Friday, December 21, 2007

Best Bites: Dining out in Dallas-Fort Worth December 21

By Teresa Gubbins

FRISCO — Between the Dubliner and Old Monk, Tipperary Inn and Trinity Hall, Dallas is abrim with Irish pubs. But what of Frisco, the fair burg to the North, with only the Irish Rover Pub & Restaurant to pour pints of Guinness?

Lochrann's Irish Pub & Eatery to the rescue, opening on New Year's Eve in Frisco Square, the urban-esque village across from Pizza Hut Park, by a lad named Dave McNabb; he developed a hankering to open an Irish pub after having helped launch them in cities such as Chicago and Fort Lauderdale in his job working for the owners of Guinness beer.

"It's something I've wanted to do for the past 8 years," says McNabb, a native of Massachusetts married to a gal from the Midwest. "I think there's a large need for Irish pubs. When you take a look at the population growth predicted for this area, it’s amazing. In particular, north of Dallas area, certain areas they’re anticipating growth of over a million people in a 25-mile radius by 2015."

His chef is Troy Kingsley, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, who was previously a sous chef at Nick & Sam's. The menu includes everything from straight-ahead burgers to Irish specialties such as shepherd's pie, made with kobe beef, with a good collection of "boxtys" or Irish pancake made with potatoes and onion. Check out this only-in-Texas fusion dish: a Boxty Quesadilla, with caramelized sweet onion, diced tomato, cheddar and mozzarella cheeses, and cured back bacon between a traditional Irish potato pancake.

One of the odd traditions of Irish pubs is that builders often import whole interiors from Ireland -- the wood, the fixtures, everything.

"In the past, when they did Irish pubs, everything came from Ireland -- it keeps with the authenticity," he says. "We would have, but it's gotten so crazy with customs. This design firm decided to move from Ireland to Canada and build their own facility. They brought all their people over from Ireland. So 75% of what’s inside the pub was either from Ireland or was touched by Irish craftsmen. The craftsmanship they can produce is second to none. They do amazing work."

Morocco: The door between Europe and Africa

Certain local trend-setters have hinted at an incipient "Moroccan" movement, and Medina Oven & Bar adds fuel to that fire. Located on Victory Park and having just opened this week, it does a modern take on Moroccan-Mediterranean cuisine, with sophisticated spices and ingredients.

The menu intrigues. The salads alone make you want to go eat there NOW: The Casablanca salad has arugula, beet, raisins, grape tomatoes, pine nuts, and gorgonzola in a pomegranate vinaigrette, while the Med-Rim salad has spinach, poached figs, toasted almonds, cinnamon-spiced orange, and feta cheese in a honey-lemon vinaigrette. Soooo there.

For a lesson in persistence and ingenuity, talk to co-owner Sam Benoikken, a native of Morocco who has spent 20 years working his way up from water-boy to waiter to captain, who went back to school to obtain a degree in hotel management from the University of North Texas, before finally opening his own place with partner, entrepreneur Yaser Khalaf. Benoikken's drive and passion for what he does -- the glorious oven with Moroccan tiles, the balance of cumin and paprika, the personal investment -- is like a gale force wind. Look out.

More big deals

Charlie Palmer at the Joule has been written about a bunch of times here, and here, and last but not least, here, which broke the story of its official opening on Monday December 17. Palmer is the noted New York chef who opened his first place, Aureole, in 1988 when he was a mere 28; he now has an empire, with a variety of concepts in D.C., Vegas, Reno, and more. Now Dallas, too, at the long-in-coming Joule Urban Resort, where he has not just a restaurant but an adjacent wine store, called Next Vintage, too.

El Rancho

Scott at DallasFood.org made an excellent discovery of Supermercado El Rancho, a booming Mexican-supermarket chain that started in Florida, moved to Houston, and is now expanding into Dallas. The chain is notable not merely for its bakery, broad selection of produce, crema bar, but also for its polished marketing-savvy sheen (as opposed to the borderline squalor some Mexican markets exude). El Rancho has six branches in the Dallas area, including Arlington and Irving, with the newest opening at Coit and Spring Valley.

Related stories

• Best Bites: Dining out in Dallas-Fort Worth August 15 (Aug. 15, 2008)

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