Make no mistake: Café Josie is not the easiest restaurant to find. Tucked behind Portabla in Pecan Square, this unobtrusive little West Sixth Street jewel may have you scratching your head as you wander past the subtly marked door more than once.
But once you do find your way inside, you're in for a treat, as lusciously flavored "cuisine of the American tropics" (a dizzying fusion of Caribbean, Mediterranean, North African, and Middle Eastern) makes its way out from chef Charles Mayes's kitchen.
Turophiles will be daydreaming for months about the creamy, spicy herbed goat cheese and bruschetta starter (I myself am finding it hard to type for drooling even now). Hardcore carnivores will delight in the crunchy-sweet mesquite-grilled pork tenderloin, shiny with a spiced rum glaze, and the what-the-hell decadence of a rich filet mignon slathered with gorgonzola butter. But if you're making the trip to Café Josie, you'd be sadly remiss if you deprived yourself of the real star of the show: the seafood.
Start with a sweet, meaty lobster cake, enhanced but not overwhelmed by two piquant aiolis (lime-cilantro and chipotle) and the unexpectedly brilliant addition of provolone and manchego cheeses (I warned you about my turophilia). Move on to mesquite-grilled shrimp with a honey-chipotle glaze, with the fresh, briny shrimp serving as a perfect backdrop for the heady blend of heat, sweetness, and smoke, or to buttery grilled salmon, its richness cut with a zingy mustard aioli. Looking for something more authentically Texan? Try the spice- and pepita-crusted red snapper, whose smoky, spicy crackle is only slightly softened by mango-habanero butter.
The service is attentive but fairly leisurely(then again, why would you want to rush through a meal like this?), and the combined relaxed dining pace and natural lightness of seafood increase the likelihood that you'll have saved room for dessert. Here, unfortunately, you're more apt to be somewhat disappointed, as a rotating pastry offering (recent highlights include a berry cobbler with a macadamia-nut crust and a coconut milk crème brulee) tends toward the serviceable rather than the special. My advice: fill up on appetizers instead, and indulge in the surprisingly extensive wine list, which offers mostly recognizable California labels but features a few obscure gems as well.
The ambience is serene and lovely, with high, airy ceilings and white tablecloths. It's a bit noisier during the weekday lunches, which attract more parents with small children and are an excellent reasonably-priced alternative to the lavish dinners, but the noise level is never overwhelming. You may have to dig a little bit to find it, but Café Josie is definitely worth the hunt.