News about Perla’s. Malaga, Chinatown Downtown, Rio Grande, Piranha Killer Sushi
Malaga, that elegant tapas restaurant on 2nd St. has closed temporarily for lunch. Dinners are alive and well and chef Alex Duran is most certainly at the top of his game. But the “density” that all downtown restaurants seek has really yet to materialize to the degree that’s needed to keep all these places going. So when I need my fix of the fire roasted peppers stuffed with goat cheese and chives, I’ll have to wait till dinner. I’ll let you know when they reopen for lunch.
Ronald Cheng’s Chinatown Downtown has been conspicuously uncrowded most nights since its opening earlier this year. It’s on 5th st next to Kenichi. The food is the same as the famous Greystone store. So what gives? Perhaps another 100,000 people living in all those abundantly empty high rises that the Statesman touted so breathlessly for the past three years would solve the problem. There have been a few complaints about the service but this is, after all, Chinatown.
Aside from the lack of downtown resident density, the place is kind of small. Tough to do dim sum there with all the carts. But hell, they deliver! Is there no one downtown to deliver to? This one puzzles.
One of the more interesting word-of-mouth success stories on South Congress has to be that of Perla’s. This means oyster is Spanish and the restaurant is from the creative team of Larry McGuire and Dan McBride. It’s basically a very creative seafood emporium at the site of the former Mars. I had a soft shell crab sandwich the other day that was to die for. They are crowded most nights and that’s something Mars never accomplished. They were recently named as one of the top new restaurants in the country by Esquire’s Johm Mariani (the only place in Texas to get the nod). Mariani and I don’t always agree, but there is consensus on Perla’s.
Rio Grande at 3rd and San Jacinto has made a huge turnaround under the stewardship of Ron Hurley. The guy is amazing. He has an intuitive grasp of how to please customers. The food blends coastal, interior, and Tex Mex for a much improved overall menu. (Try the Shrimp Fajitas) They also sell some very fine Tequilas. Had a couple of shots of the uber-smooth Herradura Suprema tequila which rivals Don Julio’s 1942 in my opinion. But this is the new face of Rio Grande. Very cool food and sumptuous libations.
Piranha Killer Sushi, just down from Rio Grande on San Jacinto and next to the quirky but appealing Max’s Wine Dive is the city’s newest entry into the sushi wars. And I think they’ve started winning. Unusal composition in this restaurant. The chef is Latino as is the GM. But who cares if they can bring on the sushi and the sashimi. And from dining experiences thus far, there is a freshness and boldness of flavors that particularly make the maki and the sashimi stand out.
