Enoteca Poscol
This entry was posted on 7/18/2009 8:43 AM and is filed under Italian.
Marco Wiles has branched out again on Westheimer. This time in the former Café Montrose location near Mandell. In fact, the Café Montrose sign is still on the marquee of this rather run down strip shopping center. Billed as a wine bar with small plates, this place feels more like a restaurant than a bar. And don't expect the fun vibe of Dolce Vita's old house. The limited bar area (not much space if there's a wait for tables) and low ceilings, lend to a low key ambiance. The menu, which requires some translation even for a foodie, is all in Italian, as is the wine list. The prices are reasonable, similar to Dolce Vita. The service was friendly, knowledgeable and prompt (with the exception of refilling the water glasses; note to waiter: it's not just the bus help's job).
The menu bears similarities to Dolce Vita in that there's an array of meats, cheeses, vegetables, fried items, salads, risottos, and pastas. Panini replace the pizza. We particularly like the vegetables at Dolce Vita, but we weren't as excited with the two we tried here. We wanted to try something new -- cardoons -- which look like celery, taste similarly bland although they allegedly taste like artichokes, and were poached in what seemed to be cold broth reminiscent of vegetable soup. Not to our liking. The beets were baked in parchment with goat cheese and hazelnuts. Sounds good, but didn't quite hit the mark for us. Too bland and the hazelnuts were raw.
One of us was intrigued by the risotto with chicken livers although combining with yellow squash seems odd. But we opted for predictability for at least one dish. We ordered the tagliarini in a parmesan cream sauce with bits of pancetta(?). Served in a piping hot dish straight out of the oven (the pastas are listed on the menu under "forno"), the dish was appropriately decadent and delicious. We also enjoyed the panini special which included homemade pork cheek sausage and fontina cheese. We love cured meats and cheese, so we may go more that direction if we return. But only after we first go back to Dolce Vita for our fix of egg truffle toast.
Open only in the evenings, parking is available in front of the restaurant, and we understand there's a valet on the weekends. We felt for the owner of the adjacent laudromat who stood in the parking lot blocking two spaces for his customers.
1609 Westheimer
713/529-2797
