Fresh Farm

Because it’s still early enough to be light, the dining room at the River Oaks area’s Sorrel Urban Bistro strikes me as part of the outdoors. High and wide panels of glass held together by steel and brick seem to barely separate the tables on the inside of the space from the green trees shading the parking lot. Oversized close-ups of leaves on the interior walls complete the illusion.

The back-to-nature gestalt is entirely appropriate. With Sorrel’s opening, the globally influenced, famous-in-foodie-circles partnership of restaurateur Ray Salti (from Jerusalem by way of Sugar Land) and chef Soren Pedersen (from Denmark by way of Seattle) has brought into the heart of the city the farm-to-table ethos it fine-tuned and popularized in the countryside.

The business partners first opened a thoughtful, seasonal fine-dining eatery called Ray’s Grill in tiny nearby Fulshear in 2008. The food was good from the start; and, as a business endeavor, the place had a pedigree since Salti had scored with a string of suburban pizza joints. And yet, to many, Ray’s seemed in the beginning like a rather bad joke. Why go to the country to eat sophisticated city food?

Well, maybe a few city dwellers realized that, in France, nearly all top-starred Michelin dining destinations are found in the countryside, and probably a few others made the trek to Fulshear out of mere curiosity. In any case, word indeed spread of the excellent cuisine being served up out in the boondocks, and the partners had a bona fide culinary smash on their hands. Ray’s was no longer a laughing matter.

“We wanted to do farm-to-table in Fulshear, and the setting there gave it the right appeal,” says Salti. “We didn’t want to be in a shopping center on the freeway. Of course, you might say ‘location, location, location.’ But we like to say ‘food, food, food.’”

Pedersen’s whimsical culinary vision—whatever’s fresh at the market today becomes dinner tonight, with unexpected combinations of seasonal ingredients becoming something of a theme—proved a good fit with Salti’s. And it seems to be working at Sorrel as well as it does at Ray’s.

Housed in the slicked-up, natural-wood-savvy former home of the barely recallable Ziggy’s Healthy Grille, Sorrel’s décor is highlighted by a quartz-topped corner bar. The shelves behind it feature not only every conceivable alcohol group, but also a collection of cured meats, sausages and cheeses. This place is European-serious about its charcuterie, an ideal bar snack.

Other clever design touches include a wine wall in back, and a smattering of TV monitors around the room showing live images of the kitchen, a video-blur of busy cooks and fiery burners. There are also a few tall, stainless steel “chef’s tables” with a great view of both the open-kitchen action and the casual-chic River Oaks who’s-who in the dining room.

Two things are immediately striking about Pedersen’s one-day-only menu. The first is a mildly silly “On This Day” notation, informing you that on this date in 1990 “Slobodan Milošević was elected president in Serbia’s first free elections in 50 years.” Now that’s appetizing. The second is that it’s all printed on a single page. No inserts loaded with specials. And definitely no heavy leather binders to remind you how Old World-serious your dining experience is supposed to be.

There are about a dozen starters in small type, plus 12 main courses, along with four side dishes and four desserts. The bottom fifth of the sheet offers Pedersen’s five-course Innovation Menu, the chef’s preferred sequence for this evening, priced at about $55, or $80 with paired wines. Pedersen’s sense of innovation shines through, even though the menu’s language merely lists rather than describes—something of a pet peeve of mine. But it does alert you that fully thought-out food statements are being made at Sorrel.

Among the appetizers, for instance, you might overlook the scallops, especially if you’ve had scallops in too many restaurants lately. But you’d miss out on the chili-sugar cure that turns the once-white outside to glistening pecan-pie brown, or the actual toasted pecans that turn up with apple slaw around the edges. It’s a combination I’d never dream of, and it’s amazing. The same is true of the pan-seared Gulf oysters with tangy tomato chutney and fried leeks, and of the grilled quail with local mustard greens and pomegranate vinaigrette.

And there’s a surprising sorta-salad of warm grilled endive with blue cheese croutons, dried cherries and vinaigrette kissed with tarragon. All of this creativity, all of this labor—and the dish probably won’t even be here the next time you come in. That, I suppose, is how innovation works.

Main courses, a bit less splashy than the starters, are likely to change nightly, as well—at least until Houston customers start demanding their favorites, even if it’s a winter dish on the hottest day of summer. My early favorites include the seared snapper served atop warm couscous with roasted pepper compote, and also the iron-skillet-seared rib-eye on roasted-garlic mashed potatoes with sun-dried tomato jus. On a chilly night, order the closest thing you can to Pedersen’s osso bucco, wonderfully warming over parsnip purée with root vegetables and just the sauces that pretty much make themselves during the veal’s slow cooking.

Entrées arrive as complete packages like this. But if you’re in the mood for even more variety of taste or texture, you can pile on sides like braised cabbage with a kiss of lemon and caper, or roasted fingerling potatoes with scallion crème fraîche. With this chef in the kitchen, even side dishes exude freshness and fun.

At first glance, Sorrel’s desserts won’t seem as familiar as we usually like our desserts to be. But there are home-style options among the unexpected choices. This time, we embrace our inner hazelnut brownie with vanilla bean ice cream—yum!—and also a poached pear with ginger-and-black-tea crème brûlée. As with the apps and entrees, desserts are all about delicious combinations you haven’t tried or even thought of before, foods that are fresh to us in more ways than one.

Sorrel Urban Bistro, indeed, is really all about unexpected but harmonious pairings. City and country. Indoor and outdoor. Complex and simple. Tradition and innovation. Even farm and table. It’s all especially exciting for diners who once delighted in driving out into the country in order to partake, and who may now delight in not having to.

Sorrel Urban Bistro 
****
2202 W. Alabama
713.677.0391

WHY GO 
A hip spin on farm-to-table cooking in a chic yet comfy city spread.

DRESS
The food is the fashion statement here, so even people who dress to kill elsewhere dress to eat here.

COCKTAILS
Try the sure-handed classics—martinis, Manhattans, margaritas, mojitos and caipirinhas.

BRUNCH
Don’t miss the fried oyster Benedict on brioche with chipotle hollandaise, or the very efficient bacon-infused pancakes with bourbon apple compote and spicy maple syrup.

PRICES
Apps $7-$15, entrées $19-$43, sides $4-$6, desserts $6-$7

HOURS
Lunch Tuesday-Saturday 11am-3pm, dinner Tuesday-Thursday 5-10pm, Friday-Saturday 5-10:30pm, Sunday brunch 10am-3pm