If you’re even slightly interested in the restaurant scene in Dallas, you know about Stephan Pyles - both the man and his eponymous restaurant in the heart of Dallas’ Arts District on Ross Avenue.

I first went to Stephan Pyles a year ago for my birthday. When the calender of my life rolled over once again, I realized I wanted to make eating there an annual event to celebrate that very occasion. And let me tell you, I am very glad that I did.

The first thing you notice about Stephan Pyles happens before you even open the door. The facade of the building is dressed with floor-to-ceiling windows, giving both diners and passers-by alike a peek at the visual feast that lay within. The first thing you notice about the gorgeous interior design is the treatment given to the ceiling in the foyer. Beautiful woods, stones, and copper cover the surfaces, elegantly lit by faux-flicker sconces. Several walls still proudly display the original terra-cotta bricks from the original 1963 building. Once at your table, you realize that not only do you yourself have a view of the kitchen, but diners at nearly every table in the restaurant can enjoy the same view - the chefs at work.

Early on, my date and I were tempted by an offering from the waiter: a six course tasting menu with smaller versions of their dishes accompanied by a specific wine pairing for each course. After ordering two glasses of Veuve Clicquot (hey, it was my birthday), we spent a considerable amount of time reviewing the menu, only to come full-circle back to the six-course option. By the end of the night it was clear we had made the right choice, so let’s get on to the food!

First course was lobster ceviche with their Gazpacho Blanco, an absolutely delightful take on the traditionally tomato-based cold soup with frozen grapes and almonds. The texture was super smooth and all the flavors were equally delicate and matched perfectly with the lobster. This course was paired with a Pinto Grigio that could not have been a better fit.

The second course was Seared Sea Bass with Roasted Garlic Tamale Tart and Okra Corn Stew. Wow. Wow. This was good, much better than I was expecting. The sea bass was cooked to perfection, and the combined flavors of the tart and stew transcend description. Upon reflection at the end of the meal, both my date and I agreed that this course was the favorite of the evening. I’m struggling to remember the wine this came with, but I do recall that it matched equally well as the first course.

Next came Seared Foie Gras and Spit Roasted Suckling Pig with Mascarpone Polenta and Plum Jus. Until that evening, I had never eaten foie gras before, and do have some reservations about how it is produced. That being said, this was delicious and succulent. Differing from what this dish’s wordy title may have you believe, it was also accompanied by half of a Turkish fig which rounded out the flavor palette of this dish with perfection. In fact I’m trying to imagine what flavors would complete this dish better than those it came with, and I think there just aren’t any. Quite surprisingly, yet delectably appropriate, this course was paired with a dessert wine from King Estate - their Vin Glacé, Pinot Gris.

The fourth course was interesting, and it took me a few minutes to realize its purpose; as a palette cleanser. You see, the first three were all relatively light dishes paired with a white or sweet wine. So to prepare our taste buds for what was to come next, we were served a delicious little scoop of a frozen persimmon sorbet. Not only was this very tasty, but the presentation was adorable, the sorbet beset by two small cubes of persimmon on one side, and some micro greens on the other.

I was no stranger to this course, seeing as how I had the entrée portion for my birthday last year. Coriander-Cured Rack of Lamb with Ecuadorian Potato Cake and Cranberry Mojo. Anybody who is a fan of lamb will absolutely love this preparation, cooked to a beautiful medium-rare. Also, it’s very refreshing to have cranberries as part of a dish when it’s not Thanksgiving. The hearty potato cake went wonderfully with the bold flavors of lamb and cranberry. The wine we enjoyed with this course was a wonderful, earthy red, the details of which I do not recall.

What by-the-course meal is complete without dessert? Keeping in tradition with the fact that this was a tasting menu, dessert was a platter with sampler sizes of four of their best desserts. Flourless Xocopili Cake, “Coffee and Doughnuts”, Frozen Guanabana Soufflé, and the “Lemon Lemon Lemon” trio of lemon desserts. Now, I should explain what the “Coffee and Doughnuts” dessert is, both because it doesn’t sound very exciting, and also because it was my favorite. The “doughnut” half is traditional enough, being a nice little powdered doughnut hole. The “coffee” half, however, was not a drink, but rather an exquisite coffee creme brulée, and I’m a total sucker for a good creme brulée.

All in, this is easily my favorite restaurant in Dallas. I will probably come here every year for my birthday for many years to come.

2900 is a quaint little restaurant in the State-Thomas area of Uptown Dallas. So, what exactly is the deal with the name? It’s amusing to consider what it could mean (or stand for), but the actual answer is quite simple: It’s located at 2900 Thomas Ave. I realize that may be a bit anti-climactic and I apologize for that, but hey, at least I’m not lying to ya!

The interior is attractive, slightly reminded me of Cru, only with not as many candles all over the place. The dining room is small, probably seating 40-50 diners at most. This helps the setting feel a bit more romantic than it might t’were the dining room larger.

I started with a salad, and a spectacular one at that: Grilled Boston lettuce, tomatoes, warm stilton and apple smoked bacon dressing. This blew me away. Grilled lettuce? Get outta here - it was amazing. The dressing was creamy and savory and perfect. I can’t recall having a warm salad better than this.

For dinner I chose an Italian classic: Veal osso-bucco with portabella risotto and swiss chard. This was dining perfection. The rich flavor of the osso-bucco matches perfectly with the earthy risotto, both offset perfectly by the slightly bitter chard. The veal was so tender that I don’t think any of it was actually attached to the bone as it lay there on my plate. Speaking of that bone, in about 20 minutes it was the only evidence left that food ever existed on the dish in front of me. This was a fantastic preparation of this wonderful Italian classic.

One of my dinner companions ordered a special from that day - sting ray - which he let me try. What does sting ray taste like? Well, first let’s talk texture. It’s a strange mixture of a flaky whitefish, like tilapia, and something much more rubbery like calamari. I’m not so sure I can accurately describe the taste but I can tell you this: it was good. Damn good. This one’s for you, Steve! My other buddy ordered one of 2900’s signature dishes - a manchego-stuffed filet mignon. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure the concept of stuffing an awesome spanish cheese into a tender cut of cow is just about the best idea ever.

I think it’s safe to say that I’ve made no secret of my love for Pinot Noir, especially those vinted in Oregon. Tonight was another opportunity to imbibe of this lovely varietal. We chose a delicious Pinot Noir from Williamette Valley Vineyards, 2004 vintage. The best Pinot Noir I’ve had? No - but really darn good.

Dessert was simple - a godiva chocolate bombe topped with a scoop of pumpkin ice cream. But, after I finished, I considered it wasn’t simple enough for me that evening. A simple scoop of the pumpkin ice cream would have done me just fine.

After this first visit, the only thing I could immediately complain about was the service. While our waiter was knowledgeable and competent, he was rarely visible. Being a Thursday night, it wasn’t particularly busy so his infrequent visits to our table have no obvious explanation. Towards the end of the night we waited an absurdly long time between visits from him - including the dreaded “I’ll just drop off the check and make you wait until I come back to collect it” wait, which took a good 10 minutes. Repeat visits will prove if this is atypical service, or the modus operandi for the 2900 waitstaff.

Nestled in the middle of a little plaza along Travis street is Ziziki’s, a fantastic little Greek restaurant. Well, their website says it’s, “Mediterranean with Greek and Italian specialties”, but honestly the entire menu looked Greek to me (ha!). Ok, sorry about that. Ahem, moving along.

I could tell from the moment I walked in that I was going to like this place. The decor is attractive as are the waitstaff. There’s plenty of seating available just out the front door, cafe style, but this was a Saturday night and it was busy. Hungry and not wanting to wait, we took a charming little table just across from the bar. Now, I haven’t had much Greek food in my life. In fact, other than maybe one or two occasions before, my entire experience of Greek food has been chomping on gyros and satisfying my sweet tooth with some baklava.

Seeing as how I was starving, an appetizer was in order. Amongst many appealing choices, two stood out as an appetizer I’d like to have from a Greek restaurant: The Artichoke Dip & Pita Bread, and the Spanakopita. Looking ahead on the menu I realized I had another opportunity to try the spanakopita, so the artichoke dip with pita bread it was. Now, don’t think this is some pedestrian artichoke dip like you’d get at Olive Garden. This is a hummus that was garlicky and creamy and perfect with the fresh pita bread. As a bonus, it even came with some whole kalamata olives! And, as my dinner companion observed, “I don’t trust a person that won’t eat olives.” Well said, my friend.

Ok, I was saying something about spanakopita earlier. One of the menu choices was The Greek Gods Platter. Not only did that look enticing on name alone, the food that actually constituted this platter looked delicious as well. A lamb souvlaki (the “Grecian hamburger”), some spanakopita, and a healthy serving of pastichio - a lasagna-like dish with a sneak ingredient that had me guessing at it about half the night. At first I thought it was cinnamon. My friend had a taste and said, “No, that’s just the cumin”. But I didn’t accept that. Eventually I figured it out with helpful verification from our waitress: nutmeg. Anyway, all three of these preparations were just amazing. The souvlaki was like a gourmet gyro. It was like the difference between getting a Taco Bell taco vs. tacos al carbon made with ribeye steak. I absolutely adored the souvlaki. My spanakopita was delicious (I love the texture of phyllo) and went fantastic with the marinated onions that rounded out my plate.

Earlier in the evening while scanning the wine menu, we knew we’d need something with a little bit of backbone. After all, greek food is full of strong flavors. Lamb. Olives. Garlic. Those sorts of things. Our lovely waitress helped us out with some taster glasses of the two we were debating over - a pinot noir and a cabernet sauvignon. After the taste test we chose the cab - a 2004 vintage from B.R. Cohn. I’m happy to report it delivered, standing up strong to the bold flavors of the evening’s cuisine.

Now, dessert. I couldn’t very well come to a greek restaurant and not have some baklava. Happily for me, they have some special baklava. How special? Well, you get two layers of it surrounded by vanilla ice cream. That’s right, baklava ice cream cake. Of course, we wanted a coffee drink of some type sort with our dessert. Espresso? Regular coffee? Oh wait, what’s this the menu is whispering to me? Greek coffee? I honestly don’t remember the entire composition of this drink, but it did include Bailey’s, Kahlua, and Chambord. Oh, and coffee. Man what tasty beverage.

Long story short? I’m in love with Ziziki’s. I can’t wait to come back.

Tonight I went to one of my absolute favorite dining rooms in Dallas. The dark, warm, and romantic atmosphere of Daniele Osteria’s basement-level location was as welcoming as ever. You see, this little jewel of a restaurant is located under the Chase bank on Oak Lawn. That’s right - it’s basement level. Further on that point, the Dallas Observer called Daniele Osteria “The Best Place to Sit on a Patio and Not Be Seen” for their annual Best Of Dallas review. If you’re lucky, you may even be there on a night when there’s a live violinist in the dining room. In short, the atmosphere is wonderful which, incidentally, makes this a great place to take a date!

The next best thing about Daniele Osteria is the man himself, Daniele Puleo. Propitious, jocund, and sartorial to the extreme, Daniele will make you feel like his #1 guest (provided he’s working the dining room and not laboring hard in la cucina). How’s this for an anecdote: When leaving after a previous visit we bumped into Daniele himself tending to some tomato vines he has growing in big wooden planters out on the patio. A true Italian, this guy!

The specific subset of Italian cuisine is Sicilian. There is a fantastic selection of pasta combined with various sauces and other tasty ingredients such as mussels, mushrooms, and panchetta (yum!). In addition to the pasta dishes there are the Secondi (that’s 2nd course, or entrees, to you) which offers dishes like Orange Rougy Alla Messinese and Vitello Alla Siciliana (which I’ve had on a previous visit and it was delicious). Tonight I had the Filetto Al Gorgonzola, a beautiful (and perfectly prepared medium-rare) filet mignon with a gorgonzola sauce and some grilled veggies with potatoes. At $29 for such a delectable delight, I almost felt like I was robbing the place. Oh, and twice now I’ve started my evening with the Caprino Fritto. If eating fried goat cheese on a salad is wrong, I don’t want to be right.

However, despite all of this fantastic food, if you go to Daniele Osteria only once, you absolutely, positively, must have the Gnocchi al Gorgonzola. I’m not joking - if I hear you’ve dined from the custom ceramic dishes bearing Daniele’s name and you didn’t eat the gnocchi, I will hunt you down and smack you silly with a bologna sausage. Until proven otherwise, I will stand by the statement that this is the best gnocchi you can get in Dallas, and probably even all of Texas.

The wine list is impressive as well. There are some American wines on the list but honestly, I don’t look at those. In an earlier visit, Daniele himself pointed us to a red made from the sangiovese grape and I’ve been hooked on it ever since. This evening we had the Capezzana “Conti Contini”. It’s strong and fruity with just a little bit of spice and a nice long finish. Wines from this grape are commonly blends, but this particular wine was 100% sangiovese. For you high rollers out there, some older vintages of various wines are available for well into triple-digit prices.

A few notes in closing. First is parking. With a basement location, I can remember not knowing where to park the first time I went. The easiest place is to turn onto Hall street and use the garage behind the Chase building. You will see signs for the restaurant and there is a door straight in from the first level of the parking garage. Second, for Friday’s and weekends, reservations are recommended. Third - what’s an Osteria? I’m not 100% sure, but Google tells me this: “A tavern or humble restaurant where wine is served as the main attraction and tasty food is prepared to wash it down.” Good enough for me! And, finally, Daniele Osteria was recently Zagat rated.

I find that when I talk about food with my friends and new people, I invariably bring up Cafe Madrid, easily one of my favorite places to go eat in Dallas. What is also invariable is that when I do mention it, they almost always cock their heads and query, “Topless?” Personally, I don’t have anything against topless establishments. Even a topless tapas place would be dandy. But Cafe Madrid is just good ol’ Spanish tapas. Emphasis on the good.

One of the best features of Cafe Madrid is the setting. There’s indoor seating (At least, I’m pretty sure there is - I’ve never actually been in the building even after four visits) and a large patio area that’s really just out on the wide sidewalk. A true cafe feel. As the sun sets, the awnings come to life with little white lights. There’s no pop music playing. The street isn’t super busy. A very pleasant space to enjoy good food, good company, and good conversation. A nice contrast to crowded and noiser (albeit, more popular) patio scenes such as Primos.

Now, lets get down to the food. First of all, if you’ve never had tapas I’ll explain real quick how it works. Tapas are essentially a la carte dishes or appetizers. If you have ever looked at a restaurant menu and just wanted to pig out on the appetizers, then tapas is the thing for you. You can order a single tapas dish for yourself, but it’s the most fun to order several dishes for the whole table and everybody just picks at the selections at their leisure. Still hungry when those are gone? Order more! The typical price range for a tapas plate is $3-$9.

I usually start with a cheese plate. They have anywhere from eight to a dozen spanish cheeses available. My favorites are the manchego, san simon, and ibores. The cabrales is excellent too, but I’m not always in the mood for a mold-cured cheese. As for the tapas menu, I’ve found I always order the Spanish Potato Omelette, and sometimes even crave this particular little delight when I’m feeling hungry and nowhere close to Cafe Madrid - it’s just one of those foods that seems like it could always “hit the spot.” Other favorites include the Tuna Empanadas, Spinach with Pine Nuts, Oxtail Stew, and of course the Paella. But, to be honest, everything here is so good that you could throw darts at the menu and enjoy every random choice. Keep an eye out for the specials menu!

Now let’s talk wine. I’ve tried several different wines at Cafe Madrid, but two stand out. For the whites, it is the Lusco Albarino. Normally I’m not a huge white wine fan, but this one is appealing. It’s not too dry or too sweet. For the reds, I love the Montecillo Crianza, which is from the Rioja region of Spain, which I’ve praised before. I will find it hard to not order this wine on my next visit, for variety is the spice of life! Also, if you find a variety you particularly like, they are more than happy to bag up some bottles for you to take home (you do have to pay for them, ya know).

Which brings me to my final words about Cafe Madrid: the service. The wait staff are excellent. Courteous, knowledgeable, and fastidious, they perform their job with high efficiency without being annoying - which further feeds that pleasant atmosphere I enjoy so much about this poace. So, please go rally up some friends and head over to Cafe Madrid.

Ok, I think it’s clear from the title here that I wasn’t wowed by Hector’s on Henderson. I could be unfairly judging the place based on bizarre coincidence of factors, or maybe I just had a poor evening. At any rate, I was let down. Perhaps I just had the place too built up in my head. Over-hyped, you might say.

The first thing that may not have been working in Hector’s favor was, unfortunately, Restaurant Week. First, the trimmed down menu was small. And, contrary to Abacus which is normally a more expensive place to dine than Hector’s, they somewhat ignored the prix fixe spirit of Restaurant Week by adding upcharges on about a 3rd of the selections. Boo.

The second thing was timing. I didn’t experience Hector’s at its best. I wasn’t there for live music. Chef Todd Erickson who was part of the initial popularity of the restaurant, moved on almost two years ago. And, we made our reservations late, which meant we sat on the patio. The patio wasn’t bad, but I would liked to have experienced their main dining room.

The third thing was, well, the food. I have no complaints about the fried green tomatoes I ordered as an appetizer. They were appropriately fresh and flavorful. But that is where my love affair with the food at Hector’s ended. I thoroughly enjoyed my redfish with avocado puree and crab pico de gallo. But the filet was small. Lilliputian even. So little, in fact, that it was nearly dwarfed by the scoop of guacamole (ahem, excuse me, “avocado puree”) resting next to it. Which is a shame, since it did taste quite good. Now, I know Americans are over-accustomed to large portions and you’re probably thinking, “Oh simmer down, I’m sure you’re comparing it to the mega-combo fish basket at Long John Silver’s” but I’m not. To further drive home the point, I’m quite sure I ate more seafood flesh from the mound of crab pico than I did from the filet.

Then came dessert. The cobbler du jour was peach, which sounded fantastic. I’ve had cobbler many dozens of times in my life and I was excited to see what a more upscale restaurant would do with this humble dessert. As an example, when I ate at Standard last year, I ordered strawberry shortcake. Only instead of shortcake they used lemon scones and instead of whipped cream they used crème fraîche and it was delightful. But the cobbler I got at Hector’s could not have possibly been more boring. In fact, I’d go far enough to say it was medicore and that I’ve had better from my grocer’s freezer. It wasn’t crispy, it was poorly seasoned, and had about half as much fruit as I’d like to have seen.

And perhaps the Hector’s experience is just one I’m not keen to. Their party piece is the re-imagining of traditional “comfort food” cuisine. I mean, their signature dish is meatloaf! I could be unfairly expecting more than Hector’s ever intended to deliver.

Lastly, was the valet experience. Normally, I couldn’t care less about valet parking my car. I don’t have a fancy ride nor do I feel particularly catered-to when someone parks it for me. But Hector’s uses a valet service that is also used by next couple of buildings. I think. I can’t imagine another sensible reason to wait 20 minutes for my car. Maybe they were super busy because of Restaurant Week. Maybe it’s always like that at Hector’s because they park half the cars across the street. At any rate, it didn’t improve my impression of the evening on the whole.

Will I go back? Yes. But it won’t be for quite some time - there are many more places to try.

After making Abacus the first restaurant I visited for KRLD’s Restaurant Week, I’m happy to report that great food is the answer - at least - the answer I’m concerned with today.

The decor of Abacus is breathtaking. Of all the places I’ve been to in Dallas so far, I would say this is the nicest. A well-established style is ever-present throughout the building, and dark woods rule the show.

I started at the bar. I’m not a huge cocktail drinker, or I don’t yet know what I like, so I stick with Vodka tonics to keep it simple. The bartender was friendly and gave us a little snack plate with some very tasty wasabe peas. In retrospect, I wished I had asked the bartender if they had a “house special” cocktail. Maybe next time.

Ok, enough blabbing about that, on to dinner! Since this is restaurant week, our menu choices were limited, and that may have been a good thing. Choosing dishes from even this smaller menu was challenging, as they all looked superb. But, in the end, I ordered with confidence and here’s what I got.

The Appetizer
I felt like trying some of their Asian cuisine that night, so I opted for the Buffalo - Shitake Mushroom “Potstickers” with Spicy Apricot Glaze. I don’t know if buffalo meat is a big Asian flavor, but man oh man were these delicious. I’ve had about ten different preparations of potstickers in my life, and these by far were the best. In fact, myself and my company at the table figured they were the best appetizer of the night. From the plates of my friends, I got to sample a wonderful diver scallop and a lobster-scallion shooter. Looking at their “small plates” menu, I must say I look forward to return trips to try the kobe carpaccio and the duck confit ravioli.

The Entree
Sticking with my evening’s preference for Asian cuisine, I ordered the Soy Seared Beef and Spicy Jumbo Prawns on Thai Flat Noodle Stir Fry and Pineapple - Sake Sauce. I admit, I have a relatively inexperienced palette for complex Asian cuisine, so while I can whole-heartedly say I loved this preparation, I’m having difficultly explaining why. Would this be my favorite item to order at Abacus? No. From trying morsels of the entrees my dinner companions ordered, I’m certain Abacus has many dishes I could love even more than I did my own. And as much as I enjoyed my choice, I don’t feel a strong urge to rave about it.

The Dessert
The dessert menu had one clear choice for me. I was so grasped by it’s allure I developed tunnel vision and I honestly don’t remember what else they even offered that evening. A chocoloate souffle. And boy did this sweet treat deliver. A perfect example of the paradox that is the souffle: extremely rich and delightfully airy. Yes, I doubt that a chocoloate souffle would appear on the dessert menu of an authentic asian restaurant, but I didn’t care. It was fantastic.

The Wine
For the evening I shared a bottle of Montecillo Crianza, a red from the Rioja region of Spain. This is not the first Rioja wine I’ve had the pleasure of imbibing in recent weeks, and I hope it’s not the last. They are spicy and fully bodied with a fantastic nose - I almost feel obligated to inhale their aroma before every swallow.

As myself and my buds dragged our reluctant trigenarian friend around Uptown for his birthday dinner, I really didn’t know where we’d end up. You can walk for 10 mintues and see twice as many appealing places to dine. Eventually, we ended up at Arcodoro & Pomodoro, a sardinian-italian restaurant which, five minutes prior, I had never heard of. And might I note: moderately difficult to say out loud without deliberate enunciation. Or maybe it’s just difficult to hear. I haven’t once yet mentioned the name to someone who didn’t ask me to repeat myself. Moving on.

After reading on their website a bit, I get the impression that Arcodoro and Pomodoro used to be two separate restaurants that, in a very corporation-like-manner, merged to bring their collective culinary capacity to the dining public of Dallas. Fantastico!

The interior is very elegant. There’s a centrally located bar and multiple dining rooms, including a quaint little two-person table at the top of the stairwell, which has a bird’s-eye view of half the restaurant. Sort of like a little balconette. Also visible from behind glass doors was a large portion (or the entirety?) of their wine collection. A very pleasant place to be.

Starting at the bar, the first thing that was clear was that the bartender was very concerned with service. Not only was he very attentive, but when we ordered appetizers to hold us over during our 30-or-so minute wait, we received place-settings, folded napkins - the whole treatment. Our selections included some wonderful calamari, mushrooms with buffalo mozzarella, and some absolutely fantastic foccacia served with the traditional olive oil and balsamic dipping combo.

After being seated by the lovely hostess, who not only pulled out our chairs but also lap-placed our napkins, our waiter popped by to take drink orders and announce the specials. In addition to what I recall was four specials for the day, their menu was chock full of spectacular-looking dishes. I was quite hungry that night and ended up ordering the stinco (that’s leg of lamb to you), which was served with a surprisingly delicious risotto “cake.” The portion was huge - I don’t know for sure but it had to have been a good 16-20oz of baby sheep, which was oh-so-tasty. Oh, and I must mention, my friend who was celebrating his birthday with much chagrin, went all A-list on us and ordered off the menu - a wonderful trio of buffalo skewers, which looked almost as fabulous as they tasted. What a prima donna.

I skipped dessert that night, instead opting for a nice cappuccino which was delicious, and a perfect cap to such a satisfying meal. I don’t honestly recall what my friends ordered for dessert, but I do know that nobody went home with doggy bags, and all the plates on the table were clean when we left. This is definitely a place I look forward to trying again.