Old Memories Move South
For years, my dad went to lunch faithfully at the Golden Ox down in the yards. He loved the luncheon filet. They made the best martinis in town, he said. He gave his waitress a Christmas present every year. His former love for that restaurant is something I can talk about as an identifying characteristic.
So when my rotund companion and I headed out to the three-month-old 95th and Metcalf, former Houston's location, I was enthused. I was looking for consistency, a solid steak, and the delicious onion rings I remembered.
The restaurant is more attractive than its grandpa near Kemper. Dark wood cubbies and ceilings, red leather seats, light wood tables, lighting on each table glowing from the steer cutout. Perhaps best of all, we were seated as soon as we walked in, which was good as they don't take reservations except for parties of ten or more.
First, a glass of wine from the nearly 50 available, 13 by the glass. The list was moderately priced, which makes sense for the menu. An appetizer quickly followed--of course we had to choose the onion rings. Thick slices of real onions in their own coating. Once I'd heavily salted and peppered them and eaten only half the crust, I was happy.
The Golden Ox has a nice menu with many selections. There were eight appetizers ranging from crab cakes to artichoke dip and chips, for $7 to $10. They serve a different soup every day. Three salads and three pastas end the first rounds. The house salad with blue cheese dressing was too thin (which I liked) and did not have enough blue cheese for Mr. Chubby. The Caesar salad was quite good, with the barest hint of anchovy (I may have even made that up) and toasty croutons. The dressing was fairly authentic and the shaved parmesan excellent.
Unlike some steak places, one neat thing here is that you can get a burger for dinner for $9.95 (Canadian bacon and Swiss cheese on a Kaiser bun), along with three other sandwiches including French Dip and a club sandwich. There are three salads ranging from the Greek to Portobello and pastas from salmon to primavera.
The specialties are varied and come with your choice of vegetable and a salad--I had the mixed veggies which were quite excellent, slightly seasoned and quickly sautéed. You may want to stick to the loaded baked potato. Specialties include fried shrimp, salmon, and lobster as well as a fresh fish of the day; a chicken dish and a couple of steak dishes.
The dinner became a bit problematic. Throwing caution out the booth, I hesitated between the Atlantic salmon ($21.95) and the fish of the day (marlin) and finally chose the lamb chops. The waitress seemed surprised and told me none of her customers had ever ordered that. I asked her how long she'd worked there: three months. This made me nervous but nonetheless, I plunged on. In about eight minutes she returned with the news that there were no lamb chops.