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RESTAURANTS High Steaks

Beef is back, and Del Frisco is dishing it out.
By BARBARA GIBBONS |

HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN, ATLEAST for Dallas restaurateurs who specialise in that red-blooded All-American favorite: beef! After a decade of chicken breasts and bean sprouts, boomers seem to be biting the bullet of middle age, turning into their parents and ordering up what was big when they were babies: martinis, cigars, chocolate, swimsuits with skirts, and even red meat

The National Beef Council confirms the trend: 1994 saw a 16 percent increase in the number of upscale (read: expensive) steakhouses. Add to this an 18 percent increase in family-style (read: less expensive) steakhouses.

What’s behind the big beef comeback’ Part of the trend seems inspired by nostalgia: boomers want to re-create the same steak-out experiences they remember as kids. Another part isdiet backlash: we’re fed-up with the food police and their fat-gram alerts. (The next downer, one wag predicts, will be mandatory non-fat sections for all those whose cholesterol is over 200. ) Finally, there’s the reward factor: Lots of hard-working, double-income couples who tread the caloric straight and narrow most of the time are now in the mood for a no-compromise splurge. Cost isn’t a factor.

In Dallas, where red meat has always been big, the trend borders on obsession.

Eager to feel the fervor for beef, we headed to Del Frisco’s Double Eagle on Spring Valley Road in North Dallas. While the Del Frisco name is well known to Dallas steak lovers, often conjuring up juicy memories, the location of this restaurant is new. Del Frisco, né Dale Wamstad, closed two eponymous steakhouses in Oak Lawn and in Addison last May to consolidate business in the new spot.

Since reopening in June, Del Frisco’s has gathered some rave reviews and commendations both from those in the industry and from some discriminating local palates. Last month, D readers voted Del Frisco’s the top steakhouse in the Dallas area, and the most recent Zagat survey, based on write-ins from restaurant-goers all over the country, gives Del Frisco’s its top rating: “Extraordinary.”

We arrived promptly at 7 on a high-traffic night…and had to push our way through the front door. Inside, mobs of would-be patrons milled about, and we feared a long stint on a barstool, waiting for a table, but we were seated in less than five minutes. Comfortably ensconced in a comer, we ordered wine and studied the menu. Short and to the point, it lists four kinds of steak in five sizes, three types of veal, lobster and the catch of the day, four variations of potatoes, and almost always the same two vegetables: spinach and asparagus-Steaks range in size from an 8-ounce $18.95 filet mignon (which is a lot smaller than you think! ) to a 24-ounce prime porterhouse at $28, about the size of a laptop computer. (A good bet for couples: the 20-ounce prime strip for two at $15.50 per person.)

We ordered and almost immediately a huge puff of bread crusted with toasted sesame seeds appeared before us. The bread was too soft for cutting; the idea was to break (actually, pull) off a hunk. The inside was white and steamy and sucked up the accompanying butter without a trace. I’ve been eating whole-grain bread so long that I had forgotten the simple pleasure of white bread fresh from the oven, all texture and aroma with little flavor to compete.

Next came the salad, completely hidden under a cloak of creamy dressing with soft rich lumps of buttery avocado. Now don’t laugh: Some of the pieces of lettuce were chunks of old-fashioned iceberg; this style is apparently a tradition in steakhouses because of the appealing crunch. The crisp-ness blended well with the softer pieces of romaine, but the dressing was so rich I started to feel remorseful for eating it. Perhaps one of the other three house dressings- blue cheese, vinaigrette, or honey mustard-would have made for a better start.

Then we discovered what the menu lists simply as “the vegetable”-it’s almost always asparagus, I was told. The spears were uniformly sized, nicely chunky, perfectly steamed, drizzled with butter and strewn with little shards of toasted almonds. I could have eaten more of them.

But by now the steaks had arrived: my petit filet mignon, my companion’s hubcap-sized strip steak, each with a slight crispy char on the outside and a melting-ly soft, rosy-pink “rare-medium” center, just as we had ordered. The strip steak showcased perfectly what prime beef is all about: intense taste delivered with juicy succulence thanks to those minute flecks of white fatty marbling. Wonderful!

Service during our visit was swift without seeming hurried, friendly without being intrusive. Waiters promptly tilled glasses and replaced bread. My companion asked for such an assortment of steak sauces that the waiter also brought a little bowl in case we wanted to mix up our own concoction.

We shared a little of each-the strip and the filet-and took the rest home to our dog. Desserts? While our server rolled off some tempting enticements-“You won’t want to leave without trying the homemade bourbon ice cream sundae, or the bread pudding, strawberries romanoff, moist and creamy cheesecake”-you’ll have to ask somebody else about them. There was no chance I’d order anything else after about 2,000 calories of red meat.

Was it worth it?

Extraordinary!

the experience



The Decor: Clubby paneling, handsome dark woods, Victorian light fixtures, and white tablecloths, While the steakhouse is always hustling and busy, tables are a respectful distance apart so you can people-watch, snuggle into your own little comer, or hold an executive bull-session without overwhelming the room. Sound-buffering partitions divide the huge place into more intimate spaces.



Dress code: A little bit of everything: suits, beefy guys in alligator boots and their dates teetering on spike heels, anniversary ladies in fur coats, kicked-back sportsmen in open-collar shirts, and denim-clad North Dallasites in search of a red-meat fix.



The proprietors: If there were no other reason to go to Del Frisco’s, it would he worth it to get a glimpse of the owner, Del Frisco, when he ties on a pristine apron and takes over the room. Creating comfort from chaos is the task of Del Frisco’s partner, Dee Lincoln. She runs the front of the house and keeps the crowds moving, settled, happily fed, and on their way. The two-who have bantered their way through years of radio promos-met when Del Frisco hired Lincoln’s ad agency in New Orleans to promote the steakhouse he owned there. After he sold out in Louisiana and moved to Dallas, Dee’s husband was killed in an auto accident. So Del Frisco asked the young widow to come here and work with him. Together they decided to merge the two Del Frisco’s restaurants in Dallas into the new one.



Address/hours: Del Frisco’s Double Eagle, 5251 Spring Valley at the Dallas North Tollway. 214- 490-9000. Open Monday-Thursday, 5 p.m.-l0 p.m; Friday-Saturday, 5 p.m.-l1 p.m.; closed Sunday. Credit cards accepted: American Express, Diner’s Club, Discover Card, MasterCard, and Visa.

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