Restaurant Review
By TERESA GUBBINS / The Dallas Morning News

Published in The Dallas Morning News: 09.06.02

Rating:

WHAT'S AT STEAK: Steakhouses serve steak. Get past that common thread and it is possible to discern subtle-but-significant differences from one steakhouse to the next. One might cultivate a celebrity crowd. For another, service might be top priority. A third might specialize in an unusual kind of beef.

Pappas Bros. Steakhouse is driven by one all-encompassing pursuit: excellence. All of the restaurants in the Pappas family are well-run, but the steakhouse is simply impeccable. This is a place that is extremely well-managed, in all aspects from food to service to atmosphere and it is evident from the moment you enter.

It can be seen most starkly in the pristine refrigerated case that stands by the restaurant entrance. The featured cuts of beef are lined up precisely, symmetrically. It sends a message. It says that beef is of paramount importance. It also gets the mouth watering. Beyond the case can be seen the line of chefs, supervised by Norman Reola, who was recently promoted to executive chef after four years. All seem industrious and focused.

LIKE CATS, SORT OF: Eating at Pappas Bros. is like attending an exciting musical where everyone is working in concert to show you the very best time you've ever had. Just as the kitchen is staffed by old pros, so is the dining room. Servers are polished. Each pays attention to what's going on at your table, even if he or she hasn't taken your order.

IDEAL MEAL: The menu is limited in selection: There is steak, steak and steak, with a couple of fish dishes (lobster and salmon), lamb and a veal chop. Pappas' beef is 100 percent prime, and they procure it from Chicago. There is an aging room on site where the meat is dry-aged for two to three weeks. Dry-aging beef removes the moisture, which firms up the texture and concentrates the flavor. It is broiled at extremely high temperatures 1,600 to 1,800 degrees then seasoned with butter, kosher salt and coarse-ground black pepper.

Filet Oscar ($52), a frequent special, was a surf-and-turf kind of dish with a 10-ounce fillet topped with a medallion of broiled lobster tail meat and béarnaise sauce. It was served with scallion mashed potatoes and five fat spears of asparagus, the bottoms peeled appealingly. The fillet was brilliant: gorgeously red inside, highly flavorful, perfectly tender and slightly crusted on the edges. That chunk of lobster had a slight crust as well; it broke away pleasantly to reveal a slightly chewy, buttery center. The veal chop ($28.95) was 16 ounces, nearly 3 inches high and came with the bone. That bone added flavor; pale veal, sometimes called the "pork" of beef, is lighter in color and subtler in flavor. This was an excursion into tenderness just the softest, most pliant meat you can imagine.

SALADS, SIDES: The steakhouse salad ($8.50) had great contrasting components. Field greens were tossed in a house-made vinaigrette and topped with thin slices of Granny Smith apples and oranges. But the irresistible parts were the crumbled Roquefort cheese and the sprinkling of slivered candied almonds crunchy and sweet. Skillet potatoes ($4.95) were decadent with bits of bacon and caramelized onions. Of everything ordered at this otherwise flawless meal, only the roasted wild mushrooms ($7.95) did not please perfectly; a diner at my table found them to have too many button mushrooms and too much of a Worcestershire-sauce taste.

GRAND ENDING: Pappas Bros. has retained noted pastry chef Andrew MacLauchlan, who once worked at Charlie Trotter's in Chicago, as consultant, to oversee the dessert operation at both this branch and the sister steakhouse in Houston. The desserts are all huge, made from scratch every day and easily the best in town. The moonpie ($7.95) was a shiver-inducing chocolate confection with a crust of crunched-up Heath bars, a firm chocolate mousse and a bonnet made of springy homemade marshmallow. On top: a blanket of Godiva chocolate ganache and a spoon of chocolate-malt sauce. Coconut cream pie ($7.95) was more of a tart a perfect circle with a base of fresh coconut, toasted to produce intense flavor, and a creamy-cool custard on top.