This restaurant is a labor of love for Joseph Maher. You’d think with a neighborhood restaurant such as this that the handsome Nicaraguan chef would live nearby. Not so. He drives to Trinity Mills and Midway from Southlake every day to create and serve an always-changing menu. And the neighborhood would like to thank him for his dedication. Among brightly colored paintings from Maher’s own collection (don’t worry, he has tons more at home), and served with slightly mismatched though decidedly complementary plates, visitors feast on a small but carefully prepared selection of dishes. One night they may be a ridiculously meaty jumbo lump crab cake on a bed of just-wilted spinach topped with a spicy crawfish-mango beurre blanc—a mélange of sweet, succulent, and subtly spicy flavors—and a chunk of fleshy sea bass sitting atop cumin-cilantro-scented crêpes fat with roasted vegetables and drizzled with basil-pesto sauce. And oh how those crêpes will linger on your palate, with a seductive saffron flavor. Among the other mains you’d be impressed to find no steak or chicken. Instead there are two fish, quail, pork tenderloin, and duck—a risky move that endears Maher to diners who grow weary of token chicken and beef dishes. If among the finales is a Valhrona-Godiva molten chocolate cake, for the love of God, give the man the required 20 minutes to prepare the soufflé-like confection with a half-moon caramelized banana garnish perched on the rim. Dinner only.
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