Back in, what, 2004, Café Panache in Hurst was one of Chow, Baby’s favorite restaurants, though after five years it doesn’t recall specifically why. Probably had something to do with the food, because when chef Sage Sakiri moved a bit farther north and opened Red Sage in Southlake, Chow, Baby didn’t hesitate to face its driving nemesis, the under-signaged, under-lit, over-SUV’d Southlake Boulevard, for the reward of (it does remember these details) the delightful fruity-tangy-creamy pomegranate dressing on the mixed salad, the stunning rack of lamb in a red wine/rosemary sauce, the swoon-inducing mousse of lime and white chocolate. It was worth the horrible, horrible trip.
Well, Red Sage didn’t last long, probably because nobody could find it, but Chef Sage has resurfaced – in Grapevine, which for Chow, Baby is really pushing it, but: pomegranate! Chow, Baby also had to get past the name of Chef Sage’s new home: Dino’s Steak & Claw House (342 S. Main St., Grapevine), which sounds like the kind of place where your side dish would be a gigantic carrot. And who the hell is – oh, right, Dino Ida is the owner of Café Italia, a generally slam-packed Neighborhood Italian Gem on Grapevine Highway. (Good pink sauce.) If he’s the money guy, he’s spent it well, renovating an old bank building into a classic cavernous-yet-cozy-feeling steakhouse, complete with dark wood, granite-topped bar, and dim lighting. The playerless player piano rather creeped Chow, Baby out, but the rest is soothing.
No huge carrots on the menu, thank goodness, and actually not that many steak options (the signature is a parmesan-crusted New York strip, $38.95) for a place with Steak in its very name. That’s fine by Chow, Baby, who can get a great steak any number of places but has more trouble finding braised lamb shank with eggplant couscous in a grilled shallot pomegranate molasses ($29.95). Those prices are fairly typical of Dino’s dinner entrées, but the small lunch menu tops out at about $14 and has as much cuisine-fusing punch as the after-dark offerings. Thus at high noon Chow, Baby feasted on a creamy-smooth lobster bisque ($7.95) with a swirl of tarragon paste that added an earthy gravitas to the ocean-fresh soup. Papardelle with osso buco ($11.95), with wide noodles soaking up rich meaty juices from the shreds of braised veal, was one of those angst-provoking love-test dishes: Take some home as a happy surprise for the beloved, or just scarf it all now and act innocent later? True love prevailed (mainly because the portion was huge).
The Chow, Baby Best BuyTM is the umami-fest lunch steak salad ($13.95), thick slices of a full-portion New York strip stacked with tomatoes, Roquefort, and a balsamic reduction. It’s garnished with a couple of astonishingly sweet and juicy onion rings, so good they’ll ruin you forever for bar-food junk. On its next Dino’s visit Chow, Baby will get a full order of those rings ($7.95), which come with a characteristically cuisine-crossing chipotle crème fraîche for dipping – definitely worth another trek to Grapevine. For that matter, Sage Sakiri could open his next restaurant in – let’s see, what’s the most horrible, horrible drive ever – yeah, far north Dallas, and Chow, Baby would still go. But let’s not put that to the test.
Contact Chow, Baby at chowbaby@fwweekly.com.
