Catalan Food & Wine

Last night of dinner service at Catalan was a magical, sad, and delicious experience. I can’t help but give this place a 5-​star farewell and shed a little tear. I will miss this place, and what is more important is that I still never got to try their signature pork belly or fois gras… grrrrr! yes folks, they have been out of it every time and things were no different this last day of service. Oh well, thankfully what they did have was spledid, spectacular and delightful.
What we dranks: a LOT (good red blends… and some white in there at some point)
What we ate:
Fois Gras Bön-​Bons — These are better to me with a touch of Sriracha, but that is just me. I love these little fried balls of fatty yumminess.
Ahi Tuna — so good it tasted like steak, go figure!
Garlic Prawns — the broth is out of this world. I could have drank it with any of the dishes.
Charcuterie Board — the spicy bratwurst was my personal favorite, along with the pickled onions and extra spicy ground mustard.
Cheese Board — i. like. cheese.
BEST DESSERT EVER — Goat’s Milk Cheesecake… this was seriously the BEST cheesecake I have EVER had. sorry but it was so good I had to capatlize the letters to prove it. No, really it’s that good. Wicked good. I’ll miss you, Goat’s Milk Cheesecake…
Goodbye Catalan, RIP

I’ve been to Catalan twice, and it’s one of my favorite restaurants in Houston. I first went over a year and a half ago after a sommelier at TTR Uptown recommended that our group try out Catalan instead of Max’s Wine Dive. We were glad we took his suggestion; the pork belly and the bread pudding stick out in my mind from that first dinner.
I went back again a few weeks ago, and it was as phenomenal as I remembered. The wine suggestions were reasonably priced and we enjoyed both wines he recommended. For appetizers we selected the pork belly with Cane’s syrup and the Barcelona Street Food. Although both were fantastic, the Barcelona Street Food was a particular winner (we had it again during Happy Hour the following week along with some solid fish tacos). The seafood in the street food changes, but octopus is a consistent ingredient, and Catalan cooks it perfectly. Mixed in with the seafood is chorizo and onion, and it comes with an amazing sauce.
For entrees we had lamb with a cheesy cauliflower and white bean gratin of sorts. My lamb was cooked perfectly, and although I wasn’t initially a fan, the gratin grew on me. The duck dish was less successfully; some pieces of meat were wonderfully juicy while another was on the dry side. For dessert we had at the profiteroles. I think conversation stopped during dessert as we were too busy eating and enjoying the profiteroles.
With Chris Shepherd leaving, I’ll be going back to Catalan next Sunday for the last Sunday Supper!

Wow! This place is amazing. The menu is pretty accommodating to different palates. The filet of beef was superb! It was so good and made exactly the way I asked. The service could have been better. The ambiance was nice, but too loud at peak time (not sure if it’s the acoustics of the place).
Definitely recommend this place!!!

The ambiance and food selection are excellent.
It’s located right next to a CVS parking lot so there isn’t much of a view if you decide to sit outdoors. The waiter was a bit strange and not very attentive. Seemed off-​put and too casual for the quality of restaurant. Couldn’t even recommend a good wine for dinner.
I had the following:
Appetizer: Pork Belly — great taste. I would come back just for this item.
Foie gras bon bons served with house-​made local seasonal
jelly — good taste. Great texture. The slaw gave it a great flavor.
Dinner: Special of the evening Pork Chop. — Not impressed at all. It was
tough to eat and would have been 100 times better had it melted
in my mouth like the pork belly.
Redneck mac & cheese — THE BEST!!! Definitely coming back for
this item.
Dessert: Carrot Cake — I had to take this to go since I was stuffed. EXCELLENT!
Had it not been for the inattentive waiter and very dry pork chop I would have rated a lot higher.

Seeing a decline in overall stars, I was a bit concerned coming back. Fears were allayed with the very courteous waiter who was able to answer (or find the answer to) all my peculiar questions about the food and wine.
Oh by the way, the food’s some of the best in Houston. Don’t bother with entrées. You’ll get some meat with a side of veg. Be bold; order safe and you get safe.
Beet gazpacho — ⁵⁄₅; Brilliant, the unexpected spice balanced out that beety sweet flavor. Forget if it was drizzled with sour cream or yogurt, but it provided the creamy lift that made the dish.
Crab croquettes — ⁴⁄₅; Houston loves its crab cakes, and here’s a rendition that does not skimp on the lump crab, nor does it break the crab down. Sat on a citrus emulsion that played like a tartar sauce. Looked like crab hushpuppies on the outside, but definitely tasted like a crab cake. This is about as safe as I’m willing to go, now to fly off the deep end.
Bone Marrow — ⁵⁄₅; butter your crostini, top it with a few slivers of pickled onions and sprinkle it with that amazing salt. Perfect bite. Next.
Whole deep fried frog — ⁴⁄₅; a little under seasoned, but you could taste that it was frog. I wish the stuff the hoppers sat on actually topped it (onions, cilantro, some sort of pesto?), as I don’t know how to bring that along. There were two frogs per plate, and it was a challenge to pick it apart, but the yield was excellent, and frog’s «hand» is actually pretty good, in a chewy, crunchy way.
Mussels with chorizo in sambal broth — ⁴⁄₅; felt like something was missing this time around, like there was a lack of kick and intensity in the broth itself. The mussels were still crazy good.
Goat cheesecake — ⁴⁄₅; the crust almost upstaged the cheesecake portion. Strawberries were of the bleeding fresh variety.
Coffee afterwards was very good, as was a 1994 Dow’s Ruby Port. Now I have something to look forward to when I open that bottle at home.
The bottle we had was a Calera Mt. Harlan pinot that was marked up 50% and is an amazing pinot for south of San Francisco.
Overall, Catalan actually got better than the last time. The lesson I learned was the more daring you order, the greater the reward, as I think that’s where the passions of Catalan’s chef lie.

Average at best.
Cocktails were good.
Service was good, not exceptional.
Food was very very ordinary.
Nice venue though.
We had the following for food:
1. Pork Belly — not crispy and very fatty. Came out very quickly so it was obviously precooked and sitting in the fat
2. Calamari — should not have bothered after the waiter told us it was deep fried. Very «Diner» standard food. Again came out very quickly so it was obviously precooked, as it was not hot.
3. Barcelona street food — not much Octopus and very laden with fat, not oil, fat from the chorizo.
4 Dessert — Goats Cheese cheese cake and bread pudding, these were both nice and saved the night.
Would not be rushing back

Only came here for the $ 5 happy hour. Everything on the HH menu was $ 5. We ordered all 5 of the appetizers, which was probably not a good idea cause practically everything was fried. That did not leave my stomach in a happy condition at the end of the night. HOWEVER, it was all tasty. I was not particularly impressed, but everything was done well.
The flat bread with pork and tomatoes was the best. I would go back for that.

Our favorite upscale restaurant intown. The food is amazing, and the place set up is really nice.
Anything Pork is great! Street food seletions were all really delictious.
Great wine as well.
Two thumb up !
Tips,
The prok dishes were amazing and out of this world.
Unlick most highend restauranst, the portion size of Catalan is really generous.

Enjoyed an absolutely delicious meal here on my second visit to Houston (and my second visit to Catalan).
my tasting notes: Wagyu carpaccio (spicy, very tasty, nice thick-​ish pieces tasty), the tobacco mash cured salmon (tasty, reasonable), the bone marrow (first time, rich and fantastic), the special oysters (snap), the salad.
sommelier was attentive, waiter was super knowledgeable (about the wine too). panna cotta for dessert.

I am fairly new to the area and knew that I wanted to try some of the great eats to be had on Washington Avenue. So, when it was time for a work lunch I suggested Catalan!
First Impression: Valet only– No big deal, just need to have cash on hand to tip the Valet. Since I went during lunch, the sun was shining through the large windows and lit up the dining room and kitchen nicely. The restaurant was designed with an open kitchen concept and it was fun to get a peek into a place diners don’t see very often.
Service: Great! We came about 20 minutes late for our reservations, not even a bat of the eye by the hostess, we were seated immediately. Our waitress was very cognizant that we were at a business lunch, so she only interrupted when necessary to refill drinks or take plates. She was very courteous throughout the meal and couldn’t say anything negative at all.
Appetizer: Fried Pork Belly. Fried Pork Belly. Fried Pork Belly. These three words could define the rest of my life. These dark brown, almost burnt looking cubes plated with a drizzle of sugar cane syrup. Wow, every bite was just incredible, melt-​in-​your-​mouth goodness. From the crispy skin, to the perfectly tender meat, all held together by a devious layer of fat. I got so lost in the appetizer I think I spaced out for a bit after eating it.
Entrée: It wasn’t until a plate of it was brought to a nearby table and the food fumes drifted by my table did I decide to order the Shrimp and Grits. I couldn’t have made a better decision! The portion had five perfectly pink tail-​on shrimp on a generous mound of bacon grits served over top of crisp green beans. When I took the first bite of grits I about got up and ran around the restaurant. It was seriously THAT good. Incredibly creamy perfectly cooked grits with pieces of bacon that add just that little bit of «extra» that always gets lost in restaurant food. It was so good from beginning to end, I was so upset that it was over.
Tips: Bread and butter are free, just ask! The pork belly come in three pieces, but the waiter can scale that up to four if needed.

I love PORK BELLY!!! It’s not the healthiest of choices, but the multiple layers of glistening fat and tender meat are well worth the calories. When I heard that Catalan serves a mean belly, I had to try it out.
I love the space in this restaurant. It is very open and I like seeing the chefs in the kitchen.
I went on Christmas Eve for lunch. There was a mix of couples, families and business partners… and two waiters working the floor. Our waiter was nice, but tried to up-​sell a lot.
The pork belly appetizer comes with three square pieces. He said he can make it 4 pieces (at an additional charge) since there were two of us so that we both got two pieces. I’m like. nah…we’re good… we’ll share the third piece.
Then when I ordered the house cab, which was already 12 bucks, he tried to sell me the $ 15 glass. I’m like dude… thanks, but I’m sure your house wine is good!
Bread and butter are given upon request. So of course I asked for it. If it’s free, then why not?!
The pork belly came out looking gorgeous. The molasses glistened on the meat. the smell of semi burnt sugar was familiar. I cook a vietnamese dish that is similar to this. Anyways, it was good! The meat was tender and sweet. Pointed sugar cane sticks were in the center of the meat, I guess to give it more sweetness and to acknowledge that there was sugar cane molasses in the sauce.
I had the ahi tuna salad with citrus vinaigrette as my entrée and my hubs had the roast beef poboy. My salad was good. The poboy was okay. It was really small and the gravy tasted burnt. But the beef itself was good. We finished everything. We were little piggies that day!
Service was okay, entrees were okay, but the appetizer really took things to a different level. It has taken a while for people to appreciate pork belly, especially in a form other than bacon, but at least the appreciation is there. Thanks Catalan!

I stopped by for the Happy hour menu on Friday night. They have a very small bar, but bar area flows out into outside seating, This October has been made for Outside dining. Combined with some inexpensive apps and cheap St. Arnold’s beer, this Happy Hour is a winner. I had the BLT flatbread, which is made with pork belly — for $ 5. They have 6 items priced the same and apparently change the items frequently.
I have also eaten inside for full dinner meals about 6 times over past 2 years. Love the wine menu and reasonable prices. The have a big bold Grenache called Tir na Nog for about $ 39. I have had this the several times. I almost hate to put in this review; I don’t know how much of this they have and I want it to be there for me! I even looked for this wine at Spec’s downtown and it’s not there. I have never walked out of Catalan without a good meal, great service and also feeling that it was well worth the price.

This review is only for their happy hour:
Their HH menu changes weekly it seems. The prices are pretty good for their HH tapas menu.
Roasted berkshire pork belly with steen’s pure cane syrup: ²⁄₅
Cochinita pibil tacos with pickled red onion and hot sauce: ⁴⁄₅ — this was our favorite tapas plate; very tender and the simple flavors worked well together
Buffalo chili cheese fries: 2.5÷5 — needs more cheese/​flavor
Crispy chicken wings tossed in chris’ «h-​town hellfire hot sauce»: ³⁄₅ — just standard wings
Seared tuna with cucumber and red chili sake vinaigrette: ⁴⁄₅
BLT flatbread: pork belly, arugula, tomato (add egg: $ 1): ³⁄₅ — definitely order it with the egg.
$ 5 drink specials
Ambiance: ³⁄₅ — The tables are too small for the size of the chairs.
Service: 3.5÷5 — The bartender was making drinks, taking orders, and serving — I think they need more help

We first went to Catalan for my birthday back in February. They have a pretty long wine list and the food has always been good.
Some of the pairings on the dishes is very different — mixing home style foods (comfort foods) with more exotic flavors. The menu is definitely an interesting and delicious blend.
If you go you have to get their Redneck Macaroni and cheese side. The Redneck name comes from the local cheese they use for it and it has a kick to it. We ordered it as a side and we loved it!

[ Food: 3.5÷5 ] [ Ambiance: 3.5÷5 ] [ Services: 3.5÷5 ]
Prices: $$$ (avg 45/​person Houston Restaurant Week)
This place has been on my radar for a long time and so glad that they are taking part in HRW. We came here on a Friday evening luckily with reservation at 8pm, otherwise, its gonna be a long wait.
The restaurant look calm and quiet from the outside but when you get inside, its packed and noisy, even the high ceilings doesnt help. The tables are very close to each others and you see a variety of clientele. Parking is valet-​only or if you are lucky, you might find spots along the streets around the neighborhood.
Our waiter was friendly but too busy with the big table next to us. So, our services were a bit slow. We have to ask for the HRW menu and then, settled on the following:
Baby Arugula Salad: Just simply a fresh well made salad, nothing special.
Pork Belly: Sweet & tangy but burned. However, the fat & lean meat ratios are perfect, so, its pretty good. I will recommend this dish to anyone.
Shrimp & Grits — Hands-​down the best dish. The shrimps are scrumptiously sauteed, still little «crunchy» and goes very well with the grits.
Suckling Pig Vietnamese style — Huge chunk of beautifully roasted meat that is moist from the inside. However, the overall dish was too dry with only the accompanied ala-«bun thit nuong» preparation. In addition, the vermicelli were a little al-​dante & again, baby cabbage was over-​burned.
Carrot Cake — Decent and moist but a huge piece that can feed 2. The ice cream was just meh.
Panna Cotta — Perfectly blend with the vanilla bean, just the right texture and very flavorful when accompany with the chocolate ganache.
This restaurant offers some very interesting and adventurous food creations that will challenge your taste buds. I actually like this place and will definitely come again to try the small plates/​tapas and skip the entrée! I would recommend to anyone that like to have a change from the «usual» American-​Italian-​French affairs…

After visiting Catalan several times and loving every visit, I wanted to take advantage of HRW with a couple of friends.
We visited on a busy Friday night. After a half of a drink at the bar, we were promptly seated. The HRW menu was interesting with nice options. I had a hard time deciding between the brisket «debris» po boy or pork belly appetizer. I chose the pork belly with the sugar cane reduction and it was perfection!
For my entrée, I had the fried chicken with macaroni and cheese and a watermelon/​corn/​tomato salad. The side items were delicious and full of flavor. The fried chicken was crispy, but a little dry and not very flavorful.
My dessert of carrot cake with cream cheese ice cream was a divine ending the meal.
Yum, yum, yum! I want to go back before HRW is over to try other menu options! I’ve also heard that they have some happy hour specials during the week.

Went to Catalan last Friday for happy hour.
When you first arrive, you’ll notice that every space in the parking lot is blocked with a cone. I think I maybe read that the forced valet parking is complimentary online somewhere but we didn’t want to deal with it (thinking that it was a bit ridiculous) so we parked in this grass lot next to the CVS where we saw other cars.
I liked the ambiance of the restaurant. For the happy hour (I believe 4 – 7 pm on Tues-​Fri and 5 – 7 pm on weekends but not sure) there is a small bar area with 5 – 7 seats and about 10 – 15 small tables tucked in the corner. It looks like it could get crowded but when we were there on Friday night there were 3 – 4 tables open.
The happy hour menu had pretty good variety — $ 2.50 — 3.50 beers and $ 5 mixed drinks. We sampled a variety of plates (all $ 5) — The roasted flatbread with porkbelly was my favorite (⁵⁄₅): really tasty and flavorful. I also liked the seared tuna (3.5÷5) and the burger also had really nice flavors (⁴⁄₅). My least favorite thing we ordered were the fried pickles, which were kind of soggy (²⁄₅). For those, go to Katz’s.
All in all a solid happy hour with some unique offerings. The service was great for a happy hour — very attentive waiters and the food came out quickly. By the time 7 pm rolled around, the restaurant was packed! I’m excited to try the regular food there one day.

My husband and I ate here recently for our anniversary. It was a Sunday night, so they weren’t very busy, and our server was very attentive. The décor was nice (loved the chandeliers), and it was a good atmosphere for a romantic dinner.
The menu was interesting, and it was different from what they have posted on their website. We started with the arugula salad (with blue cheese, roasted hazelnuts and cane vinaigrette dressing). It was one of the most amazing salads I’ve ever had. I really liked the sweet but slightly spicy dressing. It all went so well together.
We also ordered the tomato gazpacho soup. It was chilled with chunks of cucumber. I really don’t like cucumber, and even the creamy tomato soup tasted like cucumber. But it was so refreshing, I ate a lot of it anyway.
There was nothing on the menu (main dishes anyway) that was vegetarian friendly. My husband told the server that I’m a vegetarian and asked what he recommended. He said they could make me a veggie dish with corn and beans. They made me a veggie dish that had no beans, but it was still really good. It had carrots, squash, zucchini, onion, corn and potatoes, and I think it was mixed in a light olive oil dressing.
For dessert, we ordered the carrot cake with cream cheese ice cream. It came drizzled in caramel, with blueberries. It was sooo good. Although it didn’t say there was any coffee in here, we definitely tasted coffee in something. Not sure if it was the icing, the ice cream or the caramel, but there was a coffee taste.
I was really impressed with the timing of each course. As soon as we finished one course, our plates were picked up right away, and there wasn’t much time between courses.
Great food, wine and service — it might have been close to 5 stars if the prices had been a little more reasonable for what you get.

I was very excited about my first visit to Catalan for Friday dinner with a group of friends. The space looked great and the wine list was impressive. Service was friendly although it was slow. The place was packed but nevertheless I think they could have done better on that regard. One of my dining companions ended up canceling one of their dishes (a seafood stew to share) because it was just taking too long and we had to leave. They were apologetic but no real reason was given as to why it took that long.
As far as the food we did try, everything was really good. Two exceptions 1) the bone marrow which was pretty average and 2) the foie gras with blueberry jam which was below average and overpriced. Calamari and the pork belly were my favorites.
Perhaps the quality of the food was a bit overhyped. It seems like one of those places that has a lot of buzz but they definitely still have room for improvement in both the food and the speed of service.

First, let’s get the good stuff out of the way. The wait staff was very accomodating. We reserved with a party of 12, which was ultimately whittled down to 6. There were no complaints from the staff. They were also very helpful with our wine selection, as well as the food recommendations.
Unfortunately, the food just wasn’t very good. For starters, the waiter suggested the Foie Gras Bön Bons over the traditional Foie Gras. Our resident foie gras expert was quite disappointed. Other appetizers included in our meal were the gulf shrimp and the pork belly, both of which were average at best.
Also, when we requested a wine, the waiter responded they were out. Something about how when a wine comes in, it goes «way too quickly.» Apparently they had «sold out» the day before. Whatever.
I went with the Halibut with a Corn and Crab Chowder topping, as well as the Cabrales Gratin. The chowder was delicious (although I’m pretty positive the chef would yell, «It’s not a chowder!»), but the halibut was relatively tasteless, and the gratin had way too much of a bleu cheese taste to it.
For dessert, I had the Peach Tart, which was a glazed, sour half-​peach, an inedible crust, and bland teaspoon of ginger ice cream. I understand the whole «sectional» food thing is fancy and looks cool, but you gotta make it taste good.
Not sure what else there is to say. The consensus was the ambiance was great, but the food wasn’t anything to write home about.