Dallas restaurant scene

[theabroma]

Maybe each of us should begin with our personal definition of 'fine dining' or 'haute cuisine'. I think that this will give a better starting reference point and help level the ground between palates, and ensure the placement of personal cards for wine lists, service, decor, bias, etc. squarely in view, and on the table in front of us.

That having been said, let me walk my talk:

To me haute cuisine is simply and only high French cuisine. What Careme and Escoffier developed and codified for us. And as practiced in France it does not appear to be given to fits of fusion, or plating that necessitates the engineering skills of an Eiffel, and the artistic skills of Gaugin, Matisse, Degas, etc. It is unabashedly rich, and painfully fussy to prepare unless you can maintain a formal brigade de cuisine, and a roughly 2.5 to one guest/staff & kitchen ratio. To call anything else 'haute cuisine' implies to me the engagement of a woefully undereducated or venal PR agency. In short, Dallas has none ... smirking, bare-assed cherubs on the ceiling notwithstanding. That was Le Pavillion under Henri Soule and Lutece under Andre Soltner.

That takes the curmudgeonly me to 'French': at one time that would have included the French Room, a a few other now defunct restaurants. Now, though Le Pavillion and Lutece are no longer helmed by those gentlemen, I would look elsewhere in New York City (Le Bernardin under Eric Ripert), possibly Jean Banchet's restaurant in Illinois(name escapes me just now), or Thomas Keller's French Laundry in Yountville, Ca (though not strictly French). Or, I would wait for American Airlines to have a 4 day special to Paris, buy the cheap ticket and book a rezzie at Arpege, or Le Pyramide, or Moulin des Mougins, or L'Auberge de L'Eridan in the Savoie. It probably wouldn't cost a whole lot more to do so, plus France is thrown in as a freebie, plus you have 2 days to train for it, 1 to savor, and 1 to recover.

OK: Continental (i.e.: western European, but not 'French') Rene Peeters' Watel's. It has consistently, day in day out, year in year out delivered the fromage. For those devoted to offal, his calf's sweetbreads are divine. Maximum attention to the plate, minimum feel of the PR agency's hype. The Old Warhorse, er, Warsaw is heavy on decor, but manages to keep on keeping on. I will step up and date myself: it was originally located on Cedar Springs where the Barking Frog is now located. It was blindingly wonderful, formal, cozy. It did the classics, and did them well. It was owned and operated by a Polish gentleman, and one was cossetted and spoiled, but not fawned upon. It is not quite the same, but still good. The French Room, after a couple of long ago forays into it, sits on my graph as a point where 'jarringly expensive' meets 'iffy at times', and that's not an investment I feel comfortable in subjecting my purse to.

The rest, which I put together because, to me, they do not neatly fall into any of the usual categories.

For fish, since Andrew Thomson left for the Dallas County Club, and Lisa Balliet Aldana took a detour through AquaKnox as opening chef, and is now teaching and mom'ing, I cannot say 100%, but Cafe Pacific in Highland Park Village is usually very good for fish. AquaKnox dedicated itself to doing fish beautifully, and in so doing proved that Dallas is not quite ready for prime time fish, other than surf and turf. Too bad for AquaKnox. I have heard that Chamberlain's does fish well, and I know that their smoked salmon is wonderful. I think Stephan Pyle's has fish on the menu at Dragonfly at Hotel Zaza, and that would definitely be worth a try.

For Spanish tapas: hands down, Cafe Madrid on Travis Street.

For Mexican food: woof! this one is too personal to me for me to be unbiased. Javier's indeed broke the ice for 'interior' Mexican food, and set some high standards. Although they advertise Mexico DF style, it is really more upscale Northern Mexican: grilled and roasted meats, and beef heavy. It has a dark, Spanish influenced hacienda look. The food is good. My choice for upscale would be Monica Greene's and Joanne Bondy's Ciudad. Traditional ingredients, in upscale (in a good way), different presentations. I would not judge a most restaurants by their brunches: in the trade that is a way to handle edible, but not presentable in a plated fashion left overs. If they still have the short ribs of beef in mole colorado, get it, get it, get it. The duck flautas are wonderful. I have never been disappointed there. For more traditional fonda economica food, go to their new venture: Cafe Pegaso in Downtown.

If you are the adventurous sort, and it's what's on the plate and not what's on the patrons around you, go to Taqueria Puebla off Webb's Chapel and NW Hwy, behind Goldfinger's. Get the Huaraches or Memelas or Sopes. And a very cold beer. They are almost what you'll find on the street in Puebla de Los Angeles. El Ranchito on Jefferson Blvd at Llewellyn in Oak Cliff. Northern style roasted meats, even good fajitas, and mollejas (sweetbreads) or tripas (intestines) grilled and crisp. Cuquita's used to be wonderful; now it is merely good. It is very, very successful, with a guaranteed crowd, so they apparently feel they can take it a little easy. La Duni on McKinney just north of Knox is interesting, sophisticated in decor, as well as on the plate. One of the few places in Dallas where you can get superb desserts - Dunia Borga's specialty.

High end dining: Aurora (I am in Mexico and missed its opening, however read the 11/19 Dallas Observer review) sounds pricey, but worth it. Avner Samuel, the perennial Bad, Bad Boy of Dallas chefs is likely, along with Sharon Hage at York Street (probably the nicest of Dallas chefs, the most gifted. The menu sounds like a Michelin-starred grease slick of foie gras and caviar, but Avner delivers. which brings me to York Street. This is where the industry people who are focussed on The Food go to dine. It is small, and it is wonderful. Abacus has never failed me either. Kent Rathbun maintains a vein of Asian flavor running through his food, but it doesn't scream "Fusion! I'm so clever! Look at me!" While it looks superb, it will knock your tongue out of your mouth with taste and texture and aroma. Yes, the lobster shooters are grand. But the lamb potstickers were from another galaxy, and the sweetbreads in pancetta, morels and cream made me want to just lie down in the dish. Also, I appreciate the earthy ochers and rich eggplant tones of the decor. You can dress up, or you can dress nicely casual, and be at home either way. His Exec Sous Chef, Aaron Staudenmaier, is now at Rathbun's new restaurant, Jasper's in Plano. It is more family style, but still high end. Aaron is one of the best kept secrets in Dallas - or Texas - kitchens, so I say go for it.

Chinese: Hong Kong Royale on Polk St. just south of Beltline in Richardson has an extensive Sat/Sun dim sum menu - perpetually parading carts of all sorts of common and exotic items, and the majority of the patrons are Asian. Farther up on Greenville, north of Beltline is a whole strip center of Asian/Chinese restaurants. Maxim's also has excellent dim sum, and the Jeng Chi Bakery (pronounced Ren She) has a traditional Chinese menu and a limited, though excellent variety of steamed dumplings.

The Mansion on Turtle Creek is elegant, and maybe the most beautiful venue I have actually seen in Dallas, and the food is good. They've had some problems recently and lost either a Star or a Diamond. They took Southwestern Cuisine to a point, and then for some reason, rather than continuing to mine that incredibly rich gastronomic vein, began to gloss things w/an 'Asian Fusion' motif. It is costly enough that I would rather invest elsewhere, but it is indisputably a major point in the development of fine dining in Dallas.

Lola's I happen to love. Chris Peters (sadly, no known relation) is enormously talented, and a very expansive, passionate chef. It will contine to be wonderful and get 'wonderfuller'.

I know that as soon as I post this I will remember a hundred more places. I will, if you permit me, just come back and tack more on.

As for wine lists, well I guess the Mansion's is the 900 pound gorilla. I love wine. I had an ex who got into it quite seriously (before we were ex), and once cajoled some lawyers on a recruting trip into purchasing an array of wines for our dinner (in Austin, at the oddest of places, Andre's run by a Belgian chef/mercenary who, when he tired of down and dirty hanky panky in Rhodesia, came back to his restaurant to cook. When he was in form, he was exquisite.) It was an embarrassing array of France's finest - and all the guys did was sip occasionally and mostly talk about it. The other wife and I were silent. We just drank. A lot. Most expensive hangover ever, but worth every wince. Sorry. I think the trend now is for good wines of a fair price (and there is a fair price for Latour '61) that match the menu items, rather than simply scream their cost and pedigree. And as a person who loves wine, and who loves wine with their food, that makes two different ways of looking at it. There are wine lists in this town with items listed which totally outstrip the abilities of the kitchen. That is not a good thing. There should be balance.

So in the end, I would suggest you think about whether you want a) food, b) food and wine paired and balanced, or c) wine. The Dallas Dining Scene/Seen does have a lot of participants who effectively place eye candy, trendy plate accessories, and expensive bottles of wine above the food and wine balance, and there are a lot of (short-lived) places that cater to that rather clientele. There are interesting experiences to have in those restaurants as well, and in many, the food is rather good.

Ain't choices grand????

Theabroma

[Scott -- DFW]

Theabroma,

Chris Peters is no longer at Lola. (I'm not sure where he went.) Former sous chef Scott Gottlich is now running things in the main restaurant kitchen. I haven't been to that side of the restaurant since he took over, so I don't know how much has changed.

David Uygur is still in the Tasting Room, though. It'll be a sad day for Dallas dining if/when he leaves.

Scott

[FoodMan]

That’s just GREAT, after I got my heart set on having dinner at Lola’s Tasting Room and getting the 15 course menu, it turns out that the room is booked for a private party on the 24th (the evening of the Dallas get together). So I guess I am debating what I should do next. The main room at Lola’s, Abacus, York St.? Any other suggestions?

Elie

[Raynickben]

First try York Street. It's a small, small place so you may be shut out already. Then try Abacus.

[Scott -- DFW]

Elie,

Before jumping ship, you might ask if they'd be willing to serve you the tasting menu seated elsewhere (e.g., the bar or main dining room). They might be willing to accommodate you. Plead a little. It's worth it.

As for plan B, I would consider Aurora, the Mansion, or Nana. York Street is basically a B-grade Chez Panisse clone--not bad, but not terribly consistent (and, though CP often gets the same complaint, not a great value). Abacus is good, but not inventive. Their menu rotates little these days. Their entrees mostly consist of a slab of meat with a pretty good (but rarely great) side or two. However, they do tend to cook slabs of meat as good as or better than anyone else in town. Their service is the weakest out of all Dallas fine dining spots. Interesting design and decor, but a very noisy experience. Their pastry chef, however, does great breads and occasionally some inspired desserts. I wouldn't try to dissuade you from going to Abacus. But, if you do, I just wanted to let you know what to expect.

Scott

[FoodMan]

Scott-

Thank you for your help. When I called yesterday, I did ask the person on the phone (who was not very friendly and sounded distracted) if I can have a tasting menu in the main dining room and she simply said no. A few minutes ago I called and made reservations for the main dining room anyways since their regular menu looks great and seems to have a very good value ($45 for a 4 course dinner is not bad at all). Unless I decide to cancel this one and try somewhere else, I might take your advice and plead a little; I am coming all the way from Houston to dine there , to see if they would let me have the tasting menu.

Aurora and The Mansion seem a little over my budget. I will check Nana out.

Thanks again

Elie

[Scott -- DFW]

Elie,

Sorry to hear they wouldn't let you in. (Also sorry to hear about the unfriendly service on the phone. That's never been my experience.) The main dining room is a pretty good value, as you noted. However, it's not in the same quality category as the Tasting Room or the other restaurants mentioned. Dishes can be heavy at times. Meats aren't always cooked as precisely as one would like. And it's definitely not a place for the salt averse. Flavors are big, bold, and rich, which can beat down the palate in a hurry, if you don't pick your courses wisely. Still, it's a good restaurant for the money. And it's one of few places you can get luxury ingredients at a moderate price. And, if you're a vinophile, they have a well-respected wine selection. Enjoy.

Scott

[FoodMan]

Scott-

Your help is very much appreciated. I would never have known that about Lola's main dining room. The person on the phone was more like distracted than unfriendly (probably because I called at 4:30 and she might've been busy), it just seemed like she wanted to get me off the phone ASAP. So I will call again at an earlier time and check about getting the Tasting menu in the main dining room. In the mean time I'm keeping my options open.

Elie

[joiei]

Maybe I should try to get a reservation for dinner here after doing the Hong Kong Market excursion. Are they discouraging about single diners? I want to do the 10 course at least, if not the 15.

[FoodMan]

Maybe I should try to get a reservation for dinner here after doing the Hong Kong Market excursion. Are they discouraging about single diners? I want to do the 10 course at least, if not the 15.

The Tasting Room is booked for a private party that night (see my previuos posts). Unless they are willing to offer the Tasting menu at the main dining room both you and us are out of luck.

Elie

[FoodMan]

Well I tried the good folks at Lola again and requested the tasting menu in the main dining room, but they –very nicely- refused again saying that the two restaurants are really separate with different staffs and chefs. So, I decided to get reservations at Nana instead.

Elie

[Scott -- DFW]

Elie,

Oh, well. It was worth a shot.

Nana is a fine restaurant. In addition to consistently good food and service, they have what I consider the most attractive decor of any restaurant in Dallas--modern and sleek (but not flashy), with a tiered floor that gives every table a window view, and Asian art pieces on loan from the Trammel Crow collection. I think you'll be happy with that selection.

Scott

[FoodMan]

I was very pleased with choosing Nana for our dinner destination. The whole dining experience was superb from the top notch service to the great food and the wonderful view.

Our service was flawless, we first had drinks at the bar while we waited for our table to be ready. When we were sat I and greeted we took a quick look at the menu and I inquired if it was at all possible to get the tasting menu in addition to 2 or 3 al la carte menu items so that we can taste different things. The waiter was more than happy to do this for us. I opted not to take the wine pairings and instead asked the young sommelier to recommend a nice wine that would go with our dinner and with our budget. He was also very informative and recommended several bottles. We picked a “La Crema” 2001 Pinot Noir. During dinner both the Maitre D’ and Chef McMillan stopped by our table and we chatted with the chef for a few minutes specifically about the fabulous Foi Gras that he had on the tasting menu. He said they were the only restaurant in TX serving this Sonoma artisan Foi Gras that is produced by the chef who was recently terrorized by the PETA people.

It actually slipped my mind to keep a copy of the tasting menu, so what follows is from memory:

Amuse: not on the tasting menu, a square of dark craker type bread topped with smoked salmon and crème fraiche.

Prime Fillet Tartar, with vinaigrette. Very good and tender my wife could not believe it was not cooked.

Seared Scallop with artichoke puree and meyer lemon emulsion I wish we got more than one scallop, the emulsion was nice and fragrant without being too tangy

Seared Foi Gras with date/walnut conserve. This was the best foi gras I’ve ever had. Absolutely amazing flavor , melt in your mouth feel without the hint of any livery taste. It paired perfectly with the sweet paste type conserve

Basil-Campari Sorbet. It was very nice of them to give us each a scoop of this pink sorbet that tasted amazingly like a shot of basil with grapefruit

Pan Seared veal with black truffle risotto, and Madeira jus. Excellent flavor, my wife pretty much at the whole serving while I enjoyed the skate (see below)

Ripe Munster cheese with some kind of green apple salad and several crackers. Since my wife is not too crazy about ripe cheeses I was more than happy to polish this off.

Pear and dried cherry tart with caramel ice cream. This was the only dish that was not that interesting. The ice cream was very good but the tart, which was made with puff pastry not short paste, was very plain.

A la Carte items:

Lobster in chestnut flour, this was a great dish with nice Asian flavors a thin crust and juicy flesh. I can see why it is one of their signature dishes.

Skate wings, cooked with the classic brown butter and capers with a creamy pink sauce whose name escapes me now (sounded like auroria). While my wife enjoyed the veal I savored every bite of this wonderful fish. Excellent.

Ginger-Cranberry crème brulee. A wonderful dessert that I would love to try and duplicate at home. Creamy and fragrant with ginger.

Chocolate truffles. at the end of the meal.

Iike I said before the whole experience was flawless. I would love to go back when I visit Dallas again.

On Sunday we had brunch at Ciudad were we also had a great meal. I ordered coffee, my wife got the fresh Mango juice with crushed ice. The juice tasted very fresh.

We ordered four different items:

Sweet Potato pancakes with braised bananas and currants, served with their homemade cinnamon spiked syrup. This is another item I would love to try at home. They ware exceptional.

Cabrito taco, also very good with perfectly roasted goat meat

Queso Y Carne omelet, a perfect omlete wrapped around braised beef tips and white cheese. I just thought this needed a little more seasoning.

Pineapple “sandwich”. Two pineapple slices played the role of two bread slices around a filling of strawberries, blueberries, mangoes and papaya. The whole thing was drizzled with raspberry (or was it strawberry) sauce which was very thin and soupy not thick and chunky. This fruit salad of sorts was a great finale.

Elie

[Scott -- DFW]

Elie,

Glad to hear Nana and Ciudad worked out well for you.

Scott

[percyn]

For excellent food, service, and decor Nana in the wyndam anatole is your best bet. the chef and kitchen staff are top notch using the best of ingredients. fois gras and truffles are scattered on the menu like just another ingredient. for a truly great dining experience order the chef's tasting menu which are cleverly paired with sleek wines. it is perched on the 33rd floor where you can also enjoy the dallas skyline.

  abacus is also a fun place. the menu has an asian touch to it. it is an upscale place where you can feel comfortable while dining

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For those interested in Nana restaurant, I just posted by experience from Nov 2004 at the Must eats in Dallas Forum (scroll down a bit).