branch water tavern

Branch Water Tavern - please don't pass the salt.

I had heard the buzz about this place through the internetz.. and was excitingly awaiting the chance to try it out. Only a few months old, and it seemed to have great potential. we pulled up to a packed lot and equally packed street. and apparently tried to walk in through the 'wrong' door.. only to see the place packed to the right (the bar) and rather empty on the left (the restaurant).. so we quickly got seated, it seemed i didn't need to make those reservations after all.

i actually liked the mod cabin decor.. and were greeted with delicious biscuits with pear butter. i anticipated the meal.. we didn't get to try any of the 'snacks' from the menu.. but started with appetizers.. the butternut squash soup with duck confit was unusually thicker than expected.. and my roasted beets salad was nothing to write home about. the beets were roasted but served cold, under a slice of goat cheese and bed of arugula doused in a vinaigrette. poscol is still the best place for roasted beets in town. still i had high hopes for the next course.

there were scallops with parsnips in truffle oil... the scallops were cooked perfectly but were unfortunately too salty. i had the bacon wrapped prawns over cheese grits with a poached egg as my main, bacon wrapped anything is usually delicious, the grits were a bit creamier than i like.. and a perfectly poached egg still couldn't lift this dish above and beyond my expectations. finally there was a slow roasted salmon with lentils.. the salmon was extra 'fishy' perhaps it was the fish.. or the maybe it was the slow roasting technique that made it this way, either way.. it wasn't good. over all the three mains were very salty. like someone played a trick on the chef by twisting the cap off the salt. and then pulled the same trick two more times. it's unfortunate, under seasoning or over seasoning can terribly ruin a meal. the place is still young so they are due to their off night, but with veterans behind the name, those should be minimal.

so our meal.. it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't good.. just slightly below par.

i guess we should've noted the crowd. and stuck with just grabbing a drink at the bar.

branch water tavern

510 shepherd

houston, tx