Houston foodies know and love chef Jonathan Jones mostly from his work at Max’s Wine Dive (where several of his original menu items remain), Beaver’s, Xuco Xicana and, briefly, at Concepcion. An alum of the Art Institute’s culinary program, Jones was a semester behind the likes of Randy Evans, Chris Shepherd and Charles Clark, all names we’ve come to associate with putting Houston cuisine on the map.
Nevertheless, the local food world was surprised last month when Jones was named executive chef at Monarch in Hotel Zaza. It’s a bold move by the hotel to nudge Houstonians to reconsider hotel dining as a regular option. Given the legions of fans following Jones (on Twitter and otherwise) and given his total revamp of both lunch and dinner menus – not to mention the chic dining room and glorious veranda smack in the middle of the museum district – management just might be onto something.
Take for example, Jones’s Third Coast Gulf Ceviche, made with cobia (similar to yellow tail). Jones takes the juice of carrot, onion and celery and allows the fish to marinate for a brief time, providing a different ceviche than what we’re used to – and I think in a good way. Accented by pineapple, lime and chiles, the emphasis remained on the fish and those subtle flavors. Very nice. Jones wants you to know that he makes this dish only when very, very fresh fish is available.
Jones, in fact, is focused on fresh and local ingredients, as he has been throughout his career. This is not a philosophy one necessarily associates with hotel dining, which must cater to a broad crowd. (Have you ever seen a hotel menu, for example, that did not include a burger and a steak?)
I must also mention the “sticky ribs” appetizer, which are steamed and then crisped in the fryer and dressed with a hoisin, red wine and rendang curry sauce. These are all at once sweet, spicy, sticky and sour and really, really good.
Beet salad is something I enjoy, but it’s become so commonplace that it’s hard to get excited about it. At Monarch, the beet salad perfectly captured the flavors of fall with citrus, root vegetables and three different types of beets – candy stripe, red and yellow. Raw beet chips, chunks of grapefruit and roasted beets along with the goat chèvre from the Hill Country’s Pure Lucky Dairy, accented with a chile-touched vinaigrette and pomegranate seeds, had me smiling from ear to ear.
We also enjoyed Jones’s take on “Texas Kobe” pot roast created with Heartbrand Wagyu beef short rib served with spaetzle (inspired by Texas’ German heritage) and fall vegetables featuring meaty roasted mushrooms in a marsala jus. The short rib is prepared sous-vide for 48 hours, which results in a rosy hue and buttery texture. The dish is a great example of Jones’s attempt to put a contemporary take on comfort food.
My favorite dish of the night – and maybe so far this year – was the Seafood Bucatini, served with pasta made by Paulie Patronella at his restaurant, Paulie’s. The al dente pasta is topped with extraordinarily fresh shrimp and mussels, garlic, red pepper and a sauce of seafood broth, red chili, garlic and creamy uni (sea urchin roe) that melted almost like butter. The whole dish was topped with fresh shavings of bottargo (dried and salted tuna roe) that reinforces the unami (savory) flavors. Apparently, grated parmesan is never used on seafood pasta dishes in Italy; it’s all about the bottargo. I had no idea, but I’ll never forget this lesson or this scrumptious dish that truly captures the flavors of the sea.
Jones looks forward to keeping the menu up to date with what he considers the six growing seasons in and around Houston. He plans to continue to tweak it based on diner feedback – the pumpkin seed hummus (much talked about when he served it at Concepcion) is already on the way out. He seeks the ability to up the ante as things evolve, with contemporary cuisine that is complex but not the least bit stuffy.
Jones is clearly a chef eager to take everything he’s learned along the way and apply it to this new role as hotel restaurant executive chef. There has to be a broad appeal – to local diners as well as international travelers – but J.J. seems passionate and quite prepared to take it on.
The hotel will validate your valet parking, so if that’s the kind of thing that keeps you away from places like ZaZa, let it go. This is the kind of culinary effort we need to support here in Houston.