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Dining Out NEW RESTAURANT REVIEWS Truluck’s Steak & Stone Crab Will Grab You

Also: Marty’s Cafe TuGogh, Sushi Sake and Hedary’s.
By D Magazine |

TRULUCK’S STEAK & STONE CRAB

THE STONE CRAB, A CLUMSY beast with obnoxiously large crusher claws, has just debuted in Dallas from the warm waters of Florida, the Caribbean and the Yucatan. Or at least part of it has. Stone crabs have this uncanny talent for jettisoning that gangly claw at the slightest hint of danger, such as an aggressive octopus. Fisheries have capitalized on this peculiarity by trapping the crabs, lopping-off the crusher claws and tossing the amputees back into the water, where they grow another restaurant-quality, drawn-butter dipper in about IS months.

If given half the chance, the folks at Truluck’s Steak & Stone Crab in Addison will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the Stone crab. Including the fact that this striking, art-deco eatery designed to look like a posh railroad dining car is the only spot in Dallas that serves them seven days a week, year-round.

Truluck’s stone crabs come in four sizes-medium, large, jumbo and colos-sal-and they’re ruinously expensive. Three large ones are $ 17.95, and a stone crab sampler-two each of medium, large and jumbo claws plus one colossal-is $46.95. Served pre-cracked because of their dense shells, stone crabs taste best when served chilled (with hot mustard and drawn butter); the delicate, subtle flavors and fresh succulence really come through. These flavors seem blunted when served warm in the stone-crab pasta: claws sautéed in garlic sauce and plopped on a bed of overcooked, bland angel-hair pasta sprinkled with black olives, green onions and Parmesan cheese.

But if (he surf part of the menu doesn’t lift you into culinary orbit, the turf part surely will. Truluck’s meats (USDA Prime and Certified Angus Beef) are among the best we’ve tasted in Dallas. The 14-ounce rib-eye was juicy and melt-in-the-mouth delicate with a sharp herbal kick from the “signature seasonings” massaged into the flesh before charbroiling. The lamb loin chops were equally tender and flavorful. One gripe: The meats were served on cold plates; the steamed vegetables that came with our lamb were unappealingly chilly.

Taking the crusher-claw hugeness theme to the end, Truluck’s desserts are massive. Our canot cake, moist and hearty, was about the size of a cinder block.

The original Truluck’s was launched in Houston, and the Addison version is a partnership between J. Stuart Sargent (who developed Stude-baker’s nightclub), restaurant industry veteran Steve Fields and Mort Meyerson. For the most part, Truluck’s showcases an attentiveness to detail and skillful service in tune with the partners’ experience and reputation. Even if it demands you crush your piggy bank before savoring those claws.

-Mark Stuertz

Truluck’s Steak & Stone Crab. 5001 Belt Line Rd., Addison. 972-503-3079. 5-10 p.m., daily (dinner only). Moderate to expensive.



MARTY’S CAFE TUGOGH

ONE OF OUR FIRST VISITS TO MARTY’S NEW gourmet take-out cafe left us exasperated. There was no clear direction on where to get what and no practical way to gather food, utensils and napkins for transport to the check-out counter and then to a table. The cashier didn’t know what wines were being poured, let alone their distinguishing features, and the gentleman pouring the wine was so rude and boorish, you’d have thought he’d been dropping wine-snob steroids. In short, dining at Cafe TuGogh (as in Van Gogh) was like taking a long ride in a VW Bug with a stick-shift novice: After all the stalls, sputters and harsh jerks, you don’t much feel like eating.

Fortunately, Marty’s has ironed out some of these more shrill kinks. Trays are now supplied, the cashiers are friendlier and a bit more helpful, and the new gentleman overseeing the wine-by-the-glass program couldn’t be more gracious. Plus, Marty’s now offers hot entrées.

It’s still a bit of a circuitous puzzle determining where to go for what, and we waited a good long time at what we drought was the hot food counter before we were helped. How’d it taste? Among the hot entrées, the marinated salmon sandwich with caramelized onions was a socks-knocker: flaky, flavorful salmon on a toasted bun with a side of chips. The tortellini tossed with olive oil and fresh basil pesto, however, was a heap of overcooked tortellini splashed with dull pesto. On the chilly side, the beef tenderloin Caesar salad is crisp, fresh and delicious, and the sautéed bean salad and tangy hearts, of palm salad are standouts.

It’s astounding, though, how nonchalant Marty’s seems to be marrying Cafe Tu-Gogh with its greatest asset: wine. Marty’s is now a true wine bar with weekly wine-by-the glass selections featuring some of the most distinctive pours from the world’s major wine regions at prices that are jaw-droppingly reasonable ($4 to $10). Yet there is no suggestive selling, no effective cross-merchandising, no pairing suggestions and no leasers tugging you in to try next week’s selections. Plus, while the dining area is spacious, bright and beautifully furnished, it’s not particularly inviting, perhaps a function of attitude more than atmosphere.

Indulging in the inevitable knee-jerk comparison with the Eatzi’s food carnival just across the street, we find that Marty’s, as a Dallas institution, has a lot more soul and a refined culinary ear that consistently discovers and creates wine and food virtuosity. So why is there no joy here? -M.S.

Marty’s Cafe TuGogh. 3316 Oak Lawn Ave.. 214-526-4070. 7 a.m.-9 p.m., Monday-Saturday. Inexpensive to moderate.



SUSHI SAKE

SOMEONE HAS SAID IT TOOK A BRAVE MAN to eat the first oyster. I’d say if the oyster was raw, that man was Japanese and that mollusk was merely one step toward developing the myriad raw seafood delights now rapidly transforming land-locked Dallas into sushi and sashimi country.

Sushi Sake is in Richardson on Campbell Road west of North Central Expressway, half-hidden in a Fleetwood Square strip that I ’d call hard to find if so many aficionados weren’t finding it. Many are admirers from chef-owner Takashi Soda’s former days as sushi chef of Nakamoto in Piano; many, too, are Asian, both family groups and businessmen. On our visits, almost every seat was kept filled, those lining the mirror-backed bar as well as on cushioned benches at raised tatami-esque tables along the deep, narrow room’s opposite wall.

Both areas offer a view of Soda and his two associate chefs in action, nimbly slicing, shaping and assembling artistic temptations, from the simplest list of nigiri (rice-cushioned) and maki (seaweed rolled) standards to more exotic offerings. Our first dinner favored the familial” and found them peerlessHi)sy petals of tuna on two-bite pillows of rice; salmon roe, a flash of orange on rice wrapped in seaweed. While immaculate and fresh, they were overshadowed by the sheer joy of a pearly scallop slice enthroned on vinegared rice and a spider roll-baby soft-shell crabs, fried crisp. The blackboard specials that visit were less memorable. Kazunoko, a gel-like slab of pale yellow herring roe on a rice oval, was either too subtle to register or had little flavor.

But wait-the second visit’s bolder exploring blew us away. Kaiso salad brought us emerald strands of brightly dressed seaweed. Tako shiokara, ormarinated octopus. came as slithery ribbons, baby-tender and totally unrubbery as octopus almost never is. Most exquisite of all was kakei kara age, a whole young flounder, lightly battered and fried then boned, cut into bites and beautifully arranged on its delicate and intact bony armature.

Which brings up a couple of points. First, even the most everyday classics from the sushi bar wore some extra touch of delicate garnish-a frill of seaweed lace, a spray of scallion leaves, a creative twist of pickle-that reflects the attention Soda and staff lavish even on small details. And second, Sushi Sake cuts you precious little slack on the language front. Such problems, though, tend to underscore the positives here: a warmly upbeat ambience, willing attendance to every need and an arresting selection of sakes, hot and cold. And, of course, the food. -Betty Cook

Sushi Sake. 220 W. Campbell Rd., Richardson, 972-470-0722. Lunch: 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m., Monday-Friday; dinner: 5:30-10:30 p.m., Monday-Saturday. Moderate.

HEDARY’S

WHEN ANTOINE AND LEILA HEDARY FLED to Fort Worth from Lebanon decades ago, they brought nine children. Three sons now run three Lebanese restaurants in Fort Worth, including the original Hedary’s, which Mrs. H. still helps manage. A fourth, George, crossed the Trinity years back to spread the Hedary’s gospel here but closed the successful spot to venture into thoroughbred horse and ostrich breeding with his father.

So, for those of us who have lusted after their food, what mis city needed was another Hedary’s. True, George is back, with a comfortable clone of the Fort Worth original, menu and all, in Far North Dallas. But the question is: Can one Lebanese oven produce enough of the family’s famed pita rounds to satisfy us all? To dip pieces into a dish of labni, Hedary’s garlicky yogurt cheese, is to find bliss.

But that’s only the beginning. Order the menu’s maza appetizer, and you’ll get a dozen sampler starters on tiny plates. All are toothsome-a nubbly hummus, a crun-chy cake of falafel, a fresh-tasting tabouli. Some are so wonderful, you’ll wish you had ordered them separate\y-magdoos, for instance, baby eggplants stuffed with walnuts and seasoning; minted cucumber slices dressed with yogurt; or chopped yellow squash, steamed and seasoned, served cold.

Be warned: The maza array alone might be all two people can eat (especially considering the bread you’ll have with it), and entrees are as prodigal. Mquniq, for example, fills a huge plate with plump ovals of Lebanese pork sausage, squeezed with lemon before serving. But kibbi nayyi (raw lamb) was a superlative turn on tartare-del-icate, satin smooth, textured with bulgar wheat, intriguingly seasoned. Served with tomato, onion and pickled turnip, the dish is a must-repeat.

Dessert-wise, a fragile pastry filled with milk custard and topped with pistachios barely edged out rosewater-scented rice pudding; tiny cups of Lebanese coffee kept us awake on the long drive home. Well, yes, long-but worth the drive, even as the Fort Worth original was before we got a Hedary’s of our own. -B.C.

Hedary’s. 7915 Belt Line Rd., 972-233-1080. Lunch: 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m., Monday-Friday; 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m., Saturday; dinner: 5-10 p.m., Monday-Thursday; 5-11 p.m., Friday; 3-11 p.m., Saturday. Moderate.

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