LazBro
Prolific Poster 
Posts: 10,280 
Member is Online
|
Post by LazBro on Feb 29, 2016 9:05:54 GMT -5
What I love is that this reads like an A.V. Club comment section until Tesar shows up and spoils the fun. He's like the Fatman of Dallas. I fully believe he'll send in pictures of him cutting himself if Brenner gives him another bad review.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on Mar 1, 2016 14:12:36 GMT -5
What I love is that this reads like an A.V. Club comment section until Tesar shows up and spoils the fun. He's like the Fatman of Dallas. I fully believe he'll send in pictures of him cutting himself if Brenner gives him another bad review. I've been too embarrassed to ask this, but: "young, hip and buckshot" is an autocorrect for bullshit, right? Or is buckshot a slang word that people use in this situation? |
|
|
|
Post by pairesta on Mar 17, 2016 16:40:54 GMT -5
Stephan Pyles is closing at the end of April. Article says it's been common knowledge for a while but I had no idea. We went there twice. First time it was fantastic. Second time, apps were good the entrees were subpar. Pyles himself worked the room and came up to thank us for coming out. Never did eat at the chef's table he ran there for a bit. Their wine list was punishingly expensive though. You guys gonna try to go?
|
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on Mar 17, 2016 17:23:27 GMT -5
Stephan Pyles is closing at the end of April. Article says it's been common knowledge for a while but I had no idea. We went there twice. First time it was fantastic. Second time, apps were good the entrees were subpar. Pyles himself worked the room and came up to thank us for coming out. Never did eat at the chef's table he ran there for a bit. Their wine list was punishingly expensive though. You guys gonna try to go? A friend of mine went last month and said it was the worst (!) dining experience he's had so far in 2016. He said some of the food was OK, but it just wasn't a $150 meal, and there were very few menu items that he was excited to order, as opposed to things that every other restaurant in town does now. Hearing all that, I understood why Pyles wants to get a fresh start. |
|
LazBro
Prolific Poster
Posts: 10,280
Member is Online
|
Post by LazBro on Mar 17, 2016 17:35:26 GMT -5
We went several years ago and had a great time, but nah. Even if we had the cash, like Ronny says, there are so many new places to try now. I do wish Samar, his Spanish-African-Indian tapas place, was still open. Had a terrific meal at the bar overlooking the kitchen there.
|
|
|
|
Post by Judkins Moaner on Mar 17, 2016 17:50:19 GMT -5
Making Texas chili right now and thinking of y'all (sorry LazBro ). Smells great and I'm listening to Doug Sahm for that full St. Patrick's Day experience (that's a Texan holiday, right?). Importunately thanked all the Texans I know on Facebook and am already getting goofy-ass responses. |
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on Mar 17, 2016 21:11:31 GMT -5
BTW I went to GangNam Sushi House in Carrollton today and ordered the Gangnam Style roll. The manager/waiter grinned when I asked for it. But you know what? It delivered. It was a horse-twerking parking garage dance-off explosion of awesome flavor.
EDIT: It's a crab asparagus avocado roll topped with four kinds of sashimi and two kinds of fish roe, including what Google informs me was whole salmon ovaries.
EDIT 2: They also have a "Coconut Gigolo roll". It contains coconut, obviously. And shrimp tempura, and salmon. And peanut butter.
|
|
|
|
Post by Judkins Moaner on Mar 17, 2016 21:32:47 GMT -5
EDIT 2: They also have a "Coconut Gigolo roll". It contains coconut, obviously. And shrimp tempura, and salmon. And peanut butter. I can't stand coconut, but the rest of that sounds friggin' awesome. There's a sushi place in town that does a cream-cheese roll. It's pretty good. |
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on Mar 18, 2016 17:27:35 GMT -5
Hey LazBro today for lunch I went to a Peruvian place and had "papa rellena", a.k.a. a deep-fried meat-stuffed onion-slathered mashed potato ball with fearsome hot sauce. So basically, go to a Peruvian place. |
|
|
|
Post by Ben Grimm on Mar 18, 2016 18:28:45 GMT -5
Is it bad that I always hear the title to this thread to the tune of "Hey, Soul Sister?"
Yes. Yes it is.
|
|
dＬᵒ
Prolific Poster
𝓐𝓻𝓮 𝓦𝓮 𝓒𝓸𝓸𝓵 𝓨𝓮𝓽?
Posts: 4,533
|
Post by dＬᵒ on Mar 18, 2016 23:32:05 GMT -5
Is it bad that I always hear the title to this thread to the tune of "Hey, Soul Sister?" Yes. Yes it is. My company does contract work to funeral homes, and for some reason they all pipe the music (and the service) to the backroom. I hate that song because it's the song of choice for when a teen/twenty something dies, and they'll just play that on a loop, even when they the service is done because they're too lazy to turn it off. Other terrible loop songs they do are: 'On Eagle's Wings' and 'How do I live without you' [the not Trisha Yearwood version]. |
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on Apr 8, 2016 14:03:33 GMT -5
|
|
LazBro
Prolific Poster
Posts: 10,280
Member is Online
|
Post by LazBro on Apr 12, 2016 8:18:02 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on Apr 12, 2016 11:57:08 GMT -5
My friends were like, "If this place is really good, we're gonna have to drive like an hour to get here, and that will be terrible. So we want it to be bad." |
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on Apr 12, 2016 22:18:32 GMT -5
Okay, the outpouring of loyal customer support & love on this place's Facebook page right now is super heartwarming. |
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on Apr 13, 2016 10:03:24 GMT -5
Chef Matt McCallister's wife posted this on Facebook, then quickly deleted it, but not quickly enough to beat me:
If you are BROKE and your restaurant does over 3 mil a year and you are on your third restaurant...tip PAY BACK your first investors and 2 maybe get out of the business or 3 go get a job working for someone that is not broke and learn from them how to be a success in the restaurant business. Just a thought.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on May 6, 2016 10:38:24 GMT -5
Interesting week for Dallas restaurant reviewers. For one thing, I officially took over as the Observer's regular critic (woop). But for another, Leslie Brenner docked Lucia down to 4 stars, leaving only two 5-star joints, Uchi and FT33. My boss Beth responded with this blistering attack on Leslie and her star ratings: www.dallasobserver.com/restaurants/leslie-brenner-stripped-lucia-of-a-star-but-does-it-matter-8277808"A restaurant's number of stars says nothing. So why do we perpetuate the myth that it does? I understand why DMN would refer to a restaurant as 4-star — it's their critic, after all — but why does Eater buy into it? We are, after all, able to think for ourselves. Why does anyone care?...aside from the fact that it lacks nuance, it perpetuates this idea that critics are omniscient, all powerful beings." Stay tuned to see if Leslie responds... |
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on May 6, 2016 10:39:59 GMT -5
If I had to award star ratings, I would shit my pants in terror. The anxiety and frustration of choosing the stars would take at least as much time as writing the review.
|
|
|
|
Post by pairesta on May 6, 2016 11:30:00 GMT -5
Interesting week for Dallas restaurant reviewers. For one thing, I officially took over as the Observer's regular critic (woop). But for another, Leslie Brenner docked Lucia down to 4 stars, leaving only two 5-star joints, Uchi and FT33. My boss Beth responded with this blistering attack on Leslie and her star ratings: www.dallasobserver.com/restaurants/leslie-brenner-stripped-lucia-of-a-star-but-does-it-matter-8277808"A restaurant's number of stars says nothing. So why do we perpetuate the myth that it does? I understand why DMN would refer to a restaurant as 4-star — it's their critic, after all — but why does Eater buy into it? We are, after all, able to think for ourselves. Why does anyone care?...aside from the fact that it lacks nuance, it perpetuates this idea that critics are omniscient, all powerful beings." Stay tuned to see if Leslie responds... Wow! Congratulations! Man, I feel sorry for Brenner. She's got Tesar actively working to get her fired, a band of restrauteurs has banned her from their restaurants, and critics at the rival publications all seem to hate her. I mean, I guess you put all that together and should deduce that where there's smoke there's fire, but I just feel bad. Even though I have strongly disagreed with her in the past (dismissing The Grape; docking Pecan Lodge for its wine service). And I'm old school so I like the star ratings; it's just how my mind works. Here in Houston (where our local paper's critic is almost as reviled), they go by this three star system that makes no sense. |
|
|
|
Post by pairesta on May 6, 2016 11:34:10 GMT -5
And another thing: Lucia sure wasn't a 5 star when we went there. Very clearly had VIP tables and then us scrubs. Our server abandoned us once he sniffed out that we weren't a big bucks table, only to return once the restaurant emptied out and tell us how much he hates working there.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on May 6, 2016 11:56:37 GMT -5
Wow! Congratulations! Man, I feel sorry for Brenner. She's got Tesar actively working to get her fired, a band of restrauteurs has banned her from their restaurants, and critics at the rival publications all seem to hate her. I mean, I guess you put all that together and should deduce that where there's smoke there's fire, but I just feel bad. Even though I have strongly disagreed with her in the past (dismissing The Grape; docking Pecan Lodge for its wine service). And I'm old school so I like the star ratings; it's just how my mind works. Here in Houston (where our local paper's critic is almost as reviled), they go by this three star system that makes no sense. THREE?! What?! I get stars in theory. The trouble is practice - for one thing, there's no way in hell I'm personally qualified to assign stars, which seems like it requires different skills than writing and honest reportage. There are star-rating-assigners I really respect (Pete Wells), but Leslie has issues. She's brought some much-needed attention to things that were weak in the Dallas dining scene, like cruddy wine service at allegedly fine-dining places. But she also has a lot of personal quirks and peeves and catnips, which is okay, except that she isn't self-aware about them and doesn't acknowledge that they're personal things rather than Big Deals. (Also, they tend to be #firstworldproblems. The number of places she's cut down because they lacked valet parking...) She knows food, and she knows a lot about food-related issues. If there's a fair argument against her, beyond "her taste isn't the same as mine!" "she didn't give me enough stars!", it's that she tends to mistake the subjective for the objective. Oh wait another one: for her, restaurants are all about the chefs. It's a bit personality cult-ish, and frequently personal, which might account for the Tesar and other spats. For me, a bigger problem is that if you only read Brenner, you'd assume that Tesar, McCallister, etc. are the only people cooking your food. |
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on May 6, 2016 11:57:16 GMT -5
And another thing: Lucia sure wasn't a 5 star when we went there. Very clearly had VIP tables and then us scrubs. Our server abandoned us once he sniffed out that we weren't a big bucks table, only to return once the restaurant emptied out and tell us how much he hates working there. WOW damn. I had a friend go recently and she said it was all great until they got some cruddy desserts. |
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on May 6, 2016 13:51:37 GMT -5
And another thing: Lucia sure wasn't a 5 star when we went there. Very clearly had VIP tables and then us scrubs. Our server abandoned us once he sniffed out that we weren't a big bucks table, only to return once the restaurant emptied out and tell us how much he hates working there. I asked my friend to clarify about her experience. "The dessert was terribly horrible, inedible. It was pumpkin puree with pistachios and chocolate chips that was described as "pumpkin pie without the crust" but in no way was custardy or even properly seasoned/sweetened. It was baby food, more or less. It made me very sad." |
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on May 14, 2016 8:48:16 GMT -5
So my friend Eric and I were in the Bishop Arts neighborhood last night getting drunk, and everywhere seemed curiously empty - like Boulevardier had only 3 covers. So after splitting a bottle of champagne and chasing it with two cocktails each, Eric said, "We could go to Lucia," and I like a drunk said "Ha! Okay," and they seated us! I should note that he was in a plain gray T and cargo shorts.
My memories of the food are just a little hazy, but we had a cutting, acidic bottle of chianti, and we made a conscious decision to load up on the snacks and pasta and skip the main course dishes. The foie-gras-stuffed prunes - such perfect sweet-tart bites, so harmonious, they're $1 each and next time I'll have a popcorn bowl of them - razor clams wrapped in crispy artichokes, which was super cool; and to my amazement, "pasturma." "It's a Turkish spice cured meat," our waitress said. "I know, I'm Turkish, bring it!" I said. And they NAILED it.
You'll have to go to a Middle Eastern grocery and pick up a package. Pasturma, or pastirma, or basturma, etc., is the ancestor of pastrami, and although it doesn't taste like pastrami, it has the same idea of an earthier, peppery cured meat slice, with a dusky bit of spice that needles your tongue just a bit. Anyway, Lucia nailed the spice mix - I could take my mom - but they used a better, fattier cut of meat than the Turks do.
Now I feel like a loser because I can't remember the pastas. I remember they were really good, but...next time I go to Lucia, I'll start the drinking there, not end up there. OH! One of them had lamb ragu! That was nummy.
Must say, the waitstaff treated us well - they apparently thought we were merely enthusiastic and expressive guys. Or they were amused by us.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on Jun 2, 2016 14:32:43 GMT -5
Kent Rathbun just suddenly/mysteriously resigned from his own self-titled restaurant company and left the kitchen at Abacus too.
|
|
|
|
Post by pairesta on Jun 3, 2016 15:05:11 GMT -5
Kent Rathbun just suddenly/mysteriously resigned from his own self-titled restaurant company and left the kitchen at Abacus too. Damn your scoopery, food journalist! I was just coming here to post this. Weird. |
|
|
|
Post by pairesta on Jun 3, 2016 15:11:11 GMT -5
So I lived in Dallas for 15 years and yet coveted the Houston dining scene the whole time. Then right when I move down here, the hipster butcher shop I loved to go to converted to a restaurant and minimized its meat offerings. So now I'm left yearning for Local Yocal again.
An odd trend here has been in the past year or so a whole bunch of Dallas concepts opening up. We've gotten a Cane Rosso, Velvet Taco, Toulouse, and shortly will have an International Pancake House open. I'm still waiting for Babe's to wise up and open a franchise out here.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ron Howard Voice on Jun 24, 2016 16:15:09 GMT -5
Heading to Stephan Pyles' new fancy pantsy place tonight. Thank god a newspaper is paying for it because this is one of the most expensive places in Dallas www.florastreet.com/ |
|
LazBro
Prolific Poster
Posts: 10,280
Member is Online
|
Post by LazBro on Jun 24, 2016 18:16:49 GMT -5
Heading to Stephan Pyles' new fancy pantsy place tonight. Thank god a newspaper is paying for it because this is one of the most expensive places in Dallas www.florastreet.com/I really hate their menu design. Oh, and TELL US EVERYTHING! |
|
LazBro
Prolific Poster
Posts: 10,280
Member is Online
|
Post by LazBro on Jun 24, 2016 18:31:27 GMT -5
Small Brewpub. First time. FANTASTIC.
We started with the "whole beast," their nightly special dedicated to the weird parts of the animal. This time it was a pig face and guts terrine, gussied up with about a million accoutre-Frenchwords. Pickled carrots and onions, tomato seed reduction, green elderberries. It was probably in the top 5 fanciest looking plates I've ever had. Sorry, no pics, but it was just incredible.
Next was fried wild mushrooms with sunflower seed puree. OMG. The mushrooms were chantrelles and hen-of-the-woods. Perfectly fried. Incredibly light, with no interior ring of moisture causing a batter slide. I wonder if they roast them off first or something to reduce the water content. Anyway, great as that was, the real star for me was the sunflower seed puree. See, in my youth and even occasionally now, I will destroy a bag of un-shelled sunflower seeds. I LOVE that flavor. This, as best I can tell, was just roasted sunflower seeds pureed with (I'm guessing) sunflower oil and salt. It was amazing.
Next was the cheese board. Memory fails honestly, but the star was a feather light goat cheese. Like, it was as light as whipped cream, but it wasn't actually whipped. It was just that soft and decadent. Mrs. Snape dubbed it the best cheese she has ever had. Oh yeah, and it was coated with black pepper and juniper.
Next was pasta. Purse-shaped ravioli (it's a different name but I don't remember. Badger probably knows.) filled with black pepper ricotta, shiitake mushrooms, served over fava beans and topped with leeks. So flavorful. Like, we both commented that they were so flavorful we almost couldn't eat them. Not salty per say, just strong. Anyway, great.
Beers: Small IPA, a Stout that's not on their menu and I forget the name. The IPA was very good. West coast, hoppy, good. Served too warm. The stout was a bit of beginner stout, but nice roast character. Served at the same temp, but it made sense for that beer.
Restaurant was EMPTY. Like, really empty. It was just us the whole time. I felt bad. But service and food were still great. Hope they're doing okay.
Sorry for rambling. It's Friday night and the kid's out of town, so you can guess why from there.
Manti. That's the pasta shape/name. Manti.
|
|
