From: jacob@ponder.csci.unt.edu (Tom Jacob)
Subject: Re: Dallas Restaurants
Organization: University of North Texas, Denton
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 20:00:16 GMT

A few remarks about Jeff Baron's comments:

-- denotes my original posting
- denotes Jeff's comments

-- Arcodoro (2520 Cedar Springs). Hip cafe-bar with casual pizza-sandwich-salad
--      menu. Inexpensive to moderate.
-
-Quite good food, but it's noisy; almost as noisy as its sister,
-Pomodoro, next door, which means you can't really have a real
-conversation.  I'm convinced by the decor that they do everything
-they can to make it seem crowded via the noise, even when it's not.

I agree completely about the noise.

-- The Grape (2808 Greenville). Wine bar with food that has been all over
--      the map in the last few years. Seems to be heading back in a
--      Mediterranean direction with more French-style butter and cream
-
-For a wine bar, the wine list here is very, VERY, mediocre.

Also true. This is an old standby and I may rate it a bit too high, but I
always enjoy going there. I forgot to mention earlier that you can get
reduced servings of most entrees at a reduced price.

-- Main Street News (2934 Main in Deep Ellum). Part deli, part bistro.
--      Generally very good food with southern French and northern Italian
--      accents. Imaginative salads. One of the happening places right now.
--      Moderate.
-
-I really wanted to like this place, I swear, and I went there 
-*FOUR* times, three times at dinner, and once for lunch.  I
-*never* had good food, including one trip where both appetizers 
-and one entree had to be sent back.  I once had some "faux"
-cassoulet, with pork and white beans, the only problem being that
-it was almost all white beans; two, count'em, two pieces of 
-stew size pork.  The service is also very lackluster, IMNSHO.

I think that Jeff and I have a fundamental difference here. I'll admit that
I was probably a little too enthusiastic in calling the food very good --
generally good is more like it. I've been there about 6 times and always
liked it, including the white beans with pork (mine had about 3 oz of pork).
It's not the best dish on their menu though.

-IN ADDITION, the sous chef for MSN now writes the restaurant
-column for the Dallas Observer.  When questioned about this,
-the Observer stated that she would not be reviewing her own
-places.  Sure.  Why not just have William Faulkner review an
-Ernest Hemingway novel.  It's the same thing.

The Observer made a big mistake here. So far I have not been too much in
disagreement with her reviews and she's probably trying her best to be
objective, but you just can't help thinking that a lack of complete
objectivity is going to be there. Too bad. Dallas could use a good
restaurant reviewer; we haven't had a decent one since the Times-Herald
folded.

-- Avner's (2515 McKinney). Moderate to expensive. Much of the offerings have
--      a Pacific Rim influence at the moment. Reservations advised.
-
-I've been here twice, and enjoyed it both times, although the
-tables are *very* close together.  The Pacific Rim influence
-is liable to continue forever, according to published interviews
-with Samuel Avner.

This is probably my favorite Dallas restaurant right now.

-- Baby Routh (2708 Routh). Sibling of Routh Street Cafe offers good
--      Southwestern menu in classy casual setting. Moderate to expensive.
--      Reservations advised.
-
-I know the chef here, so I'm not unbiased.  The food is very
-good, but the wine list, while containing some very good 
-choices, is among the most expensive that I've seen in any
-city, including New York.  I guess people don't mind paying
-$34 for a $10 bottle.

If the chef Jeff is referring to is Kevin Rathbun, then he has moved to the
Landmark Cafe in the Melrose Hotel (my other favorite Dallas restaurant
right now). Rathbun is just back from several weeks in Bangkok, so his food
is heavily Pacific rim right now.

-I like Good Eats foremost of all places.  Simple food, to be
-sure, but it's well prepared and it tastes natural, like
-food should taste.  There's no real atmosphere to any of
-them, though, but the food is better than either Dixie House
-or The Blackeyed Pea.

I should have mentioned Good Eats in my earlier post. I agree with Jeff,
EXCEPT that I like Lucky's (in the original Good Eats location on Oak Lawn)
better than Good Eats right now. To me, it's more like the old Good Eats
that I knew and loved than the current Good Eats are.

-The Dream Cafe is also a once-every-other-month haunt, which is
-frequent for me.  The food is good, but the portions are on
-the small side, and I have to have soup, salad, entree, and 
-dessert to fill up.  This, plus wine, can easily run $75 for 2.

This is a place that I deliberately left out of my original list. Except
for breakfast, which is great, this place has always disappointed me.
I can't recommend it for lunch or dinner.

-As far as Mexican food goes, there's plenty of it, and it comes
-in all flavors and all price ranges, from Javier's to Pappasito's
-to Chuy's (my favorite) to La Suprema, the "natural" Mexican
-restaurant, a contradiction if ever there was one.  Dallas
-does do Mexican food well, unlike (IMO) Italian food.  You simply
-have to like Mexican food.

La Suprema is another place I find disappointing. I should like it, as well
as the Dream Cafe (we cook natural most of the time at home -- my wife seems
to be returning to her California roots and dragging me with her), but
their food just turns me off. For "natural", I prefer Agnew's, the
Bluebonnet Cafe in Whole Foods Grocery, or Phil's in Deep Ellum.

I agree completely about Italian restaurants. As I said in my original post,
Mi Piaci is the only place with really good Italian food, but it is a very
flawed restaurant. Osteria da Momo and 311 Lombardi are acceptable but no
better than that. And don't even bother looking for a good espresso in Dallas.

Tom Jacob
Department of Computer Science
University of North Texas

Newsgroups: rec.food.restaurants