FOOD & DRINK

CHEAP EATS

Rudy’s Country Store and Bar B-Q

I DON ’T GET IT. WHY DO BUSINESSMEN dressed in natty suits fill the picnic-table benches at Rudy’s, their starched white shirts coming perilously close to the “sause?” At this quintessential hands-on restaurant, your only “plate” is a two-foot square of butcher block paper and the “napkins” are flimsy paper towels. You order your meat by weight, allowing about 1/4-1/3 pound per sandwich. The paper-wrapped, unsauced meat is plopped on your tray and a bag of squisby white bread added. You proceed past the chocolate-iced Rice Krispie treat pie slices to the cashier. Then you construct your sandwiches and ladle side dishes onto your “plate.”

Here’s what to order (prices by the half pound): poultry, both the rotisserie chicken ($3.75) and the lender turkey ($4.25); lean slices of pork loin ($4.75), and tender prime rib ($5.95). The sausage (S2.45 per link) and ribs ($3.45 ) aren’t bad, but the tough brisket ($4.55) needs work. On the side, order ears of incredibly tender, sweet corn (99 cents), The potato salad’s pretty good, the slaw and beans need some oomph, and the green bean salad is just plain dreadful. (All are $125 per half-pint,) The not-too-sweet “sause” offers a little kick. Rudy’s jukebox is well-stocked with CDs, the nice selection of beer carries some surprises, and, yes, there’s even a bottle of toothpicks on each table. Now if only they had plates. 3707 Lemmon Ave., 526-0188. Inexpensive. -Suzanne Hough

PERSONALITIES

The Man Who Made La Madeleine

there’s a love affair between France and Texas, says Patrick Es-querre, founder of the La Madeleine bakery/cafes. France was the first country to recognize Texas’ independence, he points out, though he doesn’t know precisely what drew him to leave his native France to visit Dallas in 1982.

But, he says, he recognized “Dallas was ready for something new; something of quality.” Before you could say voilà, he’d flown in a French baker, and the first La Madeleine opened on Mockingbird in 1983, selling bread and pastries. Within days, says Esquerre, his customers were asking for more, so little by little, he and his customers invented his menu.

Today there are 34 La Madeleines, and Esquerre’s goal for each is that they “settle in the neighborhood like a tree, with deep roots.” So Esquerre is deeply involved in local charities, particularly with KERA and the North Texas Food Bank.

Esquerre constantly tinkers with his restaurants, picking out the antiques, adding to the menu new items to complement La Madeleine’s own label of wine. He travels often to France to confer with his mother, creator of many of the restaurant’s recipes and his co-author on From a French Country Kitchen. Yet he says his favorite pastime is to be home alone, where he cooks everything in red wine and herbs. -S.H.

COOKBOOKS

LOCAL AUTHORS DISH UP ETHNIC, LOW-FAT, AND NOSTALGIC RECIPES



Three cookbooks that premiered recently, all written by local authors, couldn’t be any less alike. Joanne Smith’s Cuisine, Texas relates a little culinary history of every ethnic group in Texas, and serves up more than 375 recipes. Full of culinary tidbits, Smith’s book is almost as much fun to read as it is to cook from. The Hunt Cookbook, a collection of recipes from Hunt Oil Company’s employees, salutes American cooking and concentrates on the easy, quick recipes that busy families appreciate.

Last and least [in terms of calories, that is) is Afore of What’s Cooking, the eagerly awaited sequel to What’s Cooking at the Cooper Clinic, by Veronica Coronado and Patty Kirk. You’d never guess a registered dietitian approved the recipes: angel hair pasta with shrimp in roasted pepper cream sauce, blue cheese scalloped potatoes-all low in fat, cholesterol, and sodium. -S.H.

CHEFS

What Local Chefs Eat Off-Duty

SURE, THEY’RE WHIPPING out platters of foie gras, mousse, paté, and petits fours all day long. They’re wearing the starched white chefs coat, the tall hat, But, when they punch out, are they craving Le Big Mac? Local chefs and restaurant owners say no-no aficionados of Twinkics or Snickers, no closet Kraft Macaroni & Cheese eaters. But every chef asked was quick to name his or her favorite off-duty food, and many sighed with pleasure when they divulged their favorite haunts.

Old Warsaw’s owner, Al Heidari, fingered jays Cafe as having “the greatesr greasy hamburgers in the world,” while Cafe Pacific’s BUI Tuite proclaimed his two current favorites as Primo’s for Mexican food, and Dodie’s for New Orleans chow. Joanne Levy, owner of the ever-so-healthful Eureka!, said her favorite “junk” foods are Arcodoro’s pizzas and the cheese fries at Snuffer’s. Del Frisco confesses to being a fan of Ham & Eggs in Lewisville, where he said his last meal before the electric chair would be a “Jackie O ” omelet. La Calle Doce’s Laura Sanchez would dine at AI Dente for Italian food; Thai Lotus for Thai if’ her vegetarian daughter was dining with her.

Dean Fearing of the Mansion says his most common food craving is for barbecue, which he satisfies at Sonny Bryan’s locally, or at Clark’s in Tioga. And Adelmo’s Adelmo Banchetti craves nothing more in his off-hours than a good bottle of wine sampled at home. Cheers, Adelmo. –S.H.

H E A L T II F U L E A T I N G

The Salsafication of Loto-Fat Food

THE LAST CHALLENGE FOR DIETING DINERS is Mexican food, with its melange of cheesy sauces and heavy dependence on grease. Last year, the food police at the Center for Science in the Public Interest analyzed Mexican dishes, finding, to no one’s surprise, mostly high-far fare: A plate of beef and cheese nachos had fat equal to 10 glazed doughnuts, and a chile relleno dinner had as much saturated fat as 27 slices of bacon.

But you can Tex-Mex yourself and still watch those fat grams by carefully reading menus. The tasty though clinically named Beta Carotene Burrito from the Fresh Start Market on Oak Lawn has 340-I80 calories and only 3.5-4 grams total fat (1 gram saturated fat).

While most Mexican restaurants offer only a few, if any, low-fat items, Martin’s Cocina on Ferguson Road has an entire low-fat menu. Most dishes contain 12 to 18 grams total fat, and the nutritional information is printed right on the menu, Rice and beans are cooked without oil, and baked chips are available. The menu’s star-baked chile rellenos stuffed with shrimp and topped with sauce, lightsour cream, pecans, and raisins-looked as good as h tasted. Light chicken faji-tas at Mattito’s on Oak Lawn, and the Veggie Mexican Dinner at La Suprema in Las Colinas rivaled other low-fat Mexican dishes in taste, but their menus don’t include fat-gram counts-and without that, who can tell what’s really low-fat and what isn’t?

-Larry Upshaw

DRINKS

GOING GREEN: WHERE TO TOAST ST. PATRICK

If you’re BASING a glass to the patron saint of tipplers on March 17, you’ll find lots of good company at these Irish bars.



The Tipperary Inn

5815 Live OakSt.,823-7187

DURING ITS YEARS ON LOWER GREENVILLE, The Tip was ground zero for St.. Pat’s revel” ers. Some five years back, owner Martin Lombard, a genuine product of the Old Sod, rambled east and took over the cavernous digs that formerly housed Genaro’s Tropical. So there’s even more room for hundreds of emerald-clad O’Johnsons, O’Steins, and O’Martinezes to play Irish the weekend of the 17th. Lombard, who brings in top-notch Irish entertainers all year long, has booked a reunion/CD-release show by Hair of the Dog for the big day. There’ll be plenty of Guinness, the sainted Fullers ESB, Irish staples such as corned beet and colcannon (a tasty mashed-potato concoction), and that Ameri -can aberration, green beer. May the devil get stuck with your tab.

Dubliner

2818 Greenville Ave., 818-0911

THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE Dubliner is its bright, airy atmosphere. This long, narrow bar sits parallel to Greenville Avenue and sports large picture windows on that side, affording view’s of the sunset or of Greenville’s bustle. It has the feel of a place that attracts regulars, but visitors won’t feel excluded. The requisite lifers and whiskeys are available, and it’s nice to find a place that has ciders other than Blackthorn. Food is good, but limited to sandwiches, The small space will fill up quickly on St. Paddy’s Day.



George Wesby’s Restaurant and Pub

2713 Commerce St., 742-8313

THIS LONGTIME FAVORITE SEEMS TO BE flourishing in Deep Ellum after surviving its move from Live Oak. Much bigger than the Dubliner, Wesby’s has a large mom with tables and a stage for live music, and another smaller, quieter room that houses the bar. Wesby’s ventures into meat-loaf and pork-chop country, but also offers foods more evocative of old Erin, such as shepherd’s pie and Galway Bay chowder. The spirit selection is good, although a bit light on the ridel’s. Although Wesby’s is large, it is also popular, so you may want to plan to show-up early.