LOCAL Houston | The City Guide AUGUST 2015 | Page 21
Photography provided by Cureight + Hubbell & Hudson
Local August 2015_FINAL.qxp_002houston 7/27/15 12:18 PM Page 21
CUREIGHT
Cuisine: Progressive American Tasting Menu
Executive Chef: Austin Simmons
24 Waterway Ave. #125, The Woodlands | 281.203.5641
www.hubbellandhudson.com/cureight
Thur, Fri and Sat only. First Seating: 5:30pm; Last Seating: 9:30pm
Tucked inside Hubbell & Hudson Bistro in The Woodlands, an intimate fine
dining experience awaits in the form of Cureight, Executive Chef Austin
Simmons’ eight-course tasting menu restaurant. Designed to seat no more than
24 guests, the Cureight space is a private domain reserved for a select few.
In the secluded space guests feel like they’re having a chef’s table experience.
Glass window partitions give everyone a glimpse of the chef’s kitchen counter,
where you can see him preparing and plating each dish. In between courses,
guests are invited to enter the kitchen to chat or take pictures.
Offered in eight courses, with an optional wine pairing, Simmons describes
the menu as “Progressive American.” Special care is taken with the plating so
that each dish is unique, visually striking and delicious as well. Your culinary
journey will start with an amuse bouche, followed by a light dish, such as bay
scallops made with brown butter, tomato hearts, apple and dashi. Wows
often erupt throughout the meal, which is exactly what happened when we
received the oysters and pearl course with caviar and black truffle, an homage
to Thomas Keller’s famous oysters and pearl dish.
Another favorite was Simmons’ beautiful pasta swathed in uni cream, tinged
with egg dashi and topped with king crab and crispy bits of prosciutto.
Desserts are exceptional as well, the creation of pastry chef Nguyet Nguyen,
whose pineapple sorbet with Vietnamese mint and fleur de sel was only
topped by her almond tonka bean cake with peaches, coconut sorbet.
Simmons plans to change the menu by one or two dishes each week so that
return guests can look forward to a new experience each time they come.
I can already see another date night at Cureight in my very near future.
august 15 | L O C A L 21