Houston's - Irvine

Did I ever mention I like Houston's a whole lot? This is a chain that has all the corporate polish, and puts out food that's consistently good--the high bar when it comes to classic American meat-and-potatoes cooking.

There was a smoked salmon appetizer, a slab of it pink and flaky, served with toasted bread and a tarragon aioli that's simplicity and elegance defined. There was the French dip, a fist-sized wad of rosy-hued carved beef hugged between two shiny planks of a toasted roll with a mound of house-made shoestring fries.

And then there's the thing I always get: the ribs. It's not BBQ; it's just really, really good ribs. Kissed with bits of char, sugary glaze turned to caramel, and meat that tears off with a tug.

After I was done, they came around with steaming hot towels to wipe my gunked up fingers and sauce-covered lips.

Houston's
2991 Michelson Drive
Irvine, CA 92612
(949) 833-0977

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