Fried Chicken and Champagne....Why the hell not?-Max's Wine Dive
I'm not a big fried chicken or champagne fan, but both Liz & I are HUGE fans of Max's Wine Dive, a Houston/Austin/San Antonio restaurant trio that prides itself on "upscale comfort food in a relaxed setting."
Last Friday was an off-Friday for us, so with a relaxing day off, we decided to do dinner out at Max's, after swearing it off after a bad brunch experience where we walked out after waiting 20 minutes past our reservation in a half-empty restaurant, but when I saw that roasted bone marrow was back on the menu, it was decidedly time to bury the hatchet.
We we're unable to secure a reservation, but decided to gamble on securing a seat at the bar, and after a rather odd cab ride with a cowboy hat wearing, semi-truck driving, pistol toting, militia member cab driver who kept his backscratcher in the passenger side visor, his confederate flag on the dash board, and his country & western loud on the radio. Need I mention that after the ride we were ready for a glass of wine (ok, I induced and carried the conversation)! As luck would have it we had two adjoining bar seats in less than 30 seconds! We decided to start with 2 glasses of wine and a pair of appetizers.
Pictured above is the roasted bone marrow with garlic confit jam & house-baked Slowdough flat bread. After one bite, Max's was back on the good list, rivaling Tafia for 1st place on my Houston restaurant ranking list. The bread was soft, hot, and sprinkled with the perfect amount of coarse sea salt, but the bone marrow was simply amazing. Not sure how to describe it if you've never had it, but think of it as a jelly flavored with meaty-goodness. Bone marrow is a seasonal dish at Max's done during the Fall months (FYI-TX really doesn't have seasons), so it's here to stay for awhile!
Pictured below is the equally outstanding Dublin Dr. Pepper Glazed Pork Belly, served skewered with Snyder's pretzels atop a bed of polenta. The pork belly was crispy and sweet on the exterior, but the inside was juicy and soft. A cool thing about Max's is that they feature on the menu where all of their food comes from, and for this particular dish, the pork and polenta (aka the corn meal) were both from TX, but the most interesting component was the Dublin Dr. Pepper. Dublin Dr. Pepper? Is that Ireland's version of Dr. Pepper? Dublin, TX is home to the oldest Dr. Pepper bottling plant, but what sets it aside from mainstream Dr. Pepper is that the Dublin brew is made according to the original Dr. Pepper recipe with Imperial brand cane sugar (whereas the mainstream version uses high fructose corn syrup).
After a glass of wine & the pair of appetizers, we decided on another glass of pinot grigio and an entree to split. Oddly enough, we independently came to the decision to go with the Fried Egg Sandwich.
While the picture doesn't do the sandwich justice, you'll have to take my word(s) that this is not the fried egg sandwich you make in your bathrobe while reading the paper and nursing a hangover on a Saturday morning. Since the picture doesn't do it justice, I'll let Max's describe the sandwich.....
Three fried eggs drizzled with truffle oil, sea salt, applewood-smoked bacon, gruyere, bibb lettuce, tomatoes, and black truffle aioli on ciabatta pugliese with hand cut truffle chips.
Liz will vouch that despite the bottle of white truffle oil in our pantry, I'm the first to advocate that truffle oil is often over-done and over-used, but Max's was spot on with the TO in this dish. The richness of the yolk, truffle oil, and black truffle aioli was tempered by the acidic tomato, thick strips of crisp bacon, and the cool bibb lettuce. A bit messy, but a positive side-effect was the drizzling of egg yolk that peppered the potato chips. On a sandwich of this magnitude, the thickness and composition of the bread is clutch, and the ciabatta stood up to the challenge.
So if you find yourself in Houston/Austin/San Antonio hungry and ready for a great dining experience, Max's Wine Dive is a must try spot! Here's hoping for a Chicago outpost!
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