Pat’s Pick
Pat's Pick
Pat's Pick
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ORIENT EXCESS What a piece of work: towering walls draped in burgundy velvet, colossal silver candelabra, track lighting worthy of The Phantom of the Opera—I fully expected the servers to burst into song. Its name an amalgam of "dragon" and "lion," The Drálion is exploiting Dallas' culinary trend du jour, Asian-American fusion. Some dishes at this offshoot of hot spot Steel succeed admirably: fantastically tender elk filet in a honey-juniper berry marinade, garlic-spiked sugar snap peas sautéed in sesame oil to a perfect crispness, golden fries with a dusting of tamarind and paprika. Others, however, need help: Turmeric-and-coriander-seasoned butterflied prawns proved utterly bland, while "jumbo" scallops were hardly that and unevenly cooked to boot, though they did come in a yummy coconut-milk Thai curry. The best thing so far? A poached pear filled with crème anglaise on a luscious, clove-scented reduction of mandarin-orange liqueur, a dessert special. Given that former pastry chef Brad Garsee is now overseeing the entire kitchen, the sweet triumph is no surprise. So take plenty of American dollars and enjoy the show.
PATRICIA SHARPE
Best Fests
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THE MEAT OF THE MATTER Everyone has an opinion on what makes the best barbecue, and nowhere is this argument more intense than at a barbecue cookoff. In Texas there are more than 100 cookoffs a year, some 25 in May alone. Two of the more unusual ones focus on something besides Texas' ever-popular beef brisket. In the north-central town of Electra, the Electra Goat Barbecue and Craft Show (which celebrates twenty years on May 9 and 10) explores the culinary possibilities of cabrito. Democratically, it also includes contests for brisket, pork spare ribs, and chicken. Pork rib fanatics should head to the Central Texas town of Early on May 23 and 24 for the Rib Burn Off, where folks compete in three divisions: baby back, spare, and country-style (a big chunk of meat with no bone). Attendees can sample the goods or buy a barbecue plate from the local Kiwanis club. But the real fun is hearing contestants' battle stories, the result of a long night of drinking and smoking (meat, mind you).
PATRICIA BUSA MCCONNICO
2003 Texas Cook-Offs
International Barbeque Cookers Association
On the Road
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PLAINS AND FANCY You have to admire any chef in the vastness of rural Texas who decides to buck the menu monoliths of barbecue and chicken-fried steak. But that's exactly what chef-owners Randy Allred and Edward Harvey are doing at Randy's of Wildorado, their restaurant on Interstate 40 some fifteen miles west of Amarillo. At lunch they offer homey, crowd-pleasing food to the good people of Wildorado, a don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-it community of two hundred. But at dinner, the candies come out in the understated dining room with its quirky art-work (heavily into rabbits) and the menu goes into high gear. Back in the kitchen, the two are whipping up entrées that run the gamut from golden-brown fried baby lobster tails crusted with coconut to crunchy cheese-and-shrimp-stuffed chiles rellenos in jalapeño lobster sauce. Even side dishes get the royal treatment-portobello fries with ponzo sauce, for instance. And though pecan pie may not be the world's most sophisticated dessert, Randy's version is state of the art.
PATRICIA SHARPE
My Library
