Bryan & College Station, Texas

Christopher’s World Grille is one of those places in town where we never thought we’d ever get to experience, but a couple of our friends invited us and we were very impressed.

Very nice atmosphere. The staff was very professional, and the food was incredible. The restaurant is in a 100 year old renovated Ranch House, on the outskirts of town (actually on Boonville Rd. between University and Copperfield). From the outside, it looks like they kept adding on to the original building with different building style. It’s very cool looking.

Chef Christopher Lampo describes his menu offerings as “food with Mediterranean, Italian, coastal French, South Pacific influences with a touch of Louisiana thrown in”.

My wife ate Lamb Chops and I had a Marinated Beef Tenderloin. I believe they change their menu often, so you’ll have to go to their website to view their menu, or just stop by and ask.

Here are a couple of their entrees from the menu:

Greek Lamb Chops
Grilled double chops marinated in garlic, lemon and fresh oregano on roasted cauliflower mashed potatoes, roasted ratatouille and parsley-mint-caper relish $24.95

Christopher’s House Filet
Grilled 8oz center-cut beef tenderloin on creamed spinach and house potatoes, topped with fried crawfish tails and bearnaise on port wine demi glace $29.95

South American Marinated Beef 
Grilled beef tenderloin tip marinated in chimichurri on spring vegetable enchilada with roasted serrano butter sauce $26.95

Although the food was wonderful and the service very good, there were a couple of things that I thought were a negative. Now, these things I admit, make me sound like I am not accustomed to fine dining. Well, that’s true. I’m not. Although I’ve been to a few very nice restaurants in my day, that’s not to say I like the whole experience.

1. We were at the restaurant for quite a few hours. Partly because we were so engaged in wonderful conversation with our good friends, but also because everything took FOREVER to get to the table.

I know, this is how it’s supposed to be at a fine eating establishment, but honestly, I was hungry. By the time we finished our meal and got home, I was hungry again and had a snack.

2. The portions were small. You know how it is at those really nice restaurants…you pay a bunch of money and get a little tiny meal. (again, let me reiterate, it was mouth watering)

3. I had a really hard time choosing what to order. I mean, nothing is normal. Everything seemed to have something out of the ordinary on it. Capers, creamed spinach, onion-mashed potatoes, blueberry-ginger gastrique,  lobster chorizo, brie…you get the idea.

I like trying new things, sure, and I guess I could have assumed that everything on their menu was wonderful (I do now), but even still, as I look at the Fall-Winter 2007 menu (where the above descriptions are taken from) I’m not sure what I would order.

Maybe for starters the:

Caesar Salad Bruschette
Romaine lettuce leaves, shaved parmesan & bacon on grilled Tuscan bread  $8.95

then for the main course:

Seafood Paella
Spanish saffron rice with shrimp, scallop, mussels and in house lobster chorizo $24.95

So, OK, I guess I’d go for the Lobster Chorizo. That sounds interesting, and I lived in Spain for a few years, so the Paella sounds good.

There just seems to be more pressure on me to choose something considering how much it costs, and I’d probably not have the confidence to send something back. I mean, how am I supposed to know if the Yellow Fin Loin with Sweet Potato rice cake is slightly undercooked, or that there’s too much mint in the parsley-mint-caper relish.

I guess I’m just used to my whole family eating for about the price of one entree at Christopher’s.

One more time: everything we ordered was incredibly delicious. I would love to eat there again…even if I couldn’t decide what to order…I would have all the time I needed to make the decision.

Go try it for yourself.

jorge