Taste buds are AMAZING little guys, aren't they? They are essential in sorting out the five (known) elements of taste perception: salty, sweet, bitter, sour and my favorite because of how it sounds UMAMI. They send information to your brain, and your brain sends the information to your mouth, and your mouth exclaims to the world YUM! On average, the human tongue has anywhere from 2000-8000 of these little guys and eating at
CITRUS is contemporary American cuisine done the best way possible....FROM THE HEART! Overlooking the famous San Antonio Riverwalk,
Chef Jeff Balfour (along with Chefs DJ Galindo, Mario Estrada, Halston Connella, and certainly NOT least Sam Tate) bring intuitive, creative menu ideas consisting mostly of the best locally grown ingredients and farm raised meats around. These culinary ARTISTS present plates that are parts
Rorschach test and Rembrandt masterpiece and should be called "classically-abstract". The stark white plates are the perfect canvas for the deep thought provoking, unique, yet extremely familiar flavors that make their food not only museum worthy, but will put your mouth and heart through sensory overload!
I recently had the pleasure of eating at CITRUS while on some family business in San Antonio last week and I must say that I was a bit skeptical at first. Not because the reviews were horrible or anything like that, but because the restaurant had two main issues....
Issue # 1: The place was damn near empty when I showed up.
I chalked that up to the fact that it was a Monday evening about 2 hours before closing time.
Issue # 2: Its located in a HOTEL!!!
I don't know about most of you, but I have always had the WORST experiences with food from hotels. So needless to say when I realized we were going to a hotel to eat I was mortified and worried about my stomach's safety! I was apparently judging a cook book by its cover!
We (my wife, my cousin, and I) were seated at the front table and promptly brought bread, butter, ice cold water (MUCH NEEDED as it was a warm/MUGGY 85 degrees at 8pm) and
THE MENU. The menu gives the option of a 3 or 4 course pre-fix, or a la carte pricing, and me being me I ordered the 4 course. Immediately after the first bite of my appetizer I pulled a note pad (normally I use the old noodle but I just turned 30, and they say the memory is the first to go!) and feverishly started writing down highlights of the meal. Trust me there were A LOT!
Allow me to give you the play by play....
FIRST: Crisp rock shrimp, garlic crystal butter
True to the Texas stereotype this appetizer was BIG. I could've had two of these and been set for the evening. Don't get me wrong, I am NOT complaining at all because I can eat shrimp all day. I love it when something this delicious is served in a huge portion. The shrimp was exquisitely prepared, it had clean flavors that blended wonderfully. Topped with green onions and rested above of a spicy but not overpowering garlic crystal butter the rock shrimp more than held their own! I would gladly order this again and again!
*Note* For those that don't know
Crystal is a staple hot sauce for fried foods especially seafood. Crystal is right up there with Red Rooster for southern fried foods....at least that's my opinion.
SECOND: Roasted butternut squash soup, crisp pork, spiced cream
When this came to the table my mouth began to water just a little bit. Served in a shallow saucer with the diced crispy pieces of pork and spiced cream, the soup is poured in front of you and the aromas fill the air. The cream and pork were absolutely necessary to break up what could have been a cloyingly sweet dish. To me butternut squash soup, if given to big of a serving can almost be like taking a spoonful of maple syrup. That is why serving size is very tricky when it comes to this delicacy. This toed the line between too much and just right with out going over. The pork for me is what kept it in the clear, that extra bit of salty goodness did it's job of being amazing, as pork tends to be. The spiced cream was to die for! I originally thought that the flavor was going to get lost in the sweetness of the soup as a whole, but that bit of spice was beautiful. My only complaint about the dish was in the serving dish. The bowl, while pretty, was a bit hard to eat from because it was a bit shallow and made it a bit difficult to get on the spoon. Aside from that this dish was HEAVENLY!
THIRD: Pan roasted south Texas antelope, Texas Peppers, honey-chipotle potato puree, and chiffonade mustard greens
Yup you read that correctly ANTELOPE!!! The robust smokey flavor was only seconded by the extreme tenderness of the meat. It almost had the consistency of a fresh baked loaf of bread, odd description right? Let me explain, it was warm and soft with a bit of toasted buttery crunch on the outside, but still had a thick and hearty feel to it in the mouth. Did I make any sense there? The antelope was cooked to a medium rare, which is usually a bit underdone to me but in this case was perfect as the waitress told me that any more done and the meat would have become tough and chewy. It was topped with a slightly spicy BBQ sauce (hey you didn't think I'd leave Texas with out some BBQ, did you?) and set atop some of the best mustard greens I've had in years.
Normally I find mustard greens to be very bitter, but CITRUS proved me wrong about that. They were mixed with some beautiful diced bacon and bell peppers that made the greens a treat that I will try to recreate at a later time (only to fail miserably I'm sure because I'm probably missing some spices).
Then just when I thought that this meal couldn't get any better I got to the puree!!! WOW!!! If the antelope was the lead then the honey-chipotle puree surely would have won the Oscar for best supporting actor! Sweet with a hint of kick in the background and a honey-orange hue for the eyes, it was almost like eating whipped clouds at sunset. I was and am in complete awe of the flavors they were able to develop and seemingly master! So much so that the very next evening when we went back for desserts, I opted to get this whole portion of the meal again because dinner AFTER dinner is the best!
FOURTH: Hazelnut cheese cake, salted caramel/ Banana spring rolls, mango puree with orange cheese mousse
This brings me to the dessert portion of the meal, a section I would like to call "The Sweet Kiss Goodnight". My wife and I are what you would call "cheesecake snobs" because we have had some really OUTSTANDING cheesecakes in our time as well as our fair share of awful ones. So when I saw that CITRUS offered a hazelnut with salted caramel cheesecake, I was intrigued to say the least. This decadent piece of bliss has been put in my book as one of the more masterfully done sweet treats I have ever had, and the best cheesecake I have ever had in the US (I am fairly well traveled so that says something) second only to one that I had during my adventures in Rome.
The what seemed to be a chocolate drenched slice was deceptively light in chocolate flavor. This is perfect for me as I am not often a huge chocolate fan. Each bite lingered just enough to leave me wanting another before I was finished with the first. The hazelnut flavor was noticeable but not too strong and the filling itself was creamy, rich, and some of the lightest I've had in a long time. Now as far as I'm concerned the crust on a cheesecake is almost as if not more important than the filling. Some of you now think I'm nuts, but think about it. If you get through a delicious bite of cheesecake only to come to a bland or in some cases bitter crust that is dry as powder at the end, doesn't it leave a bad after-taste in your mouth? It's almost enough for me to not take a second bite...almost. This was not the case here because they managed to not only make the crust exceedingly well but it was exciting to boot. Sweet with a nutty after-taste and best of all it was moist...not soggy...but moist and "heaven-full" (so heavenly it has to be sinful...it's a new word....spread it around).
By far the best dessert that was had that night (my wife and I had the cheesecake) went to my cousin's dish. She ordered the banana spring rolls. Talk about an OMG moment (yup good food turns me into a 17 yr old girls cellphone text). They were crispy fried bits of AMAZING! The spring rolls were fried very well and I know that when you think of fried foods you think super heavy, but again they managed to make them light and delicate. The bananas were sweet with a slight caramelized taste and paired perfectly with the mango puree and the coconut shavings that brought a taste of the tropics to your mouth via San Antonio. Now let me tell you about this mousse...this beautiful, oh so tasty orange cheese mousse....my mouth salivates at the thought. Everything that could have been done right surely was with this mousse. The planets aligned, the stars were brighter, and angels surely held the hands of the master chefs that prepared this for us. Seriously this felt like a velvet dream. Cool, and comforting like a hug from your best friend and your Grandmother rolled into one. It was sweet and rich without going overboard with either. These guys really know how to pull a meal together with their final touches. If we could all eat this dessert...well... WE COULD SAVE THE WORLD!!!
Needless to say I am more than pleased with CITRUS and absolutely guarantee that you will be too. So if you are in the San Antonio area around dinner time please stop by and tell them The Penguin Gazette highly recommends this place!
DO IT.....DO IT NOW!!!!
Before I go I want to say a special THANK YOU to the two chefs that made my evenings the stuff of legends. They even came to the table to introduce themselves and great praise should be given to them for their talents (PSST....I'm talking to you Chef Balfour....THESE GUYS ROCK!!!). I am talking about the talents of Chef Sam Tate and Chef Halston Connella. Both of these Chefs deserve high honors for the care and love they give to each plate. You can tell that this is their passion, their dream, and I feel honored to have shared that with them. They are Top Chefs in my eyes. Thank you sirs and may our paths cross again someday...for my stomachs sake!!!
Editor & Chief of The Penguin Gazette,
Rudy
