Traveler’s Table takes Houston on worldly culinary trek

that much Traveler table The experience starts and ends with a touchstone familiar to world-class adventurers. The menu kept in the leather journal has a note on it. The check is in a passport holder and comes with a fortune cookie with a rumor that makes life big.

In between, there are menu items that visit Vietnam, Argentina, Thailand, Spain, China, Italy, Greece, India, North Africa, the Middle East and the Gulf Coast. This culinary journey is now ready for passengers. Are you ready to roam?

Matthew Mitchell hopes so too. The owner of Traveler & # 39; s Table has created an entire restaurant Aqui space (accommodating 520 Westheimer to 520 Westheimer) based on his experience as a journalist wondering how around the world, especially where food is involved. He has a passion as a well traveled writer and entrepreneur, investing in smart, airy places decorated with vintage travel souvenirs and large palms, suggesting boutique hotels or private rares to unfit people.

But it's a menu designed by Mitchell to be the most transportable aspect of the Traveler & # 39; s Table. Mitchell spent his favorite international cuisine on a modern trek with chef Omar Pereney and consultant Ashley Lasenfeld Foodservice Consulting Group. Mitchell said the 40 dishes on the menu and the cocktails that have been flavored worldwide are intentionally "gateways to other cultures."

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The menu opens with a small dish including Mexican street corn soup with epazote, lime and cottage cheese; Smoked Argentine Pro bologone with grilled pepper and oregano chimichurri and cast iron tanned; Four soup dumplings; Peking style duck gyoza with citrus hoysin; Smoked Chicken Arepa with Avocado-Silantro Aioli; Japanese chicken tares with Kewpie mayonnaise; Braised Lamb Shank and Garlic Hummus; Steamed mussels served in three styles: Thailand with coconut lemongrass broth, Belgium with garlic wine-butter sauce, Spanish with chorizo ​​and tomato sorbito.

The entree is located under the local header. In the "Far East": soft shell crab pad tires; Chicken in Thai Yellow Curry; Vietnamese grilled fish with vermicelli; Short Rib Bibimbap Korean Rice Bowl; Miso and honey salmon; And spicy cumin lamb with roasted green beans. "In India and the Mediterranean": Indian butter chicken marinated with smoked yogurt; Pork vidalu with jasmine rice; Moroccan Chicken and Grain Bowls; Beef ball ravioli. In the "America": New Orleans barbecue shrimp and flour; Grilled scallops in a pan with grilled corn and smoked cabbage cherry tomatoes; Argentinean hanger steak with mikumi and papas frittas; Yucantan style achiote rubs grilled chicken with Mexican rice. American roadside style burger beef and pork patty topped with old cheddar, candied bacon and comeback sauce.

Larger dinner entrees include seafood risotto, whole roasted brandino, Chinese seasoned duck, Jamaican jackass pork, North African lamb leg, and rib eye steak with main bones.

The desert also trawls international aisles: mango lassi panna cotta with cardamom yogurt and garam masala mango chutney; Filipino nata de coco jelly with tropical fruit; New Orleans Bourbon Bread Pudding; Mexican spice powderless chocolate cake. Cocktails are also global: Spice Trader combines vodka, ginger beer, lime, mango nectar and garam masala syrup. The last flight departs with cachaca, acai puree and hazy lime and blueberries. The feathered snake is hessed with tequila, triple seconds, lime juice and watermelon puree. The Forbidden City sits on the throne of shochu, vodka, aloe vera and passion fruit tea. And dangerous lure with the year of life Mezcal, grapefruit juice, prickly pear juice and jalapeno.

Gourmets who remember the Aqui space will find a number of pleasant design changes on the Traveler's Table. First of all, guests enter through the courtyard courtyard instead of the bar. The shelves of the bar are decorated with classic and vintage airplane models. Surrounded by window walls in the courtyard, the main dining room looks much brighter with a light fixture suggesting a small sail or parachute. There is a shared table for 16 people, also called a traveler table, which is installed on the same wheel as the rickshaw. The open kitchen still enjoys the large working kitchen. Gin Braverman of the Gin Design Group is responsible for interior design inspired by the destination.

Mitchell is not a familiar face in a restaurant, but a well researched person. He has spent more than 12 years working as the CEO of a company that conducts clinical trials for pharmaceutical companies. However, his passion for food and travel led him to find a cooking degree at the Art Institute of Houston. He worked at Benjy & # 39; s' cooking line and then at the front desk of Local Foods, where he gained practical experience as a server and bartender in North Italia. He wanted to know all aspects of the restaurant business.

And he has his own 180-seat restaurant. If you're worried about how to meet the public in a restaurant that's tiring with the "global flavor" concept, don't worry. Mitchell says, “The problem is the opportunity.

He sees Traveler's Table as an opportunity to write his own vision of a modern international flavor. "If you can get it right, you're going to pioneer a niche that no one has caught."

Traveler & # 39; s Table, 520 Westheimer, 832-409-5785; travelerstable.com. Lunch from Monday to Thursday from 5 to 10, Friday and Saturday from 5 to 11, Sunday from 5 to 9 lunch will have brunch after 3 months in a month.

Greg Morago writes about food in the Houston chronicles. Follow him on facebook or Twitter. Send news tips to greg.morago@chron.com. To learn about BBQ culture in Houston and Texas, listen to him in the BBQ State of Mind podcast.

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