joiei

Last weekend, I met up with Theabroma and we had dinner in Ft Worth at Tim Love's newest restaurant called Duce. It is on Camp Bowie in the Ridgelea area. Duce is a modern room with light woods and light colors. A bar sits along one wall with a frosted window that separates the dining room from the kitchen. The menu is divided into three sections, Little Food which is further divided into sea and land. Then Green which is salads and last is Big Food. We decided to start with a selection of little foods, Chef Tim's version of Tapas, and we ordered the Halibut sausage with cool red lentil salad and citrus butter nage, Wild Boar empanada with lingonberry creme fraiche, Giant shrimp with smoked crawfish stuffing and crispy serrano hollandaise, and rabbit manchego ravioli with Spanish chorizo sweet cream. The halibut sausage was fantastic, richly flavored and slightly spicy with the lentils and the citrus butter working well with the flavors. The empanadas were to die for, nicely seasoned meat inside packets of flakey buttery dough about the size of a soup spoon. The Giant shrimp were grilled to a nearly perfect doneness and the crawfish stuffing and hollandaise complimented very well not too spicy but with a nice flavor. My favorite was by far the rabbit manchego ravioli. We did ask for bread to sop up all the chorizo sweet cream, I was not letting that stuff go away without a fight. Then we ordered a couple of salads to break up the meal and decide which direction we wanted to go from there. We ordered a crisp frisee with poached egg, bacon lardon and meyer lemon vinagrette and a fresh endive with garden tomato, bleu cheese vinagrette and spicey pumpkin seeds. the frisee salad was a huge plate of cool crisp frisee with several roasted bacon lardons and the poached egg (which was just a tad overcooked, it could of been runnier) with the light vinagrette. The Endive salad was diced fresh tomato, chopped endive pieces, a shaving of red onion and the pumpking seeds tossed in the bleu cheese dressing over 3 endive spears. Delicious. Instead of going on to large plates because we realized that we had gone too far for big plates, we went back to the small plates to continue. We ordered the panfried white-bait with roasted red pepper aioli and chile piquillo gnudi with sage brown butter and a side order of frites, we saw the frites on the menu with another dish and decided to ask, they were very kind and let us order them as a side. The White Bait was a bit dissappointing, it was not all that seasoned and was rather plain even with the micro greens salad that it came with. The gnudi was excellent, buttery warm and just very poppable. The waiter helped theabroma choose a white wine to drink with dinner. I opted for water, and saw his face slump. But later he did smile when he realized that we were in it for the complete tasting experience even though he had a small wine sale. The manager came by and seemed excited that someone would drive all the way from Tulsa just to dine at Duce. There is an open air enclosed patio out back that will be great once the temperatures are less than 103 which was what it was last weekend in the DFW. The clientel is a very interesting mix of every thing from country club to twentysomethings. The dress was Ft Worth casual, I didn't see any of the Dallas black spandex, but did see some pretty tight jeans. THe room can be very noisy to being hard to carry on a conversation because of all the hard surfaces. But the meal more than made up for that little deficiency. Get in your car and go on over to Ft Worth and dine at Duce. It is worth the trip. I will be back down for the Firey Foods show and fully intend on dining there again. Maybe this time I will try a big plate. Tim Love is the owner, chef de cuisine is Zac Wilber and general manager is Michael Pennington. With Lanny's and now Duce, Ft Worth is quickly becoming my dining destination of choice in the metroplex. edited to add that I forgot, we had dessert. A Sweet Tapas plate that had peach gelee, root beer float, banana and white chocolate bread pudding and a chocolate espresso cup and the other dessert was the chocolate torte spiked with saffron and cayenne topped with pot du creme. Both were wonderful. Interesting that I have not had as interesting desserts anywhere in Dallas that I remember.

You guys are freaking me out. It is just way too cutsey. This could even drive me back to the Evil Garden or even Applebee's. At least the wait for a table would get me seated sometime before the end of time.

yeah, but there is nothing for Saturday night when I could be there. Oh well. I guess I will have to save myself for another day to get up that way.

Rancho, when I did my migas, I cooked mine like you did. I cooked the eggs and tortillas to almost done before adding the salsa cruda. I did have chopped avocados and carnitas on the side to be added to taste. No sprouts though, somehow, I hardly associate sprouts with anything Mexican. Hippie food yes, Mexican no.

I want to know if they are organic?

Isn't going out to dinner always a form of entertainment? What's the difference between seeking out a dinosaur-themed restaurant and seeking out a particular chef? ← I agree that going out to dinner is a form of entertainment. For me, the choice is food driven not entertainment driven. For most members of my family, they want the entertainment value and the food is a secondary decision, so long as there is lots of it on the plate. Quality is not a decisive factor for them. I am known to drive to other cities to be able to taste the food from a respected chef, but I will not drive across town to be entertained at a theme driven restaurant. So I guess the difference is what a persons priorities are dictates the choices they make about where and how they spend their food dollars. I will go to the entertainment driven places if that is the choice of the majority and then it is my choice to spend time with the group, not specifically the dining option in question. I went to Disneyworld once in 1972 and have not felt the need to return. That type of total immersion entertainment is not something that I enjoy or chose to spend my time and dollars participating in. That is my choice. I don't think I am snobby about it and am happy to let others go that route. The times I have been to total immersion entertainment dining, I pretty much always leave dissappointed. This was a topic we discussed in one of my hospitality classes when I was at Univ of New Orleans. So to those who enjoy this type of dining, have fun and enjoy yourselfs. I will be down the street at places like Bluestem enjoying myself. Rock on.

the Disney syndrome continues. People want to pay to be entertained because they have no energy for creativity. Even when they are dining in their home town. Is this place, t-rex, supposed to become a tourist attraction? If so, it will probably succeed. ON another board, the question was asked what chefs your family and friends can name, turns out very few. I think we are in the minority. Those of us who are driven by food are not as numerous as we would wish.

If they are chain minded, then go with it, go for one of the upper scale choices. that is unless they just want and need to have a cheesecake factory there. One thing to work with is to insist that the architecture of the building be in the spirit of the area. The downtown area of Wichita has some very nicely designed buildings of an older vintage that could be worked into the feel and atmosphere of what they are trying to achieve. Or am I shooting for the moon.

I ordered a la carte. The menu is set up so one "crafts" their dining experience. It did have that urban modern cooler than you feel with the techno music playing and the valets were dressed in polos and bluejean shorts, but considering the temperature was 103, I do not begrudge them. A heavy uniform would of been unbearable. Everything was designed to scream hey, this really isn't a hotel, it is a lifestyle, are you hip enough? But most of the people I saw in the lobby were middle age approximately. And they were dressed as lightly as possible because of the heat. It is brutal.

Lunch at Craft at the new W hotel in Dallas First course Heirloom tomato salad - assorted heirloom tomatoes sliced with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a few drops of balsamic vinegar, fresh ground pepper and a few sprigs of baby basil with a tomato gelee. Second course Braised short ribs (very tender but just a bit too fatty for my taste, excellent flavor) and a side order of sauted wild mushrooms (which included baby shitakes, wood ear, trumpet, chantrelle and some I didn't know, great flavor, just salty enough to work with the richness of the short ribs). Third course Beignets - not really exciting, small hot balls with a chocolate dipping sauce and fresh raspberry compote. Over all, a pleasant lunch although at $59 a bit pricy for what it was. THe service was attentive without being overbearing. The room was fairly empty during the hour and a half that I was there. I loved the black cowhide wall. You pretty much have no choice but to park valet. With construction of the Mandarin across the street going on there is no available street parking anywhere that I could see. I do want to go back for dinner, I looked at the breakfast menu and it didn't rock me very much. edited to correct spelling errors, I originally wrote this on my blackberry and always make fat finger errors.

I know that Bama Pie Company here makes the crusts for about half of the Pizza huts and they make all the biscuits for McDonalds. THat cuts down on the payroll costs to the individual outlets if this product comes in already to go.

THe biggest dining news here in Tulsa over the weekend was the fact that Ruby Tuesday's is coming to town. We have been promised at least 6 of them over the next couple of years. This is not high on my personal excitement list though.

And by Bluestem he means Joe's Crab Shack........the greatest seafood value in all the land. ← ← oh you guys, u.e., are you back?

I have read both papers reviews, but am waiting for your impressions before making final decision to dine there.

Here is you a recipe that you can do at home.

Probably still considered too new to review. I am interested in your impressions, I will be down probably next weekend and am thinking about checking it out.

I used my immersion blender yesterday when I was making a pot of Vichysoisses for dinner last night. It was so much easier to just puree the soup in the pot than to have to do it in batches in either the blender or the food processor. But now lets talk about that yogurt maker that is hiding at the back of the shelves.

Jaymes, I took your recommendation this past weekend and served the carnitas and the sliced avocado on the side of my migas and it was a huge hit. I liked it because it kept the dish from looking like one of those skillet breakfasts that Village Inn or Denny's serves. I had a little chopped cilantro to sprinkle on to finish. I will fix you breakfast any weekend. edited to correct speling errors.

Well, considering that "Freds and Reds" and Joplin are up the turnpike about 90 miles, I might be willing to drive up and pick up an brick for you. I would have to ship it FEDEX next day which will be very pricy. Considering how HOT it is in these parts right now, I would suggest waiting until fall because it is perishable. Just pm me and we can work out details.

... that' you're one helluva great friend - duh! Obviously you care enough to guilt the very best! u.e. ←

Blackberries, my favorite. There is a new Fried Pie place here that makes blackberry fried pies. I think I will go get one. And on Monday I will be crying that I can't be there.

from the looks of things, I will be up sometime this fall. I have to go to Dallas first for Chef Zadi's cooking class on The Algerian Table at Central Market first though.

I don't find the menu very interesting, sorry. I will not pick it apart, but mostly it is boring. That is just my personal take on the menu.

Thanks for your help. I will think good thoughts of you all when I am chowing down in the morning. God, now I have to wait that long. It could be dinner because I have very little emotional balance for waiting right now, I think it has to do with this darn heat which isn't letting up here.

Congratulations on your Beard house appearance. I have been 3 times with friends and it was always a ton of work but fun. Pretty much beyond the Beard House, I know nothing of New York. Are you going to frame some of those photos to hang in the restaurant? Were they taken by the house photographer or did you take them. by the way, I am sending a friend from Tulsa in to eat in a couple of weeks. He was asking where to eat, so I told him.