Goode Company Seafood, Houston

The Goode Company, or, The Goode Co, is a chain of restaurants in Texas, each with a unique focus.  The company has been around since 1977, started as a BBQ joint in Houston.  They now have multiple BBQ locations, and have expanded to other concepts now, including seafood focused (Goode Company Seafood and Goode Company Fish Camp), Mexican (Goode Co. Taqueria, and Goode Co. Kitchen & Cantina), and several soul food locations (Armadillo Palace, Yonderlust).  They also have a direct to home shipping business, where you can get some of the meats, rubs, and signature pecan pie shipped nationwide.

My "visits" were to one of the seafood establishments, Goode Company Seafood.  I say "visit", because I ordered delivery to my hotel room while staying in Houston, so I can't comment on the restaurant facilities themselves. 

"Fresh gulf seafood with a splash of creole." 

The menu features many classic Southern ingredients and dishes, but with slight twists.  Think shrimp empanadas with a creole shrimp filling, smoked redfish dip and crackers, shrimp or crab cocktail, but with pico de gallo, peppers, and avocado in it, gumbo, and of course, redfish beignets, hush puppies, and fried green tomatoes.  Lots of fried or grilled blackened seafood, po boys or platters, all the southern sides.  Classic desserts. 

Ordering online from any of their establishments is easy, and I ordered on Door Dash.  My orders were prepared in a reasonable amount of time, and came nicely packaged.  I was so pleased with my meal the first night, I ordered again the very next day, eager to try out more of the extensive menu.

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

I really enjoyed my meals, even as delivery, and would love to visit in person sometime.

Snacks

Rather than traditional appetizers, the menu begins with "Snacks", fun little bites like redfish beignets (!), smoked seafood dip with homemade crackers, grilled oysters, and signature Mexican-style seafood cocktails.  More traditional items like oysters, seared tuna, chilled seafood towers, and crab cakes are also on offer.  Moving along, salads, crab bisque, and multiple styles of gumbo are also available to start your meal.

I tried several items from this section of the menu.

Jumbo Lump Crab Cake. $19.50.

"Oven-baked jumbo lump crab cake with lemon garlic cream sauce."

I love crab.  Yes, that is why my blog has a label devoted to it, after all.

And I was really craving crab cakes.  I think I went many years without having a crab cake, and then, a few months ago I was in Orlando and randomly got a lump crab cake from Ocean Prime (that actually wasn't very good, although everything else I had from there was glorious!), and since then, I was wanting crab cakes every few weeks.  I've been on a crab cake quest, and have been surprised by just how much variety there is, and, how there doesn't seem to be a set style I like best.  Lump crab cakes certainly have a more premium feel, but I've really enjoyed some with all shredded crab, and some with more filler than others, etc.  Anyway, I wanted a crab cake, and was fascinated to see how the slightly cajun take on it would be, and what that lemon garlic cream sauce would be like, as it sounded, well, like an odd choice.

Since the crab cake is part of the "snacks" menu, it is served as a single thick cake, with some mixed greens.  The greens were all quite fresh and crisp.  I was pleased that the cream sauce came on the side, even though I wasn't able to request it that way (they don't allow requests when you order online).  The sauce, which I had my doubts on, turned out to be fantastic.  Let me back up.  I mean, it is a cream sauce, with lemon and garlic, I loved the idea of that sauce in general, just, not with crab cakes, I thought.  My brain was calling for a more traditional remoulade, or cocktail sauce, or mustard aioli, something like that.  I'm so glad I took the chance and got this, slightly odd sounding sauce and all.

The sauce was hard to describe, but delicious.  A cream sauce, yes, but not too thick.  It went really well on the greens as well as the crab cake.  I think it would be fantastic with fresh steamed asparagus, or brussels sprouts, or broccoli ... or really, any green vegetable.  Neither lemon nor garlic were dominant, but it was quite flavorful.  ****+ sauce, really fantastic.

The crab cake was very good, even when delivered to my hotel and not direct from the kitchen.  It had a nice sear on it, was very moist inside.  Loaded with big chunks of lump crab meat, very little filler.  It was very well seasoned, and seemed to have a bit of blackening seasoning on it, the light creole touch there.  The crab had a nice flavor, not fishy, just, really fresh tasting.  It looks a bit small in this photo, but the cake was quite thick, nestled in the greens it just hid a bit.  It was a very satisfying dish.  **** for the cake, the best I've had in recent memory.

Goode Company Seafood also makes a signature pasta dish, fettuccine with this cream sauce and fresh lump crab meat, that gets great reviews.  I can see why, now that I've had the crab cake and sauce.  I think it would be magical as a pasta as well.

Overall, a wonderful crab cake, excellent sauce, and very good dish.  ****, maybe even ****+ overall.  I'd definitely get it again, and it inspired me to try more of the menu.  The $19.50 price was fine for such a quality and large crab cake.

Shrimp Empanda.

"Crispy pastries packed with our classic shrimp and creole vegetables."

When you mix Tex-Mex with Creole, you get this, a signature item at Goode Seafood Co: shrimp empanadas, filled with a shrimp and creole spiced veggies filling.  These are served with every seafood platter (grilled or fried), or are available as a starter as 3 for $10.

I had one with my seafood platter, and thought it was only ok.  I think it suffered a bit in delivery, as it wasn't very warm, and it was kinda moist and soft from being in a food container with steam escaping all around.  I suspect it would be better when hot and crispy.  

The filling though was quite tasty, and incredibly flavorful, as most creole food is.  Strong spicing, good chunks of seafood, creamy roux.  It reminded me a bit of the crawfish beignet I had from Brenda's in San Francisco a few weeks prior, although I think the crawfish beignet was more successful (review coming soon!).

Overall, a unique item, tasty inside, but not something I'd get again.  ***.

Mesquite-Grilled Entrees

"Basted with our signature marinade and grilled over mesquite. Served with an empanada, garlic bread, and a choice of side."

The second time I ordered, since I was getting delivery, I opted for mesquite-grilled, rather than fried, seafood.  Plus, the mesquite grill and marinade seemed more unique, and authentically Texas than fried seafood, which I can get anywhere.  I would have been happy with any of the options - red snapper, gulf shrimp, salmon, catfish, or a skewer with assorted seafood, but decided the catfish was the most interesting and unique, not what I get as much of in San Francisco.

Fried platters, and a slew of po boys, are other entree options, along with a few other signature dishes (the aforementioned crab cream fettuccine, shrimp etoufee, etc) and token chicken and steak options.

Catfish Platter.  $24.50.

My platter arrived nicely packaged in a 3-slot container (a plastic one! A seeming rarity in Houston where everything seemed to come in styrofoam, which was banned years ago in San Francisco, and felt crazy to me).  The main dish (fish) and two included sides came packaged with it, and the third side (one I was able to pick) came packaged separate.

Mesquite Grilled Catfish.

The catfish was the main attraction, and was a generous size filet.  It was marinated, blackened, really well seasoned.  It was extremely moist, and well prepared.  They clearly source quality seafood, and know how to cook it.  The catfish had barely any "murky" taste to it, which I can safely say this is the first time I've had non-fried catfish that I haven't tasted a bit of that before.  The grill flavor wasn't as strong as I was hoping, but it was there.

It came served with just a lemon to drizzle over, and since it was marinated and fairly flavorful on its own, not much more was needed, although I did sorta wish for a remoulade or tartar sauce.  All the grilled seafood is available with optional "toppers", but two of the three options have avocado which I'm allergic to (salsa rojo or verde), and the third, char lemon verde with lump crab did sound great, but I didn't want that much additional seafood.

Overall, I enjoyed my fish, was impressed with the cooking skill and fish quality, but found that it did get a bit one note, and the portion was larger than I really wanted in one sitting (particularly when served with the empanada, garlic bread, and my other side!).  Good value for the price though, no question. 

I actually ended up enjoying the leftovers of this even more the next day, when I served it with bbq sauce from Truth Barbecue (review coming soon!), as the smokey bbq and mesquite grilled flavors really worked remarkably well together, particularly when paired with my leftover corn pudding also from Truth.  It all re-heated up well in my portable travel oven, and I was glad I saved a portion.   ***+ the first night, **** the second.

Sides

For sides, the variety of options at Goode Seafood Company is huge - for carbs, there are french fries or seafood rice, or more interesting fried goodies like hush puppies, onion rings, or fried green tomatoes, or healthier vegetables like garlic spinach or grilled asparagus, or red beans, red beans & rice, or green beans & potatoes.  Really lots of choices, all available a la carte, or included in the base platter price if you get a platter (although asparagus had a $4 extra charge).  If I was dining in, the hush puppies, onion rings, or fried green tomatoes definitely would have been my pick, but I didn't think the fried items would do well for delivery.

Grilled Asparagus. $10 (or +$4 on a platter).

It was November, so I was a bit wary of ordering asparagus when I knew it would be out of season, but, given San Francisco's hyper seasonal menu focuses, I haven't seen asparagus on a menu in ages, and I love it.  I was already sick of winter squashes!  I also love grilled veggies, and hoped this would have the same great mesquite flavor people raved about from the seafood.

I was surprised when I opened the container to see it covered in melted cheese.  The menu didn't say anything about cheese, not on the Door Dash page, nor the restaurant's main menu.  I think I actually would have preferred it without, although it was fine sharp parmesan cheese.

The asparagus was good, nicely grilled as I hoped, reasonable grill flavor.  It didn't seem like it had been seasoned much, so I was glad I had salt and pepper in my hotel room, and also drizzled a little of the lemon from my platter over it.  It hit the spot, and I enjoyed my taste of spring, even in November.  I'd get it again if I was craving asparagus.

This side is $10 normally, the most expensive side, or an extra $4 fee if picked as your side choice on a platter (the only one with an extra fee).  The portion was fairly small for $10, or the upcharge, but it was a reasonable amount of asparagus for me to eat in one sitting, so I wasn't upset with the portion size.

***+.

Garlic Bread (included).

My platter also included a piece of garlic bread, that at first looked like just a piece of crusty french bread.  Once I opened it I saw the butter and herbs, and grilled interior.  It was fine, light garlic flavor, light herb flavor, buttery, warm.  Fairly average garlic bread, and not really what I wanted with my meal.  For some reason, I still only associate garlic bread with Italian food, and mostly with red sauce to dip it in ...  (plus, I had some leftover mashed potatoes in my hotel room I heated up to go with my meal, I think that went much better!).

Anyway, fine, average garlic bread, if you happened to want that with your meal.  Maybe this is just my upbringing of never having garlic bread other than with Italian food.  ***.

Homemade Desserts

If you know me, you know that even if a restaurant has a good menu, full of hits like crab, I might not be inclined to try it if it doesn't also promise to deliver on a great dessert.  I'm a sweet tooth, through and through.

All of the desserts are Goode Company locations are homemade, and one, the pecan pie, is fairly famous.  The lineup also includes heavy hitters like chocolate cream pie or Texas Chocolate Sheet cake for the chocolate lovers, or a "Margarita" pie, basically, a level up option for a key lime pie.

Brazos Bottom Pecan Pie. $7.50.

"This small slice of Texas was first perfected by our grandmother. Her recipe is the blissful batter we've been baking, sweet and slow, ever since we opened Goode Company Texas Barbeque back in 1977. Each pie is still handmade with farm fresh eggs and all-natural Texas pecans, because anything half-baked just isn't our style. "

Now *that* is what a slice of pie is supposed to look like!  My family always jokes about "Parent family slices" of pie, as in, what we consider normal but most people seem to think are colossal, and this may be the first pie slice I've ever gotten somewhere that actually lived up to my family's pie slices.  Texas gets pie portion size right!

This pie is a signature dish at the Goode Company establishments, on the menu since the BBQ joint started.  You can get a whole pie shipped to you anywhere in the US if you need your fix.  I was pretty excited to try it, given that I do love pecan pie - it is the one pie I still regularly request my mother make for me when I visit.

I found it interesting that there is no option to add whipped cream nor ice cream to the pie, it just comes as is, for both dine-in and takeout.  Of course, I was prepared, and had fresh whipped cream on hand.

It was a good pie.  The crust was traditional style, that almost looks mass produced rather than lovingly hand crafted, with very regular fluted edges, but it tasted quite fresh, good butter flavor.  The right kind of crust for this kind of pie, where you don't want a more dominant crust. ***+.

The pie was generously loaded with pecan halves on top, some overlaying each other, no skipping on this premium ingredient as so many do.  Mostly full sized halves, so every bite had quite a dominant amount of pecan in it.  Lightly toasted, not burnt.  The pecans are all from Brazos River, in Texas.  Slightly above average nuts, ***+.

And finally, the ooey gooey filling, which was the only element that wasn't quite as I expected.  The flavor was more sophisticated than your standard corn syrup based pie, and perhaps tasted a bit like honey.  But it was perfectly gooey, very very sweet, and a quite thick layer.  This pie slice was taller than average for pecan pie, and the filling was a big component of that.  I think I appreciated the slightly upscale taste to this, as it made it not just cloying sweet.  ***+.

So every element of this pie was good, above average.  Nothing here blew my mind, but, it was very good pie.  The elements all combined well to make it greater than the sum of its parts.  **** overall, although it really needed whipped cream for balance.   I served it with a generous amount of whipped cream, and fresh blackberries, both of which I thought added to the experience.  I think it would be even better warm with ice cream though, as that is how I tend to like my pecan pie, so the filling gets even gooier, and the ice cream balances out the sweet.  

The $7.50 price for such a huge slice of pie was quite reasonable, below what many restaurant desserts are.

Chocolate Cream Pie. $7.50.

Slightly less signature, but still a menu staple, is the chocolate cream pie, which I ordered my second visit, after the success of the pecan pie, and having seen photos of just how ridiculous this would be.  The portion size was slightly less wide of a slice than the pecan pie, but given the height, was still far bigger than one normal person eats in a sitting.

It was good, but not great.  The chocolate pudding was thick, smooth good consistency, but it was not as chocolately as I'd like.  The whipped cream was an equally thick layer, and near equal in consistency, not fluffy standard whipped cream, which makes sense to keep slices looking like this without the topping falling down.  It was average cream, I think a hint of vanilla or something would liven it up a bit.

The crust was a different style from the pecan pie, not fluted, and thicker, particularly in the back.  It was good crust, a harder, less flaky style, but flavorful, not stale, and not over-baked.  The crust was my favorite part.

Together it was all good, fine, but nothing set it apart from other decent enough chocolate cream pie.  I think a layer of banana, some flavor in the whipped cream, richer, deeper chocolate flavor, etc would go a long way.

Another great value for $7.50. ***.