The Strip House

Can I get a "Yee Haw!"?

Okay, The Strip House was definitely not what I expected and another pleasant surprise in Houston. I might have been too harsh in my judgment, maybe Houston is a real city.

Here's the restaurant's nearly impossible to find website: Strip House. I believe they are part of a mini chain of fine restaurants. I will forgive them the chain thing as it is getting harder and harder to find truly independent restaurants.

Anyway....

The walls were red and the porn was vintage. Nothing hardcore, but old black and whites of burlesque dancers from the old days. I know, you'd think it would be tacky, but the way it was done, well, worked. I, of course, am always a fan of creative use of porn. I think our society could do with more porn and less repression.

I was there at the invitation of one of our larger business partners, a good bunch of people. They invited about 40 or 50 clients in several seatings. I arrived at the restaurant with a co-worker and because we were there before the host we naturally hit the bar.

My friend and co-worker had a drink. I don't remember what, but a classic mix of alcohol with one other liquid. I asked for an Oban which is a not so common single malt scotch. Your better restaurants are now carrying it, but I was thinking no way in Houston. I don't know who was more surprised, the waiter or me. He was surprised that I'd order such a thing and I was surprised that they had it. On the other hand, the bottle was unopened, which is probably because nobody drinks good scotch in Houston.

Twelve bucks for a scotch; BevMo will sell you the bottle for $40. It was twenty bucks for two drinks. I guess Houston doesn't know they're supposed to be charging less because they're a second rate city.

The vendor reps showed up and we were escorted into a back dining room. The tables were large banquet round tops and set for 10. We had 2 and a half tables in the early group. The tables were already pre-appetizered with several seafood platters. I was at the half table. I love seafood. Lots of people do not love seafood, this was turning out to be a good evening. The appetizer consisted of a bunch of oysters, yum, and a bunch of other seafood delicacies. These included crab legs, very large prawns, a tuna sashimi poki mixture, and a scallop ceviche salad. It was me and some lady from Maine who battled over the oysters. And as to the rest, I seemed to be doing most of the eating. I love seafood and this stuff was pretty darn good, not great, but fairly fresh. The oysters did not come with names, and they were fresh, but I didn't get any "wows" while eating them.

I did in fact eat too much of the appetizer and didn't have enough room left for the steak, which was a new york strip, rare. The steak was very good and cooked just right. I always order rare and usually live with medium rare or rare, as most restaurants just don't know how to cook steak, but not in Texas. The steak was rare and tasty, but again there was no "wow". Unfortunately, I was still pretty full from the appetizers and was unable to try the sides. I didn't see the point in eating creamed spinach and sacrificing steak space in my stomach. I finished the steak, and was wiped out.

I didn't do too much dessert, either, for the same reasons, but the place had a truly decadent twelve layer cake.

So, The Strip House was definitely a plus. I am writing this way to far after the fact to do justice to the food, or the blog, but trust me despite this boring post it was a good experience. It raised my appreciation for Houston and I would go back in a minute.