The Pass and Provisions

We had to change our plans for the weekend. We were going to Fredericksburg  to pick-up our second quarter wines (already? how time flies!), but weather didn’t seem very ideal. Weather channel said that it will be raining all weekend in that part of Texas so we opted out.

Deciding where to eat in Houston is not simple. There are so many to choose from. The Pass and Provisions has been featured in the Houstonian magazine a couple of months back but we never got the chance to try it. As we approached the resto, we noted that there was no valet, but the building was in such a way that parking was maximized. One of the things I don’t look forward to when dining in downtown Houston is the challenge in finding a parking spot. If there’s no valet, thats a deal breaker for me right there.

The table we had was covered in paper where the menu is printed. Nice touch!

The creamer came in a miniature milk bottle! I am loving all the interesting details in this place.
The creamer came in a miniature milk bottle! I am loving all the interesting details in this place.
Mimosa! It had cava, orange and honey-clove syrup.
Mimosa! It had cava, orange and honey-clove syrup.

Now for my confession. All this time, with all the years of eating around the world under my belt, I consider myself a foodie. But I never had to google so many stuffs they had in the menu! I knew I had “cava” in Spain but I forgot what it was. Google told me it was Spanish sparkling wine. Nice!

D had  a Syrah from Hungary. A first for him and it was surprisingly good.
D had a Syrah from Hungary. A first for him and it was surprisingly good.
Crispy Home Fries with Pepper Relish. Amazing! I have no idea how they made it so crispy but I suspect that there's a lot of oil involved. Whatever. It's so good.
Crispy Home Fries with Pepper Relish. Amazing! I have no idea how they made it so crispy but I suspect that there’s a lot of oil involved. Whatever. It’s so good.
Dave had wood oven baked eggs Florentine with spinach, mushroom and parmesan
Dave had wood oven baked eggs Florentine with spinach, mushroom and parmesan
I had scamorza, caramelized onions and guanciale pizza
I had scamorza, caramelized onions and guanciale pizza

FYI, scamorza is an Italian type of cheese and guanciale is a type of Italian cured meat. Its been more than ten years since I had these and I didn’t expect to have it this weekend.

Dessert is Pistachio Financier with Prune Armagnac with Bitter Chocolate and Yogurt Ice Cream
Dessert is Pistachio Financier with Prune Armagnac with Bitter Chocolate and Yogurt Ice Cream

Obviously, I googled all these.  A financier is a French cake usually with almonds, so their take here is instead of almonds, they used pistachio. Armagnac is a type of brandy made in Southwest France. You can see from the pic how I can’t wait to devour it.

Despite my incessant googling of their menu, this place didn’t give the snooty or pretentious vibe. Believe me, in all my years of eating, I’ve been to such places, and thankfully, this is not among them. The service is excellent and despite the obvious freshness of all the food, we didn’t have to wait endlessly for our orders.

This was definitely a great start for our weekend. It will  keep us nourished as we head home and proceed with our garden project. Yup, I do gardening now. I will feature it once it’s done. I will need a lot of calories and it looks like we hit the jackpot in this restaurant. As I always say in my Yelp reviews, “Highly recommended, will definitely go back!”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *