SLOW FOOD PLANET: Dallas-Fort Worth and North Texas

Dallas and Fort Worth have been instrumental in the development of contemporary Southwestern cuisine, which relies on indigenous foods in the same way that California cuisine draws on the bounty of that state. Although Southwestern has been diluted in recent years as chefs search for new inspiration and fast-food chains co-opt the concept, you can still find good examples of this celebration of all things regional such as chiles, corn and squash blossoms. In modern times, it may also mean Hill Country goat cheese and world-famous Dallas mozzarella.

Tex-Mex cuisine and barbecue go to deeper regional roots. Before Texas was Texas, it was Mexican territory, and the earliest settlers who came north from Mexico brought their food ways with them. Somewhere after crossing the Rio Grande, the food changed into what is uniquely Texan: Tex-Mex, with its emphasis on chili, the meat stew, and dishes such as fajitas, thought to have developed as cowboy border fare. Influences of German settlers and African-American cooks also inform the state’s barbecue tradition. Both chili and barbecue reflect cattle’s dominance in the state’s history. Texas is and always has been meat country.

The state takes pride in its agrarian past, even as farming and ranching wane with the opening of every new sub-division. Still, the hospitable soil and climate mean plenty of locally grown vegetables and fruit thanks to the farms that remain. The majority are under 500 acres, with much of this devoted to cash crops such as sorghum and feed corn. Throughout the long spring-to-fall harvest season, farmers markets and other outlets that take the trouble to sell local produce are alive with brilliant red, ripe tomatoes; sweet, juicy peaches; black-eyes and other peas; green beans; onions (including the sweet 1015, named for its planting date); cucumbers; squashes; and melons such as cantaloupe and watermelon. In Texas, both South Texas, which is the state’s citrus-growing region, and the Panhandle, which provides an abundance of melons, are considered “regional.” Winter crops are dominated by sweet potatoes and winter squashes.

Sustainable and organic farming and ranching methods have been slow to take hold in North Texas, which is just beginning to see its first pasture-raised beef, pork, chicken and lamb. At the City of Dallas Farmers Market, Texas Meats sells these straight from the ranch and farm. Pasture-raised Windy Meadow chickens, part of the Texas Meats group, are also available on local restaurant menus, such as Lola The Restaurant, York Street, the Green Room and a handful of others. With the adoption of the states first organic standards for produce and cattle in 2003, state officials expect the organic segment to grow. Another factor is Whole Foods Market, which is headquartered in Austin, Texas. Already Whole Foods has influenced the rise of organic growers in that part of the state.

Although Dallas is home to many ethnic groups, most, outside of Mexicans, have not achieved the critical mass necessary to support the depth of restaurant experiences found in other cities, such as San Francisco, with its Chinatown, or Boston, with its Little Italy. Nevertheless, North Texas has good examples of several ethnic cuisines, which are detailed the listings.

By the way, barbecue in Texas means beef, predominantly beef brisket that is smoked and slow-cooked over indirect heat. The meat may be dry-rubbed, but sauce is never added till the final moments of cooking, if at all. The sauce itself tends to be the sweeter, tomato-based variety as opposed to the more vinegary preparations of other regions. You can still find a handful of purveyors who sell barbecue sandwiches over the counter wrapped in butcher paper.    

- Kim Pierce 18-Oct-2005

Note: A good source for up-to-date restaurant information is www.guidelive.com, written by the dining critics at The Dallas Morning News. 

SECTION I: CUISINES

 Barbecue

Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse
2202 Inwood Road (east of Harry Hines), Dallas
214-357-7120

Nothing says Texas like barbecue, and nothing says barbecue like Sonny Bryan’s. A Dallas institution since 1910, Sonny's serves the best smoked meats of their kind.  Although Sonny’s has 16 locations, diehards will tell you the only place to go is the original joint on Inwood. Lunch will have you rubbing elbows with politicians, local celebs and guy-next-door types – at tiny wooden school desks or outdoor picnic tables. Melt-in-your mouth ribs and brisket are only the start. Meats also include turkey, sausage, and pulled pork. “Sides” include to-die-for onion rings, green bean casserole and potato salad.  Sonny’s tangy sauce is served up in recycled Corona beer bottles. Top off your meal with the only respectable drink for barbecue:  beer, which is served in an ice cold mug or in the bottle. When you order, you give only your initials for the call back when it’s ready. P.S. Don't wear white.

Korean

     Contemporary

This welcome addition to the Plano restaurant scene is a high-tech, high-design, “modern Korean” establishment founded by the Kim family which has a long-established reputation for Korean food in Dallas (Korea House Restaurant). The dishes reflect the same contemporary touch; excellent choices include the monkfish liver appetizer (ankino), a twist on foie gras, from the sushi menu. Also charbroiled eel and broiled mackerel among the main courses. More traditional dishes are also available, for example kimchi stew, vermicelli noodles. There’s also a sushi bar. The wine list is small but includes some interesting selections, although with this cuisine many prefer beer. Some Japanese lagers (Sapporo, Asahi) are available.

You Chun
2254 Royal Lane, Dallas
972-243-1818

You Chun, part of a national chain, is a casual, modern noodle house with a striped-down  menu of homey favorites, made from fresh, pristine ingredients by a kitchen team recruited from Korea. The house specialty is cold noodle soup. A continuous video on a flat-screen TV shows how it’s made from the buckwheat noodles up. The video is in Korean, but you’ll get the idea. Most of the faces here are Korean, but several staff members speak English as well.

Mexican 

    Tex-Mex

Friendly Mexican cafe with a startling range of clientele. See the cross-section of society that frequents this place: large Hispanic families, smartly dressed lawyers preparing their briefs for the nearby courthouse, and locals who know that this is where to get the most authentic Mexican food in suburban Plano. You can get Tex-Mex favorites like burritos and enchiladas if you want them, but this place is at its best with the menu items that are a notch more authentic. Try cabrito (goat), nopalitos (cactus) and, on Sundays, the menudo (tripe soup). And of course savor the fresh-made corn tortillas.

    Tex-Mex and Mexican  

The Avila family prepares some of the freshest, most winning Tex-Mex and Mexican food in Dallas. Although you can find the quintessential chili-smothered cheese enchilada plate, Avila’s also produces traditional mole of extraordinary depth and flavor as well as other less-well-known dishes, such as brisket-filled gorditas (like thin corn pancakes). The mother, Anita, prepares family recipes in the kitchen while the son, Ricardo, runs the front, which could be taken for a decorator’s interpretation of Mexican chic. The walls are burnished orange, highlighted by works of art; the tables and chairs come from the ‘30s or ‘40s. It’s charming and small – a rare gem.

New American

What an unlikely beginning for this premier Dallas spot, started by car dealership scion Van Roberts in 2000. With wooden floors and cozy seating areas, it retains its old-house charm. But it’s also noisy. The prix-fixe menu is not forward so much as extremely well done global fusion. Lola’s signature appetizer is a Stilton cheese-and-chive soufflé with cabernet sauce. Other selections might include cumin-dusted mahi-mahi to near-straight-up steak. In Lola the Tasting Room, the changing 10- to 15-course tasting menu might include corn soup with Moroccan Argan oil or crisped pork-belly squares. Roberts is something of a wine fanatic, with some 2,000-plus wines on his 40-page list; good selections can be had for as little as $20-$30. Check it out at www.lola4dinner.com.

York Street
6047 Lewis St., Dallas
214-826-0968

This tiny, chef-owned American bistro in an out-of-the-way neighborhood boasts some of the best food in the city. Chef Sharon Hage’s changing menu celebrates food in a very personal way. She pays special attention to local, in-season produce and has an unusual knack for layering textures and flavors. Examples from her repertoire include oysters with zinfandel mignonette, pasture-raised Windy Meadow chicken over a tangle of greens and her interpretation of macaroni-and-cheese, soft-scrambled duck eggs with goat butter or, for dessert, chocolate soup. Foie gras and veal sweetbreads are perennials.  http://www.yorkstreetdallas.com/

Southern

Hattie’s
418 N. Bishop, Dallas
214-942-7400

This sunny, New Southern bistro gets the regional food-hospitality-comfort combination just right with a changing menu that reflects more deeply Southern cuisine than is typical in Texas. Macaroni made with three artisanal cheeses never leaves the menu, and in season, you’ll always find fried-green tomatoes here. Some examples of changing menu items include shrimp over goat-cheese grits with a Tabasco-bacon pan gravy, which  shows South Carolina’s lowcountry influence, and pulled pork with sweet-onion compote over garlic grits, which commemorates a time when pork was king of Southern meats. In a restored, older building in Oak Cliff’s Bishop Arts District.

Texana

Lonesome Dove Western Bistro
2406 N. Main St., Fort Worth (in the Stockyards)

Lonesome Dove is a taste of the West like it never was. Situated in the heart of the tourist-dense Fort Worth Stockyards, it honors man food – beef and game – but with haute-cuisine ambitions. Chef-owner Tim Love calls it “fine urban Western cuisine,” with specialties like elk, wild boar and buffalo. But you might just as easily encounter Australian kangaroo loin, stretching the Western concept some. Love does weave a lot of local ingredients into his dishes, including habanero, serrano and chipotle chiles and seasonal fruits and vegetables. Bring a big pocketbook as well as a big appetite when you dine here: Entrees range from about $20 to $40.

Venezuelan 

Within a generation, tres leches cake has emerged the dessert of choice among Southwest Hispanics. Tres leches (three-milk) cake traces its roots to Latin America, although no one has been able nail down a single origin. Some believe it’s Mexico City, but both Guatemala and Nicaragua have staked claims. The cake is made with three kinds of milk (most often cream; evaporated milk; and sweetened, condensed milk), then soaked in more sweetened milk. Zaguan makes one of the best examples of cuatro leches (four-milk) cake in Dallas, sort of uber-tres-leches. It also has an unusually fine assortment of pastries and a casual Venezuelan menu. 

Off the Beaten Path

The Turtle Restaurant
514 Center Ave
Brownwood, TX 76801
325.646.8200

The Turtle Restaurant www.theturtlerestaurant.com is owned by Mary and David Stanley. They are members of Slow Food USA . The restaurant was named The Turtle because the turtle symbolized longevity and persistence, completion is more important to a journey than haste, especially on the road of life. They offer slow fresh locally grown foods supporting farms such as Novella Newman and cheese maker Veldhuizen. They bake all their breads, desserts and make gelato in house. The Turtle Restaurant is located in historic downtown Brownwood , Texas.  Brownwood is in the geographic center of the state a two to three hour drive from Austin, San Antonio and the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex.

SECTION II: SPECIAL FOODS & VENUES 

Culinary Tours

SECTION III: FOOD SHOPS, MARKETS & PRODUCERS

Cheese

Paula Lambert is one of the most famous artisanal cheese-makers in the country with her hand-crafted fresh mozzarella and other cheeses – all made at this Deep Ellum factory. She started the company in 1982 after visiting Italy and learning the hand-crafting techniques firsthand. She wrote The Cheese Lover’s Cookbook & Guide (Simon & Schuster) in 2000 and Cheese, Glorious Cheese! (Simon & Schuster) in 2007. Besides fresh Italian cheeses, she makes goat cheese and Mexican cheeses. Not to miss: queso Oaxaca, Mexican mozzarella in a long, flat strip that’s seasoned with salt and lime juice and rolled up into a ball. Paula is often on hand at the factory, and she always hands out samples in the tiny factory store.

To see more about Texas cheese producers, visit our Texas Cheese Plate page at:
http://www.slowfooddallas.com/sfdTexasCheesePlate.html

Markets

      Foodie mega-store

A high-end concept from San Antonio-based supermarket chain H.E.B., Central Market is foodie mecca in Texas. Huge stores (up to 75,000 square feet) are arranged like mazes, channeling you through departments that shock and awe even the most jaded New Yorkers and Californians. Hard-to-find artisanal products, such as hand-churned butter and smoky Spanish paprika, share space with more mundane selections. The premier slow foodie raison d’etre besides those finds: local produce comparable to a farmers’ market, including one-of-a-kind items from a nearby experimental farm. Also a committed selection of regional artisanal cheeses – including some, like Dripping Springs’ Pure Luck goat cheese, whose production is so small, it’s not available at all the stores.

   Hispanic grocer

Fiesta Mart is the quintessential Hispanic grocery, dominated by Mexican influences, like the community it serves. It’s also modern, bright and pristine in the tradition of American supermarkets everywhere. Fresh produce includes all manner of chiles, citrus, sugar cane and Caribbean fruits. At Christmas, Fiesta carries huge bags of masa ready to slather on corn husks for traditional holiday tamales. Find also a wide array of salsas, chiles, Mexican chocolate, lard, dulce de leche (especially cajeta, made with goat’s milk), Mexican dried herbs – any ingredient for a Mexican or Tex-Mex feast. Don’t miss the traditional hot elotes, corn served from a cart out front and seasoned with lime juice, mayonnaise and Parmesan cheese – or to your specifications.

    Italian grocer

Jimmy’s Food Store
4901 Bryan St (corner of Bryan at Fitzhugh), Dallas
214.823.6180 

Jimmy’s is the place for Italian imports, both food and wine. The family-owned store burned in October 2004, but reopened a year later in the same 1920-era building with more and better-utilized space. Besides imports, Jimmy’s is known for its house-made Italian sausage, sandwiches and “Mama’s” meatballs. Maria Anna DiCarlo made the latter herself till she died in 2005; now the staff carries on. In addition to imports like Mulina Bianco cookies, LaValle tomato products, meats, cheeses and wines from every region in Italy, Jimmy’s carries Mexican, Jamaican and Cuban groceries for the local neighborhood.

   Mediterranean

  Organic grocer

Meats

   Pastured

This consortium of three North Texas farms and ranches sells strictly pasture-raised and finished chickens, lamb, beef, goat, eggs and pork (from another local ranch) using organic methods, but not certified organic. Several restaurants, including York Street, the Green Room and Nana, feature Windy Meadows chicken on their menus simply because it tastes so good compared to conventionally raised chicken. Rehoboth Ranch, Truth Hill Farm and Windy Meadows make up Texas Meats; all are in the Greenville area northeast of Dallas. For information contact Robert Hutchins at www.rehobothranch.com or call 903-450-8145.

Burgundy Pasture Beef
Jon and Wendy Taggart
800 McDuff Ave
Grandview, Texas 76050
Phone: 817.866.2247
http://www.burgundypasturebeef.com/
List of products: pastured beef, pork, lamb and chicken; delivers to your home

Tortillerias

Founded in 1923, this is the oldest, continuously operating, family-owned tortilla factory in Dallas, located at the edge of what used to be Little Mexico. It still turns out fresh corn and flour tortillas daily as well as tamales, Mexican sweet breads (for breakfast coffee-dipping) and salsa. You cannot sit down and eat on the premises, but you may stop by the small storefront and purchase any of the items the tortilleria makes. Get a family member to recount the story of its founder, a gutsy widow with two small children who had to buck social conventions and cultural practices to start the business and succeed.

Producers

Civello's Raviolismo
1318 North Peak Street (near Bryan St)
Dallas, TX 75204
Phone: 214.827.2989
http://civellosraviolismo.com/
List of products: handmade ravioli

COOPER FARMS
Tim, Kathy, Ben & Elizabeth Cooper
185 County Road 11101
Fairfield, TX 75840
Phone: 903.388.6087 or 903.388.6086
www.cooperfarmspeaches.com
Products sold at: (locations) Farm and various (check website)
List of products: peaches and produce

GILPIN FAMILY DAIRY
Tim Gilpin
4563 FM 900 S.
Saltillo, TX 75478
Phone: 903.438.3636
timgilpin[at]peoplescom[dot]net
Products sold at: (locations) selling soon – to be announced
List of products: milk in glass bottles and grass fed cows

ROCCO & CELESTE TASSIONE
807 CR 466
Stephenville, TX
Phone: 940.769.2180
Products sold at: (locations) farm and to be announced
List of products: Herbs

HEAVEN SENT PRODUCE
Coleen Thornton
7600 Cranford Court
Arlington, TX 76001
Phone: 214.923.0316
Email: HeavenSentProduce[at]comcast[dot]net
Products sold at: (locations) farm and internet
List of products: fresh & dried herbs; lettuce; greens; melons;
tomatoes

GENERATION FARM
Ethan Milkes
1109 North McKinney
Rice, TX 75155
Phone: 903.326.4263
generationfarm[at]earthlink[dot]net
emilkes[at]sbcglobal[dot]net
Products sold at: (locations) farm and Central Market, Whole Foods,
Albertson’s Brookshire
List of products: organic fresh culinary herbs and edible flowers year round

LINDA JEAN FARMS
Jim & Linda Milburn
199 CR 3521
Sulphur Springs, TX 75482
Phone: 903.243.6999
jmilburn[at]EV1[dot]net
www.lindajeanfarms.com
Products sold at: (locations) farm
List of products: Brangus cattle; bulk beef by split quarter and side

BRENNAN VINEYARDS
802 South Austin St (Hwy 16 South)
Comanche, Texas 76442
Phone: 325.356.9100
pat[at]brennanvineyards[dot]com
www.brennanvineyards.com
Products sold at: (locations) Goody Goody; Wine Styles; Majestic
List of products: Shiraz, Viognier, Cabernet Sauvignon, Rose

DEBORAH’S GOAT CHEESE
Deborah Rogers
300 McNaughton Lane
Ft Worth, TX 76114
Phone: 817.821.0975
www.deborahsfarm.com
Products sold at: (locations) Central Market in Dallas and Ft Worth,
Roy Pope Market in Ft Worth
List of products: fresh goat cheese

GENE’S GREENS
Geno Stille
6105 Remington Parkway
Colleyville, TX 76032
4591 Keller-Haslet Road
Keller, TX 76248
Phone: 817.301.3521
Products sold at: (locations) Central Market in Dallas, Sprouts in Dallas
List of products: microgreens

WISEMAN HOUSE FINE CHOCOLATES
Kevin & LaDonne Wenzel
406 West Grubbs
Hico, TX 76457
Phone: 254.796.2565
FAX 254.756.2722
http://www.wisemanhousechocolates.com/
Products sold at: (locations) Hico shop, Paper & Chocolate in Dallas
List of products: handmade chocolates

DRAKE’S HERITAGE TURKEYS
Margaret Drake
P. O. Box 1338
Glen Rose, TX 76043
Phone: 254.897.4974
mdrake[at]valornet[dot]com
Products sold at: (locations) farm
List of products: chemical free turkeys

VELDHUIZEN FAMILY CHEESE
Connie & Stuart Velhuizen
425 South Private Road 1169
Dublin, TX 76446
Phone: 254.968.3098
www.veldhuizencheese.com
Products sold at: (locations) on-farm dairy,
List of products: Raw milk cheeses - Cheddar, Gouda, Caraway Gouda, Parmesan and
various handmade cheeses, according to the seasons

LA CASA VERDE
Michael Butchard
802 West Spring St.
Weatherford, TX 76086
817.341.7707 / 817.271.9124
michael_butchard[at]yahoo[dot]com
Products sold at: (locations) Phone or email only
List of products: microgreens and will email to you.

MOTLEY HERBS - organic raised bed herbs & specialty produce
Tom & Kay Motley
PO Box 246
Farmersville, TX 75442
motelyherbs[at]yahoo[dot]com
214.546.0045 / 214.563.4307

Texas Organic Mushrooms
308 South Chandler Avenue,
Denison, TX 75020
903.465.8833
admin[at]shiitakes[dot]com
http://www.shiitakes.com/
Products sold at: (locations) Central Market in Dallas, Sprouts and Whole Foods

Pendleton Ranch
Craig and Vicki Morrow
craig[at]pendletonranch[dot]com
http://www.heart-healthy-beef.com/

SECTION IV: GOOD TO KNOW

BYOB in Texas

Why and where to BYOB in North Texas

Texas’ archaic drinking laws stretch back to Prohibition days, creating across the state a modern pastiche of precinct-by-precinct variations. The “wet” and “dry” distinctions effectively force restaurants to choose between either providing alcoholic beverages or allowing BYOB, but usually not both. The consumer’s problem (aside from mark-ups that can be three times the wholesale price and occasionally more) is that most Dallas wine lists are geared to what sells – and in many cases, these are industrial wines of little interest to true connoisseurs of the vine. Since most Slow Food members care about the wine they drink, we offer the following list of BYOB restaurants. These establishments tend to be small, often family-run, with food that ranges from mediocre to quite good; “upscale” means nicer surroundings. Only those reviewed separately carry a Slow Food recommendation for their food. If there’s a corkage fee, it’s nominal.

Amici Signature Italian: (upscale) 1022 S. Broadway (on the square south of Belt Line), Carrollton; 972- 245-3191.

Arc-En-Ciel: (casual Chinese and Vietnamese) 3555 W. Walnut St. (at Jupiter Road), Garland; 972-272-2188.

Bukhara Grille: (causal Indian - Northwest region) 955 E Campbell Road (1 block east of 75), Richardson 75081;  972.437.0013.

Café Amore Italian Cuisine: (casual) 6505 W. Park (at Midway), Plano; 972-781-0310.

Campania Pizza and More: (casual) 3800 McKinney Ave. Dallas, TX 75204; 214-780-0605.

Caravelle Chinese & Vietnamese: (casual) 400 N. Greenville (at Jackson), Richardson; 972-437-6388.

Chettinaad Palace: (casual Indian) 2205 N. Central Expressway (at Park Boulevard), Plano; 469-229-9100.

Covino’s: (casual Italian) 3265 Independence Parkway (at Parker), Plano; 972-519-0345.

Eden: (upscale American) 4416 W. Lovers Lane, Dallas; 972-267-3336.

Fadi’s Mediterranean Grill: (casual) 3001 Knox St. Suite 110, Dallas - 214.528.1800; 2787 Preston Road, Frisco - 972.712.1600; 14902 Preston Road, Dallas - 972.934.8500.

Flavor Asian Fusion and Dessert Bar: (Thai) 9220 Skillman St, Dallas, 75243; 214.341.0244

Food From Galilee: (casual Middle Eastern) 6710 Snider Plaza (near Hillcrest and Lovers Lane), Dallas; 214-750-0330.

Jasmine: (casual Thai) 2050 W. Spring Creek Parkway (at Custer), Plano; 972-517-1677.

Jasmine II: (casual Thai) 1116 W Parker Road (SE corner at Alma), Plano; 972-943-8998

Kebab-N-Kurry: (casual Indian), 401 N. Central Expressway (west side service road), Richardson; 972-231-5556.

Giovanni's Italian Restaurant: (casual) 9741 Preston Road (north of Main Street), Frisco; 972-335-1244.

Italian Villa: 17180 Preston Road (near Campbell), Dallas, 75248; 972.267.5702

Marrakesh Cafe (casual Moroccan): 7989 Belt Line Road (at Coit), Dallas, 75248; 972.239.7775

Noodle Wave Fresh Thai Cooking: (casual Thai) 1490 W. Spring Valley Road  (northeast corner at Coit), Richardson; 972-690-3637. 

Pho Pasteur: (casual Vietnamese) 1342 Belt Line Road (at Plano Road), Richardson; 972-680-0001.

Rasoi: (casual Indian) 6541 Duck Creek Drive (at Broadway), Garland; 972-240-6000.

Sevan (casual Lebanese/Mediterranean) 2221 Greenville Ave (Cross Street: Belmont Avenue; across the street from Whole Foods), Dallas, 75206; 214.821.0601

Shandiz Mediterranean Grill and Market (casual Persian) 4013 W Parker Road (northwest corner at Coit), Plano; 972.943.8885

Shine's Mediterranean Market: (casual Turkish and Argentine) 14902 Preston Rd. Suite 1300 SE Corner (On Beltline), Dallas; 972-763-1842
 
Supper Club: (casual continental, evenings) 4333 Lovers Lane (east of the Dallas North Tollway), Dallas; 214-526-9750.

Sushi Heaven (sushi): 1424 Jupiter Rd. Ste. 203, Plano 75074; 972.424.5350

Tamarind: (casual Thai) 3825 W. Spring Creek Pkwy Ste 208 (northeast corner at Coit), Plano; 972-398-9055.

Taste of Galilee: (casual Middle Eastern, all you can eat buffet) 2301 North Central Expressway  #165 (southbound HWY 75, between Parker and Park), Plano, 75075; 972.422.2111

Villa's Open Fire Grill (Portuguese): 137 S. Main St., Irving 75060l; 972.259.2939

Zorba’s: (Greek) 1501 Preston Road (west side, north of Plano Parkway), Plano; 972-250-0002.