Kristy booked us into Abacus for our dinner. we were stunned and extremely disappointed to learn that the tasting menu is only available tues-thurs. and then the chef's table was already booked. i want to say it was also a 6+ table and we were a party of 4. kristy tried her best to have them serve us the chef's tasting menu but they wouldn't budge.kent rathbun owns 3 places in the dallas area - abacus, jaspers, and rathbun's blue plate kitchen. rathbun has previously worked at the mansion and opened abacus, a 5-star restaurant, in 1997. perhaps the few issues i had with the evening are directly related to being around for 13+ years and things have gotten a little lax. if so i hope the comments i made put a pep into them to make the few and small changes.
as we were going back to ftw directly from the restaurant we took 2 cars from C&K's place. as neither matt nor i had any real idea of where we were going other than 'it's off 75' chris drove matt and kristy came with me.
as we pulled up it was very clear this is valet parking only. thank you to chris or kristy for covering that as we hadn't thought of it and we didn't have any cash.
our server suggested our wines. neither were very expensive but both complimented our meal(s) nicely.
we were seated as soon as we walked in and there weren't too many people there yet, but as time went by the place filled up.
with the exception of mentions about my 'tiny tank' when i'm drinking lots of water/other, i don't usually comment on the ladies' room. but this time i feel compelled to. when we walked into the restaurant i noticed the music choice wasn't really what i would consider appropriate for fine dining, but it was more hiphop-chic-wannabe kind of music and it was a little on the loud side. but walk into the ladies rook and it's like walking in front of a stack of speakers turned up to 11. guys, turn it down!
we were seated at a four-top and it was a bit crowded. we discussed this because there were 6-tops set up for 2. and our 4-top would've better suited a party of 2 while we could've been at a larger table. no michellin star for abacus on the above 2 comments.
we all decided that no matter what we should all try and order something different and we'd "pass the plates". our own little tasting menu.
our appetizers were:
japanese hamachi tartar, pickled scallions, apricot sorbet, ginger-white soy ponzu
matt and chris said this was great. it wasn't my favorite. in part because it's fish, and also because it's raw. also the sorbet didn't do it for me. maybe a different flavor? i'd have to try it. as far as consistency goes i think it worked. the cracker was a sesame and poppy seed thing.
it was matt's favorite
"bacon and eggs", niman ranch chipotle bacon, scrambled duck egg, black truffle
uh, YUM! i have to say i didn't care for the egg. it was really thick, not light like a scrambled egg. but i didn't let the truffle go to waste.
while all the other appys were really 1 bite per person, the bacon was too rich and gooey to do that. whoever had this plate held up the rest of the table while they finished their portion.
this was chris's favorite and my 2nd fav.
matt and i saw this on a sample menu and were intrigued so we knew we had to order it.
pan roasted foie gras, bacon-buttermilk 'hot cakes', toasted walnuts, texas peach-bourbon maple syrup
kristy's favorite, and while i enjoyed it, it wasn't something i think i'd order again. personally i could've done with less walnut but there are other nuts i prefer to eat. the preparation was perfect on this dish. but if i had to name a favorite it was the next dish listed.
crispy pork belly steam bun, thai chile black soy, savoy cabbage slaw.
this was my fav of these 4 dishes. i think in part because it was different. yeah i know, foie gras with pancakes isn't different? ok, this one had a kick to it. it was the spiciest of the 4. it reminded me a little of the mushu (sp?) pork we get at our favorite chinese restaurants, only much snootier.
butter leaf lettuce "wedge" salad, grape tomatoes, vidalia onions, creme fraiche-bleu cheese dressing
kristy swears by this salad.
marinated buffalo's milk mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, basil pesto, sourdough croutons, 25 year balsamic
it never fails to amaze me how yummy something as simple as this can be - provided the ingredients are the absolute best you can purchase.
keep this on the menu
the wine we had with our main course(s).
while we shared around the mains, the plates "lived" with the person who ordered it.
kristy ordered
chipotle bacon duck breast, maple-black pepper glaze, cous-cous risotto, california avacado creme fraiche
she says it was very good, but her next trip i think she'll be ordering the beef cheeks.
i had
port wine braised beef cheeks, roasted baby carrots, goat cheese whipped potatoes, natural jus
overall a very good dish. my main complaint was that whipped potatoes are by definition light and these were far from light. they were heavy and dense. the flavor was fine, but 1 bite was all i needed to know i wouldn't have more.
the cheeks, that's another story!
chris ordered
grilled scottish salmon, serrano-jack cheese grits, cilantro pepita pesto, chipotle-lime butter
he says it was very good
matt had
crispy seared hawaiian ono, spicy jasmine fried rice, breakfast radishes, tangering-white miso butter
coffee of course, was ordered with dessert.
another shared dish:
blueberry fried pie
buttermilk goat cheese cream, vanilla honey
i'm so glad there were 4 of these! definitely a keeper. we didn't really know what to expect with this one. the size of the pies are almost twice the size they are in the picture. it was kind of like a sopapilla with blueberry-vanilla honey.
blueberry and lemon sorbets.
this was really good except for the sesame tuille (?!?) which just didn't work for any of us. luckily it was easy to remove.
dark chocolate sorbetto
again with that tuille.
our server - i'm sorry i didn't write his name down because i can't remember it - was great. i had only 1 'complaint' and i put that in single quotes because it's not really a complaint. i'll explain. when i returned from a trip to the ladies room he was standing beside my chair waiting to take the order of our entree. maybe he didn't see me, i'd hope it was that as opposed to the alternative. he kept standing there and didn't move. not only did he not move to allow me to get into my chair, he didn't offer to help with the chair either. this is something i guess i've gotten a little used to from fine dining experiences. again no michellin star for the lack of this. also they didn't refold my napkin or give me a new one. ok, now maybe i'm getting picky. but hey, this is supposed to be a very nice restaurant, and i've gotten better service (and kept my eardrums intact) at places where we paid a lot less.
don't get me wrong, the waiter knew the wines, made good suggestions, and made sure we had water. but it took a while to get our food, was there a backup in the kitchen? we don't know. and he did take our picture for us at the end of the night. i guess honestly it was mixed as far as service some was good, others lacking.
would i go back? yes, but probably not before visiting a few other places first.
matt, libby, kristy, chris. good friends make good food great!
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