Laurier Cafe & Wine is a Houston restaurant that carries a high opinion of itself. It has a faux hip, sparse atmosphere, the kind that’s supposed to be cool. It raves about its wine list. Its owners are a husband and wife team that are real foodies, so much so that he gave up a career as a telecommunications executive and decided to become a chef in his mid forties.

The only problem is this earnest place is right across the street from a strip club.

It’s a little hard to pull off the whole sophisticated dining thing when Candy and Summer are across the street, rubbing up against visiting executives and guys who hang out at bus stops.

It’s slightly jarring when you pull up to Laurier’s valet - they don’t let you park your car here for good reason - and seeing the flashy Strip Club signage. Jarring and sort of hilarious. Not exactly the atmosphere Laurier’s press clippings suggest.

Oh, you’ll still get good food. The crab cake appetizer should not be missed. Laurier is the rare place that understands crab cake should be more crab than bread crumbs filler. The staff is very friendly. And it’s sort of cool to find Red Hots candies rather than the usual staid mints in the basket by the door.

But you still never quite get over the stripper thing. You might find yourself wondering if it’s the kind of place TravelGolf.com’s own Cheap Bastard places pennies between the ladies’ breasts.

Hint: If you want to go for fine dinning, you might want to make sure that Jasmine doesn’t ply her trade in view of your wine cellar.

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