Max's Wine Dive

September 1, 2009
Max's Wine Dive
(image from Max's Wine Dive online gallery - no photo credit given on website, website designed by e-works media, inc.)
Overall rating: Thumbs Down
Between the prices and the lackluster food, Max's gets a thumbs down for happy hour....even the things that were "good" weren't worth going back for. Overpriced and poorly named: when the cheapest glass of wine at a "dive" is over $6, you should call yourselves something else. We would also like to add the caveat that the entrees arriving as we were leaving to near by tables had me intrigued...perhaps we would go back for dinner, just not happy hour. Keep reading for all the ratings and details...

The Three Girls visited Max's Wine Dive for happy hour. We all arrived just a little after 5:30 p.m. The happy hour at Max's is from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Plenty of time for us to have some tasty grub and refreshments. We were a little disappointed that, despite the name "wine dive" the wine was fairly pricey, and there was only one of each varietal on happy hour prices (one red, one white and one sparkling). The happy hour prices were still around $7.00 for a glass of wine...in our book that is not very happy. Shenanigans had a glass of red while Libations and Victuals each tried out the sparkling. There is no hard liquor served at Max's and the small number of beer options were not priced any lower for happy hour.

For our first round we ordered:

“Sliders:” Three buffalo meat sliders with house-made pickles and grilled onions; Max & Cheese: Cavatappi pasta tossed in truffle cream with fresh mozzarella, white cheddar, cotija, and Grana Padano cheese blend; and Tres Fritos: Cornmeal-crusted local fried green tomatoes, fried sour dill pickles, and Max’s own fried house-pickled jalapenos – comes with a side of creamy buttermilk for dipping… eat your veggies!

For our second round we had:
Gator Bites: Crispy fried wild-harvested alligator tail meat from Janik Alligator Company of El Campo, Texas, tossed in a sweet and spicy Thai glaze.
(**Descriptions compliments of Max's Wine Dive menu).



Shenanigans ratings:

• Sliders: Thumbs sideways The Sliders were actually pretty tasty, and the meat was cooked perfectly. However, there was nothing special or memorable about this dish...hence the thumbs sideways as opposed to up. It was similar to any other sliders dish in any other restaurant.
• Max & Cheese: Thumbs down I was most excited about the Max & Cheese dish, I have heard good things...and who doesn't like a good cheesy pasta dish? However, this dish was killed by too much truffle cream, and the entire dish was lacking in taste to me.
• Tres Fritos: Thumbs sideways I thought the fried green tomatoes on this dish were quite tasty. However, despite loving all things fried...specifically fried pickles and jalapenos, somehow this dish missed the mark. The breading was overpowering on the pickles, which left the pickle tasting simply like fried breading and the jalapenos were likewise over-breaded and, despite my love of spicy foods, where ridiculously spicy. We did not finish this dish.
• Gator Bites: Thumbs up These were, by far, the highlight of the food and drink for the evening. The gator was cooked perfectly, the breading, although the exact same breading used on the other fried dish, worked perfectly with the gator and the dipping sauce. I would definitely order this dish again!

Libations ratings:

• Sliders: Thumbs sideways The Sliders were okay. Nothing to complain about, nothing to get excited about. Buffalo meat was an interesting choice but they did nothing to complement the flavor of the meat. They actually struck me as quite flavorless. I have definitely had better sliders elsewhere.
• Max & Cheese: Thumbs sideways I love mac and cheese and I love truffle oil, so this sounded like a dream to me, but the reality is that it did not taste good. The fresh mozzarella, white cheddar, cotija, and Grana Padano cheese blend was significantly flavorful and the truffle oil on top made the dish unnecesarily rich. It was tolerable and I used the mac and cheese to counterbalance the others - provide some flavor in response to the sliders and drown the flavor of the tres fritos.
• Tres Fritos: Thumbs down I too have an appreciation for the fried foods, if done well. The tomatoes were pretty good. As someone who has learned to love fried pickles since she moved to Texas, my senses were a bit offended by the pickles. I can't speak to the jalapenos because I do not believe in eating them, fried or otherwise. Overall, the biggest problem with this dish was that the breading left a lot to be desired. Perhaps it was a bit spicy for my taste, but I think it just had a strange overpowering flavor.
• Gator Bites: Thumbs up I agree that the gator bites were most successful, but I wonder if they were so good because the previous round was somewhat lacking. The gator seemed to be fried in the same batter, so the odd flavor remained, but I think the pairing with a sweet and spicy Thai glaze was brilliant. The sauce cut through the flavor and and provided a more balanced taste.

Victual's ratings:

• Sliders: Thumbs sideways Ok is all I can really say here. The buffalo was lean and well cooked (nicely pink in the middle) but the chef could use a lesson in seasoning. Aside from one sad pickle and a smattering of sadly grilled onions, there was nothing added to make these special. With the current craze for sliders, I want a little more when I order one. Jazz it up a little, or at the very least season the meat well. My sideways ranking is based almost solely on their ability to cook the meat right in terms of doneness, something at which many slider purveyors fail.
• Max & Cheese: Thumbs down A disclaimer here: I LOVE MAC AND CHEESE! I did not, however, love this mac and cheese. I wouldn't even have a one night stand with this mac and cheese. The balance of the cheeses was just wrong. Verging from the traditional cheddar in a recipe is fine with me. But, when you mix too many cheeses together, like Max's, things can go very wrong. It had a funky, unfriendly cheese twang. And, truffle oil is meant to be used in moderation. This was drowning in truffle flavor. Combined with the twang, it was simply not good. Remembering that old adage, I cleaned my plate, but was not happy about it.
• Tres Fritos: Thumbs down I admit, the tomatoes were pretty good. Although, one can find much better friend green tomatoes in this town. But, the pickles and jalapenos were almost unforgivable. When you make fried pickles of the spear variety, the pickle should still be relatively thin. These were monstrously thick with an even thicker coating of batter. And, while I usually like fried jalapenos and spice, these lit my world on fire in a bad way. As for the batter, it tasted like a gloppy combo of cornmeal and bad bulk cajun seasoning with perhaps buttermilk added as a thickener. Max, you can do better.
• Gator Bites: Thumbs sideways Some of these fried little nuggets of gatory goodness were great: tender, not over done, and great with the sweet and sour dipping sauce (I refuse to call this Thai sauce; it was fancy sweet and sour). But, I had a few pieces of gristly grossness that were not pleasant. And, I've already discussed the problems with the batter (the same as the Tres Fritos plate). So, an "E" for effort. Good on Max for doing fairly well with cooking gator and not making it rubbery. But, this is still not a dish that I'm dreaming of eating again.