This ain't Heaven so I guess I survived the "Rapture". All week "Rapture" jokes and "Rapture" parties. "Rapture" = non-event. May 21 came and went and no Jesus on a cloud took anyone anywhere.
Met an old dear friend of mine for dinner last Thursday night. He has to come from Beaumont, got snarled up on the Ferry from Bolivar and had a very rough crossing. I sat patiently at the restaurant, 901 Postoffice, trying to decide what to have. First time at this restaurant and even most locals do not know the place is here. Menu has some unusual offerings not exactly gourmet but good sort of new wave comfort food. Decor is stark cottage with wood floors, subtle lighting, pale walls and white woodwork, white table cloths and napkins.
Wine list is ho-hum and relatively mundane. I chose a Pinot Grigio that was a run-of-the-mill vino which could only be described as a good table wine. So, I sat there sipping my wine and savoring the crispy seeded flat bread served "en table"......for about 45 minutes while Friend was tossed to and fro on the Ferry.
Finally, companion joined me and we chose our appetizers and entrees and sat swilling Pinot Grigio until the appetizer plates came. The plates were long white ironstone servers that had such length to them they had to be presented on the table at an angle. Mine had an assemblage of three offerings: spicy grilled shrimp, fried mac 'n cheese, Texas caviar (spiced pickled black eyed peas). His choice: three wee crab cakes nestled in beds of finely shredded red cabbage. Fried Mac 'n Cheese is not my favorite because the subtle mac and cheese flavor is lost in the heavy fried breaded coating but it was a unique little amuse-bouche. Grilled spicy shrimp were a bell ringer on the pleasure-o-meter with joyous grilled flavor enhanced by flame tamed spices. Texas Caviar was just the right amount of heat and delightfully napped with vinegared spices; I ate every little pea on the plate. Appetizer servings are generous and I could make a meal out of two appetizers and might do next trip to 901 Postoffice.
The salads were pretty simple little red and green affairs, very fresh and cold, with a heart of romaine, sweetish olive oil and balsamic dressing and strewn with apple strips and chopped red sweet pepper. Perfectly portioned and perfectly scrumptious.
Main course on mine was strip steak plunked down on a bed of lobster mashed potatoes. My steak was so tender you did not need cutlery to enjoy its portions. My friend also ordered steak and commented that its taste was luxurious and it was just as tender as my steaky bit of Heaven......but I was too busy enjoying my dinner to give any thought to his. Dinner was a scrumptious spread and just enough to have a full belly without being over stuffed and we certainly did not leave hungry (as I have done in some more avant garde nouvelle cuisine eateries).
Dessert was something served in a square white bowl called "Key Lime Fool". Fools are a traditional old English dessert and this one was a cross between a pudding and a whipped desert. I suppose they call is "Fool" because you definitely are one if you leave one morsel of the stuff in your bowl. The 901 "Fool" was a thick unctuous affair so rich you could stand a spoon upright in its mass yet it was soft, creamy, and pleasantly refreshing to the tongue. The "Fool" was topped with fresh raspberries (we fought over these). We were reduced to childhood as we pressed our fingers into the squared edges of the bowl to lick the last bit of "Fool" out of the crevices.
Companion and I were the only people inside the restaurant dining areas we did receive very fast and attentive service. There was a party outside in the courtyard. I think they were only being served drinks and cocktail tidbits. It was, however, annoying to have the inebriated outside guests trooping through the dining room to use the one little bathroom in the hall of the house. The outside guests included several small children who looked adorable in their little dress frocks but were much too noisy to be in a fine eating establishment. Perhaps 901 needs a "Johnny-on-the-spot" for their courtyard.
After we went to the Galvez Hotel for drinks. Highly recommend the Pomegranate Martini and I got Trish, the bartendress, to make me something she calls a Bellini Mango Martini Frappe' - Rapture could occur any time after drinking any one of these you won't care.
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