Max's Wine Dive

As a Houston import raises its voice in Austin, be prepared to raise yours, too

By Mike Sutter
AMERICAN-STATESMAN ARTS CRITIC
Thursday, July 16, 2009

The hardest part about reviewing Max's Wine Dive, the May-arrival Austin branch of a Houston operation, is deciding between stars and numbers. The American-Statesman gives star ratings to `fine-dining' places and numerical grades to casual spots. So which one is Max's?

The 125-bottle wine list and self-described `upscale comfort food' suggest star possibilities, even though just a few dishes cost more than $20. But the atmosphere is more like a walk-and-talk bar, where the adults roam freely among the tables, like a Chuck E. Cheese for grown-ups. And man, can they make some noise. Even with foam padding under the wooden tables, the sound of laughter and back-slapping ricochets off the concrete floor and exposed bricks like a chardonnay tornado that drowns out even David Lee Roth on the sound system.

So I'll roll with the noise, the chalkboard-grinding slogan (`Fried chicken and champagne? Why the hell not?') and the flow of down-home dish names - `Max & Cheese,' `Freekin' Chicken Fricasse' - and go with a numerical rating. Chef Steve Super's food deserves deeper consideration, but the stupefying din and service environment worked against him.

Appetizers came out in clever arrangements, a parade of long, white rectangular dishes set with little square bowls and stripes of sauce. Breaded nuggets of fried alligator tail ($12) were tossed in a sweet glaze, the meat somewhere between tuna and chicken. Pan borracho ( `drunk bread,' for $11) arrived in a baking dish of shredded sourdough cooked to custardlike density with Gruyère, mozzarella and grana padano cheeses, like fondue without the skewers and cocktail-party hot pots, a great base for drinking your legal limit of Duckhorn merlot. Truffle-creamed spiral macaroni and cheese ($9) played cousin to the pan borracho in flavor and texture, postprandial drowsiness in a bowl.

Six bars of sticky-glazed pork candy made up the $13 `rib basket,' a small plate for the price but perfectly cooked. `Nacho Mama's Oysters' ($9 for six) was a bland-but-compulsive popcorn plate of fried oysters on fried wonton shells with a pearl of habanero salsa. The deep-fried motif continued through to the fried chicken dinner I'd heard so much about. At $15 for three pieces, I expected less grease, more crunch, bigger pieces and better flavor, but I liked the spiced honey on the side and the sweet-salty-and-bitter flavor trifecta of the collard greens.

I lost my sense of humor about the $18 Kobe beef cheeseburger when the side of `Max's famous frites' turned out to be a dozen undercooked and ordinary fries and the meat arrived rare instead of well-done like my guest requested. But the beef, blanketed with melted brie, tasted great, almost as good as the sweet brioche bun baked by Walton's Fancy and Staple.

For a place with `wine' in its name (you can buy it by the bottle and case from retail displays to take home, even), our wine experience was casual, even sloppy. We got cabernet instead of the chardonnay we ordered. Our wine glasses sat empty after the appetizers, and the staff didn't bring up the subject again, except when a glass we didn't order arrived at the table.

A bottle of white wine sat bare on the table next to us. No ice, no sleeve. And the same person who refilled that group's water casually glugged their wine glasses full. On the other side of us, two young women were given tastes of several wines before they decided, courtesies we weren't offered, even though the white I initially ordered was out of stock. `This one's the same price,' our server said, pointing to the wine list. Um, OK.

In her defense, she was the sole waitress for the elevated table behind us (`Loudness, party of a zillion?'), designed to seat maybe 14 but jammed with more like a standing 25, their rear ends stacked three deep behind my guest's head. Most of the central tables at Max's are tall, bistro-style numbers. Perch there, if you can, unless you want to sit at the low banquette along the side wall and look at khaki waistbands all through dinner.

Other servers filled the gaps when we asked, some wearing logo shirts, some in street clothes, including one who asked whether we liked our fragrant appetizer of tender, pulled cabrito with fresh tortillas (we did). He bragged that not many places serve cabrito, except for Sam's Barbeque in East Austin, but he wouldn't go there after dark, if he were us. As the former East Austinite at my table would attest: Sam's doesn't serve goat (mutton yes, cabrito no) and some people don't know when to keep their mouths shut.

msutter@statesman.com; 912-5902

Max's Wine Dive

207 San Jacinto Blvd., 904-0105, www.maxswinedive.com

Rating (casual dining): 6.3 out of 10

Hours: 4 p.m. to midnight Mondays through Thursdays, 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays.

Prices: Small plates and salads $6 (french fries) to $13 (glazed baby-back pork ribs). Large plates $13 (fried egg sandwich with chips) to $24 (Kobe beef pot roast), averaging about $17. Desserts $6, including a rich `Half and Half' dish of warm ancho-kissed brownie and dense white-chocolate bread pudding, both with gelato.

Payment: All major cards

Bar: More than 20 wines by the glass ($7.75-$25) and more than 125 wines by the bottle, with values in the $20 and $30 ranges and splurge bottles going up to $370. Max's also sells bottles of wine at retail prices to take home. If you agree to buy at least two glasses, Max's will open any bottle. There's also a short list of overpriced beer by the bottle and can.

Worth mentioning: During the twice-a-day happy hours (4 to 7 p.m. and the last two hours of business Mondays through Saturdays), excellent appetizers are half-price and select glasses of wine are discounted 50 percent or more. On Sundays, all-day brunch options include $25 for all the fried chicken, waffles and mimosas you can handle.

Wheelchair access: Yes

What the rating means: The average of weighted scores for food, service, atmosphere and value