pax americana

there haven't been many reviews in awhile so i figured i would add a new one...
my husband and i went topaxfor houston restaurant weeks and got the 5 course meal. it was a shared-plate style which i really enjoy (you don't get completely obnoxious portions). our server was very friendly and informative, and the food was wonderful. it was some of the freshest and most delicious produce i have ever had in a restaurant. the table next to us had ordered several vegetable appetizers that looked outstanding. we will definitely be going back to try different dishes. for non-vegetarians, we only had the brisket (i don't know about their other meat dishes), which melted in your mouth like butter. our meal was so good, we'll be talking about it for a long time.
overall we were very impressed and had an excellent time.

i really don't know what happened...maybe i went on a bad day or my taste buds are burned.. i've been eyeing and keeping up withpaxsince their opening, so with the f&w nomination, i was really really looking forward to trying this place. i went on my birthday, and the service was wonderful, but the food....left much to be desired. i really wanted to like pax, but there was just something missing in each dish. we got the beef tartare, the roasted bone marrow, the 9 spice brisket, the market fish, the farm fresh duck eggs, and the corn panna cotta. out of all of these dishes, not one of them stood out to me, and i was really disappointed by that. sorry, chefs, i am willing to try it again because one visit wouldn't give any restaurant justice, but i am a bit skeptical.