Being in Texas doesn’t mean that all you can find is restaurants that serve BBQ Ribs, large steaks and chicken wings. As we traveled through Houston a restaurant called Mark’s American Cuisine caught my eye.
Location
They are located at 1658 Westheimer Road in Houston, Texas.
Atmosphere
The reason why this restaurant caught my eye is because it is located in the inside of a large beautiful red brick Lutheran church. The church was built in the 1927 and then later renovated into a restaurant.
It is absolutely breath taking in the inside. The high ceilings are painted gold and brighten up the room. The candle lit cloth covered tables are spaced out nicely throughout the room so you don’t feel like you are scrunched for space.
The walls are hand painted deco walls that light up the room with only antique looking curtains or wood shutters hanging from the windows. I like how they kept it simple and elegant with decorations and let the building and painted walls themselves complete the atmosphere.
Within the building there are 3 private dining rooms…
The Cloisters- Which seats 32-40 people- This gothic style room had a very unique design to it with high vaulted ceilings. The walls have bright designs of blue, green, white and brown patterns and the ceilings are painted gold.
The Alcove-a tasting room that seats 5-8 people- This was a smaller sized room with a large circle stained glass window and an antique chandelier hanging over a large round table.
The Loft- which seats 20-24 people- To get to the loft you walked up a set of stairs that lead you to the balcony overlooking the main dining room of the restaurant. The colors up here are a bright red and tan pattern. On the wall is a beautiful oak wine cabinet.
Menu
The menu at Mark’s was amazing. Each menu item was explained in detail and it all sounded so good it made you want to choose one of each item.
Appetizer Examples
Oysters topped with a ragout of crab meat, shrimp, and leeks in truffle aioli vinaigrette
Fried green tomato topped with crab meat, grilled shrimp with opal basil and sherry vinaigrette
Examples of Lunches/Entrees
Shrimp three ways: Tempura, crispy sesame and grilled with Asian inspired vegetables with Jasmine fried rice
Pecan crusted chicken breast filled with sundried tomatoes and house smoked mozzarella in a Kentucky bourbon sauce
Walnut crusted rack and loin of Colorado Lamb with 3 color potatoes, thyme roasted squash and zucchini, with a basil Madeira sauce
Roasted Sashimi big eye tuna with a citrus Jasmine risotto, Asian garden stir fry in a Saki ginger sauce
Examples of Soups and Salads
Turtle Soup
Roasted Corn Chowder Soup
Lettuce tossed with Fuji apple, Comice pear, Matos St Jorge cheese, almonds with tarragon hazelnut vinaigrette
Romaine hearts, red Belgium endive, crispy wild cherry wood smoked bacon, and Sonoma Valley jack cheese with anchovy lemon vinaigrette
I ordered the grilled Panama shrimp topped with jumbo crabmeat atop a Southern Carolina shrimp and grit cake with a chili spiked lime sauce, and a roasted green Chile, cilantro coulis. It makes my mouth watering thinking about it again. It was $40 but well worth it for this tasty creation. My husband went for the roasted Chatham cod over pine nut orange risotto, pepper shrimp, asparagus and cauliflower in a merlot sauce for $40. His was very good also. With a nice bottle of wine and dinner our bill came to $130.
Lunch menu items were just as extravagant as the dinner menu options but served in smaller portions. Don’t come here if you are looking for a quick BLT or Burger. They don’t serve those types of meal options.
Prices were higher but for the atmosphere, presentation and amount of food that you got, I believe that it was well worth splurging a bit for the experience.
Lunch prices ranged from $7-$30 and dinner prices ranged from $10-$50.
Drinks
They had a few specialty cocktails known as Marktinis which I thought was a cool way to work the name of the restaurant’s owner Mark Cox into the drink menu. My favorite was the “Green Tea,” which was Charbay green tea vodka with ginger syrup with Sake complete with lavender sugar around the rim and a fresh lemon.
They also served a few signature cocktails, fully stocked bar with choices of beer or mixed drinks, and an extensive wine selection with choices from all over the world.
Hours
Lunch is served Monday through Friday from 11am-2pm
Dinner is served Monday through Thursday from 5:30pm-10pm; Saturday 5pm-11pm; and Sunday 5pm-10pm
Overall
I was in awe of this place from the atmosphere to the design of the building to the artistic meals that they served. I highly recommend this place for people of all ages. The service was top notch, the prices were reasonable for the experience, and the food was outstanding.