What a Dish!
Every good restaurant has at least one great specialty. Here are 66 choices for Texas’ best eating.
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Actually, the poblano chile, chicken filling, and fried batter are inconsequential. What diners crave is the incomparably gooey mass of melted yellow cheese, sour cream, pecans, raisins, and raw onion rings on top. Knowledgeable customers at this frantic Tex-Mex emporium order extra pecans and raisins on the side. $6.50. 2613 S. Lamar (462-9333).
Sunday Brunch
Fonda San Miguel
As you scan the lovely buffet tables, you realize that hardly anything—save omelets and guacamole—is familiar. Then you begin to appreciate the lavish variety of this Mexican spread. Bowls and chafing dishes beg you to try the likes of mahogany-hued Anaheim chiles (stuffed with ricotta and cottage cheese and topped with caramelized onions); chilled fish tikin xic with a russet achiote coating; corn pudding—a heavenly mush browned on the outside, golden within; and crisp strips of jicama with mango bits and a dash of chile powder. The list goes on for three dozen offerings. Best surprise? The price, a mere $16.95 for all you could possibly eat. 2330 W. North Loop (459-4121).
Salsas
Evita’s
This hole in the wall is serious about salsas. A variety is arrayed with tostadas on a two-tiered serving tray. After initiating yourself with familiar varieties like classic tomatillo and chunky tomato-onion-jalapeño, you’re ready for a run at fiery guajillo, smoky chipotle, sultry ancho, unforgiving chilepequín, and nippy árbol. The restaurant imports its chiles from Mexico, and the selection varies from day to day. Complimentary with meals. 5610 N. Lamar (452-6207) and 6400 S. First (441-2424).
Thai Curry Chicken
Jeffrey’s
A recurring note in chef Raymond Tatum’s eclectic repertoire is the chile, whether it is pumping up a French classic or igniting his famous Thai curry. To make the curry, he braises thinly sliced chicken breasts in a torrid curry-paste-and-coconut-milk-based sauce. At the last minute he stirs in julienne bamboo shoots and roasted peanuts. The incendiary brew also appears with other meats, including lamb and pork. $14.95. 1204 West Lynn (477-5584).
Hyde Park Fudge Cake
Texas French Bread Bakery
Moist as dew, smooth as velvet, sweet as your first kiss, TFB’s lush chocolate cake is picnic-perfect. $1 a slice, $15 for a whole cake. 2900 Rio Grande (499-0544) and three other locations.
Pollo Pazzo Pizza
Sfuzzi
First, yeasty pizza dough (the plump, airy type as opposed to the crisp, crunchy type) is swathed in mozzarella and Romano. Then, grilled chicken, diced tomatoes, salty calamata olives, and sweet, stringy caramelized onions are strewn across the top. Punctuating each bite is a garnish of minced garlic, lemon zest, and tiny, pungent wild oregano leaves that are as green as the minute they were picked. The modish restaurant’s spiced ice tea washes it down nicely. $9.75. 311 W. Sixth (476-8100).
Barbecued Pork Loin
Kreuz Market
Salty, sweet, and swimming in its juices, this is simply the best piece of barbecue in the world. After standing in line by the glowing pits to order, customers—like the meat and the ancient building—are also thoroughly smoked. $6.90 a pound. 208 S. Commerce, Lockhart (512-398-2361).
Galveston
Peppered Shrimp
Benno’s
Peppered shrimp is the dish of choice at this converted Burger Chef on the water. Some fifteen pink medium shrimp are briefly boiled, then sautéed in the shell with butter, a whiff of tarragon, and a grind of black pepper. Utterly simple, utterly delicious. It’s a lot of calories, but most people work them off peeling the slippery little critters. $7.25. 1200 Seawall Boulevard (762-4621).
Stuffed Flounder
Gaido’s
The enormous mound of shrimp or crap stuffing rises out of the flat fish like a volcanic island, complete with steam issuing from the top. To eat it you must play a game of skill, involving a knife, fork, and flounder anatomy, the point of which is to recover the maximum amount of flesh with the minimum amount of bone. Your reward is the most wantonly succulent seafood between the coasts. $20.45. 3800 Seawall Boulevard (762-9625).
El Paso
Pierna de Cordera Adobada
Paso del Norte
Be prepared. An entire lamb shank will be served. Moist and rich, the meat finds its perfect accompaniment in the pungent red-chile crust and sauce that envelop it. The twenty-minute preparation time can be spent basking in the Spanish colonial setting and having your every need anticipated by waiters who occasionally seem to be psychic. Approximately $13, depending on the exchange rate. 3650 Hermanos Escobar, Juárez (011-52-161-3-4034).
Homemade Thousand Island Dressing
Billy Crews
Forget every bad thought you’ve ever had about Thousand Island dressing. This steakhouse’s masterwork, made with mayonnaise, celery, chunks of boiled egg, and other secret ingredients, is barely pink and has an absolutely voluptuous flavor. “Waiter, we’ll have the Thousand Island dressing. Hold the lettuce.” $2.75. 1200 Country Club Road (589-2071).
Dallas
Spinach Ravioli
Deep Ellum Cafe
Candlelight flickers off the brick walls and old wooden tabletops as diners descend in hordes to order the cafe’s trademark comfort-food-with-a-flair. Among the appetizers, the ravioli stands out—fat little pasta pillows filled to bursting with ricotta and a whisper of fresh spinach, then lavished with cream sauce and chopped walnuts. $4.95. 2704 Elm (741-9012).
Chiles Rellenos
Mia’s
Mia’s coveted chiles rellenos appear only on Tuesday nights because, as one waiter explained, “they’re too damn hard to make.” About two hundred enormous hand-selected poblano peppers are stuffed with ground beef, raisins, bell peppers, tomatoes, almonds, and potatoes. Each is dipped in egg batter, fried, smothered in ranchero sauce, and topped with melted Monterey Jack. The beef version is served until the supply runs out (about seven in the evening), but the happy secret is that special orders are still taken in advance for the chicken- or cheese-only versions, which many people actually prefer. $7.95. 4322 Lemmon Avenue (526-1020).
Smoked Shrimp
The Mansion on Turtle Creek
Chef Dean Fearing transforms the humble ingredients of Tex-Mex food into showstopping Southwestern cuisine at Dallas’ temple of haute cuisine and high society. Fat, sassy smoked shrimp are marinated in a sauce that contains poblanos, jalapeños, onion, cilantro, and lime juice, and placed smartly atop a bed of pinto beans with freshly made ranchero sauce. Mild tamale spoon bread offers a soothing counterpoint to the pyrotechnics of the main course. $27.50. 2821 Turtle Creek Boulevard (526-2121).
Beer Biscuits
Barbec’s
Perfect strangers stand khaki-to-denim on weekend mornings at the door to this Whiterock-area cafe, waiting their turn to tear into an order of Barbec’s incomparable beer biscuits. Each of these fluffy behemoths yields a good twelve to fourteen cubic inches of biscuit—as opposed to more ordinary versions’ seven to ten—and they have a rich, yeasty taste that makes it hard to stop eating. Three with sausage gravy, $3.25. 8949 Garland Road (321-5597).
Grilled Catfish
La Calle Doce
This Oak Cliff establishment could hardly be typecast as a typical Mexican restaurant. The Victorian house is gracefully decorated in blues and whites, and the menu is devoted to seafood. Marinated and grilled catfish is the best catch—crunchily charred on the outside and sinfully succulent on the inside. $9.50. 415 W. Twelfth (941-4304).
Apple Pancake
The Original Pancake House
The Original Pancake House is part of a chain, but that doesn’t mean all the offerings are standard. Order the apple pancake for the shock value of seeing your server sweep through the room holding aloft the plate-size, oven-baked billow of pancake, Granny Smith apples, cinnamon, and sugar. $5.95. 4343 W. Northwest Highway (351-2012) and 5100 Beltline (385-6468).
Baked Squash
Highland Park Cafeteria
Just try imagining the baked squash at the Highland Park Cafeteria shortly before lunch- or dinnertime, and then try staying away. It simply can’t be done. The oniony, buttery, creamy concoction is probably the single most popular item at the landmark Dallas cafeteria. Yellow crookneck squash are sliced and cooked with butter and a slew of sweet sautéed onions, then topped with lightly browned, crunched-up butter crackers and served in a bowl that always seems too small. $1.09. 4611 Cole Avenue, at Knox (526-3801), other locations at Casa Linda Plaza (1200 N. Buckner Boulevard) and Lincoln Plaza (500 N. Akard).
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