey Dinner |
As the Woodlands has grown, we've seen explosive growth in the local restaurant market. Newcomers open every month, anxious to tap into the thriving economy by feeding hungry residents. Some succeed. Some fail. But all help the dining scene change and evolve into something more interesting.
Once thing we've bemoaned repeatedly is the lack of good BBQ in the Woodlands. While there are a smattering of BBQ joints, we've yet to run across a place that serves the kind of 'Q that we crave. Heck, most of the time when we're in the mood for BBQ, we hike down I-45 to Louetta and give Rudy's, the San Antonio import, our business.
So we were excited to hear from one of our Twitter followers about a new BBQ place opening up off Sawdust road. Called Corkscrew BBQ, it is an oversized BBQ truck/trailer semi-permanently located on Budde road, half a block south of Sawdust. Painted black with a bright pink roof, you won't miss the trailer when you drive down Budde Road, perhaps on the way to an Orwall little league game.
The Corkscrew BBQ Truck |
Corkscrew BBQ is new to the Woodlands, but the people behind it are not new to BBQ. Will and Nichole Buckman are the owners, and they have operated a successful catering business on the north side for years. Corkscrew BBQ is the result of their desire to serve a bigger market on a daily basis, applying their hard-won expertise in the catering field.
So how is the BBQ? As every real Texan knows, BBQ is all about slow-cooking meat with plenty of honest-to-Robb wood smoke. Corkscrew's wood of choice is oak, and they use plenty of it.
Native Texas Oak is the source of fire and smoke in Corkscrew BBQ's pit |
Unlike many urban BBQ places, Corkscrew's pit runs exclusively on wood - there's no gas involved at all. Oak was selected because it's a fairly hot-burning wood, and Will Buckman prefers not to overpower the flavor of the meat with the flavor of smoke, and a hotter fire shifts the balance in favor of the meat flavor.
The pit itself is a good-sized rotary shelf unit, with individual meats wrapped in foil to retain their juices.
The pit at Corkscrew BBQ |
Corkscrew smokes the traditional brisket, ribs and sausage, and also plans to go beyond the standards with occasional daily specials. On our first visit, we were in a bit of a hurry, and sampled only the chopped beef sandwich.
Chopped Beef at Corkscrew BBQ |
Chopped beef can tell you a lot about the philosophy of a BBQ joint. Some places use the least desirable scraps, hiding the poor quality behind too much strong sauce. Corkscrew's approach is one we prefer: Freshly chopped brisket, mixed with just enough sauce, topped with veggies. Crunchy sliced onions and pickles (and jalapeƱos, if you'd like) complete the sandwich, and we liked the not-overly-sweet tang of the housemade sauce.
We returned two days later, and talked with Will Buckman about how their first weekend went. They were very busy - apparently we weren't the only ones in the Woodlands who were hungry for a new BBQ spot. Will insisted that we try his brisket, and hauled out a slab.
Brisket at Corkscrew BBQ |
The brisket had a beautiful dark bark, and the grit of the house rub was plainly visible. A cut revealed a quarter-inch smoke ring in a nice, dark pink.
He sliced off a sample (an outside cut from the fatty end) and we dug in. The smoky flavor was subtle, but certainly present. We've had BBQ where the smoke totally overpowered the flavor of the beef, but that wasn't a problem at Corkscrew. The 'Q was slightly drier than we prefer, but a dash of the tangy housemade sauce addressed that problem, and added a nice bite to the flavor.
Brisket at Corkscrew BBQ |
Bottom line: Corkscrew's brisket is easily among the best to be had in the Woodlands.
Will had an enigmatic smile on his face, and handed me a small container. "It's our cobbler. Today's is apple." Never being one to insult a man with a hot pit and sharp knives, I opened the container and sampled the warm cobbler.
Apple Cobbler at Corkscrew BBQ |
Corkscrew's cobbler is superb. A soft, flaky, buttery crust balanced with the zest of the spicy apples, sweet but not cloyingly so. We're anxious to return and sample the other cobblers, including peach and seasonal berries.
The Woodlands has been in need of a serious BBQ joint ever since I've moved here, and Corkscrew BBQ is already filling that void. Between the tasty brisket and superb cobbler, we'll be back, and often. If you love BBQ, you will, too.
Corkscrew BBQ | Budde Road just south of Sawdust | The Woodlands, TX 77380
832-592-1184 | www.CorkscrewBBQ.com | Twitter: @CorkscrewBBQ
Recently, Marco Torres, a photographer for the Houston Press, announced that he was going to attempt to go a month without eating Mexican food. We'd rather not even think about this, because Houston is home to some of the country's best Mexican food, and it makes up a regular part of our diet. Folks in other parts of the nation aren't so lucky, having to make do with the offerings of national chains such as Taco Bell.
Breakfast Tacos from Texas Tamale Co. |
Tamales from Texas Tamale Co. |