By Frank Bruni
The New York Times
Frank Bruni dined at 15 significant restaurants that opened in 2006 or 2007, and ranked his top 10. This is the third in a series of four articles that list his favorites in reverse order.
5. FEARING’S
Ritz-Carlton hotel, 2121 McKinney Avenue, Dallas; (214) 922-4848, fearingsrestaurant.com
On the phone making a reservation at Fearing’s, I had to search my epicurean soul. What did I want from my dining experience?
A white tablecloth? I was told that I could have that in the Gallery, the most formal of the chambers in this dazzling labyrinth.
The scents and sizzle of the chef Dean Fearing’s haute Southwestern food as it was being made? I could have that in Dean’s Kitchen, a dining room that abuts, yes, Dean’s kitchen.
Or I could choose some split-the-difference sweet spot of half-calm, half-commotion: a glass enclosure like a winter garden. Communing with my inner Goldilocks, I asked for that.
In addition to big fun and big flavors, Fearing’s presents a modern parable. It’s an unusually elaborate answer to the pesky question of how, under one roof, to please diners with vastly different appetites when it comes to décor, dress, sound level.
Although there’s just one full dinner menu, it’s available in three distinct settings — four if you count a patio that’s open when the weather cooperates. These areas and additional niches for drinking spread across a sizable chunk of the first Ritz-Carlton in Dallas; it opened last August.
Mr. Fearing was a real catch for the Ritz. He’d developed a national reputation and an ardent local following over the two decades he spent cooking at the Mansion on Turtle Creek, the grande dame of Dallas’s upper-crust hotels.
That made his departure a major event, underscored by the millions lavished on Fearing’s. In the front bar area the plush couches are leather and antique velvet; the throw pillows, silk.
In several rooms, rectangular onyx arches are illuminated from within. The good-looking patrons glow as well, in a well-heeled way that suggests a debt of thanks to their personal shoppers at Neiman Marcus.
Mr. Fearing, a giant striding through the restaurant in calfskin boots, deserves thanks for evenings as irresistibly flashy and meaty as Texas itself.
I went for the meatiest meat: buffalo tenderloin, which had been marinated for two days in maple syrup and black peppercorn ($46); and mesquite-grilled rib-eye, which had been brushed (or “mopped,” in the parlance of the verbally resourceful menu) with a mixture of molasses, beer and vinegar ($50).
Both were fantastic, and both were the centerpieces of plates with a whole lot else going on. Tender bites of the buffalo could be dragged through a red pepper aioli that leavened the dish’s sweetness with heat; nearby were a squash-filled taquito and jalapeño-spiked grits. The rib-eye came with a light, crunchy asparagus tempura.
There’s no dearth of seafood, including a terrific soft taco of four big, juicy shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico ($18). The barbecue sauce coating them, the accompanying salad of mango and pickled red onion, and other effects and seasonings did justice to the whole spectrum of the Southwest: fruity, tangy, fiery, smoky.
There’s no holding back. The requisite chocolate dessert presents the chocolate in two guises, a rich cake and a creamy semifreddo, with two favorite accomplices: banana and peanut ($10).
Short on nuance, Fearing’s can be overwhelming. So can the tab. An expensive wine list, coupled with the entree prices, makes this restaurant a costly romp, no matter where you ask to sit.
I ended up in Dean’s Kitchen. How? Oddly, Fearing’s doesn’t guarantee you the setting of your choice — a slight betrayal, I’d submit, of the restaurant’s central promise — and the winter garden was apparently rented for a private party sometime after I made my reservation.
I was irked. But then I took a few more sips of the restaurant’s signature margarita, shaken vigorously and at length with ice, so that the crystals break into the drink. Irritation drowns quickly in frosty tequila.
Read on for the rest of his picks, and links to every restaurant on his list. >>
Copyright © 2008 The New York Times Company
I went for the meatiest meat: buffalo tenderloin, which had been marinated for two days in maple syrup and black peppercorn ($46); and mesquite-grilled rib-eye, which had been brushed (or “mopped,” in the parlance of the verbally resourceful menu) with a mixture of molasses, beer and vinegar ($50).
Both were fantastic, and both were the centerpieces of plates with a whole lot else going on. Tender bites of the buffalo could be dragged through a red pepper aioli that leavened the dish’s sweetness with heat; nearby were a squash-filled taquito and jalapeño-spiked grits. The rib-eye came with a light, crunchy asparagus tempura.
There’s no dearth of seafood, including a terrific soft taco of four big, juicy shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico ($18). The barbecue sauce coating them, the accompanying salad of mango and pickled red onion, and other effects and seasonings did justice to the whole spectrum of the Southwest: fruity, tangy, fiery, smoky.
There’s no holding back. The requisite chocolate dessert presents the chocolate in two guises, a rich cake and a creamy semifreddo, with two favorite accomplices: banana and peanut ($10).
Short on nuance, Fearing’s can be overwhelming. So can the tab. An expensive wine list, coupled with the entree prices, makes this restaurant a costly romp, no matter where you ask to sit.
I ended up in Dean’s Kitchen. How? Oddly, Fearing’s doesn’t guarantee you the setting of your choice — a slight betrayal, I’d submit, of the restaurant’s central promise — and the winter garden was apparently rented for a private party sometime after I made my reservation.
I was irked. But then I took a few more sips of the restaurant’s signature margarita, shaken vigorously and at length with ice, so that the crystals break into the drink. Irritation drowns quickly in frosty tequila.
Read on for the rest of his picks, and links to every restaurant on his list. >>
Copyright © 2008 The New York Times Company
