14 February 2-8, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Best Chef Texas There are a dozen geographic regions for best chef, and Texas has a category all to it- self. Here are the local semifinalists. Reyna Duong Sandwich Hag 1902 Botham Jean Blvd. This small bánh mì shop in the Cedars neighborhood serves amazing sandwiches built with pork, sausage patties and ginger tofu. Sandwich Hag now has a Sunday-only Vietnamese coffee shop too. Jalen Heard, Lane Milne and Jonny White Goldee’s Barbecue, Fort Worth 4645 Dick Price Road After Goldee’s was anointed the best bar- becue restaurant in the state by Texas Monthly, this shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. You don’t see many pitmasters get- ting nods, but all three did here. Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue was the first pitmaster to receive the best chef award. Olivia López and Jonathan Percival Molino Oloyo Online and Pop-Up Molino Oloyo mostly operates as a pop- up. The proprietors make tortillas, tamales and a variety of other items depending on the week and event. For the tortillas, they use heirloom corn and a nixtamalization process that involves soaking kernels in lye and then grinding them down into flour. Anastacia Quiñones-Pittman José 4391 W. Lovers Lane Anastacia Quiñones-Pittman was nomi- nated for this same category last year, and her restaurant, José, was also nominated last year for outstanding hospitality. Regino Rojas Revolver Taco Lounge 2701 Main St. Everybody loves a good party. Rojas has been nominated here several times before for his flourishing taco empire in Deep Ellum. ▼ FIRST LOOK NEW YORK STATE OF MIND LOCATED IN THE SPOT OF A FORMER NEWSSTAND, OREN SALOMON’S STARSHIP BAGEL HOPES TO BRING QUALITY FRESH BAGELS TO DOWNTOWN. BY HANK VAUGHN O ne of the highlights of every trip we take to New York is getting good, fresh bagels early in the morning at some neighborhood bakery, piled high with what seems like a pound of schmear and served up by often surly but efficient servers who aren’t playing around. Best part? It’s almost always for less than $5. In North Texas, we don’t re- ally have many such bagel options, and they certainly are not as ubiquitous as they are in the Five Boroughs. Oren Salomon, owner of Starship Bagel, aims to change that. His first location opened in 2021 in Lewisville, offering ba- gels made in small batches using a 24-hour fermentation process that helps the devel- opment of complex gluten, a key to getting that good bagel chew. The bagels are then boiled prior to baking and served up from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. or until they run out. And they do run out. Salomon has expanded, thankfully, to downtown Dallas, opening his latest loca- tion January 20 on Elm Street right under the gaze of Tony Tasset’s Giant Eyeball sculpture in a small space that originally was a newsstand. Dispatches from social media promised great bagels that run out quickly and long lines, so we journeyed out on a crisp winter’s morning to see for ourselves. When we arrived around 10 a.m., the line didn’t look too long. We settled in and peo- ple- (and dog-) watched while we waited. We were hoping to get an egg bagel, which are sold only on the weekends. In the end, it took us about an hour to get to the order window, at which point we were greeted by Salomon himself. We were excited to place our order and just as our mouths began to open Salomon raised his hand and politely stopped us to explain the situation. Evidently, demand and crowds had greatly exceeded his expecta- tions, and the staff has become a bit over- whelmed trying to fill all the orders. As each new customer approached the window he had them wait about three minutes before ordering to help the staff catch up. We took that opportunity to chat a bit with Salomon, who explained that he’s al- ways wanted to expand from Lewisville to Dallas but could never find an affordable space until this spot became available. He was hoping it would be successful but just hadn’t fully anticipated how great the de- mand would be. (Sales were four times greater on the first day than a regular day at the Lewisville location.) The bakery is in Lewisville, so it’s a challenge to be able to re- stock on demand, but all this is a learning process that will be solved. We were willing to wait. After receiving the news that indeed the egg bagels had been sold out, we ordered three bagels with schmear, at $4 each. All schmears are made fresh each morning and can also be purchased in 8-ounce tubs to go. For those who prefer their bagel schmear- less, these can be purchased for $2.50 each or $21 for a dozen. The toasted onion bagel had a terrific, slightly crisp outside and chewy center, and the lox schmear had chunks of Acme Nova lox incorporated into the rich cream cheese. For the plain bagel, we decided to go untoasted with honey almond spread, which had chopped roasted almonds, Texas-sourced honey and just the right amount of sweetness. Finally, we went with fermented jala- peño schmear on an untoasted sesame ba- gel. The fermentation evidently tones down the kick of the jalapeño, concentrat- ing the flavor in a unique way that we found extremely satisfying. Oh, yeah, they serve coffee, too. The verdict: well worth the wait, the trip to downtown Dallas and the requisite parking meter fee. 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