Charlie Palmer's in Dallas

[bobag87]

We ate at Charlie Palmer's tongiht and both my wife and I wondered why there is not more buzz about this place. While reservations are typically full and it is always very busy, I do not hear much in food circles about this place. We have eaten here several times and think that it may be at the top of the list in Dallas right now. Are we the only ones?

Dinner tonight was a foie gras appetizer that was fantastic, strip steak (for me) that was great with a bone marrow flan that was spot on flavor wise, but was overcooked. The star of the dinner was a side of polenta that was out of this world. Desert was good, but not a stand out. However, over all, this was as good of a meal as we have recently had in town and is in danger of moving up to the top of my Dallas list.

[jsmeeker]

You certainly aren't the only ones now. A friend and I had dinner there last night.

I had never been inside the hotel. My friend had only been to the bar before. We really liked the decor of this place. We wondered if the big propellers in the ceiling ever spin.

We checked out the menu and I asked for the wine list. I knew what I was going to get, because I had heard/read about it. Not a printed book. Nope. Tablet computer. The list was all electronic. You could do "searches" by filtering my grape varietal, region, etc. etc. Then sort stuff. Like price, from low to high. You can even see an on-line version of this right here. Wound up selecting a bottle of pinot noir.

The bottle of wine appeared. It was presented, then the sommelier left, then came back with it. Dunno what was up with that, but I noticed this happening at other tables, too. What we ordered was a 2007 International Sommelier Conspiracy Pinot Noir.

The amuse was a lobster corn dog. It was just what it sounds like. A mini corn dog on a thin skewer. But it had some lobster in there. Served with a little mustard sauce. Tasty little bite to get things started.

For a first course, I ordered the salmon tartare and my friend ordered the mixed green salad. Salmon was good. It had some Tom Olives. Something I wasn't familiar with. Our server explained they were just little tomatoes cured like an olive. And that's pretty much what they tasted like, My friends salad was nice. Very easy on the dressing. It was served with some phylo crusted apple slices. Very good.

For mains, I got the squab and my friend ordered the scottish salmon. When ordering the squad, the server made sure I was ok with a medium rare temperature. I had never had squab before, but was aware that it was cooked more like duck than chicken. So, that was OK by me. Whatever chef thinks is best. This was great. Served with a spaghetti squash and piece of toast with some chicken liver puree on top. I love chopped chicken liver, so that was good. My friend really liked the salmon, too. She commented that the soy glaze was a bit salty. I agreed. I have a pretty high tolerance for salt, but this was a tad much. The fish was good, I think, even if it was cooked 'well done' as requested. We had one side with our meal. Parmesan creamed spinach. Also very good.

For dessert, I ordered something that was basically peanut butter pie. Tall, narrow, rectangular slice. Really good. Super rich. Couldn't finish it all. My friend ordered a fruit plate. It was a plate of fruit, with some sort of sauce. Cant really recall the details on that. I also ordered a pot of tea, largely because they touted the tea supplier (Cultured Cup). I've detailed that a lot more in the Coffee and Tea forum

Check was presented with a little tray of chocolates and house made jelly candies/gum drops. And a small bag of ginger snaps to take home.

Overall verdict? Very good. Certainly worth a repeat visit. One of the better meals I've had in Dallas. I think it holds up very well against some of the long time big name places and places by long time big name Dallas chefs.

[Andrew Chalk]

This place does tend to fly under the radar.

A couple of additional points:

They make their own salumi in-house.

They are the most 'winelover friendly' of the upscale restaurants in town. Not only is the list one of the best in town but their markups are consistently lower than the usual 3+ times retail. You can check this online at their web site where they list the retail and restaurant price of each bottle.