Never too Late for a Great Meal….I Finally Made it to B.& B. Butcher and the Meal Was So Worth It!

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Owner, proprietor of the four month old B & B Butcher Boutique Restaurant has quickly become one of the hottest restaurants in town…..thanks to the man behind  and in front of the scene, Ben Berg…..a transplanted New Yorker who knows how to do a restaurant and a great lunch dining Butcher/Sandwich Shop…..straight from the streets of Manhattan

So, I’m not normally a slow reactor to things that are going on in this city, especially when I’m hearing rave reviews about it, but in the case of the opening of B & B Butchers, timing worked against me. I had to miss the opening party for Best Buddies that Becca hosted there due to a 5-week long back ailment, I missed the blogger soiree because I was in Europe, then Restaurant Week happened so we stalled and before we all knew it it was late September.  I had been to this restaurant located on the East End of Washington Ave, in the historic Dittman Bakery built in 1924, but only  for private parties. I had never been privileged to have a true, honest, meal, hand-picked for us by the master himself, Mr. Berg and it finally happened last week.

There was actually a bright side to my tardiness and that is that they have been open a little bit of time now and could steer me to the dishes that everyone before me was loving!  Ben and his waiter, Vic, hand-picked everything we had and I can truly say there were no misses!  So it can be said that its menu and food photos (taken from my IPhone and not professional photographer) is the uniquely curated menu that was just for Alan and I and we had a divine tasting of many of their favorite dishes and a couple of great meals from it!!!

The bar on the main floor, one of the two downstairs and upstairs bars, is at the hub of the entrance to the restaurant and offers a full selection of local and global spirits that is aimed to please all and also a smaller food menu if eating at the bar is your preference.

They also offer a complete selection of beer, wine and cocktails on tap!

The 7,500 sq. ft. two-story building, seats approximately 80 downstairs and 40 upstairs. It has three private dining rooms that can accommodate intimate dinner parties as well as gatherings of up to 100 people. The vibe and the electricity in the room was contagious, something that I always like…..you get the message that you’re in a hot restaurant!!

The Food

Our entree beef selections were from two distinct choices.  First I had the 8 oz. Gearhart Ranch Wagyu Filet…for Alan is it was the Bone-in-Ribeye, Dry-aged USDA prime beef. Both coming from the 1,800 sq. ft. butcher shop that evokes the pristine design of the classic old-world store with a circular window opening into the meat cooler, allowing customers to see the dry-aged meats in-house. Berg, brought his fellow New Yorker, Ken Laszlo here to oversee all of the Butcher and Operations and combs the farmers markets personally meeting producers and meticulously choosing the meats.

A couple of tasty twists on familiar ideas….first, jumbo lump crab cake with whole grain mustard cream sauce (divine!) and Chef Tommy’s Bacon and Roquefort w/Truffled-infused honey. Not shown here was their scrumptous Crab Louies….fresh lump crabmeat w/green veggies such as asparagus.

The number one appetizer, I was told by the guys, was the Carpet Bagger on the Half Shell….bursting with flavor!!! Not like anything I had had before.

The spacious 1,500 sq. ft. rooftop patio, with views of downtown Houston, offers full service dining and is available to rent for private parties along with the Upstairs dining room and Butcher Shop

The greatest surprise for me was the offering and the quality of the Butcher Shop, open for lunch, in the front of the building.  Since all of the parking for this building is on the sides, this totally escaped me, didn’t realize it was here. Hours are daytime, 10 am to 6 pm and includes a totally different menu of sandwiches, burgers, pastas salads and more. My hubby went back the next day and had a great NY-style pastrami sandwich…he was in heaven!!!!

So here’s the man himself as he toured us proudly around his complete establishment.  We talked over dinner, walked in refrigerated storage spaces with dried meats hanging, met the employees, who were prepping the sandwich shop for the next day…….and the best thing was, Ben Berg sent us home with a bag of NY-style bagels. You know they say it’s the water there vs. here that makes the difference and he brings the water in to make them.  He gets an A+ in our books for authenticity……try it if you haven’t already….you’ll like it…guaranteed!

photos courtesy of Fulton Davenport, F.Sanchez, R.Pactor IPhone