When I heard that Kitchen 713 was closing its old location in East Downtown to find a bigger, better location, I was happy for them. Their food deserved to shine, and so did the chefs behind the restaurant. But to be honest, I was also apprehensive. Too often, when a restaurant expands or moves, it loses that je ne sais quoi that made it so wonderful in the first place. So I wondered: Would I love Kitchen 713 as much in its fancy new digs as I did when it was just a bare-bones operation on Canal Street?
Sandwiched between Miyako and Les Givral’s Kahve just east of Shepherd on Washington Avenue, the new Kitchen 713 sits in the space that used to house Commonwealth (and before that, TQLA), where it’s easy to spot. In the back, there’s a parking garage with ample space to self park, a big plus when you consider that most restaurants on Washington, including Molina’s Cantina and Max’s Wine Dive just across the street, are valet-only in the evening.
As a media guest last Thursday during a family-and-friends service, we had been given a reservation an hour in advance of the crowd, which meant that when we arrived, the restaurant was empty. It gave us a chance to note some differences between Kitchen 713-Canal versus Kitchen 713-Washington.
First was the large crowd of staff. In contrast to the counter-service operation that had chef and owners James Haywood and Ross Coleman tag-teaming in the front and back of the house, now there were four people at the hostess stand, two bartenders, umpteen servers and, if you peeked inside the kitchen, lots of kitchen staff.
Secondly, whereas they didn’t even have wine or beer in the past, they were positively throwing it down in the cocktail department last week. My girlfriend’s “Figalicious” (photo below) – made with bacon-infused bourbon, figs, Punt e Mes (an Italian vermouth), and creme de cassis – served over a large square ice cube and garnished with dried fig, was something I didn’t expect. Ditto for my “True Carats,” a beautifully crafted Bombay Sapphire Gin-based drink made with Fernet Branca, carrot juice, grapefruit juice, lime and rosemary simple syrup. Both were the kind of drinks that I would have attributed to one of Houston’s celebrity mixologists. Nynechia Afriyie, our bartender, corrected this assumption when she told me, “Chef James created all of the drinks.”
That was the moment I realized that we had nothing to worry about with Kitchen 713, that even though the size, location, decor and staffing had changed, the heart and core of the restaurant – which would not have been what it was without the two chefs who started it – were the same.
What I mean by that is that all the things that made the original location such a special little place are still there. You can still get the guys’ fantastic gumbo (one of the best I’ve ever had) and their killer shrimp and grits. Their famous fried chicken is also coming back on the weekends, and I’ll definitely return for that.
The menu – globally inspired Southern food – still sounds gimmicky when you ponder it as a concept. But when actually you read the menu, the ways in which the chefs incorporate a little Asian here, a little Ethiopian there, and more – it all knits together. In fact, they work so well that the menu reads like a greatest hits playlist: Everything sounds intriguing and delicious.
This was my main dilemma when I was trying to decide what to order. Thai Fried Chicken was calling my name, but it was described as a heartier portion, so instead we went with the Kitfo Ethiopian beef tartare, a berbere-spiced 44 Farms prime beef creation served with three rectangles of airy toasted bread and covered in yellow shavings that looked like lemon zest but were in fact egg yolk – amazing. There was the crispy okra (photo below), an oldie but a goodie, brought over from the old menu and served with tomato jam, bacon and pickled chilis. The breading was a bit on the thick side – a light flour dusting or tempura batter might have worked better – but A-plus for flavor.
It killed me that I couldn’t fit in an order of the Dazzled by Duck, a ramen-style noodle soup topped with duck confit, seared duck breast and pickled veggies (I will return another time to hoard a bowl of it by myself), but I’m happy that I resisted because it gave me the chance to try a nice, steakhouse-style Fig & Chickory salad (photo below), an XO Bordelaise New York Strip, as well as the Spaghetti with Big Boy Meat Sauce. This last was the highlight of our meal.
A huge mound of perfectly al dente spaghetti noodles (photo below) swathed in a thick, spicy meat sauce was flanked by a large house-made hot Italian sausage, a slab of melt-in-your mouth braised short rib and an extra large veal meatball. My eyes lit up and I uttered an “Oh my God,” as my girlfriend simultaneously let out a whoop of pleasure. We wound up the noodles and pulled them high, then just proceeded to ooh and ahh over every little thing: How delicious the spiced meat sauce was, how perfect the short rib was cooked, how huge the veal meatball was. The sausage was, perhaps, a little on the dry side, but it didn’t detract from the dish in the slightest. And frankly, there was so much meat on the plate the two of us could barely finish the meatball.
Throughout the evening, our excellent server, Dylan, kept coming by to ask how everything was going. He seemed anxious to hear our feedback, and I really just wanted to tell him, “Relax.” Because what I walked away with is exactly what I’d hoped to find: A newer, improved version of the old Kitchen 713. A restaurant that had kept all the elements that made it so great in the old location and brought them over to the new location, right down to value menu pricing that had made it such as sleeper hit before. (The most expensive item on the menu was a $26 Smoked Adobo Pork Chop, and I can’t wait to go back and try it.)
Incidentally, Kitchen 713 has experienced a delay in its liquor license and will be allowing guests to BYOB until it gets its license, so grab your favorite bottle of wine and head over. The new space may be large, but with the kind of food they’re serving at the prices they’re serving it, it won’t take long for it it to fill up.
Kitchen 713, 4601 Washington Avenue, # 130 just east of Shepherd Drive, 713-842-7114, kitchen713.com