Monthly Archives: October 2010

Speaking of markups on wine… a Houston story

Casual Restaurant Critic, , , , , , , , , ,

A reader comment on Rosas y Xocolate by Guest Critic Mark Makers regarding the markup on wines reminded the Critic of a funny experience he once had in the good old US of A.

On a not-so-recent trip to Houston, Texas, the Better Half and the Critic went out for a celebratory (ie ‘nice’) dinner at Pappas Steakhouse, the one on Westheimer, and after going through the opening sequence cocktail and having the dinner order taken by their flawless staff, a “house wine” was offered. Apparently this was a special wine that Pappas was serving this evening, blah blah blah.

“Sure, why not?” said the Critic. And he ordered two glasses, one for him and another for the Better Half. Along comes another server, pushing a cart with a gigantic bottle in a special sling and makes a great show of pouring two glasses of this wine for the Critic and BH. Other diners stare with amazement at the sheer size of this bottle.

Midway through an excellent steak, a delectable, cooked-to-perfection prime rib-eye, if the Critic recalls correctly, a second round of wine was offered. This time, only the Critic acceded to another glass. Again, the giant bottle on a cart show.

There was no room for dessert, as usual, but dessert was ordered anyway and it was fantastic. Gooey Pecan Pie. You will die and go to heaven if you order it – mouthgasms galore.

But the point of this story was the mark-up angle, remember?

Well. The bill comes to the table and lo and behold, that ‘house wine’ came in at 57 dollars a glass!!! Was the Critic in shock? You betcha. But hey, what can you do, right? Complain? About what? So the Critic paid and chalked it up to experience. And the Better Half and he laugh about it to this day.

Pappas Website – Highly recommended! But ask for the price of the house wine if it is offered!

OneBurger

Casual Restaurant Critic, , , , , , , , , , ,

The Critic and the infinitely patient Better Half stopped at OneBurger, a relatively new addition to the Merida culinary scene, although it has been favorably reviewed by the Critics cohort in criticism Beryl, at www.gorbman.com some time ago.

Upon entering you are greeted with a sparkling white interior which an employee was busy cleaning. So busy was he that he didn’t look up for a while, but when he did, and the Critic asked him to explain the concept since it was his first time there, he did so in a friendly, courteous manner. All the hamburgers are of the ‘gourmet’ variety, with all kinds of weird and wonderful toppings that the Critic loves. Things like goat cheese, red onions, real Cheddar cheese (unlike the processed orange plastic crap across the street and down a ways at Carls Jr which is a pretty darn good burger BTW) and actual real ground beef.

The verdict?

The hamburger was very tasty. The meat tasted different, as if it were actual ground beef you make at home, not something overly processed. The buns were not that great in the Better Half’s opinion but the Critic didn’t notice, chomping happily on a Cheddar Cheese Bacon combination that was delicious, if not overly seasoned. Accompanying the burgers were – the Better Half wanted these – fried Yucca (a little bitter for the Critics tastebuds but he is not sure if this is supposed to be how Yucca tastes…?) and Habanero Fries which sound a lot spicier than they are. They were perfect fries; crisp, seasoned to perfection and had just a bit of a bite to them.

The Critics only negative observation was that the lettuce peeking out from between those buns and the chopped sirloin burger, looked a little limp and even brown on the edges, showing some serious signs of age. Attention to the details should keep this burger joint at the top of gourmet lists for a while yet.

Two burgers and fries combos, with the refillable sodas, came to about $300 pesos, which is not exactly Burger King cheap and the Critics paisano dentist buddy would moan in agony at the price.

But it is such a better burger.