Back in the June-July 1997 edition of My Table magazine, I wrote this about Nara, a then-new restaurant from chef Donald Chang: “By the time you leave, Nara will have knocked your stereotype of a Japanese restaurant on its head.”
The review talked about the unusual (for the time) menu of hot and cold sake and the presentation of soup, not in a plastic lidded bowl, but in a large empty ceramic bowl in which a tiny cluster of scallions, cubed tofu and seaweed was arranged – a waiter than arrived to pour hot miso broth into the bowl to “create” the soup. It lauded the various sushi offerings, Kobe beef and gindara, marinated cod that was broiled skin-side up. (“If you love the crisped skin from barbecued chicken, you’ll love this fish. It’s got that same combination of blackened ash, succulent melted fat under the skin and wonderfully moist flesh.”)
Yes, the Nara of the 1990s was a progressive and vigorously bold restaurant for its time.
Nara was eventually sold and, without Chang’s skill and charisma, it eventually closed. Chang, meanwhile, went on to open several other Japanese restaurants, most notably Uptown Sushi.
Now Chang is heading up a new restaurant, again called Nara, this one taking over the Katsuya location in West Ave at Westheimer and Kirby. All of the Katsuya affectations have been purged, including the huge red geisha lips and Hollywood posing.
The new Nara is, interestingly, a Korean restaurant with Japanese touches. “Nara” is a word in both the Japanese and Korean language, and the restaurant will be a reflection of Chang’s Korean heritage – he was born in Seoul – and Japanese food expertise. So far as I can tell, it’s the first Korean restaurant inside The Loop (not including food trucks). It will also be the first Korean restaurant in Houston that is so upscale and clearly ambitious in its culinary goals.
The dining room will be beautiful and calming with natural materials (e.g. stone tabletops) and a large sakura (cherry blossom) tree made from petrified wood and hand-made pink silk leaves near the entrance. Out front, the entrance has been recessed inside the restaurant in order to create a cozy patio that will eventually have its own menu. The new restaurant design is by architect Isaac Preminger.
Chang has always worked with family members in his restaurants, and this effort is no different. His sister Esther Cho has relocated from Austin to be the head kitchen chef, and his mother Kyong Ja Chang is the menu consultant. (Chang has some amusing stories about the push-pull between mom and son over the new menu’s restaurant-cooking style versus home-cooking style.)
Other Chang veterans include Dae Young Jo (a Korean-born grad of the Art Institute of Houston) who will be Cho’s assistant and head sushi chef Jojo Urbano (who trained under Chang at Uptown Sushi). Peter Kim, formerly of Miyako, Kenzo Sushi Bistro and Soma Sushi, is Urbano’s assistant. And Shawn Pyon, former GM at Uptown Sushi and the original Nara, is GM again here.
This past Friday I had lunch with Chang in the still-under-construction kitchen to preview some of the new menu for Sidedish readers.
Whereas most Korean restaurants of my experience here and in New York have been the cook-it-yourself variety, Chang has scaled that back to a delicate hot rock experience. So instead of smoke and a sticky grill as the table centerpiece, this experience is highly refined – just a few slices of Kobe beef tenderloin, bulgogi (boneless shortrib, shown at the very top of the page) or tongue (if you’re adventurous) to drape on the pre-heated rock for just a few seconds, then lay it into a cupped butter lettuce leaf with a smear of gochujang (Korean chile paste) smoothed with Asian pears and small ball of rice. Fold it all together taco-style and pop it into your mouth.
We also tried chapchae, a stir-fried noodle and vegetable dish that has been lightened and made less intense and more pure. My family eats chapchae a couple times a year at Byrne get-togethers, thanks to my Korean sister-in-law Suk-Kyong Byrne. Chang’s version includes roasted fennel, tri-color bell peppers and a tiny drop of truffle oil to offset the traditional sesame oil and is tossed tableside in front of the diners.
Love the bibimbap at H Mart? Chang’s version of the stone-bowl rice dish has been deconstructed and will be presented as a circle of seasoned rice, topped by a circle of bulgogi and a poached quail egg. Break the yolk with your chopsticks, stir it all together, close your eyes and take a bite.
There’s much on the menu that will be familiar to Houstonians, including bao (steamed buns) filled with such delicious items as pork belly, meatballs, ribeye or kalbi (barbecued boneless short ribs) along with house-pickled radishes and cucumbers, micro greens and house-made kimchi. Chang’s sister makes the white bao steamed bread fresh from scratch every day, a four-hour process.
Korean-style fried chicken? Check. Korean dumplings (here called rice cakes, photo below) served with long-braised oxtail? Check. Korean-style ramen, bo ssäm (slow-roasted pork as made famous at Momofuku in NYC), fabulous sushi? Check, check, check.
But my two favorite dishes were less commonplace. The first was a starter called chawanmushi on Japanese restaurant menus. (I don’t yet know the Korean name.) It’s the tenderest of savory egg custards topped with salmon roe. This version will have you digging as at a treasure hunt for the nubbin of crab at the bottom. I also loved the crunchy jellyfish salad that is tossed with pine nuts, crab and tamago (two rolled omelets that have been cooked as whites only and yolks only). Splashed with a hint of sesame oil, the salad is served cold and is absolutely delicious. Chang wondered out loud how Houston diners would take to jellyfish salad. I assured him that we will love it.
Nara is set to debut with a soft opening on Halloween evening for dinner only. The plan calls for brunch to be added in January and lunch to be added in March.
Sixteen years after the first Nara, Chang again re-sets Houston’s restaurant bar a notch higher.
NARA (Kirby at Westheimer, in the far south-east corner of the West Ave shopping center) narahouston.com