Dallas Food - Upscale Vegetarian: Abacus

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Upscale Vegetarian: Abacus
Posted on Wednesday, October 03 @ 17:51:07 PDT
Topic: Vegetarian

Despite a number of very good meals at Abacus over the years, my most enduring memories are of meat dishes. Their menu may be the most extensive and eclectic in the market, but meat appears in nearly everything. Their web site even quotes Fran Lebowitz, who wrote, "Vegetables are interesting, but lack a sense of purpose when unaccompanied by a good cut of meat." I feared Abacus might respond to the vegetarian challenge with a brick. On to the food…

Since there's little to say on service, I'll just get it out of the way. In each visit, I had to let the waiter know I was a vegetarian, despite the fact that this had already been communicated at the time of each reservation. Other than that, there were no major missteps. Waitstaff were knowledgeable about dish preparations and ingredients. However, the menus never included more than one or two vegetarian options--appetizer salads, no entrees--so menu knowledge was more or less irrelevant. Since the menu options were almost nonexistent, I left myself in the kitchen's hands.

First up was an appetizer of toasted ravioli filled with English pea puree, served in brown butter with a sprinkle of chives and drizzle of truffle oil, garnished with a microgreen salad. Not a bad idea for a dish, though the execution came up a little short. The pasta was somewhat thick, particularly around the edges, making it slightly tough and chewy (beyond al dente). The pea puree was a little bland, though that was easily remedied with a sprinkle of salt. The truffle oil and microgreens were unnecessary distractions. Minor faults, but--to me, at least--things like that often make the difference between a smile and a shrug.

The entrée consisted of a cup of mushroom risotto and a salad of fingerling potatoes, wilted arugula, and red onions. The slightly peppery risotto was loaded with porcini and shiitake mushrooms, along with some asparagus tips. Not awe-inspiring, but perfectly acceptable. The side salad, dressed with a lemon butter sauce, was just okay. By the usual yardstick of whether a vegetarian dish is as interesting and satisfying as standing non-vegetarian menu items, I'd say that this dish fell short of the mark.

Dessert was a s'more bombe, layering thick chocolate, marshmallow, graham cracker, peanut brittle garnish, and peanut butter ice cream. Classic flavor combinations and reasonably attractive presentation, but for some reason it didn't really do anything for me. I wish I could be more specific about my ambivalence, but I can't put my finger on any one thing. It was a dessert with a lot of ingredients that play to my palate, so I'm a little surprised I didn't enjoy it more.

Though Abacus doesn't serve an amuse bouche, the meal typically ends with a simple truffle. On this night, it was star anise-infused dark chocolate ganache. Dense and with a coarsely granular texture, it wasn't the best I've had from them.

Though not really a failure, this meal wasn't strong enough to merit an unqualified recommendation. The effort was there, but not the execution. I'm happy to say, though, that this was the weakest of my vegetarian meals at Abacus.

The appetizer on my next visit was spinach and artichoke ravioli with a lemon butter sauce, micro amaranth, Italian parsley, wilted spinach, and pesto. Though a little busy, everything worked on the plate. The pasta was just right, the filling creamy and well-balanced between tanginess and bitterness, and the sauce was worthy of swabbing off the plate with bread. While the ravioli appetizer in the prior meal felt improvised, this one seemed rehearsed. A very enjoyable dish.

This entrée was one of the more interesting improvisations I encountered in preparing these reports. It was a "Napoleon," with fried portobello, porcinis, roasted butternut squash, and roasted red bell pepper, served with a smoked tomato puree, tarragon oil, cipollini onions, and sautéed chard. Though, again, it was somewhat busy in concept, it came together nicely. The meaty mushrooms served as the backdrop for interplay between the sweet elements (e.g., tomato, roasted pepper, squash) and the mildly bitter chard. In ambition and execution, it was on par with many of the better non-vegetarian dishes I've had at Abacus, which is no mean feat.

Dessert this time was a lemon meringue icebox cake with Key lime sabayon and blackberry sorbet. The cake itself was a little dry, but the unapologetically tart lemon/lime combination was enjoyable.

My last visit again commenced with ravioli. This time, the filling was goat cheese, with a sauce of pureed corn, saffron, and black truffle. Rounding out the plate were asparagus, artichoke, teardrop tomatoes, and lobster mushroom. The ravioli were sauced with a champagne butter with some basil/cilantro oil. The dish was a little unfocused, with the mixed veg sides. And black truffle was an unnecessary curlicue on the ravioli. Still, it was a pretty good dish, landing somewhere between the prior ravioli appetizers.

Next up was basil gnocchi with chanterelles in a tomato and roasted red bell pepper sauce, along with some wilted arugula (pictured at the top of this report). There was a bobble in the execution, with the gnocchi coming out slightly gummy. And the intensity of flavor wore on me, given the portion size. (It would be much more appropriate as a bite or two on the tasting menu.) Good enough, though.

The entrée this time was a trio of risotto, soup, and stuffed tomato. The risotto, though texturally nice, tasted of truffle and little else. It was a small enough component of the dish, though, that it didn't become tiresome. The soup consisted of a smooth, sweet corn base, backed strongly with saffron. The tomato was stuffed with mozzarella, bathed in olive oil, and oven-roasted, followed with garnishes of pesto and chiffonade of basil. Though the three components didn't obnoxiously clash with each other, they didn't add up to anything more than the sum of their parts. While greater harmony of flavor or concept among the trio would've been appreciated, the individual components were good enough on their own to make the dish reasonably successful.

This cherry pecan crisp with vanilla ice cream was the most straightforward dessert of the three I had in these vegetarian meals. It was also the best. Good fruit in season, nuts and streusel for textural contrast, and good ice cream for richness and temperature contrast. Nothing fancy. Probably not much of a "value," if you weigh its simplicity against some of the more labor-intensive desserts on the menu. But if it tastes better....

Abacus ultimately won me over, for a few reasons. First, every meal demonstrated some ambition. Instead of foisting off a collection of sides, the kitchen made an effort to give dishes conceptual focus, some complexity, and visual flair. It seemed like they relished the deviation from routine. Though there was some unevenness in quality from dish to dish, the average was good and the high points were quite high, making it worth the gamble.

Second, Abacus has a diverse pantry of generally high quality ingredients to support their extensive menu. Given the kitchen's improvisational initiative, a good pantry gives them wide creative latitude.

Third, Abacus has remarkable depth of talent in the kitchen. Kent Rathbun was nowhere to be seen on any of these nights and Tre Wilcox was only there on one of them. Yet there was nothing "junior varsity" about the meals. They've got a solid team there.

Rating for Abacus: Recommended.

Pros: Good depth of talent in kitchen. Diverse pantry of high quality produce. Fairly ambitious improvisational approach to vegetarian orders, with more hits than misses. Waitstaff generally knowledgeable about menu.

Cons: Waitstaff showed no prior awareness of vegetarian requests in reservations. Dish quality, though generally good to very good, was not always consistent.