EAT AT PETE’S A DALLAS LANDMARK SiNCE 1994 ST. PETE’S DANCING MARLIN Bar & Grill WISE UP, City of Ate from p15 our left putting in the orders and adding the fi- nal touches to the completed offerings before parsing them out to the servers. The heart of the cooking space is a wood- burning stove and provided both form and function: a nice, cozy atmosphere as well as imbuing that lovely wood-burned flavor to the food. It was really hot, of course, but that was to be expected. If you choose to sit there when it’s warm you might consider bringing some sunscreen. I can’t imagine what it must be like standing next to that fire for six hours straight, but anything for art, I assume. We started with a couple of cocktails: an stpetesdancingmarlin.com Deep Ellum • 2730 Commerce 214-698-1511 GREAT FOR LUNCH! OPEN FOR DINE IN, TO-GO & DELIVERY! 7 Days a Week • Catering & Delivery Casual Dining • Excellent Service INDIAN BEER & WINE GRILLED KABOBS FINE CURRIES WRAPS VEGETARIAN DISHES 2 LOCATIONS: 6770 Winning Drive #910 • Frisco • TX (469) 980-7005 4438 McKinney Ave #100 • DAllAs • TX (214) 521-3655 WWW.FRESHINDIANFOOD.COM L.L. Smoke and a Rose Nectar Martini, both colorful and good. Next, the waitress ex- plained the concept of the menu to us and how one should view it as a series of plates to be ordered and shared, divided into smaller plates, salads and larger dishes. We ordered two from the smaller and two from the larger sections while we sipped our drinks and basked in the firelight. The two small plates were served first: 48-hour beef tongue and crispy veal sweet- breads. For small plates, they were on the large side, and extremely good. The tongue had a demi-glace and was adorned with mustard caviar. The sweetbreads in particu- lar had a lemon tarragon butter sauce with oyster mushrooms that we simply could not stop eating. Even once the sweetbreads themselves were safely ensconced in our bellies, we forged ahead using the spoon to finish off every last drop of that sauce. Next up was pappardelle and a serving of grilled prawns. The pappardelle consisted of pasta made fresh daily in-house. It, of course, was perfectly cooked. So often pap- pardelle is cooked in such a manner that the wide noodles stick together making an un- appetizing clump, but not here. This could be eaten alone with butter, but it came in a sauce consisting of garlic, black trumpet mushroom, and parmesan. You might want to order two helpings. Or a gallon. The prawns were grilled on the wood oven and came with heads intact resting upon roasted rings of squash with Oro Blanco grapefruit and Meyer lemon. They were cooked through just enough, perfectly showing off the charred wood-fired taste. The meal was over, or so we thought, but then we were treated to a couple of bonbons that amused our bouche at the very end — cherry-flavored little things with a surprise filling. My wife got another cocktail, and the waitress brought me a cup of warm chamo- mile tea so she wouldn’t drink alone. Chef Demers told us he will be changing up the menu this week (March 14) so after closing for a week to help prepare they will reopen with the new offerings. Also in the works is an additional business venture: a sort of speakeasy that will be attached to the restaurant and called “Whispers” using ex- isting outside space. Sign us up. The check was brought to us in a fine 16 2 copy of Hemingway’s The Old Man and The Sea rather than the ubiquitous tacky plastic tray. It was tempting to reread the novella while sitting in the glow of the fire, but that work is overrated and our cats were waiting for us at home. ▼ EAT THIS BEST PAD THAI IN THE CITY? W Lauren Drewes Daniels The pad Thai at ZENse is a bright union of savory and sweet. IF CHEF TIFFANY DERRY SAYS SO, WE’LL BITE. BY LAUREN DREWES DANIELS hen a chef with multiple TV ap- pearances and a shiny new James Beard nomination talks about one of her favorite restaurants in the city, particularly about “the best pad Thai,” your ears perk up. Tiffany Derry started her culinary career at an International House of Pancakes at 15 years old and worked her way up to a man- agement position. After graduating from high school in Beaumont, she attended culi- nary school at The Art Institute of Houston. After competing on Top Chef season 7 in 2010, where she placed fifth and was voted fan favorite, she opened her own restaurant PrivateSocial in Dallas in 2013. Since then, Derry has appeared on multi- ple TV shows, has opened Roots Chicken Shack and, most notably, a beautiful new restaurant, Roots Southern Table in Farmers Branch, which is an ode to Southern cooking and hospitality. This year that restaurant was nominated by the James Beard Founda- tion as one of the best new restaurants, and Derry was nominated for best chef in Texas. She also recently partnered with Ameri- can Airlines and the the Beard Foundation for a swank restaurant and lounge at Dallas- Fort Worth International Airport called Flagship Lounge, which is where we caught up with her. When asked what restaurants she’s been enjoying lately, our interest was piqued when she said she’s been going to the same Thai spot for years and that it has the “best pad Thai in the city.” ZENse opened in Valley Ranch 17 years ago. Three sisters, Vem, Kak and Joy Bhunt- avee run both the front and back of the house. They learned everything they know about cooking and hospitality at home in Thailand. The restaurant sits in a strip mall with a few Indian restaurants nearby. Inside, it’s an inviting space with regulars packing in for lunch, and there’s a steady tick of to-go orders picked up near the cash register. When Derry was digging through plates of their pad Thai years ago and inquired about ingredients and techniques, they had no idea who she was. Before long, she was back in the kitchen with them. The first day she cooked with them for five hours. The next week she returned for a full five-day stage. Derry remembers tossing the large wok over the flame and they told her she needed to more hip into it. The menu at ZENse consists of noodles, rice dishes, stir fries and curries with some house specialties. They have lunch specials, weekdays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. A mild panang with roasted peanut curry paste, kaffir lime leaves and basil at $11.99 might be one of the best lunches in the city. Under a section on the menu titled Fear- less Foodie there’s a Ka-Prow Spaghetti made with shrimp, tomato, broccoli and basil in a chili garlic sauce ($14.99). A house favorite is a green curry fried rice egg wrap made with a tissue-thin egg pancake that swaddles a mound of light-green chicken and rice. A “sp- icylicous” Jungle Curry has a water-based curry with mixed vegetables and basil. We started with a plate of twice-fried sweet potatoes and tofu served with a small bowl of sweet chili sauce and crushed pea- nuts. And, yes, the pad Thai here is amazing. The one word that keeps coming to mind is “bright”: in flavor, texture, heat and fresh- ness. Wok-tossed rice noodles, vegetables and tofu carry a thin coat of tamarind sauce that thankfully isn’t too sweet. Peanuts and bits of crispy wonton give each bit a differ- ent texture. Vegetables and blocks of seared tofu are a just touch crisp on the outside. Derry suggested diners work down one spice level; they have no spice, mild, medium or hot. Around us, diners went for very hot (off the chart?) to no spice at all. We went for mild to make sure we didn’t jump into the deep end of the pool and miss flavors while flailing around. We’d say it had spice but not heat. A full serving is a big meal for lunch, espe- cially if you pair it with an appetizer. (Derry also recommended the tom kha kai soup.) The leftovers were perfect for dinner later, which a kid nabbed after school. That’s my fault for not hiding it in the vegetable bin. Now that kid wants to know why they haven’t had pad Thai before and when can have more. If a kid wants more pad Thai and it’s for their nutrition then how could one say no? ZENse, 8600 N. MacArthur Blvd (Irving). 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday - Thursday; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday; Closed Sunday MARCH 24–30, 2022 DALLAS OBSERVER CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | CULTURE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS dallasobserver.com MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2014 DALLAS OBSERVER | CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | MOVIES | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | FEATURE | SCHUTZE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS | dallasobserver.com
