Restaurant Review: Open City

Though Open City has only been open a few months, we've been hearing nothing but rave reviews and felt the need to check it out ourselves. Best decision we've made in 2008 (well, besides deciding to ignore our New Year's diet resolution).

We've heard that coming to Open City is like coming home for Thanksgiving. Upon arrival, we were immediately greeted by the owner, Nadine. We even felt like hugging her which is saying a lot since we're not the hugging type.

But first things first - the booze. We considered ordering the pop rocks martini that we've heard so much about (remember those candy bits from grade school that would explode in your mouth?) but decided to go with the waiter's suggestion and get the homemade sangria—delicious. Evidently, it is so popular that it's not unusual for them to run out on any given night! The sangria was robust with a refreshing citrus flavor - perfect for the afternoon. We also took a sip of the French Kiss martini which went strong and bold all the way down our throat - just like a good french kiss should be. We're not generally a fan of cointreau, but evidently when it is paired with chambord and vodka, we fall in love.

As we're trying to decide what to order, a basket of warm bread is brought out with their homemade honey butter. Heavenly. With the bread still warm, the butter just melts into a gooey, deliciousness that cannot be described. Upon finishing our meal, we found Nadine and told her that she HAD to start selling that stuff to the general public. Every fridge should have a tub of her sweet butter. Seriously.

We decided to skip appetizers and go straight for the entrees - cheese steaks, a side of fries and an order of mac-n-cheese. See, we weren't kidding about blowing our New Year's resolution. The cheese steak was heavy on the steak. They filled a nice hoagie with slices of steak that were thick enough to be really noticeable, without being overly chewy. It was nicely seasoned, without upstaging the cheese. And though we loved our entrée (we're suckers for some good fries), the star of the show was the delicious mac'n'cheese. They paired a nice rotini noodle (perfect for capturing all that cheesy goodness) with two types of cheese: smoked gouda and gruyere. Did we mention that the cheese stayed warm and gooey and delicious all throughout the meal? Mmmmm, so gouda.

Now that we're done salivating, we're thinking about heading to the fridge and grabbing some of the leftovers for a quick snack. And then using that as an excuse to go back tonight for some more. We're eyeballing the steamed mussels and lamb sliders for our next adventure at Open City.

Open City
2416 Brazos (the front door faces Bagby)
Open everyday for lunch and dinner. Closed Mondays.
713-522-0118