Monthly Archives: July 2014

The Women’s Home YP Happy Hour at Fish & The Knife

Joanna Podsiadlik, Nicole Brende, Laura Cernock, Lori Freese
Joanna Podsiadlik, Nicole Brende, Laura Cernock, Lori Freese

I love to party with a purpose but in this town I could run out of money to donate with so many events!  A charity I have chosen to invest my efforts in is The Women’s Home here in Houston.(www.thewomenshome.org).  I love their organization, the people they support, and they always know how to put on wonderful themed events.  Yesterday I attended their young professionals happy hour showcasing the grand opening of one of Houston’s hottest sushi spots Fish & The Knife.  I knew it was going to be a great night to see cars lined up in valet, people walking the red carpet in their finest fare, being greeted with passed appetizers and cocktails.  This 13,000 square foot space is sprawling, featuring multiple distinct areas to drink, dine, and to lounge.  It is upscale and the design is brilliant with its textures and treatments. Word on the street it cost between $6-8 million to complete this project.

twh-foodonspoonsI will have to make a second trip back to truly indulge into the cuisine.  They say this place is contemporary serving up a combination of New American, sushi, cocktails galore and in a super spacious setting.  The menu is the work of executive chef Bob Iacovone, who works with executive sushi chef David Kim.

On the menu:  chicken and andouille pot pie, Louisiana barbecue shrimp, speckled trout with crabmeat, cream cheese-stuffed crab cakes with pickled tomato green salad,  miso-marinated black cod with cauliflower purée, grilled kobe flank steak with tempura vegetables, grilled lamb T-bone with roasted vegetables and potato hash,  sweet soy-glazed beef short rib with wasabi cream and sugar cane smoked duck breast with duck confit spring roll served with spaghetti squash with a honey mustard glaze.

twh-sushiwaitressBeautiful sushi choices include yellowtail with jalapeño salsa and citrus sauce; albacore tuna carpaccio with garlic chips and ponzu; Japanese snapper with yuzu truffle vinaigrette; and seared tuna sashimi with chili sauce and masago. The Westheimer Roll features shrimp tempura, spicy tuna, masago and tempura flakes; the Houston Roll is made with snow crab, avocado, spicy salmon and mango. There are even nods to Iacovone’s Crescent City in the Jazz Roll (spicy tuna, avocado, eel and wasabi tobiko) and the New Orleans Roll (crawfish, avocado, snow crab, spicy tuna and wasabi tobiko).

Ok I am now hungry just writing this article!  Fish & the Knife is located in the greater Galleria area at 7801 Westheimer, 713-677-0220.  Maybe I will see you there? (Photos provided by the amazing and oh-so talented Quy Tran).

Nicole Brende, Lissa Goldsmith, Joanna Podsiadlik
Nicole Brende, Lissa Goldsmith, Joanna Podsiadlik

 

 

 

Nicole Brende & Chau Nguyen
Nicole Brende & Chau Nguyen
"Trende Brende" & the "High Tech Texan"
“Trende Brende” & the “High Tech Texan”

 

 

 

 

 

Crabby Chic!

My 1st crab!
My 1st crab!

I have lived in Houston since 2004.  I am not a Texan or even from the South for that matter, but recently I went on an adventure that makes me feel like a true Southern.  Let me introduce you to the sport “crabbing”.  Some people go fish, others hunt, well how about digging for crabs?  Blue shell crab!  On a hot summer Friday a good friend of mine, business social colleague too, invited a group of us to venture out East of Houston bordering Louisiana  for a rustic day of swamp adventure fun to “fish” for our lunch, cook it, and enjoy some exploration on the bayou/marsh as well.  The closest city I can mention in the county we called home for the day was called Winnie.  Some outfitters shared their acres of land to help us explore and experience a day of off-roading, boating, and fishing for crab.

Our fashionable group!My first concern for this outing was “attire”.  What do you wear?  The city girl that I am definitely spent too much time worrying about this factor.  My wardrobe is full of dresses, heels, and handbags.  My casual clothes are fit for a yoga studio.  Definitely a stretch for me to wear shorts and shirts ready to get dirty, but I sucked it up and decided fashion was not my forefront for the day.  In the 95 degree heat plus scattered showers the best option was shorts and very casual/comfortable shoes.  Definitely a hat of some sort, or visor, and sunglasses.  Here is a real video of a “true catch” yay!  Click this link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYZ1Czb1IF8

crab2 nicole netCrabbing is quite simple by the way.  By land, we attached string to posts from the shore.  The bait was raw chicken!  All we had to do was drop the chicken string into the swamp, wait a few minutes, then slowly reel it in w/ a net ready to swoop the crab and place it into an ice cold cooler!  The crab would roam around and eventually they would end up somewhere “hot” you can say.  This sport is effortless, just dirty, hot, and time consuming.  Note though, there were 6 foot long alligator in the swamp eying our activity, our bait, and our crab.  It is kind of freaky to see them  pop up and out of the water.  All I could do is pray they would not bite our bait and join our fishing party.

crab 4 boatTo top off our outing, we took a fan boat ride in the swamp.  Our guide insisted we all take a spin as the driver.  I hesitated but rallied when it was my turn.  What a rush!  I literally drove through brush, weeds, lilipads, I could drive over anything and everything with no impact just a  smooth ride!

The day ended with our great feast. I am not a fan of working for my food…yes I am a city girl.  Not interested in cracking legs, pulling pinchers, and getting little meat for my hard work.  But in the long run, it was the freshest you could get, it was hard earned, and very social as we all sat together and shared in the experience.

Our feast!
Our feast!

Overall, this Trende Brende girl would recommend this experience to all of her city slicker friends.  You must purchase a fishing license, FYI.  Worth the day trip, photo ops, and stories to tell.  Yes, you will be a dirty mess, but at least there is a good excuse!

Crab Crowd: Jan-Oliver Schmidt, Kara Jacobson Schwartz, Jessica Brown, Tammy Bateman, Melissa Guggisberg, Robin Hargrove Rowley, Blake Kunetka.