We only had one night in Galveston, Texas before boarding our short spring
break cruise and I chose RUDY & PACO's (www.rudyandpaco.com) in the old part of downtown, which
was a great choice for all of us.
The restaurant is elegant, but a bit too dark for me; I had to ask our
friendly server, Leann, for her flashlight numerous times in order to read the
menu! The tables are close and it can get a bit noisy, but it was never
bothersome (like some trendy loud place back North with blaring music!).
Paco himself came around to greet folks and make everyone feel welcome and
before we even had our napkins in our laps a plate of
crispy fried plantain chips arrived with two salsa. The red called Paco
Pico is their version of pico de gallo, and the green was a cilantro-based
chimichurri. Both were superb and mild as well with just a slight kick as much
of the seasoning here indeed was.
A bottle of Provenance Sauvignon Blanc 2012 from Rutherford in Napa Valley
was a perfect pairing for my starter a huge portion of Ceviche Corinto which was
Gulf Red Snapper at its best. The local fish is truly tasty and the purple and
white slaw at the bottom was a nice change from wet lettuce. Will ordered a
creamy tasty Sopa Poblano which also had a slight spice kick. The kitchen here
knows how to treat spices and food well with just the right amount.
Crunchy crusted Sourdough bread came hot to the table with a creamy soft
salty butter; even Samuel could not resist this.
He gobbled up his Pollo Managua which was the Nicaraguan version of my
chicken with lemon-butter sauce and capers, but here the breast was crispy with
a yummy lemon-caper-butter. On the side of each dish was superb spinach with
mushrooms and sun dried-tomatoes and a large portion of scalloped potatoes; Sam
wanted neither of these, but we could not resist them.
Will and I moved on, after a long rest, to a yummy bottle of Belle Glos
"Clark & Telephone" 2012 Pinot Noir from Santa Maria Valley in Santa
Barbara, CA. We loved it and it was superb with the two main courses we
shared:
Filete de Pargo was a grilled version of the same Gulf Red Snapper from the
ceviche topped with jumbo Gulf lump crabmeat, avocado and paco pico (the pico de
gallo on the plantain plate). It was excellent and the fish superb. We switched
and I also loved the special of Golden Tilefish, Parmesan crust and more of that
yummy crabmeat with a white wine, basil butter sauce, pancetta and capers. It
was almost too much in the dish, but somehow it all came together beautifully.
The only issue was that we forgot this is TEXAS and the portions are all Texas
size or amazingly HUGE. Will and I could not eat dessert so same chose the
Chocolate Sabroso which was a molten chocolate ganache cake surrounded by mounds
of whipped cream and vanilla ice cream drizzled with chocolate sauce. We tasted
and it was very good.
We can now board our ship for the week-long cruise to Belize, Cozumel &
Roatan knowing that we have had some of the best Gulf of Mexico fish
around!
