Dallas Food - One Week, Dos Brisas, Three Meals (Part 2)

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One Week, Dos Brisas, Three Meals (Part 2)
Posted on Thursday, July 24 @ 19:51:09 PDT
Topic: Non-DallasFood

When the hostess noticed I had entered the ranch from the service entrance in my prior visit, she gave me the address to plug into the GPS so I could come in through the front the next night. (At the end of the evening, she reminded me of the address and pointed out that it was printed on the take-home copy of the menu.) I pulled through the front gate, drove through fields and over a small creek, around a pond, and then stopped to inspect the garden. On to the food...

In the previous night's meal, many vegetables were described as having come from the restaurant's garden. Given the small, sun-beaten vegetable patch I saw near the restaurant the night before, I was skeptical. The larger garden alongside the entrance road put any doubts to rest. This was a large, productive, organic food supply.

Neatly mulched and edged with basil and sunflowers, the garden held an impressive range of vegetables. Pole beans, bush beans, field peas, sunchoke, tomatoes, summer and winter squash, melons, peppers, onions, garlic, cucumbers, okra, eggplants, carrots, greens, etc.

That's being too general, though. When I say "peppers," think cayenne, bell, cherry, pequin, serrano, sweet banana, yellow wax, Cubanelle, poblano, jalapeno, Tabasco, and more. (I stopped counting at twenty five.) When I say "squash," think yellow straight and crookneck, patty pan, kabocha, pumpkin, delicata, butternut, buttercup, banana, zucchini, acorn, and more.

The diversity multiplied within those categories, as I counted more than eight types of bell pepper, three types of acorn squashes, three types of okra, eighteen types of tomatoes, etc. Heirloom varieties were heavily represented across the board.

As a restaurant garden, this would be very impressive on either coast. But with the harsh climate of Texas--and, if we're being honest with ourselves, a broad indifference to seasonality and produce quality in the state--it's nothing short of amazing. Click here for a Flickr slideshow of photos from the garden at Inn at Dos Brisas.

Looking over the garden and remembering the excellence of the produce the previous evening, my expectations were heightened for this night's meal. This night, there would be no "day boat" this-or-that flown in from the coast. No free-range beasties trucked in from across the state. This would be the "vegetable collection" menu, filled with organic produce that was handpicked that day and traveled no more than a quarter mile in an electric golf cart.

Another gougère as the amuse, this time with summer truffle and some housemade truffle oil. As was the case the previous night, the pastry seemed like it had been baked earlier in the day.

The first course was a shot of intense, chilled cucumber water, served with a spoonful of pickled lemon cucumber and pomelo powder (to be stirred into the cup). The mild sweetness of cucumber water was countered with the complementary tartness of pickled cucumber. An unexpected back-of-the throat burn from chiles developed slowly behind the cooling cucumber. Delicious and beautifully balanced.

Breads for the evening were white and sourdough rolls, again with Lucky Layla butter. (It would have been nice had the salt been incorporated into the butter, rather than sprinkled across the top of it.)

Next came a garden tomato salad, hinting at panzanella. The red, yellow, and green tomatoes (none larger than a small marble) were perfectly ripe. Some were berry sweet, others pleasantly tart. The tomatoes were balanced primarily by peppery and bitter watercress and watercress puree. A brioche crouton added some textural variation, and minced olives and shaved parmesan a touch of salt. Basil, parsley, and oil rounded it out. Another winner.

This was my favorite course of the night. Housemade ricotta gnocchi with baby squash, carrots, and Japanese eggplant, in a light cream sauce with a hint of truffle. Texturally, the erythrocyte-shaped gnocchi were spot on--improbably light. The vegetables were spectacular individually and collectively. The cream sauce was sop-worthy. I'd order an entrée portion of this in a heartbeat. One of the best things I've eaten all year.

Next came a curried eggplant soup. A successful dash into Indian flavors, the soup was smooth, sweet, and surprisingly spicy. Though enjoyable standing alone, the spiciness provided a nice change in pace in the progression of courses.

The first of the entrée courses consisted of roasted eggplant wrapped in thin, crisp strips of squash, plated with a puree of eggplant and squash and a cilantro emulsion. The sweetness of the eggplant meshed well with the green, vegetal flavor of the squash and aromatic cilantro. Interesting, attractive, and delicious, it's one of the better vegetarian entrees I've had (and a step up from the carnivorous mains of the night before).

The next entrée course was every bit as good. A roasted yellow tomato was stuffed with black-eyed peas, chives, and sweet bell pepper, plated with white corn puree and emulsion, and garnished with basil and flat leaf parsley. Walk through the ingredients and you realize that this was, more or less, a dressed-up reconstruction of "Texas caviar." Another excellent course.

Another great cheese course, this time featuring a housemade cow's milk triple-crème, paper-thin crackers, and a spicy tomato and apricot confit. The cheese was wonderful, complex, rich, and just on the edge of being runny. The chutney was very nice, but I would've been happier with just a larger portion of the cheese.

Dessert was improved over the previous night's. This time it was a carrot cake served with carrot reduction and roasted carrot ice cream. The warm cake itself was conventional, though nicely done. The carrot reduction had a darker, earthier character than I expected (probably arising from the variety of carrot used)--sort of like the difference between a blood orange and a common orange. On its own, the reduction wasn't very dessert-like. But when taken with the cake, it cut against the sweetness of the cream cheese frosting effectively. The ice cream had a mellow carrot flavor. Not too rich and with a very light texture, it offered carrot in another form, temperature, and character. An interesting and mostly successful dessert.

When offered tea or coffee, my request for hot chocolate was granted without hesitation. An enormous mug was placed before me with a fairly dark chocolate and frothed milk. Good, though not extraordinary, hot chocolate.

I wish I could end the report without having to describe the mignardises. Another cookie piece dipped in melted, untempered chocolate and a burnt caramel nut cluster, with the caramel remaining very sticky. They just weren't up to the standard set by the rest of the meal, let alone that of restaurants with a similar price point.

The takeaway gift this time was a small jar with dried sage from the herb garden. A cute presentation and a welcome change from the poor molded chocolates the night before.

The strengths of the first meal were present in this one as well--i.e, Chef Robinson's palate and produce. Yet freedom from the pressure to build dishes around animal proteins magnified those qualities. This was a decidedly better meal than I had the night before, and among the very best vegetarian meals I've had anywhere. With this night's dessert being more interesting and successful, the only real flaw was with the mignardises.

Two down, one to go.

Links to: Inn at Dos Brisas Report (Part 1); Inn at Dos Brisas Report (Part 2); Inn at Dos Brisas Report (Part 3).