Eating Lean on La Table’s Remade Patio

To those of us who aren’t natives, seasonality in Houston is super weird. Strawberries in January? It’s enough to give us a migraine. But in more northerly climes, asparagus is as much a part of spring as blossoming crocuses. And with its spring menu, La Table recognizes that for most of North America, April is prime time for the vegetable.

Behold the warm asparagus and artichoke salad. The white and green spears are anchored in a silken artichoke purée. It’s all tossed in an herbaceous Meyer lemon dressing that’s placid enough to let the delicately flavored veggies speak for themselves. It’s a beautiful salad, both visually and edibly, in a class with the perennial La Table treasure, the colorful roasted beets salad dressed in Blue Heron Farm goat milk yogurt and cheese.

But this spring, the restaurant has unveiled a menu of salads meant to be eaten as meals. Along with the newly revamped patio, the ladies-(and gents)-who-lunch’s stakes have been raised with eight salads intended to be appended with one of eight proteins.  They include spicy tofu or a meticulously sliced half avocado for the vegetarians, seared tuna or three ounces of gleaming white crabmeat for seafood lovers and skewers of hanger steak or perfectly medium-rare salmon. The yellowtail tuna Niçoise doesn’t require modification, of course, but the rest of the options range from naked without that addition (the avocado and cucumber salad, essentially, a very tangy, very luminous coleslaw) to salads like the asparagus and beet ones, which speak for themselves but are more satisfying as a meal with a chicken breast or skewer of jumbo shrimp on the side.

And for those less concerned with eating light, we can confirm that the new sliders, filled with chicken, lamb or beef, are delicious.