NOT MY BACK YARD What’s in a name—or, rather, a slogan? To me, the “gourmet backyard cuisine” at Jasper’s in Plano is about 90 percent gourmet and 10 percent backyard (not that there’s anything wrong with that). What’s more, curtains made of bronze mesh and arty room dividers of pencil-thin steel rods don’t exactly shout, “Come as you are.” But, hey, high style is exactly what you’d expect from executive chef Kent Rathbun, of Dallas’ Abacus, and his chef de cuisine for Jasper’s, Jon Stevens. I was extremely happy with my hickory-grilled salmon (on mascarpone polenta with dabs of roasted-tomato olive oil), and a friend gave a thumbs-up to his tender, salt-crusted prime rib with French onion jus. A third friend tried to get down and dirty by ordering a cheeseburger, but when we checked, we found that it came with, ahem, applewood-smoked bacon.
