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Bone marrow service at Feast, which will close in August.: Alison Cook : 29-95
Peter R. Boerner writes:
“The Chronicle published an article on Feast and why it is closing, in recent days. One reason given is the lack of steady, repeat customers.
“There are two reasons for not returning to Feast.
“The first reason is location. Westheimer is narrow and crowded at the point, and the parking is awful. Many restaurants have been unable to succeed at that location, including Chez Georges and Aldo’s Con Amore.
“The other reason is that these are not nice people. I dined there as a party of four. We ordered two bottles of wine, one for each course. Mrs. Silk actually wanted us to drink the wine out of recycled jelly jars. I do recycle, but that is taking the concept too far. After a very good meal, I approached Mr. Knight in order to thank him. He was rude and had no interest in speaking with a mere customer.
“The food is very good at Feast, but not good enough to overcome the feeling of not being welcome.”
Feast: 219 Westheimer, 713-529-7788
Reader rave
Sam Armistead writes:
“Read your article about where to get oysters. You need to visit Captain Tom’s Boat on 1960 just west of Perry road. It is packed from 11 a.m. until closing. The oysters are all fantastic, and there are four or five men shucking in front of you. You can look in kitchen and watch them perform their magic. Just seafood served where you can taste the seafood, without piles of stuff to spoil the taste of really fresh seafood.”
Captain Tom’s Boat: 9651 FM 1960 Bypass Road W.in Humble, 281-890-8334
Reader rant
Pam Cronan writes:
“My rant is this: Why don’t the breakfast ‘giants,’ like IHOP and Denny’s, use bacon presses to cook the bacon so that it is crisp or at least done? I am sick of half-raw, undercooked bacon.”
Feast is closing because the "food" the serve sucks and no sane person would want to eat cow cock and cabbage, iguana testicles, yak beard and the like.
Your name is amazingly apt. Good job.
Andrew Zimmern would.
Mmmm...Yum.. Cow Cock.
My wife and I have eaten at Feast once. And our waiter was easily the nicest and most helpful server we have ever experienced. So nice in fact, after dinner I sent an email to the owners and they replied with a thoughtful "thank you, please come again." Just wanted to balance the complaint from Peter with a different flavor of feedback.
I will have to agree with Pam Cronan about undercooked bacon. I WAS a regular visitor to IHOP and ordered bacon several different ways, well done, very well done, crispy, almost burned, not rubbery, and it made absolutely no difference. It always came to my table barely cooked at all, still rubbery and very fatty chewy. I even brought the manager over a couple times to see what was served and the waitress confirmed my way of ordering, very well done not rubbery, and very crispy. I asked her what terminology I needed to use in order to get crispy bacon instead of what I kept receiving. She looked shocked and only offered a discounted price. I told her I wasn't looking for a discount but just wanted cooked bacon. She said she didn't know. So this response from a manager clearly shows that the management has no clue as to how to cook bacon or even that it can be cooked crispy. Hence I have never returned to any IHOP again.
Went to Feast a couple of Sundays for brunch. The menu was the same both times. Sunday is really one of the only times we go out to eat and if we've already tried both items, we don't go back again.
The food at Feast is outstanding; I don't know what day tsunamiofstupidity (about nine letter too many) was there, but I've never seen anysuch thing on the menu. Great porkchops, fish and leek pie, exmoor toast, fried pig tails (yum yum) and much great stuff. If you want chicken nuggets, stick to Mickey D's; losing Feast hurts (although the parking is seriously sub-optimal)
Hon, if your only problem with IHOP and Denny's is their bacon, then I don't know what any of us can do for you.
I don't even know you Jenny but I want to be your best friend
Really? "Fried pig tails and exmoor toast"? Not exactly mainstream dining. He may have been trying to be a little funny with the made-up dishes but you kinda made his point.
My trip to Feast was somewhere in between. I did find some food to eat that wasn't too "out there" but I did find the owners/staff to be condescending to the point of rudeness.
I would have never gone back. I guess that's why they're closing. Too many not going back.
Alot of restaurant managers and servers think they are in the restaurant business.
They are not, they are in the hospitality business. That's why a place, even with good food goes out of business when the guests do not feel welcome.
Agreed. My nephew attends the Hilton School of Culinary Arts at UH, and he mentioned over Christmas that part of their training includes public relations and customer satisfaction - something that probably has eluded a lot of restaurants that are now shuttered.
No matter how good the food is, if the manager/owner or server is not up to par, it will put a dent in the whole dining experience. And I make it a point to compliment a place if the atmosphere and service are top-notch.
Surprisingly astute in its simplicity; your statement is at least partially correct.
If the management embraces being in the hospitality business (which Service Management especially should) guests would feel welcome; the issue would be that without having owner/operator/management resources involved with being in the "restaurant business" or rather just "business", financial solvency and the actual systems involved in the operations will not be sound from the start and thus no stable profit model would exist. No sustainability without balance of both aspects (and many more).
If I may elaborate; almost regardless of its size (in covers, sq. footage, human resources) there are 3 separate front of the house roles and 4 back of the house roles (5 if using the space also for events of any sort beyond regular service). Depending on specifics to the concept and the scale of the business these may be covered by only several individuals rather a unique manager for each. The more cross-utilization obviously the better for budgetary concerns, but often times not having the correct amount of resources dedicated will almost ensure a lack of success (or at least a much tougher/shorter time over the life of a restuarant).
If you can afford to compartmentalize a team to the extent of covering each role individually it is obviously much easier to make certain each task is dont to point for each department and that both creativity and execution are at peak; however, often these days-- out of necessity?-- I'm seeing these 7 departments divided among 3-4 people (the GM, Service Manager/s, Bev Manager, and Sous Chef with both Accounting and Marketing outsourced but still under the checkpoint observation of one of the other managers). This can work, but this structuring also lacks a natural head who is responsible for not just orchestrating the symphony but initially delegating the roles of each department and setting the standards, constantly analyzing these systems and adjusting each department's projects and goals. Balance of efficiency with maximized productivity is the goal. Besides that, the understanding that business of any kind is a perpetual learning process in which there is no room for ego is the other major key element; without which, a business often doesn't accept and embrace criticism to make itself better and even somehow often overlooks the historical pertinence of similar operations in other markets.
Please remember that expectations of sustainable profit models and business practices as well as a modicum of true community outreach should be de rigeur these days; there are enough places to frequent that actually do account for these things that we need not support (and thus) reward poor/selfish business practices since they don't reward us-- As in a restaurant who does not achieve its profit realization in the planned time and does not support the community around itwill eventually either do nothing positive for anyone but itself (success in the operators eyes) or drastically hurt everyone (not just the employees and owners, but also the landlord, the geographic community, the city via its permitting fees etc.) We are blessed with the resources to always make things into a reality here, but if it's not done in the most responsible way possible [to ensure success] , please make sure you do your part in ensuring that it's feasible-- even as guests we can change the standards of what is acceptable and call for greater levels of responsibility by restaurants/bars (as well as for landlords, legislature, and producers/distributors).
B/C NO ONE WANTS THE LIST [OF PLACES THAT CLOSED] TO BE LARGER NEXT YEAR!
It's the lower Westheimer--everything closes or burns down around there at some point.
.....I don't eat at IHOP. PERIOD! Why not 59 Diner or?!,....I like Denny's they're pretty cool, at times. LePeep???? LOL...I feel blessed that we have CHOICES!
The lack of parking is annoying, but we braved the traffic and parking many times and were never treated rudely. Those "jelly glasses" are not jelly glasses you boob. They are commonly used for wine in rustic locations in Europe, such as this place is. All you had to do was ask for stems and they would be provided promptly. Sigh. People like Mr. Boerner are why we are losing Feast.
Most restaurants are concerned with food costs. Like every thing else you get what you pay for. Cheap bacon helps costs. If the platter's eggs, pancakes, hashbrowns are done right, that covers up the most expensive item, the hit or miss bacon. When shopping for your bacon at home, you see a wide variation of prices on bacon. There are premium brands [ Wrights, Oscar Mayor and a few others] that are worth the difference. I would like to see these places use the best bacon and charge what they need to.
This is a real shame. Feast is and has been my favorite restaurant in Houston. I have to wildly disagree with the comments in this article regarding any service issues. I have had nothing but outstanding service, and I have been more than a few times.
I am going to miss this place, but I am thankful I got to experience it.
Bacon, Bacon, Bacon.....After it is cooked it is hard to keep it crisp unless held under a decent heat lamp. If it was never cooked crisp in the first place it will never be decent. I don't know what they do at IHOP and Denny's but if it isn't cooked crisp and held under a good heat lamp it will never arrive at your table crisp.
Customers vote with their dollars. That said, two things are working against Feast - one; not enough foodies in Houston with a sense of adventure to support it, and two; bad food and service. Michelangelo's and La Strada did just fine in that area, so location isn't to blame.
As for IHOP's bacon, it's IHOP. Lower your expectations if you don't have a choice, and if you do don't dine at IHOP. It's really that simple.