Houston Restaurant Week - Masraff's

This place was great! Our second restaurant week try together - Kimmy will post about her other restuarant week experience later, which was in between Rainbow Lodge and Masraff's.

First, they had a really nice wine list, I tried an Australian pinot noir which was great, and I usually don't prefer red wines. The restaurant week menu was very nice, and we were able to make a last minute reservation and get in on a Friday night.

Here's what we ate:
1st -
Three Mushroom Ravioli with Truffle Oil and Lemon Sage - wow, this is usually an entree that they do, but they shrunk it into an appetizer for this menu. The sauce was great, very savory, but not overpowering the ravioli.

Garlic Seared Calamari with Oyster Mushrooms, Red Onion, Chinese Parsley with Soy Reduction - They tried to do an asian thing here, and the result was pretty good. The sauce was pretty sweet, but not annoyingly so like a lot of those chinese-takeout-type sweet sauces. The flavors came together really well and the calamari was cooked wonderfully.

2nd -
"Paella" Risotto with Diver Scallop, Prawns, Rock Shrimp and Texas Dry Sausage Stewed in Saffron Stock with Carnarolli Rice - interesting idea for a dish. I had wanted to get paella at another place that we had been eyeing the menu of that evening, so this worked out well for me. Just a twist on risotto giving it the paella flavors, but the risotto cooking method. The seafood and sausage were really good, and the saffron in the risotto was nice.

Pan Fired New York Strip Steak with Two Potato Lyonnaise, Port Wine Reduction and Pomme Frittes - Kimmy wanted a nice steak, and I think she got it. The port sauce was different, another sweet sauce, but it worked well.

3rd -
Warm Double Chocolate Fondant with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Crème Anglaise - No report here - Kimmy ordered it, but we ended up getting the other two by mistake, I should have asked them to fix it, but we're not really complainers.

Warm Triple Berry Bread Pudding with White Chocolate, Blueberry Compote and
Cream Cheese Mousse - Disappointing after the Rainbow Lodge Croissant bread pudding, but I liked the berries a lot.

Butter Roasted Pear Crème Brulée and Whole Berry Sauce - Interesting dish. Roasted pear half, topped with a dome of creme brulee, with the classic bruleed top but in a dome shape - a nice twist I thought. - I accidentally deleted the picture from my phone, so this one isn't pictured, hopefully I explained it well enough.

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