Spring 09

21, March 2009… It’s spring now and we started into new menu items this weekend.  Saturday morning Cody, Peter and I ran down to the eastside farmer’s market and found some really great stuff, local strawberries, rainbow chard, radishes, napoli carrots, sylvetta arugula etc.  Along with our market finds we have started to recieve some amazing produce and halibut from our friends at pierless fish, mikuni, and the chef’s garden.  Here are some new spring dishes you can find on the menu and a few off menu items from the weekend.

hudson valley foie gras, local rainbow chard, vasek lo-quat confit

gulf black grouper, spring onion, asparagus x2, serrano ham, stinging nettle puree

workin'

roasted rockfish, peas n' carrots, shimeji, potato, van's pea shoots

olive oil sponge, vanilla nectar, local strawberry, marscapone ice cream

chef cody doin' work

kurabota pig wrapped in housemade bacon, globe carrot, carmelised salsify, maple-grain mustard reduction

Voice 2.0

It’s been a quick year, so quick we didn’t even realize it until fava beans starting showing up again.  It’s spring and time to retool the menu to the season, halibut is back next week, spring lamb is starting to come in and the harvest of the season is among us.  The ingredients of spring are always inspiring, the pinnacle of what a season can bring to us in produce.  Needless to say we are excited about the upcoming months.  But for now here are some scenes from the kitchen

Picture update

Whats going on in the kitchen these days

salumi

So salumi….seems to be a hot topic around town and the country.  Every good chef in Houston seems to be running a salumi program these days.  As someone who has been practicing it for a few years since I was at Blue Hill in New York where Adam Kaye taught me about the craft, I am so happy to see everyone so into it from the chefs and cooks to the customers who cannot get enough.  At Voice we have been working on salumi since the begining but we have never put out a salumi or charcuterie plate.  Over the last year we have been using the products in our everyday cooking for the menu.  We are now tinkering with doing a housemade salumi plate and here are some shots of the meats, more pics to come when i can get them transfered.

Aaaaaaaannnndddd were back….

It has been months since we have posted and we are sorry for the delay.  The banquet season was a success however gave us little time to post on here what we have been up to.  So lets get caught up, Albert Roux hung out, Thanksgiving at Voice was a success, awarded one of twenty top new restaurants by John Mariani, banquet season almost killed us!  New Year’s eve dinner at Voice was a hit and Texas Monthly named us the number one new restaurant in 2008 for the state of Texas…sigh and now its time for change, then menu will begin to change rapidly from now and then into spring.  Hope we keep seeing everyone and we promise to be more active in our postings!

The Degustation Menu

Tasting Menus like crazy last night. One seven course menu after another. Seems to be popular these days at VOICE. The crew are kickin out “Degas” like it’s nobody’s business! Its a fun time to play for the crew at VOICE, with all that the season has to offer, root veggies, truffles, game, and mushrooms.

Potato Gnocchi

Vince is making gnocchi these days. A little potato, and a lot of “00″ flour from Italy. There is something about making gnocchi by hand that is almost romatntic, or spiritual. We serve it up with a little proscuitto di parma, chanterelles, tiny brusslles sprouts, and a bit of plugra to finish. Tasty!

Swift Changes

Suckling Pig, napa cabbage, butternut squash

It’s amazing how quickly we can turn on a dime in the kitchen. Just a week ago the walk-in was full of sweet corn, heirloom tomatoes, and english peas. Suddenly I find my knife slicing through the meat of the early autumn harvest. Squashes, root vegetables, chestnuts and pears; quail and, best of all, SUCKLING PIG! We get ours from a farm just outside Houston proper. None larger than twenty pounds, they find themselves quickly butchered and slowly sous vide. Any bit not used for dinner service we make into beautiful autumn terrines for amuse or tastings. Nothing gets wasted. That’s the real fun of working in a fine dining kitchen. We get to play as much as we can stand inside a season, and before you realize it’s time to change again, to reinvent the restaurant all over. -Peter

Tete de Cochon

albert roux menu

So here is the menu for the dinner on oct.23 featuring chef albert roux of le gavroche in london.

chilled maine lobster

pushed avocado, yuzu creme, osetra caviar

 

duck foie gras

spiced bread, parsnip, port jus

 

risotto de carnaroli

shellfish, black grouper, parsley jus

 

kobe in two preperations

ribeye and shortrib, celeriac, chanterelle, sauce perrigordine

 

ckc farm baby caprino

black mission fig, micro arugula, 25 year old balsamic

 

toffee roasted pear

sea salt caramel ice cream, pistachio lace tuile.  

Albert Roux

Voice Restaurant would like to announce a special dinner on the 23rd of October 2008 featuring guest chef Albert Roux.  Albert Roux is chef/owner of the notorious Le Gavroche in London, which currently holds two Michelin stars and at one time carried three and was the first restaurant in Britain to obtain the coveted three star rating.  Le Gavroche was also known for putting out some of the best chefs in Britain including Marco Pierre White and Gordon Ramsay.  The dinner will be held at Voice at the Hotel Icon in the Wine Vault.  That means only thirty two seats will be available for this dinner.  There will be six courses in all at the rate of 150++, including wine.  Any questions please feel free to comment here and I will answer as quickly as I can.  Yes Albert will be in the kitchen for the meal along with his chef for the Chez Roux project in Conroe Wyatt Maguire.  To make a reservation you can call the reservationist for the restaurant at 832-667-4470.  Make sure to mention that you want reservations for the Albert Roux Dinner!  See you all soon.

-jb