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Frommer's Exceptional

Mark Cox, a former chef at Tony's, has a good idea of the direction in which American cooking should be headed -- fresh ingredients prepared in a manner that's new and creative while being hearty and satisfying. Mark's has a set menu that changes seasonally and a menu of daily specials. A representative sampling of dishes might include grilled shrimp on a bed of fennel, basil, and tomato with a crab risotto; bourbon-glazed pork with yams and an apple compote; roasted breast of chicken with Mississippi-style grits scented with white truffles; or lamb in a basil sauce with white-cheddar potatoes. The restaurant occupies an abandoned church on Westheimer; the main dining room is in the nave and the choir loft. Alongside the nave, the owners have built an eye-catching smaller dining room with Gothic rib vaulting.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Texas, 4th Edition, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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