Houston’s grilled artichoke with remoulade is one of those dishes that built a restaurant’s reputation on a single appetizer. Decades on the menu, served across Houston’s and Hillstone locations nationwide, and it’s still the first thing many regulars order.
The Double-Cook Method
The technique is why this works. A raw artichoke on a grill gives you burned leaves and a raw heart. Steamed and skipped on the grill gives you tender but pale, no smoke. Houston’s answer: par-boil to fully cook, then grill for char and smokiness in a narrow window. Nearly every restaurant that serves grilled artichokes runs the same double-cook logic — boil or steam first, grill second. The home version needs nothing more than a large pot of boiling water and any grill that gets hot enough to brand.
The Remoulade vs. a Plain Aioli
Most copycat attempts make a garlic aioli (mayo + garlic + lemon) and call it remoulade. The Houston’s sauce is closer to the New Orleans tradition: the same mayo base, but with Dijon, sweet relish, capers, and Worcestershire added. The relish is the most-skipped ingredient and arguably the most important — it adds a faint sweetness that rounds the sharp edges of the capers and lemon. The Worcestershire is subtle, but its absence makes the sauce taste flat. Make it at least 1 hour ahead; 3 hours is noticeably better as the garlic mellows and the flavors merge.
How to Eat an Artichoke
If you’ve never eaten a whole artichoke: pull individual leaves starting from the outer edge. Each leaf has a tender, fleshy band at the base — the white end you pull off. Dip it in the remoulade, place the fleshy end between your teeth, and pull the leaf through, stripping off the tender flesh. Discard the fibrous outer portion of the leaf. Work inward leaf by leaf; the inner leaves get more tender and more edible the deeper you go. At the center is the heart — the best part. Cut it into pieces and eat with the remaining remoulade.
