Plate to Plate: Asianstyle steak plates face off

feeling quite unsatisfied in terms of food, but the modern video game-influenced decor was enjoyable.

One of my all-time favorite meals is a rice plate. The varying protein options, sides and sauces make for a highly customizable meal catered to many different preferences. Every restaurant has its own rendering on the traditional concept, creating unique flavor profiles from different seasonings and cooking styles. Naturally, I had to compare two Asian-style steak rice plates around Rice campus.

Rice Box, known for its Chinese-style takeout plates, recently opened a location in Rice Village, just a short walk from campus. Their pepper steak plate comes with standard vegetables, white rice and an included chicken egg roll for $14.99. Substituting the meat, adjusting spice level and changing the rice and egg roll choices are allowed. Some extra add-ons like noodles or broccoli have a small upcharge.

The Moody Center for the Arts recently unveiled their newest Moody Project Wall exhibit, “Swarm Migration,” by Houston artist Bennie Flores Ansell. The new exhibit features a mural made of 3D-printed wishbones representing student and artist stories about migration. The opening reception for “Swarm Migration” will be Feb. 15 from 6 - 8 p.m. and feature the artist and other project collaborators.

A visual artist, Ansell trained as a photographer but has always done more installation work and manipulation of photographic evidence. She was born in the Philippines but grew up in Connecticut and Florida. Ansell discovered her passion for installation as an undergraduate and now teaches at a community college.

“I started cutting up images. It’s as if I wanted the photograph to take up space, to occupy space,” Ansell said. “So now, for the Moody Project Wall, I am printing in 3D. I have never installed a 3D piece of this size, I used slide film, I used printed transparency film, to install something that occupies space off the wall is exciting for me.”

Ansell created a mural using one thousand 3D printed wishbones made from her own CT scans, which she installed on the mural using slide film and printed transparency film. Ansell said the wishbones signify what we leave behind when we die — namely, our bones and our words.

“For the past 20 years, I have been making art about migration and flying,” Ansell said. “When I was a young girl in Connecticut, I would lay on the grass and watch the birds fly south with the cold grass around me. It’s just such a vivid experience. This new body of work is really about I wish I can fly. I fly in my dreams a lot.”

Fittingly, the installation takes the shape of a swarm of birds. Ansell described it as a distinct metaphor of her experiences of being born in the Philippines, coming to the United States and living in a predominantly white neighborhood.

“I was always out of the flock, and the question of where you are from lingered,” Ansell said. “I grew up in the 70s and 80s, where there were not a lot of people who looked like me. It’s exciting to be in the time we are now. There’s a global connectedness we now have, which has affected and changed how we see ourselves.”

Ansell believes that her work should push her audience to think about their paths — where they have gone and where they will go. She said that our journeys could be about growth and physical movement, but also the mental nature of belonging to another place.

“A fraction of a second is what I create in the swarm. It’s a fraction of these bones caught and stopped in motion, but you know they are going to move,” Ansell said.

“There is this implied line. When you walk into Moody you will first see the bigger bones, and then as you move forward it will gradually get smaller and smaller, which will change the perspective and the depth of the piece.”

Ansell has also been working with a Hanszen College junior, Marc Armena, to collect stories. Through their efforts, Ansell found that the first Asian to ever graduate from Rice is Filipino. She said that art that revolves around searching for an identity is finally being paid attention.

“20 years ago, sometimes I would be working on identity work and people would tell me that we are past this,” Ansell said. “Now, a lot of artists are taking this identity work and running with it and it’s being shown now. The whole landscape has changed a lot in twenty years.”

When the plate arrived, the sheer amount of food on the tray was instantly noticeable. For its price, the dish is a fairly decent value, as portion sizes are above average. However, despite the good value, the food was comparatively disappointing. Unfortunately, the cuts of steak were tough and inconsistent in size, while the stirfry sauce drenched the steak and vegetables, resulting in a hot tub-like situation. The meat’s flavor profile was indeed peppery but also surprisingly rich from the soybased sauce, which made the dish feel heavy and hard to finish. Normally in a rich sauce scenario, the vegetables and rice can cut through the grease, but this was not the case since the peppers and carrots were lathered in the sauce as well. In terms of sides, the full takeout carton of rice was a nice addition as well as the egg roll; however, they were not particularly flavorful or noteworthy. I left Rice Box

The next restaurant I headed to was Lúa Viet Kitchen in Montrose, which is about a 12-minute drive from campus. Offering Vietnamese dishes such as beef pho and pork vermicelli bowls, Lúa Viet Kitchen is slightly more expensive and charged $16.59 for a Shaking Beef Bo Lua Lac. The wait time was a bit longer than Rice Box, and the portion sizes were also smaller. However, all the food was freshly prepared from scratch and the quality was visibly better. The plate included shaking beef (seared tenderloin) with bell peppers and onions, a side of jasmine rice and a watercress salad. The beef was cooked perfectly in bite-sized pieces and was covered with an appropriate amount of Asian-style steak sauce. Dipped in the side of house-made lime vinaigrette, the beef was mouthwatering; it contrasted sweet and sour flavors as well as warm and cold sensations. The bell peppers, onions and garlic were also quite delicious in the vinaigrette.

To my surprise, the initially boring salad was just as good as the meat. The cherry tomatoes, watercress and spring mix made for a refreshing bite, especially with its lightly dressed and sweet vinaigrette. Everything on the plate seemed to balance and complement each other, which made for a harmonious dining experience. The ambiance was also modern but less experimental compared to Rice Box.

Overall, Lúa Viet is the clear winner for me. For only a $1.60 price difference, it is worth the extra money and trip. All the components were outstanding, and I highly recommend visiting the restaurant for a Vietnamese food fix. The shaking beef plate was memorable and delicious, with no faults other than the smaller portion size.