Rice alum-owned Daily Review Cafe spices up the basics

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by Ann Abel

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So says the unlikely ad campaign of the sumptuous Daily Review Cafe. The slogan partially explains the restaurant's unexpected appeal. The menu, which changes daily, abounds with traditional foods -- the kind Mom had to make you finish -- but all with a delicious twist. It's easy to join the Clean-Your-Plate Club here.

The Daily Review's creative menu turns basic comfort foods into gourmet adventures. The chicken pot pie is a perennial favorite. Other offerings include pork chops, roasted chicken and mashed potatoes. The chef's imagination and concern for health compliment the freshness of her ingredients.

Dinner at the Daily Review is a highly satisfying experience. On the night that we visited, they were out of the famous chicken pot pie, so we sampled the polenta gratin with grilled zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes, olives and fontina cheese ($7.75) and the oven roasted half chicken with basmati rice, spinach and glazed nectarines ($11.50).

As soon as we sat down, fresh, crusty sourdough bread arrived. Tasty and doughy, the bread threatened to spoil our appetites. Fortunately, our entrees arrived quickly, before we could fill up on the wholesome slices.

The polenta was excellent -- simple corn polenta with fresh squash, marinara sauce, fresh basil and just enough mild cheese. The chicken was also great. The nectarines imparted an unexpected sweetness that made it memorable. The straightforward descriptions hardly do the food justice. It may be simple and unpretentious, but it's far from boring.

Somehow, we managed to save room for dessert. Most of the menu takes familiar foods in new gastric directions, but the dessert menu is less grounded in the traditional.

We had to ask what a pot de creme even was. It's richer than a mousse, we learned, and we decided against it in favor of the unlikely-sounding apple raspberry pecan crisp with rum raisin ice cream ($4.50). The mix of ingredients works together delectably. The buttery crisp topping, fresh sweet fruit and smooth ice cream made a very decadent conclusion to our meal.

Lunch at the Daily Review a few weeks ago proved equally pleasurable. We tried the pizzette ratatouille with zucchini, squash, eggplant, olives, sundried tomatoes, basil and garlic with feta and mozzarella cheeses ($8) and the Mediterranean salad plate with tabouli, hummos, orzo pasta with dried cherries and pine nuts, green bean, red potato and onion salad and grilled bread ($7). Both were near-perfect.

Service was good at dinner, but a little lacking at lunch. The Daily Review could use a few more servers.

But the employees were friendly, helpful and knowledgeable.

The atmosphere is generally nice, simple and sincere like the food -- but it also suffers from the restaurant's crowded popularity. We sat inside at dinner, close enough to the next table to bump elbows and overhear conversations. Overall, the noise level is high enough that we had to shout at each other. During lunch we sat on the patio, which was a better choice.

Eating at the Daily Review Cafe excites the taste buds and incites the curiosity. Who came up with the idea to throw these ingredients together? Baked goat cheese with baby greens, grilled apples, spiced pecans, roasted garlic and grilled bread? Lamb stew with spinach, sage, currants and golden raisins with pine nut picatta and fried polenta? Grilled salmon melt with roasted poblano peppers, marinated spinach spicy super secret sauce and asiago cheese? The combinations may be surprising, but they work.

Believe it or not, it is possible to associate such creative, good food with Rice. Rice graduate Claire Smith and her partner Carl Eaves own the wonderful Daily Review Cafe, and a number of Rice students work there.

This item appeared in the Arts & Entertainment section of the September 1, 1995 issue.

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