YEE: Gold Badge Elite Event @ The Durham House

Event was so much fun with face painting and the fun game of guessing your first Unilocal review! My first gold page only event. The apps and the drinks were so good. The place was so cute with a parking lot across the street. A live DJ was the perfect touch. I felt like I was at a after work happy hour. Tons of fun with lite bites, drinks, music and face painting with great company.

Long overdue review, but it’s been a hectic month.
This event was definitely the highlight of the recent elite events I have attended. The drinks were spot on all night. The light bites were just the right amount and timed well. The Durham House itself was a beautiful spot for this event, and I would recommend it for future intimate gatherings.
The owner Mr. Natarajan was a gracious host, and he and his staff were very welcoming. Farrah had a nice table of swag ready to go. Yay portable battery charger!
I had a great time chatting with and meeting fellow Unilocalers, and we had some great conversations over delicious cocktails. The One Foot Off The Merry-​Go-​Round was delicious, and I can see it being a popular drink. The black pepper syrup gave this drink just the right bit of intrigue. If I had to pick a favorite though, it would be the R.I.P. Walter Matthau. It contained two ingredients I wasn’t particularly fond of — grapefruit and gin, but it was the most interesting drink of the night for me. There was a nice balance of sweetness and bitterness, and it takes awhile to fully process and enjoy the prominent yet harmonious flavors. Two thumbs up!
As for the food, the Lamb Tartar was my favorite followed by the Duck Tartine. There was a nice contrast of flavors and textures. The other two items were nice but not as memorable.
All in all, it was a great time!

Loved this event! The Durham House staff were all super nice and the drinks were pretty tasty. Their menu looks very promising and I can’t wait to actually have dinner there. There were a lot of tastings going on, but I only got to taste the Lamb Tartare, which by the way was delicious.

The Durham House event was a lot of fun. The ice breaker was such a cool idea. I’ve been Unilocaling for quite a while, so it was fun trying to find the person who had my review and guess what it was. It was a bad review and the good thing was that it led me to writing Unilocal reviews, going to lots of fun events, and meeting people who enjoy food and trying new things as much as I do. I caught the person whose review I had right before he left. It brought back a lot of good memories for him. Farrah passed out headphones to people who gave her their first review. Love getting the mints at events, too.
The Durham House was really cute. They have a farm to table concept. I had the Paloma drink, which I had the nice bartender make super weak. Lite bites were passed around. My sister loved the lamb tartar. My favorites were the duck tartine and grilled shrimp. The roasted beet parfait was good, but I wouldn’t order it.
There was also face painting and a DJ. I spoke briefly with the Azunia tequila rep. She was super nice and told me about some new places to check out next time I visit Austin. Overall, it was a very fun event and I can’t wait to check out the Durham House when they officially open for business.

What a fun night! Since I live/​work in the ‘burbs, it’s nice to make it out to the event where I don’t have to fight traffic or parking. I hadn’t heard of the The Durham House before, so I had no expectations. Like everyone else I wasn’t quite sure where to park, but luckily I snagged a spot on the street.
Right away, Farrah and her helper were there to greet us with the usual name tag, and the super fun game of «Guess your first review.» I really loved this game. I found Olivia O. and it was neat to see what she thought of her first review. Unfortunately, the Unilocaler with my review never found me :(As Lionel Richie would say, «Hello? Is it me you’re looking for?»
Back to the event. I would have loved to try one of the cocktails, but unfortunately, the bartender didn’t have the materials he needed to make virgin cocktails. While I plan on getting back in the saddle in a few months, I would have loved to test out the options for DDs or teetotalers. But I can report that the water tasted mighty fresh.
As a member of the preggo union, I unabashedly helped myself to the light bites. Let’s just go down the list, shall we? Beet Parfait – savory yogurt? Sure. Beets? What is this? Portlandia? No, but it was a new and interesting spin on parfait. This is perfect for the beet lover, and someone who loves a little tang. I think this could be a touch more savory, but haven’t quite decided how. Grilled Shrimp – don’t let the boring name fool you, this was a party in my mouth without setting my mouth on fire. The jerk spices were just right to impart the right amount o flavor for the size of shrimp. Would pair nicely with a sweeter drink. BBQ Duck Tartine – Yum. Could have been pulled pork if I didn’t know any better. Perfect bite (or 2) and the ginger/​cilantro aioli didn’t overpower the meat. I might have eaten 2 or 3. Lamb tartar – Another bullseye. Refreshing, and I love me some Dijon mustard. Also, not gamey at all.
Once again, the DJ was amazing and the staff was excellent. I don’t think I would have ever stopped by this place if not for the Unilocal event. But now I can’t wait to try out their farm to table menu when they open. And hopefully a couple drinks too :)

Back to back YEE followed with a much more intimate Gold Elite event. Could my week have been any better? Never!
Gold badgers had the opportunity to check out the Durham Place before this place opened up to the public and to meet the owner of the place, Raj Natarajan, Jr., and also to mingle with other awesome Elite Gold badgers with hors d’œuvre being served and a few drink samples at the bar.
For hors d’œuvre, The Durham House provided a few bites: Marinated grilled shrimp (Yum), Lamb Tartar (surprisingly Yum!!), BBQ Duck Tartine (it was just okay), and Roasted Beef Parfait (yuck! Not a fan. Too sour!). Since this event was only for gold elites, the number of attendees wasn’t as many as the other two events preceding this one in the days prior. And unlike the Taste of Tarakaan event where people literally had to chase down the servers, the food came plenty for the gold elites at this event.
Now as for drinks, gold elites got to sample four kinds of drinks: two tequila based, one bourbon based, and a gin based drink. And when I said sample, I meant you get one drink of each — not one of those mini sippy cup thingies. My goal was to try at least one of each. I started with «One foot off the merry-​go-​round», a bourbon based drink with a pretty long name. But in my opinion, this was the best drink of the night. I also got to try the Paloma, which I thought was second best, and the tequila based old fashioned which I thought tasted just like straight tequila. The old fashioned was also the last drink of the night for me because the tequila pretty much knocked me out so I didn’t get to try the gin based drink. Oh well, the more reason for me to come back to the Durham House, right?
Gold elites were also given a game to play. Each gold elite is given a print out of another gold elite member with the very first review that he/​she had written. The goal of the game is to find someone who has your page and to guess what your first ever review on Unilocal was. Mine was Barnes & Noble. Winners get a lovely Unilocal flask so we could get drunk. Woohoo!
All in all, this was a nice, intimate event for all the gold badgers. As always, I would like to say thank to our ever lovely Houston CM, Farrah A., and to Raj Natarajan Jr. for inviting the gold members to check out the Durham House before it opens to public, to the Durham House staff who was serving the event; and last but not least, to Azunia Tequila and the super nice representative at the event. Here’s to The Durham House having great success in the future!

I’m glad I got to try this place, not only had I not heard of it, it’s not a part of town I get to all that often. From the outside I wasn’t sure to expect, it reminded me of a semi-​divey place which would have good food at a good price… but it was totally not that. Despite the simplistic décor (which may change since they said it wasn’t finished yet) it was nice, in that beach house tropical kind of way. I’m not sure if this is the vibe they are going for or not. Given the Farm to Table attitude, it may be… but given the price points of the food (we got to see the full menu) … it didn’t seem to all work together in my mind. Despite this, the food itself was good. The grilled shrimp had a nice flavor and slight spice. The lamb tartar was interesting (it’s something I’ve never tried before), but I could dig it. The duck was really good, but a little hard to eat. Too big for one bite, but biting it in half led to a bit of a mess. Good thing I have a big mouth and could kind of just shove it all in there!
The cocktails we had to try from where what really interested me. They seem to be a lot of new inventions. I started with the bar tender on the left and ordered a «One foot off the Mary Go Round.» It was a rather complicated drink and while interesting to watch the bartender make, I found it only average. I noticed the bar tender on the right had made the same drink for someone else and it had a slightly different color. So I decided to order one from that bar tender for round two and it also had a different taste, a little sweeter… a little more my style. I also tried their interesting twist on an «Old Fashion» made with tequila. I was pretty impressed with this drink, while simple and clearly not a traditional «Old Fashion» it worked pretty well. A good slow sipping drink
The event was run well both in regards to Unilocal and The Durham House. I was glad to meet Tiffany (Farrah’s boss) and learn more about Unilocal and I appreciated that The Durham House owner took the time to explain the concept. This was a neat place to try out, but I wonder if they will make it…

Yes! Another awesome Gold EE! Thank you Farrah for arranging our latest Gold event at The Durham House (and thanks to DH for letting us mingle, eat & drink). Parking as usual (in this area) was a bit sketchy but I found a place across the street. I hurried over to check in & start the fun! Was really great seeing my fellow Gold elites (some of which I haven’t seen in awhile) while enjoying the very tasty samplings (food & drink) that DH offered for the night.
Drinks: there were 4 cocktails to choose from. Loved the names. Not so much the liquor or mixer selection as I do not drink bourbon, tequila & grapefruit juice. Gin was another option but I try to stay away from that stuff because as many of you know with Gin you are just one sip away from face planting on the floor… and you never know which sip it will be. I asked the bartender if I could substitute vodka & was told the only spirits they had behind the bar was the three choices. Sooooo I ordered the R.I.P. Walter Matthau which consisted of Gin, vermouth, grapefruit juice (which I shouldn’t have), rhubarb & bitters. Not bad! Actually very tasty! Whoa girl, slow down! This drink packs a punch so I tried very hard not to drink to quickly cuz I would never hear the end of it from my fellow Golders is I face planted in front of everyone. By the time I was ready for my second libation there was a bottle of vodka behind the bar. The bartender said he spoke to someone about my dilemma & they very graciously gave the OK to bring a bottle of vodka out from the back. Wow, talk about awesomely, awesome service! Thank you so much bartender dude & the gracious dude!
The food was really delicious & my favorite of the night was the lamb tartar. I love lamb & I love tartar so this one was a hit with me. I swear I ate about 100 pieces or so it seemed. I just couldn’t resist when the tray passed by. The duck tartine was really tasty with the papaya rum glaze & red cabbage slaw on top. A bit messy to eat but worth it. The grilled shrimp that was marinated in jerk was just a perfect bite of bliss. I did grab a menu on my way out & Holy Cow it looks great! I will definitely be going back.
Thanks again, Farrah & DH!

Sadly I was only here for about 30 minutes of the event, but I think I got the overall «feel» of the place, which to me is really «down home, farm to table» eating. I enjoyed most of the food and drinks, and the service was good… So why 4 stars you ask?
Three main reasons:
1. The beat dish they served was OK at best, but I am not a huge beat fan to be up front and honest. It was interesting paired with that yogurt, but still didn’t rub me the right way. I also heard one of the servers say «I can;t even give these away», so I think I was in the majority.
2. The look /​layout of the place. I know they told me that it’s not complete yet, but even spruced up, it will still look like an old boy scout camp dining hall where they are selling $ 32 duck, $ 37 lamb and $ 7 bread pudding. And again, I get it, they are going for the «home grow, farm to table» feel, but it just seems a little steep when you might get a splinter leaning against the wall.
3. Parking… Not much they can do here I know due to location, but in some cases I will not go to a restaurant if I have to park a 5 min walk away, or pay a mandatory valet fee. We live in Houston, so other options exist where I don’t have to break a sweat to get in.
What I liked? The meat, tartar and shrimp were all VERY good, and the drinks (though again made WAY TO FANCY for me), we all very good as well. I might come here on a special occasion or celebration, but I would hardly call this a place I would be a «regular» for after work drinks and a $ 15 cheese plate.

I’ve been MIA from Unilocal for a little while now but this week I had the pleasure of attending two Unilocal events! One of them being a Gold Badge here at the soon to be open Durham House. This particular location has seen many different names, but hopefully this time around the Durham House can flourish. This casual farm to table concept is sure to get the people in the area excited. I was able to try the beet granola, I usually hate beets and this dish was quite good, the duck dish was the best, very flavorful, and the lamb tartar, I can say was honestly my first time ever having this type of dish. It was really interesting and had my taste spuds tingling. I did not get a chance to sample any of the drinks on this night as I was nursing a gout flair up.
But my favorite part of the night was tracking down the first reviews ice breaker. It gave me a chance to meet Michael, which we ended finding out that we both graduated from UT the same year. Small world. And when I was given a chance to guess my first review, it brought so many memories. I used to eat there every day for almost a year. I got so close with the owner’s and waiter that I was able to order off the menu.
I have to thank you glorious CM, Farrah, for bringing us together and allowing us to enjoy each other’s company over fine food and drinks.

This was a great event to reconnect with Unilocal since I’ve been so busy. (Work getting in the way of Unilocaling, psh.) Gold Badge event not too far from home? Sweet.
I know we’re Houston and we have a strong car culture so parking will be the biggest concern here. I found a metered spot a block south. This may be a deterrent for people who are iffy about trying a new Creole/​Cajun/​Southern take on farm to fork dining.
I’m not usually a cocktail person unless it’s really sweet and bubbly. I’ll be waiting for them to bust out the beers from their beer cellar. The selection we tried involved grapefruit juice or bourbon, which are not my favorites, but I enjoyed my Fall of the Merry Go Round (bourbon and brandy-​based).
The light bites were tasty. I love beets so was very biased in favor of the parfait. The Greek yogurt mellowed out the sweetness of the beets and I like the crunch from the pine nut «granola.» I liked the flavors of the BBQ duck tartine except that I strongly dislike cilantro. The lamb tartar was delicious and I tried at least three of ‘em to be sure. I loved the combination from the lemon, dijon mustard, and rye toast.
The Unilocal team set up an icebreaker — find the person who is holding a copy of your first Unilocal review. Grace found me first. There was no way I was guessing a review I wrote 9 years ago in a different city. The music was super fun with lots of classic party grooves like Michael Jackson mixed in with newer pop like Bruno Mars.
The restaurant was so generous hosting this complementary event for us. They gave us copies of their menu on the way out. It’s going to be a $$-$$$, but casual place. I think the high quality meat and seafood will definitely justify their prices. Thank you, Farrah, the Unilocal team, Durham House, Azunia Tequila, Rawr face painting, and DJ Seduction!

I would’ve given it five stars if the event had a little more food than light bites. I think a lot of people would agree with me. Though it wasn’t perfect but it turned out pretty good.
The «Guess What Your First Review Was» game was fun (I had no idea I started with a one line review and now I am a gold badge elite). It gave a theme to the party and made it more interesting.
The food was great. Like I said the only drawback was that it was too light. I was expecting a full dinner so four hors d’oeuvres probably were lacking s but. The drink menu also had four items but the bartender was nice enough to make me something sweet (but strong!). Music was appropriate. Overall it felt like a good party and people were really mingling and trying to chat and connect.
I skipped the face painting part because my skin has been sensitive lately. Otherwise I would’ve tried it out. It was very cool that they were trying to add things to the event to make it more exciting so it’s not just another eat and drink and talk social event.
Overall this was a success and I had a lot of fun.

My first Houston event and first Golden Elite event. Food was executed very well, I especially like the lamb tartare and the duck crudité.
The ambiance was said best by another Unilocaler I met– a clean rustic beach house with some modern accents. I liked it.
The owner was very accommodating and tried his best to distribute the appetizers, and I definitely had many opportunities to try it all.
The face painting was an interesting touch, but since I was going out for dinner later I didn’t want to do a Mike Tyson at the restaurant.
Thanks for the good time!

Sometimes it’s good to be Gold because there will always be a smaller, more intimate Unilocal Elite Event where it’s for Gold badges only. For this event, we get to a preview of the upcoming The Durham House with a sampling of small bites and various cocktails. Our CM also got face painters to do some art on us as well. When we checked in, we were handed the menu for the day along with an ice breaker game where you have to find one of the Unilocaler holding a copy of your profile and your very first review. Fortunately I saw an obvious photo of my profile picture and went up to William and introduce myself and confirmed my first review right away.
We were let in and was served with the lamb tartare and it was surprisingly delicious. There were two bartenders tonight and serving up 4 different cocktails, two were made with Azuñia Tequila and both were of those cocktails were tasty. I wasn’t too keen on RIP Walter Matthau drink even though I do like gin based cocktail. As for the small bites, the best was definitely the duck tartine and my least favorite was the beet parfait. It was also pretty awesome to mingle with a few other Gold members that I don’t believe I ever had the pleasure to chat with.
Speaking of chat, the owner of The Durham House, Raj Natarajan, gave me a few minutes of his time to explain the concept of this establishment and what else could we expect in it’s final form. We also had a few insightful discussion with his recent interview about the shortage of quality waitstaff and I was able to pick his brain on other topics. Over all it was another successful Gold only YEE as I see around where people were talking to each other and looking like they met for the first time. Thank you again The Durham House for everything, Azuñia Tequila for supplying your wonderful tequila to make the 2 awesome cocktails, Rawr Party Face Painting for doing spooky face paints and making one of the waitstaff into a very sexy man, and DJ Seduction for making the atmosphere like a social party. Last but not least thank you Farrah for organizing 3 YEEs back to back to back.

Big props for Farrah and the crew for this event. I double loved it because it was a stone’s throw from my house, YASSS!
The only thing I wasn’t jumping up and down about was the parking. I ended up having to park by a garage, and the walk to my car leaving was a little frightening.
The event itself was top notch, the place is small, but I can see their vision, and what they are going for, which will be a big change from all the Cajun places before it. Very New Englandy chic, I liked it. The pass around that I did get to taste were good, beets with Greek yogurt, the duck, and the shrimp has a nice kick. I opted for the Paloma which was made with top notch tequila, I would definitely order it again when I come back. It was good to see old school Elite, and mingle with the new ones. Can’t wait to check it out for a full dinner service.

OYE Super Happy Fun Week Event #3 of 3, leggo. This follows Piada’s eat ALL the things last night and Tarakaan’s drink ALL the things on Monday. If you ain’t gold don’t hate that your OYE Super Happy Fun Week ended last night, just keep writing reviews until you take your ceremonial Unilocal golden shower like the rest of us. One of us! One of us!
This was the best OYE this week.
This is an area of town I largely disregard. But. This building used to house Woodrows (W) but closed down in July to retool and reformat into Durham House (DH). Before W it was also Floyd’s Cajun Kitchen and the Mardi Gras Grill. So even though my fleur-​de-​lis game is strong as a frequent visitor to Nawlins and OPP, I still never came to this building since places like Sleepy (TMC), BBs (Montrose), and Cajun Stop (EaDo) had my tex-​cajun and Texas slash Louisiana covered well enough.
So there was an old round of DH publicity over the summer. One article I found about the conversion from W to DH is that DH was going for «more upscale menu and interior» than W, to appeal to the recent, huge influx of yuppies shooting their loads of disgusting gentrification all over this area. These yuppies are the kind of white people that are probably so sheltered they wouldn’t know the first difference between Omar Little and Brother Mouzone.
The new round of DH publicity appears to have softened the old articles’ tone on the gentrification thing following the extremely racist debacles at Gaslamp and Kung Fu Saloon; as well as the vote on Prop 1 (Houston Equal Rights Ordinance) coming up for a vote on November 3 — which of course you will be voting YES on to keep Houston a world-​class city by providing a local tool to deal with discrimination based on 15 different loci.
Houston Eater brought out some really cool information the other day: the entire restaurant is 100% waste-​free, even the take-​home containers are compostable. Neat!
The Chron skipped that stuff and talked about interior decoration, describing the new concept as a relaxed, shoreline eatery done up in a slightly nautical look with corrugated tin wainscoting, white metal chairs, white walls and Edison bulb lamps hanging over the bar. The space being partitioned into a 64 seat main dining room, a 32 seat private dining area, 48 seat patio, and 10 seat bar. The lead photo on the Chron album (Charred Octopus featuring baby octopus with chorizo, hominy, leeks, lime curd, and lilac blossoms) looked boss so I was really hoping that was on our tasting menu because OCTOPUS IS THE BESTOPUS.
The menu for normie paying customers has apps on the dinner menu from $ 8 – 15 and entrees $ 18 – 32. So I think you need to give up about eighteenth base in Christian baseball to go on a date here if you want to order anything besides free water and saltines. That’s Peska and Trulucks territory.
What the gold badge unlocked:
Food:
— jerk marinated grilled shrimp: sweet baby moses, this was a delight to eat. I wanted more of these but they quit coming out of the kitchen. I would order this when I come back as a paying customer;
— BBQ duck tartine was pretty good, but fell short of the inspiration the shrimp gave me. Mine fell apart so it’s not a very clumsy/​klutz/​white girl wasted app to order if you are some or all of those things at that particular moment when you are trying to get this thing into your mouth; and
— the lamb tartar (cucumber, pine nuts, lemon, rye toast, and dijon) was the show stealer. This was the first light bite I had coming in the door before I even had a drink and this just impressed me so much. It’s everything I like about lamb and some of that other stuff that got slapped on top, in, and around the lamb worked so much.
Dranks:
There were two bartenders. The really young, sweet one was the more, uh, skilled bartender. He had more panache with the presentation, poured liquor with a heavier hand, mixed more vigorously, and put on more of a show like this was his life’s work and he was gat dang good at it. Heck yeah buddy, your drinks were beautiful.
— «One foot off the merry ground» was composed of bourbon, apple brandy, zucca, strawberry cordial, fresh lemon juice, black pepper syrup, and angostura bitters. This was a tasty, refreshing beverage. Made by the right bartender it even looked pretty. A perfect day drinking patio drink; and
— «RIP Walter Matthau» composed of dry gin, blanc vermouth, fresh grapefruit juice, rhubard, and peychaud’s bitters. In a few words or less, the merry go round was the dandy gent’s pick of poison for the rest of the evening after sampling this both.
Left for other reviews — the paloma & old fashioned drinks; the roasted beet parfait.
We had a «find the Unilocaler game» which was fun. Convos with our fave Unilocalers were amazing as usual.
This event was everything that is good about being an OG Unilocaler.
A huge thank you to Farrah and her crew for setting up this gold OYE. Thanks to Durham House for hosting us and tolerating our shenanigans this evening.