Hey, Pairesta

"Dining at Flora Street is an odd experience, and not just because the kitchen is so daring. The starters feature playful, even fun dishes. Then the main courses arrive, dull and ordinary, with the kitchen’s endless array of techniques no longer apparent."

This was my exact problem with Stephan Pyles restaurant, too. Great apps (those ceviches!) but the mains seemed like they were being bussed in from some other restaurant. And, looks like he's doubled down on the menu expense as well. How was the wine list?

I really liked and miss Samar. Much more memorable than Pyles' namesake, and more affordable too.

Rathbun is also having a bit of a meltdown, it would seem. At least Fearing hasn't gone crazy (yet), but then he was always the most boring of them. 

Yeah, WTF with Rathbun? That's an epic lawsuit coming.

I have never had a drop of interest in eating Fearing's food, but he knows where his bread is buttered and just sticks to it. "Yep, tortilla soup? Got it. Lobster tamales? It's there. Lemme put on my cowboy boots, walk around the dining room and smile, and cash that check." Ditto his Houston counterpart, Robert Del Grande.

Thanks for this. (And thanks LazBro ) I felt much more confident going forward with this based on your comments about Stephan Pyles (the namesake restaurant, not the dude personally) and another food-crazy friend who said that his January visit to Stephan Pyles was the worst meal he's had in 2016 (the phrase "bored to tears" was used).

The wine list is preposterously huge, basically unmanageable, but the somm knows them all so well she can ask what food you got, ask the table if you have any faves/aversions, and quickly rattle off the 4-5 things she'd recommend. Also there's a concise page listing just her favorites and that really should suffice just about anybody. We got some good $40-50 wines even though she tried steering us to the $150 ones.

Not sure what's going on in Rathbunland or what the big spat with his co-partners was, but I do understand him suing. It's weird not to have the copyright to your own freaking name, and have other people run a restaurant with your name on it. Have not yet been to a Fearing place.

Maybe I'm oversimplifying, but is the Pyles "Southwestern cuisine" invented in the '80s basically just good Mex-Mex with steaks? Pyles & Co. might be feeling pressure to play catch-up now that a younger generation has sped past them.

I think the review is totally on point, regardless of my previous experiences. You laid out exactly what problems you had with what dishes and the service; you clearly know what you were talking about. I certainly don't envy you though going up against a titan in the industry, but you also made clear you admire and respect the man, even though there are definite problems.

I love our Houston Chronicle critic, because she does a similar thing. She doesn't relish giving bad reviews or just trash a place. She's always very pointed in how something could be better. She encourages the dining scene and the chefs rather than hold it at arms' length.


Pretty close, but I'd say it was more the cuisine of New Mexico than Tex Mex. But yeah, definitely "something with steak!"
It's one of those things that got aped so much so quickly that it's hard to look back at it as ever being anything new. But the four chefs that are credited with it (Pyles, Fearing, Del Grande, and Anne Lindsay Greer) fused noveau cuisine with the more rustic styles of cooking in the southwest. Basically the big contribution was bringing in the chile, either fresh or dried, and adding it to more refined dishes.

I don't know, but in your will, could you specify that I take over your career if you were to somehow die suddenly and unexpectedly, like being smashed?

Really awesome restaurant + craft beer bar The Common Table is opening a 2nd location literally across the street from my new office in Frisco. Oof, the temptation to step in and get a rare, off-the-beaten-path beer at lunchtime is going to be rough. 

Oh man! I actually won't be far from the Grail either. I fudged a little above in that the The Common Table will be across the street from my new office after we move in October. We're moving to Hall Office Park, which is at 121 and the Tollway, maybe 5 minutes from the Grail.

It's right next to the new Cowboys training facility, The Star, which is where The Common Table will be, along with a new Neighborhood Services, a Dee Lincoln place, a Liberty Burger and a gastropub out of Chicago Minneapolis called City Works which also boasts 100+ beers.

Too bad I work for a Mormon company and have zero chance of getting approval on beer lunches, even if only once a week/month/year.

Yep, the new building. Oh man! Weird!

Yeah, I'm out in Wylie. It's a haul, but it will actually be better after the move. Right now my office is even further west in Frisco on Main. Barring an absolute traffic calamity, this will be an upgrade in every way.

Mmmmm, Platia is great, if pricey (but aren't all Greek joints? Have you noticed that?). Our COO is Greek, so she loves that place.

ELEVEN YEARS I LIVED THERE AND THE MINUTE I MOVE THEY PULL THIS SHIT

As they mention, there are multiple ways to look at the situation. Sure, there's the nostalgia factor that food used to cost X, so it still should. And yes, you can say that rent, wages, etc drive the price. However, a lot of ethnic food (in my case, I'll talk about Salvadoran and Dominican food, since those are my culture) is (or was) priced cheap because the time and cost of making these dishes was low. Not to say they're not good, and not to say that it doesn't take skill, but places used to be able to sell pupusas (filled tortilla) for $1 and make a profit. Once I start seeing pupusas start trending, and the price trending along with them, I will gladly take to the streets (or internets) with my pitchfork in hand. 

Somebody walked into Knife last night, complained that the cocktails were too small, then complained that the raw oysters were too small, and said, "I'm the Dallas Observer food critic. These oysters are too small. I'm leaving now so I don't have to give you a bad review" and stormed out of the restaurant.

Tesar contacted us. I told my editor I was at a different place, furnished a receipt to prove it, and we got a little more info from him. We asked him to check if the anon guy paid or ditched, and if he paid, did he use a credit card with a name. No word back yet.

So crazy. People are crazy.