Picos pumps menu with more regional Mexican dishes



less Camarones en pipian verde: blackened Gulf shrimp in green pipian sauce with toasted pepitas served with green poblano rice and sauteed Mexican squash at Arnaldo Richards' Picos restaurant which is introducing about 20 new menu items. Camarones en pipian verde: blackened Gulf shrimp in green pipian sauce with toasted pepitas served with green poblano rice and sauteed Mexican squash at Arnaldo Richards' Picos restaurant which is introducing ... more Photo: Melissa Phillip, Houston Chronicle Photo: Melissa Phillip, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close Picos pumps menu with more regional Mexican dishes 1 / 18 Back to Gallery

Houston has never seen a version of Oysters Rockefeller like the one that will make its debut Thursday at Arnaldo Richards' Picos restaurant. The plump, grilled bivalves wear a verdant heap of chopped chervil, parsley, purslane, celery leaf, spinach, hoja santa leaves and collard greens, bound with butter, parmesan, and cotija cheese. This often maligned appetizer, usually a wet cloche of spinach, rarely appears so fresh and herb abundant. And as a south of the border wink to modern Rockefeller riches, the dish is called Ostiones Carlos Slim after the richest man in Mexico.

Arnaldo Richards may not have Slim's bank account but he is rich in pride. And it shows in new menu offerings – a whopping 20 dishes – he's putting on his eponymous Upper Kirby restaurant this week. It is the first major change in the Picos menu since the restaurant opened on Kirby in March 2014 after 30 years on Bellaire. To make way for these new stars, Richards has jettisoned about 30 percent of the menu. It's an effort to be truer to his passion for presenting authentic foods from seven distinct culinary regions of Mexico (indeed, the restaurant's subtitle is "Seven Regions of Mexican Cuisine).

The move to revamp the menu wasn't made impulsively. Richards said most of the new dishes have been in his repertoire, sometimes brought out as specials, or served to his family (his daughter, Picos' beverage director Monica Richards, admits many of the dishes were familiar from the family dinner table). With the popular restaurant operating at a comfortable stride and interior Mexican food appreciation growing, it was as good a time as any to "take it up a notch," Arnaldo Richards said.

"Now it's time to be more aggressive with the menu," he said, "and to show people there's a lot more to Mexican cuisine."

The printed menu at Picos also has been reorganized to highlight foods that Richards is proud of. There's a list of ceviches; a lineup of oyster and mussels dishes; a section of "al ajillo" dishes – octopus, shrimp, calamari and snails glossed and sautéed in olive oils infused with garlic and chile. There are also separate sections highlighting grilled meats and seafood; pibils (marinated and slow roasted meats; seafood specialties; and an abundance of mole and pipian sauce dishes including lamb or wild boar in red chile mole, duck in green pipian sauce, chicken in almond mole, and pork in Oaxacan peanut and chile ancho mole.

Some of the new dishes include a chile-rubbed blackened ribeye steak served on epazote black beans and topped with blackened avocado; pork shank stewed in a tomatillo sauce and served over sautéed organic purslane; char-grilled lobster with a smoky chipotle-lime butter; duck stewed in mole poblano; and braised pork ribs in a red pipian sauce.

There also are eight new cocktails on the menu, including the Tricky Ricky, made with cachaça, banana rum, pineapple juice and a topper of Topo Chico. Also new: a tequila and elderflower liqueur martini; a blood orange martini; a frozen bourbon and lemonade; and the Mandarina Mexicana (a frozen marriage of tequila, amaretto and orange liqueurs, coconut cream, pineapple and matcha green tea powder).

Even the happy hour menu is getting a dose of Richards' "seven regions" fever with the introduction of tlacoyos (blue corn masa cakes topped with refried black beans and nopales salad); guacamole served with pork cracklings; roasted street corn on the cob; and two new sandwiches (pulled pork smothered in chile de arbol sauce, and a version of a Cubano sandwich with the addition of refried beans, avocado and Chichuahua cheese).

Like her father, Monica Richards is also pushing herself to reflect Mexico's culinary riches. Over the years she has grown the cocktail program while concentrating on improving tequila offerings. Her margarita menu boasts shaken cocktails made with barrel tequilas exclusive to Picos, including Herradura Double Barrel Reposado, Barrel Select Maestro Dobel Diamante, and Casa Noble Single Barrel Reposado. Monica Richards, who has built relationships with tequila master distillers, says the barrel program is only going to grow bigger and stronger at Picos.

And so too is chef Richards' menu. While he's excited about presenting customers with new items, he says he's only scratched the surface of Picos' potential. "I haven't even touched five percent of the Mexican food I can do."

If that's a challenge, it's one Picos' fans are more than happy to accept.



Arnaldo Richards' Picos, 3601 Kirby, 832-831-9940; picos.net