Gotta have Sambuca heart

Hurricane Ike can't keep a good Texan down. At least that's what I thought when I met David Foreman, the Operations Director of Sambuca Restaurant.

While checking some of the fine food Sambuca has to offer, Foreman told me how he and his dog weathered the storm by sleeping in his bar.

"It was awesome. I spend the night watching the storm out those windows," said Forman, pointing to the side of the bar.

On the night of the hurricane, Foreman got quite a show.

Sambuca is in the old Rice Hotel located on the corner of Texas and Travis Street. Because of how the buildings are situated, Travis Street became a wind tunnel and Foreman watched the horizontal rain stream down the street and even saw a 20-foot water vortex shoot straight up into the air.

"He said everything was going good until the 75-story Chase Tower started popping windows.

"They started popping like crazy around 5:30 a.m. It sounded like a thousand people were throwing down beer bottles," said Foreman.

But it wasn't the popping that bothered Foreman.

"After that I could see the furniture flying out...chairs, computers, blinds, everything," said Foreman.

Because Sambuca is directly across the street from the tower, the restaurant lost eight windows and suffered a little water damage.

"We were fairly lucky. Most of our windows were knocked out by the flying computers and office furniture from the tower," said Foreman.

The lack of windows didn't keep Sambuca closed for long. They were open by 4:00 p.m. on Sunday. Foreman said he wasn't planning to open, but while cleaning up the debris, people kept asking if open for business. So he thought, why not?

"Because of the storm, we had canceled two weddings that were planned for the weekend, so I had lots of food and alcohol on hand. It all worked out," said Foreman.

On Sunday, Sambuca had around 50 to 60 customers. More came on Monday and Tuesday. Most of Foreman's staff was also able to come back to the bar. The only thing he didn't have was live music.

"My waiter has been begging me to watch him audition. I didn't have a band so I told him that tonight was his night," said Foreman. "He brought his guitar and we had music. We all worked together to make it happen. It's the Sambuca heart. You gotta have heart."

So would Foreman spend the next storm in his bar?

"Absolutely!"

SO WOULD I GO BACK?

To mimic Foreman's words - Absolutely! Sambuca has been around for 10 years and is a cozy neighborhood bar without the sports memorabilia. The food is creative, yet recognizable.

And while you might think you've had samosas before, you haven't had the ones at Sambuca. These little patties were filled with chicken and potato goodness and tasted so much better than the ones I remember eating at Indian restaurants. I'm not sure if it was the homemade red pepper chutney or the melt-in-your-mouth pastry, but whatever it was, it made it good.

I also tried the sea bass skewers which I thought would be plain and boring. But I should have known after hearing Foreman's hurricane story that nothing could be boring in his restaurant. The skewers were incredible. They weren't fishy, but instead the combination of the Teriyaki and ponzu sauces brought out the grilled flavor.

The final thing I tried was the meatballs. Again, these aren't your average meatballs. First of all they are made from lamb, and secondly they are perched on top of these filo pastry puffs that are stuffed with feta and spinach. And then there's the sauce. It's a jalapeno-mint jelly that the chef makes from scratch. With all the flavors together, it's the perfect mix.

Foreman also told me that once they settle back down after the hurricane, they'll be adding some pizzas to the menu and a happy hour. Whoo-hoo!

But even if I wasn't in the mood to eat, I would still visit Sambuca's for a night of chilling out and listening to live music which they have every night. And if the waiter, who was jamming out on his guitar when I went, is any indication of the caliber of music, you'll be in for a treat.