Friday, August 18, 2006

Return to Luciano

Tomorrow, Friday, we head out to San Antonio to install the Boy at the University of Austin San Antonio, home of the Roadrunners. So, yea Longhorns! Yea, Jayhawks! Yea, Roadrunners! Boo, endowment funds! Boo, alumni associations!

The highlight of the trip will be a return to Luciano on the Strand located at Huebner and I-10.

I am cursed because I must order something different. Woe is me! The filet mignon was sooooooooooooo good I could easily choose it again. What are the odds that I hit the perfect meal at the perfect restaurant the first time?

The odds are good. In Houston, with so many restaurants, it's possible to specialize very narrowly such that you go to a particular restaurant for a particular dish.

Examples are:

Bayou City: Dale's Special renamed Brigantine
Pico's Mex-Tex: Pollo al Chipotle
Sushi Jin: Lunch combination with salmon; side order of ikura
Red Onion: Seafood enchiladas
Tay Do: Pho with spring rolls

Tomorrow I will put my faith in the hands of chef Jesse Perez and deviate from the filet mignon I sense I should order. The filet, however, becomes the benchmark as do all the dishes I've named. The meal will either be better or worse than the benchmark. It's all a matter of risk. How lucky do I feel, punk?

In my dream, chef Jesse Perez strides up to the table. He's wearing a serape, black hat and a cheroot is clenched between his teeth. He looks down at me, holds out a piece of meat and in a gravelly voice says:

This is a USDA Grade A specially selected, by me, personally, ideal, el perfecto, piece of meat which I will cook to perfection and serve to you in such a way that you will be dreaming about it for decades. Now, you can choose another item from the menu, all good and have an OK experience, or you can choose the filet and repeat the experience of a lifetime. The choice is yours. So, what's it going to be, punk? Filet or pot luck?

Will I awake from this dream?

5 comments:

Bret said...

I know exactly what you mean -- like McDonalds and Filet-o-Fish. Or ConocoPhillips and Ragin' Cajun on Fridays. Meet you there?

:-)

Anonymous said...

Ah, but the real risk is ordering the filet and it not living up to your previous experience.

I'd choose something else on the menu and keep your expectations in check. Then, you've set yourself up to be pleasantly surprised ... which is always a good thing.

Keep us posted.

KG

Jenn said...

Is this a blue pill / red pill question?

Foo said...

So? How did it go?

Tom said...

Jack in the Box: Taco with grade F mystery meat, mmmmmmmm!