the first day of summer festivities with
the place located right in Houston it's
sort of timber Grove Shady Acres s but
if you haven't been there listen to this
it's housed in and one hundred and
thirteen year old log cabins na Chester
restaurant it is a total experience
folks there is a citrus grove a kitchen
garden and a variety of garden decks
joining us now is rainbow lodge
executive chef mark Schmitt thank you
mark welcome to the show
so you brought with you today a number
of delicious looking dishes but before
we get into how you create these dishes
let's talk a little bit more about the
setting because it truly is
one-of-a-kind
yeah I mean it's from a chefs point of
view it's great because several of the
dishes I mean we grow a lot of our own
herbs I have a bay laurel tree right
outside the kitchen door that if I need
bay leaves I just go snip them off we
have our kitchen garden across the
street but then we have another small
garden just outside the kitchen door we
have a few Tomatoes chilies purple
runner beans
and it's just it's great to be able to
just walk out pick something and use it
we don't actually grow enough to supply
the restaurant because it's very busy on
it but what I use the ingredients for is
unlike my tasting menu the pictures of
the grounds if y'all haven't been you
have to go the decks are beautiful and
it's such a great place because it's
hard to believe for me when you go there
that you're still in the city you almost
feel like you have driven a few miles
outside of the city but you're still
right there in the heart of the city and
congratulations because this is your
fortieth year in business and why don't
Bayou is just right outside right
outside it's so great and talk to us
about where you get kind of the
inspiration because rainbow Lodge we
hear about it and you you have that
Lodge feel obviously but the inspiration
really comes from the variety in your
menu right yeah I mean we we specialize
in Gulf seafood and wild game but then I
bring a little bit of my heritage in
there which is British and German and so
if you look at Central Texas there's a
lot of Germanic influence and then the
British influence is just my my love
right and it's your twist I love it the
whole theme of the restaurant is the
owner down at Hansen she I mean this is
her baby so it's like we're lucky
because this is my actually my second
time at the lodge and we just get along
food-wise really well well I'm 40 years
in business anyone in any business knows
that is a lifetime so clearly you guys
are doing something right let's talk a
little bit about some of the dishes that
you've brought today I was checking out
your menu online earlier and it seems
like whether someone wants to go for a
weekend brunch the $2 little mostest by
the way do you still do that it's a fun
thing but brunch or dinner you guys have
such a wide variety yeah like Sunday
nights we do what we call a comfort
classic the first Sunday of every month
we do chicken-fried steak
and I'll do things like meatloaf or a
nice wild game bolognaise and yeah
different just classic comfort things
that are a little bit more homestyle
than what we normally do and it's 15
bucks every Sunday night and we have
half-price wines by the glass 15 bucks
are you guys charging enough I think you
should raise your prices this is one of
our signature dishes it's a dish I put
on the menu about seven eight years ago
it's a Southern Fried quail over organic
white corn grits with a bourbon bacon
gravy those Brits are delicious we get
those from homestead gristmill outside
of Waco oh yeah we try to use as much
regional product as we can okay can we
move on to this next dish we are allowed
to eat these right absolutely just
making sure I don't want to eat the
props we asked first okay this is our
pan seared breast of pheasant it's
served over a spaetzle which is that we
mix with a little grier cheese break it
down spaetzle like what it's like at all
right it's like a little dumpling it's a
like a we make a egg and flour dough and
then poach it and then we saute that
with a little fresh corn bacon really
nice and summery that fresh there's a
little French beans okay we have our
Gulf Coast pan-seared red snapper it's
served over a local heirloom field pea
and Carolina gold rice hoppin John the
Carolina gold rice is actually grown in
Jefferson County here in Texas Wow we're
almost out of time by the way mark but
these last two dishes mention us briefly
and then we're gonna talk about a free
gift that you have to review this is a
North American elk chop we rub it with a
little bit of finely ground coffee
didn't grill it it's served over
horseradish beets with a beef grilled
endive and then fresh endive and fresh
beets and then
a slow-cooked veal demi-glace and then
this is our signature gumbo it's a
smoked duck and andouille gumbo and it's
been on the menu for almost 30 years
probably since the beginning it's kind
of your thing and that's what people can
get today right yeah what we're doing
for choosing life viewers we're giving
away a little cup taste of gumbo till 9
p.m. tonight
all right mention Houston I mentioned
Courtney and Derrick how about that no
by the way you do you get a bowl visit
rainbow dash Lodge com if you want to
check out their menus don't forget those
$2 mimosas that you have for brunch on
the weekends mark thank you so much also
our burger Friday we do a wild game
burger and we only make 60 of them and
we usually sell out ok thank you so much
for stopping by by the way rainbow Lodge
they're sticking around later on they're
gonna be shaking up some summer
cocktails and again you can check out
their website rainbow dash Lodge dot-com
and if you're looking to update your
summer wardrobe or want to tune in to
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