This tiny cottage on Fairmount in Dallas was reccommended by a friend, so as Julia recieved her promotion we decided to visit armed with at least an excuse. We were not exactly full of trepadation but in some ways wished we had at least visited before Mr. Samford left for Ceneral Market, but knew mr. Peters would be more than capable (was he the sous chef for Barclay's as well...seems I remember that). Lola is set in an old home featuring approx. 20 tables, covered in ivy and a gorgeous garden. I believe there is a private dining room as well. Very quaint for such a powerhouse dining area as Cedar Springs and McKinney, but this house is steeped in tradition...or at least it has hosted a couple of greasy spoons in it's day. We had both been craving a good Zinfandel for a period approaching a week so we took the reccomendation of the'99 Martinelli. Quite assuming and large, but I suppose that's why one orders a Zinfandel. Started with steamed mussels with tomatoes and cauliflour while Julia had the warm crab napoleon. The mussels were tender and succulent (making me wish I could once live in a costal locale) forming a bit of a surprise, though, that they were not steamed in wine. The portion was huge. The crab was wonderful if not in large chunks. Possibly the biggest disappointment of the evenig was my tortillia soup. Poor pairing, I agree, but a craving is a craving. No discernable broth as this soup was overly spiced. Nor was it hearty; I could find no fat swimming along the edge of the bowl as one expects with tortillia soup, and as a result the broth had no depth. The color was a rusty pink swimming with yellow base, cofusing me the more (not that difficult a task). More acceptable was Julia's spinach salad, boldly dressed with lots of citrus and bacon. We've never been fans of overtly sublte salads, and that this was not. If only the soup were sublte.. We then rolled into duck confit and seared breast with lentils as Julia had herb crusted lamb. The duck was fatty and the breast perfectly cooked. Lamb also well cooked, and the zinfandel-plumb reduction was amazing with the accompanying scalloped potatoes. However, the promised tapanade was nowhere to be found (at least by me). We finished with a well construced, massive cheese plate. However, the prize of the evening was the rum-raisin ice cream with seared bannanas. Not so much seared but dipped in the caramalized as the banannas were not even warmed, but bitterly delicious. The ice cream was WELL spiked with rum and probably the most flavorful ice cream i've ever had, and still one of the the sweetest. This is the dish I will try to recreate in the days to come. We toiled with the cheese but gobbled every bit of the ice cream and bananna. We will definitely return to Lola. Service was well paced and adequately informative. The wine list was a book; we are not very knowledgable about wine and usually roll with the suggestions, but at over 50 pages this has to be one of the most complete lists in Dallas. A couple of interesting characters none abashed about all getting the low down of their conversation kept us very entertained. The larger one's ego, the more interesting their speak, I suppose.