16 February 6 - 12, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents ter as you dine at this Korean hotspot that is —despite the ordinary — exceptional. Gold Spoon, 3040 Old Denton Road, Carrollton. Monday – Thursday, 11:30 a.m. – 3 p.m., 5 p.m. – midnight; Friday – Saturday, 11:30 a.m. – 3 p.m., 5 p.m. – 2 a.m. ▼ FIRST LOOK SEE FOOD, MUST TRY TWO HUGOS OPEN A SEAFOOD SPOT IN OAK CLIFF. BY DESIREE GUTIERREZ F or Hugo’s Seafood Bar, the apostrophe is optional: plural or possessive, the name stands correct. Hugo’s Seafood Bar is Bishop Arts District’s latest newcomer. The highly anticipated seafood lounge comes by way of two Hugos – chef Hugo Galvan and bartender Hugo Osorio. It opened in mid-December. Hugo’s Seafood Bar is simple. There are 28 seats, no reservations. It’s an intimate and moody seafood concept offering a limited menu of fresh ocean fare with creative twists and craft cocktails backed by some of Dallas’ best. It’s already created quite the buzz. Walkabout Hospitality Group’s Tanner Agar recently named Hugo’s his most anticipated 2025 bite. “Anytime local talent can finally expand to owning their own place, I want to support it,” he told the Observer at the top of the year. If the Hugos sound familiar, they are. Their fingerprints are all over Dallas’ dining scene. Galvan slid into the local conversation when he brought a little bit of his hometown, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, via the former Cafe San Miguel. After a bout in Europe, the international chef returned to North Texas to open Hacienda San Miguel in Fort Worth. In 2015, chef Stephan Pyles tapped Galvan for the opening of Flora Street Cafe. Galvan has consulted the kitchens of Urban Taco, El Bolero Mexican, Las Palmas Tex Mex, Ayahuasca Cantina, Ocho Latin Cuisine and more. Osorio is most recently known for his role at La Viuda Negra, where he shook and stirred innovative cocktails with artistic presentations. Previously, the beloved bartender was behind the bar at now-closed establishments Bolsa, The Theodore and Boulevardier. He got his speakeasy chops at The Statler’s Bourbon & Banter. The Observer tried to stop by on a Satur- day evening. The neighborhood seafood joint was packed. We returned on a calmer Wednesday night. Hugo’s Seafood Bar is what you make of it. The interior is masculine and moody. There are gold accents, alluring under-bar lighting, plush bar seats, a forest-green-tiled ceiling and an octopus-tentacle-clad exposed brick wall. The vibe is sexy enough for a date night, but you won’t feel out of place in sneakers. We snagged the two-top window table and started our meal with a Gold Rush. The fruit-forward cocktail is Japanese whiskey- based with apricot jam, honey and lemon yuzu sake. The $14 seven-cocktail menu includes a tequila smash, sour, gin martini, mezcal gimlet, negroni and a vodka Collins. Wine is served by the glass or bottle. Glasses range from $10 a pour for Austria’s June’s Rosé to $22 for Crossbarn’s Sonoma County cabernet sauvignon. Pull out all the stops with an $81 bottle of Collet Champagne. Galvan keeps the menu simple with a small but mighty selection of high-quality foods with Latin and Asian flare. The oyster bar menu offers East Coast oysters by the half dozen ($18) and dozen ($30). Chorizo Ibérico chargrilled oysters are $16. The house Royal Oysters are fit for a king: sea urchin, yellowtail, caviar and chili oil crown the ocean jewels. For $35 a half dozen and $60 a dozen, the specialty oysters will woo any date. The oyster shooter ($9) is casual with a luxe touch: the spicy-in-the- best-way shot is made with your choice of spirit, sake, cucumber aguachile and a caviar- loaded oyster. For the table, there’s beef tartare ($18), lobster croquettes ($18), scallop aguachile ($22) and an ahi tuna tostada ($14) made with avocado, cucumber, green apple, Asian- inspired sauce and sesame seeds. We chose the $16 deviled eggs topped with lightly aromatic crab and caviar. Hugo’s entree menu offers a cheeseburger ($18), lobster roll ($22) and seasonal pasta ($18), but Galvan’s culinary enthusiasm shines off the menu. When we visited Hugo’s, Galvan was featuring an off-menu pork belly appetizer. The evenly-seared pork belly was placed atop a dollop of pasilla chile red wine reduction sauce. Thinly sliced cucumber, pickled red cabbage and two fried-to- perfection oysters accompanied them. There was also a yellowtail crudo and scallop crudo for $22 each and $45 lobster special. Hugo’s Seafood Bar, 334 W. Davis St. Tues- day – Thursday, 5–11 p.m.; Friday – Saturday, noon – 1 a.m.; Sunday, noon – 9 p.m.; closed Monday. ▼ EAT THIS BEEFED UP AND SNOWED IN WE FOUND A 200-YEAR-OLD JAPANESE TECHNIQUE FOR AGING BEEF AT CENTRAL MARKET. BY NICK REYNOLDS W e love Central Market. From black truffles to Chilean sea bass to its jaw-dropping cheese selection, it is a bona fide foodie wonderland. We were browsing the Lovers Lane store in Dallas recently (which is never boring) and found ourselves face to face with beef glimpsed only in our wildest dreams: Snow-aged Japanese wagyu New York strips and rib-eyes. Alas, it will have to remain in our dreams for the foreseeable future because this beef retails at a cool $159 per pound. If I could afford it – which I absolutely cannot – I could see myself taking one of these home and ruining it on my $40 Weber grill. After a bit of research, we learned that snow-aging is a 200-plus-year-old Japanese technique in which A5 wagyu (the highest- graded beef) is placed in a chamber known as a yukimuro room and blanketed in rice and snow, creating a natural refrigerator with a cold and humid atmosphere. The beef then ages for about a month at a constant temp of 0 to 5 degrees Celsius. This precise climate gradually evolves this already ridiculously tender beef to somehow being even more tender, which we didn’t think was possible. This aging method also gives it a mellow and sweet flavor profile (so we hear) versus the more intense flavor of wet-aged beef. Central Market’s buyer for this product told us it’s sourced from Allen Brothers — a popular high-end restaurant meat supplier. The key to cooking it properly, per Central Market, is to slice it thin and sear it over very high heat for four to five seconds, just enough to get a sear on the outside. It should be served rare and salted to taste. If your local Central Market doesn’t have any, we’re told you can request it. As of this writing, snow-aged wagyu is still available (according to the website) at Central Market’s Lovers Lane location. No other area locations appear to have it, although the Southlake location has Oita wagyu beef striploin (which also scores the prestigious A5 beef grade) for $119.99 per pound. As for restaurants serving this delicacy, we spotted a 3-ounce strip on the menu at Nuri for $120. Anyone want to go in on threesies? Central Market, 5750 E. Lovers Lane. Daily, 8 a.m. – 10 p.m. Story from p15 Desiree Gutierrez The House Royal Oysters at Hugo’s are topped with a bit of caviar.
