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DINING NEW ARRIVALS

Sirloin, pat, won ton and calamari
By D Magazine |

Ferrari’s. This newest addition to the burgeoning restaurant row in the West End warehouse district may be Dallas’ best Italian restaurant. Not the most Italian, perhaps-the food doesn’t have the lightness and zing of authentic Italian-but the richest, most sensuous and (as far as one can distinguish at a fledgling operation) the most consistent from dish to dish.

When you walk into Ferrari’s, the first thing you notice isn’t the colorful, rather informal decor or the accommodating, efficient staff dressed in gondolier get-ups. It’s the antipasto cart and the dessert cart, both bulging with delicacies. The antipasto on the cart (priced according to the number of selections you make) is rather expensive and is too much of a jumble if you take one of everything, as the waiter recommends. Ask, instead, for a couple of items-perhaps the seafood salad, the beans with tuna or the marinated mushrooms. And don’t forget the hot appetizers. The calamari (tender and fragrant in a tomato-and-wine sauce) is splendid. But the clams, baked with garlic, were too salty for our tastes and were a little bitter.

The pasta here is magnificent. The paglio e fieno (hay and straw) gives just the right resistance to the teeth, and the green and white noodles are generously coated in a sauce that’s smoky with ham and mushrooms. The lasagna is equally perfect-the sauce is creamy, not an acidic concentrate of tomatoes. Half portions of all pastas are available if you want them to precede the main course, Italian-style. But they are so rich (as are the main courses) that prudence may be preferable to authenticity. The kitchen seems to be a fountain of heavy cream, butter, egg yolks and cheese. The scallopine alla valdostana and the tender shrimp float in similar ivory sauces mixed with sliced fresh mushrooms. The desserts are rich, too: The fluffy, creamy cheesecake is the best in town for those who like their cheesecake sweet but not too dense, and the fritelle della casa are essentially crêpes Suzette with amaretto; like everything else, they get a showy tableside treatment that somehow is not overdone. For once, you can be assured that all your hot food will arrive at the table hot. (1713 Market. 741-5538. Lunch: Mon-Fri 11-2; dinner: Mon-Thur 5:30-10:30, Fri & Sat 5:30-11. Closed Sun. MC, V, AE. $$$)

La Pagode. The name of this new Vietnamese restaurant is meant to suggest the multifarious international influences on the cuisine. But the food won’t remind you of anything French, whatever Vietnam’s colonial history. Even for those familiar with Oriental cooking, the cooking here will seem exotic indeed. If you want something new, different and very tasty, try La Pagode.

The most interesting things here come in mysterious edible packages. There are the relatively familiar spring rolls, of course, as well as excellent won ton in some of the soups. But what are the so-called Vietnamese crepes, which were rather stiff and paperlike? And who would have expected “pressed rice” to be a soft, pancakelike doily in which meat and vegetables were wrapped? The fillings come in great variety, too, and include wonderful barbecued pork. All the items come garnished with an endless array of fresh herbs-mint, lemon-grass and coriander, to name a few. But there are also some herbs you won’t recognize. The helpful proprietress (who cooks but also visits with the customers when she has time) identified one herb simply as “Vietnamese mint”-but it was unlike any mint we had ever seen.

La Pagode seems rather fancy for an Oriental restaurant located in this part of town (near Baylor Hospital). The tall windows overlook the street, and white tablecloths adorn the tables. The prices, though, are not at all fancy. Hardly anything on the menu costs more than $4, except for the hot pot. But not all the food here is exotic; many dishes are close enough to traditional Chinese cuisine to allay the fears of the timid. (4302 Bryan. 821-4542. Sun-Thur 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Fri & Sat 11-11. No credit cards; personal checks accepted. $)

Jasons. This steak and seafood restaurant in Sakowitz Village has a lot going for it: aged beef cut to order and well-grilled, a sophisticated setting, a selection of good wines available by the glass. It’s a pleasant place that, with some work, could be a lot better. The house specialty, Jasons Le Steak, shows the place at its best. The entree description makes it sound like a London broil, since the steak is sliced before it’s brought to the table. But this is a decent-sized sirloin, sliced crossways into large chunks (for no perceptible reason). It is cooked to order, and the herb sauce served on top actually adds to the flavor. The accompanying julienne fries and house salad with mustard vinaigrette accentuate the taste of the meat nicely.

The same sirloin, sans sauce, ordered at the minimum cut of 10 ounces, seems too thin and flat to stand alone. The prime rib is rather tasteless-making us wonder about the grade and the aging of the meat. But the troubles at Jasons really become apparent with the seafood dishes. Appetizers, which, annoyingly, must be ordered off a separate menu, are mostly in this category, and none are outstanding. The swordfish steak also was cooked until it was chewy and dry. Even the desserts are unimpressive.

Perhaps more attention has been paid to the setting than the food. The burgundy, black and white interior is attractive enough, as are the waiters in their coordinating uniforms. But even here, there are shortcomings. The music, which is sometimes live,can be intrusive, and the service is easilydiscombobulated. One might be tempted towrite off Jasons altogether, but a good steakis still enough of a rarity in North Dallas thatwe are willing to wait and see if the rest ofthe operation can be brought up to the levelof the very tasty sirloin. (5100 Belt Line inSakowitz Village, Suite 502, Addison.960-2877. Lunch: Mon-Fri 11-3; dinner:Mon-Sat 5-11; Sun 11-9. All credit cards.$$$.)

Escape. Fort Worth land developer/restaurateur L.A. Jacobini is serious about the name of his restaurant. Escape has been in business since the middle of August, and only a small ad in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tipped us off that there was a new restaurant in town. It took us quite a while to find this hideaway, located just off Camp Bowie Boulevard. (Remember that it’s on the street across from the Rio Motel and behind the Western.) Don’t look for any signs announcing its whereabouts; it’s an obscure white house that looks like any of the other quiet residences on this street except that valet parking attendants line the tiny parking area with Cadillacs and BMWs.

But we’re glad we did find this place. It’s a wonderful escape-a seven-course evening that comes mighty close to rivaling the five-course, five-star offering at Michel. We might even go further than that: It does rival Michel in terms of service, although Michel still carries away the ambiance award. The seven courses consist of an appetizer selection (escargot in puff pastry, paté and a stuffed mushroom cap); a lobster bisque topped with pastry; a sweet sorbet; house salad; entree (several seafood, poultry, veal and steak selections are available); dessert (we tried two different mousses: lemon and chocolate with Kahlua) and coffee-all followed by a cheese and fruit tray.

Former Amfac chef Marsha Ballard reigns over the kitchen with an expert hand: Each course was artfully arranged (although we could have done with less of the rich pastry), and our entrée of veal wrapped in herbs was simply presented, not drenched in an overpowering sauce. Although Escape is housed in a remodeled residence, as is Michel, it has none of the grandeur that the latter exudes. But it doesn’t have quite the price tag, either. A seven-course meal at Escape costs between $25 and $30, depending on whether you order the tableside presentation, during which your waiter prepares your meal at the table. We suggest that you do; the preparation of the steak Diane is a visual feast. (5416 Pelham. (817) 738-9704. Lunch: Mon-Fri 11:30-2:30; dinner: Mon-Fri 5:30-10, Sat 5-11, Sun 5-10. All credit cards. $$$)

Piccolo Mondo. This interesting new Italian restaurant advertises itself as serving Adriatic cuisine, but if you go expecting, say, Venetian regional dishes, you’ll be disappointed. There is something of an accent on seafood here, but otherwise the menu is standard Northern Italian. The important thing is that the cooking is excellent in its hearty, forthright style-from the appetizers to the desserts.

One expects a plate of mixed hot antipasto to contain a bit of this and a bit of that, but at Piccolo Mondo, it’s a single dish of mixed shellfish in a creamy wine sauce-shrimp, squid and mussels beautifully cooked and complemented by the zingy taste of wine. The scampi are equally delectable in their garlic-butter sauce. Half orders of pasta are available for $4.50, and several are extraordinary. Some members of our party favored the tortellini-some green, some white, but all insistently al dente and filled with a grainy filling of minced chicken. Others raved over the canelloni tricolore, filled with a savory meat and spinach stuffing and adorned with two sauces: tomato and cream. Our only disappointment among the prelim-inaries was the house salad, dressed with a vinaigrette that tasted oddly of pineapple juice.

The veal in the various scallopini disheswas of good quality; the sauces, thick andforceful. The saltimbocca had plenty of hamand tasted strongly of sage; the scallopinialla marsala had plenty of wine and mushrooms. The red snapper was fresh and delicate, but the breading separated from thefilet and the sauces did not quite meld.Outstanding desserts included the cannoliand the crême caramel-old standbys, to besure, but executed better here thanelsewhere. (9507 Overtake. 357-2983.Lunch: Mon-Fri 11-2; dinner: Mon-Thur5-10:30, Fri & Sat 5-11, Sun 5-10. All creditcards. $$$)

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