Can’t Make It to the Texas Reds Festival?

The Texas Reds Festival is upon us…why they don’t do this in the Spring on the Fall is beyond me. It’s gonna be hot. I don’t think I can make it this year…too bad for me. There will be a bunch of bands,  yummy food, Candy 95 is doing the Grape Stomp…but it’s gonna be hot.

OK, so, if you can’t make it out there (or don’t want to) you have an option (well, a suggestion anyway)…The Republic Steakhouse. (on Tarrow and University across the street from the Hilton)

My wife and I recently had the privilege to eat at this fine dining restaurant, and we were very pleased.

Our server was Seth. He’s a student at A&M, and very knowlegable pertaining to the food we were being served, wine pairings, sauces, even the tastes of the different tomatoes in their new Caprisi Salad. Oh, I am getting ahead of myself.

The atmosphere of The Republic is really nice. Clean, tidy and very nicely decorated. Seth greeted us and took our drink orders, then went through the menu with us. He really made everything sound good, but was fully prepared to suggest what he thought was the best.

We shared a cocktail…a Lay Down Sally. It had a basil leaf sitting in it. Really tasty. No idea what it is…can’t find it with Google. It tasted like maybe grapefruit or something. It was pink. Seth suggested it because my wife wanted something sweet. Maybe if you are reading this and you know what’s in it, leave a comment below.

First was a slice of bread and butter with their “Citrus Smoked Kosher Sea Salt”. Seth explained how the citrus was cooked and the smoke let rise onto the salt. Apparently the same way they smoke their panceta. I don’t know if I could taste the citrus, but it was yummy. They don’t give out much bread, but we didn’t come for the bread.

We started with the cheese plate. This was amazing. Manchego, Brie, white cheddar, apple jelly, fresh honeycomb (yeah, it was awesome), fresh parmesean crackers, pecan toast (I think it was pecan), cranberries, blue cheese…oh, so good. We put all sorts of them together. The brie and the apple butter on the pecan toast, the blue cheese and the cranberries on the parmesean crackers, the Manchego and the honeycomb on the bread. Just wonderful.

We left most of the blue cheese…not a big fan.

So, next was the salad. My wife had a baby beet and goat cheese on field greens. She loved it. I had the Caprisi salad. In-season heirloom tomatoes…yum. Purple Cherokee was my favorite, although Mr. Stripey was pretty tasty too.

Next, the chef really went all out and prepared a “Entremez” (that’s what we called it in Spain). A palate cleanser of sorts. It was three freshly made sorbets. One was a blood orange sorbet with candied peel, another was a granny smith apple sorbet and the third was a cherry coke sorbet with a brandied Marachino. Apparently, the Cherry Coke one was debuted on us…we loved it. These were all in little demitas cups (I totally thought about snagging one of those they were just so cute).

OK, so, the main meal.

My wife went with the Lamb Chops. She said they were excellent. I went with the Filet Mignon. Really tasty. We are notversed on cooking temperatures of meat, so we don’t quite know how we like our meat cooked…or what it’s called when there is a little bit or red inside, but it’s not cold. Anyway, Seth had specific suggestions as to what temperature should not be exceeded. The chops will get dry if they are cooked too much, etc. We were both very pleased with the selections, and the suggestions.

We both chose sides: Asparagus (that was so crunchy and so good), Fingerling Potatoes Lyonnaise (with sauteed onions), Cauliflower gratin and surprisingly, Macaroni and Cheese. Funny, right? Actually, Seth suggested it as his favorite starch. He said it’s the kind that kids don’t like, but parents love. It’s had japanese breadcrumbs and parmesean cheese…very good. Yeah, I was surprised.

So, the meat came with four sauces. Seth explained them all in full detail. There was a Bernaise, a house steak sauce, a wine based sauce and a Chimichurri sauce. It was difficult to pick our favorites. They all added so much yumminess to the meat.

Oh, and my Filet Mignon was nice and thick. My wife felt strange about picking up and eating the rest of the meat off the bone, so she asked Seth about the correct etiquette and he let us know…totally ok. I’m telling you, these servers really know their stuff. We tried to stump our Seth with a couple of questions, but we couldn’t.

For dessert we had the Marie Antoinette, a chocolate/mousse/cake thing. Really really tasty. And not overly rich on the chocolate. Oh and this dessert came with The Republic’s own Almond Brittle. Wow, that was amazing stuff. They would have to hide these from me if I was working there. I would go back just for that stuff. They should sell it at the front.

All around, it was wonderful food, great service and my wife and I felt totally pampered. All the servers were very professional and respectful, and the hostess was totally sweet. She came to our table a couple of times to make sure everything was good.

Seemingly effortless, but definitely a four diamond establishment.

Four Diamond
These establishments are upscale in all areas. Accommodations are progressively more refined and stylish. The physical attributes reflect an obvious enhanced level of quality throughout. The fundamental hallmarks at this level include an extensive array of amenities combined with a high degree of hospitality, service, and attention to detail.

When one course was finished, new utensils were brought out. The attention to detail was impeccable.

Seth mentioned that everything we ate that night was local or made in house. The basil leaf in our drink was pulled fresh from their garden in front of the restaurant. The Heirloom Tomatoes were grown and harvested from the owner’s garden. Local meat, local veggies, house made sauces, sorbet, etc.

We were there about 2 hours and had to leave to relieve the babysitter, so we missed the musician that came on right as we were leaving. They have music at the bar a few nights a week.

So, if you are planning on NOT going to the Texas Reds Festival, but still want a steak and some fine wine, check out the Republic. We are glad we did. And I feel like I am educated about food, at least the food at The Republic. I know I didn’t mention everything our server told us, there was just so much…as you can tell by the length of this post.

Thank you Wade Barkman (owner), Seth (our server) and big props to the Chef, and everyone else who served us. I hope there’s another opportunity soon to go back.