Year in Review: Food critic Leslie Brenner's favorite dishes of 2009

Year in Review: Food critic Leslie Brenner's favorite dishes of 2009

01:50 PM CST on Friday, December 18, 2009

By LESLIE BRENNER / The Dallas Morning News
lbrenner@dallasnews.com

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From Fort Worth Avenue in Oak Cliff to Magnolia Avenue in Fort Worth, from trendy addresses on Henderson to tony hideaways in Oak Lawn, from the polished prairies of Plano to the rangy strip malls of Richardson, it's been quite the delicious year.

Sometimes I awaken in the middle of the night thinking about something I ate six months ago, and instead of counting sheep, I make mental lists of the most memorable.

Finally, my list is final, as we go careening crazily toward Christmas.

Although they come from all kinds of establishments, from a modest taqueria to a celebrity chef's glamorous new dining room, it turns out these dishes are all terrific values. In fact, they're all less than $20, most of them much less. That's a real bonus this time of year.

Twig and branch flatbread at Bolsa

Flatbreads are appearing on menus all over town now, and I'm guessing Bolsa chef Graham Dodds' light touch with them has more than a little to do with it. This one's crisp and delicate, dressed with wild arugula, goat cheese and roasted red grapes – a combination weird and wonderful.

$11.

614 W. Davis St. (Oak Cliff); 214-367-9367; www.bolsadallas.com

Matsumae zuke soba at Tei An

Last summer I swooned over a special at chef Teiichii Sakurai's soba palace: Matsumae zuke soba. Sakurai sauces cold hand-pulled buckwheat noodles with a delicate broth and tops them with kazunoko (herring roe), dried squid, kelp, carrot and shiso. The kazunoko, curiously crunchy and a little bitter, have fantastic pop. As the roe is seasonal, the chef hasn't offered the dish in some time, but it just came back in. Good thing, too, because kazunoko is traditional for New Year's.

Market price (usually $16 to $18).

One Arts Plaza, 1722 Routh St.; 214-220-2828.
AP
Cochinitaq Pibil tacos
Jim Mahoney/The Dallas Morning News

Cochinita pibíl tacos at Taquerias el Fuego

Corn tortillas just off the griddle filled with tangy, achiote-rubbed pork slow-roasted in the style of the Yucatan: Oh, I wish I had one now. The recipe comes from owner Aquiles Manrique's mother. When Manrique and his four siblings were growing up in Mexico City, he says, they were exposed to dishes from all over Mexico, and his mother could whip up any and all of them. "I never knew how she did it," he says. Now 79, his mother doesn't cook anymore, but Manrique's sister Norma has nailed the cochinita pibíl.

$1.60 apiece; taco plate $6.99.

1891 N. Plano Road; 972-231-3456.

Tres Vasos at Samar by Stephan Pyles

Three glasses (vasos) layered with beguiling flavors and textures: It's the smartest thing to hit town all year. Similar to the verrines that have been popular in France for some years, these were inspired, says chef Pyles, by some he tasted at a tapas bar in San Sebastian, Spain. At Samar, one holds ruby grapefruit supremes, lemon-grass-ginger gelée and a foam made from feta; another has poached shrimp, pumpkin flan and orange "air." The third, topped with paper-thin slices of crisped Serrano ham, has a treasure of sautéed figs glazed with Pedro Ximenez sherry buried in a dreamy foie gras brûlée.

$6, $7 and $9 or $19 for all three.

2100 Ross Ave.; 214-922-9922; www.samarrestaurant.com
AP
Tres Vasos
Kye R. Lee / The Dallas Morning News

No. 14 pho at Pho Pasteur

What makes a great pho, Vietnamese beef noodle soup? In the end, it's all about the broth. At the Richardson branch of Pho Pasteur, I was impressed with how rich, herbal and aromatic this one was. No. 14 has all the crazy cuts of beef – tendon and flank and tripe.

$6.30 for large, $7.30 for extra-large.

1342 E. Belt Line Road, Richardson; 972-680-0001

Foie gras and chicken liver mousse at Smoke

A smokehouse is the last place I'd look for good chicken liver pâté, but I found it, enriched with foie gras no less, at Smoke. Smooth, rich and velvety, it's topped with a layer of ham gelée. With it come smoked red onion marmalade and toasted house-made dill bread. If you can snag a seat in front of the fireplace, so much the better.

$10.

901 Fort Worth Ave.; 214-393-4141; www.smokerestaurant.com

'My Mussels' at Park

When the Green Room reopens in January (if all goes as planned), chef Mike Smith will offer a dish that Marc Cassel once made famous there: mussels steamed with sparkling wine, ginger, shiitake mushrooms and spinach. I lucked into said dish, made by Cassel himself, at Park, the retro-chic Henderson Avenue spot that opened in July. With a big crusty crouton to sop up the delicious broth, it's a real dish-du-moment in Big mussel-loving D.

$12.

1921 N. Henderson Ave.; 214-824-3343; www.parkhenderson.com

Lotus-wrapped sticky rice at J.S. Chen's Dimsum and BBQ

Every self-respecting dim sum house offers sticky rice steamed in a lotus leaf, but I've never tasted one as umami-good as the one at J.S. Chen's in Plano. Filled with chicken, ground pork, slices of Chinese sausage and shiitake mushrooms, the rice is well-seasoned and sticky to the max.

$4.95.

240 S. Legacy Drive, Plano; 972-517-2332; www.jschensbbq.com

AP
Butternut squash tart with gingersnap crust
Courtesy

Butternut squash tart with gingersnap crust at Ellerbe Fine Foods

Topped with a dollop of whipped cream, chef Molly McCook's dessert, with its soft, rich, spiced winter squash filling and crunchy gingersnap crust, isn't just merely outstanding, it's also perfect for the season.

$7.

1501 W. Magnolia Ave., Fort Worth; 817- 926-3663; www.ellerbefinefoods.com
Year in Review: Food critic Leslie Brenner's favorite dishes of 2009 | Dallas-Fort Worth Restaurants News and Reviews | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News (29 December 2009)
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