13 May 18 – 24, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Same Menu, New Mood Barsotti’s is everything we loved about Car- bone’s in formal wear. BY CHRIS WOLFGANG A quick recap for those who don’t keep up with Dallas dining drama. Carbone is the big-money-backed New York red-sauce Italian restaurant that opened here a year ago with a reserva- tion waitlist as long as your arm. The prob- lem was, Dallas already had its own red-sauce Italian standby, Carbone’s, which was a staple of our Top 100 restaurants. Confusion naturally ensued, including a lawsuit from Carbone’s asking for some re- lief. Big-money Carbone paid Carbone’s owner Julian Barsotti to undertake a re- model and a rebrand. Good, we’re all caught up. Barsotti’s Fine Food and Liqueurs is the new name of the former Carbone’s, which reopened two weeks ago in the same spot on the corner of Oak Lawn and Wycliff avenues. Naturally, we were curious to see the changes for ourselves. The new Barsotti’s (no lie, it’s going to take us a while to stop saying Carbone’s) trades in the former’s minimalist and bright decor with an interior that speaks in more Italian restaurant tones. There’s a new tile floor, tin ceilings, rich wallpaper along the back wall and a small bar that wraps around the edge of the kitchen. A banquette divides most of the dining room, upholstered in a rich burgundy. Menu-wise, many of the classics remain. We couldn’t resist ordering the vodka tortel- lini ($26), which tasted better than we re- membered. The vodka sauce is phenomenal, and the tortellini are filled with a bit of sa- vory pork that we didn’t remember in the original. And the Sunday gravy ($26) tops a dish of perfectly al dente creste pasta. There’s ground beef, sausage and more tiny globes of pork, and you can taste the hours of simmering in each forkful. If you can’t get enough Sunday gravy on your plate, Barsot- ti’s still sells containers of the stuff to go. We opened our meal with an order of as- paragus ($15), perfectly cooked and topped with Calabrese chili oil and Parmesan. And since our beloved Dallas Stars were facing off against the Kraken up in Seattle, we couldn’t resist an order of calamari ($17) to get in the spirit. The calamari is crispy and light, not even the slightest bit greasy. But that crispy batter hides much of the seafood flavor. That didn’t stop us from eating the entire plate, alternating dips in the sweet and tangy marina and a remoulade. Barsotti’s still has that textbook cannoli on the dessert menu, as well as a carrot cake topped with caramel, but we opted for a choc- olate layer cake ($15) topped with a chocolate ganache. The cake was moist and light, not too sweet, and a perfect end to our meal. The morning of our visit, the only reserva- tion we could find for two was at 8:30 p.m., just 30 minutes before Barsotti’s scheduled closing time. And when we arrived about 15 minutes early, the restaurant was still packed wall to wall on a Sunday night, which speaks to the pent-up demand from people who missed their Italian fix from their neighbor- hood favorite for the last four months. Perhaps it was a byproduct of being so busy, but the service seemed a touch out of practice. Our waiter was helpful enough while we picked appetizers, but we were halfway through those plates before the waiter reappeared to take our entrée orders. As the dining room thinned out around us, the pace of service seemed to pick up. For the first two weeks, Barsotti’s was open only for dinner while the team worked out the kinks. As of May 8, lunch service has resumed seven days a week. Over at Carbone, a meal is a theatrical production, and reserva- tions are still tough to come by (especially if you’d like to sit indoors). Meanwhile the res- urrected Barsotti’s brings back all the Italian classics we’ve missed, dressed in slightly fan- cier clothes, but with less pretentious flair. There’s space in Dallas for both options, and we love that the latter has finally returned. Barsotti’s Fine Food and Liqueurs, 4208 Oak Lawn Ave. Monday – Wednesday, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. and 5–9 p.m.; Thursday – Sunday, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. and 5–10 p.m. ▼ FIRST LOOK THE OMURICE HAS ARRIVED KYURAMEN BRINGS RAMEN, ROBOTS AND SOCIAL MEDIA FOMO TO FRISCO. BY ANISHA HOLLA K nown for its aesthetic hexagonal din- ing cubicles and robot servers, Kyura- men recently opened its first Texas location north of Dallas, where it’s already racked up high expectations and extra-long wait times. Lines spill through the door even during downtimes on weekdays; be prepared to wait for 30 minutes or so for a table. Kyuramen is originally an East Coast phenomenon, with locations in New York’s Times Square and Union Park, among oth- ers. Gary Lin, founder and executive chef, dates his passion for ramen back to his days in Japan, during which he traveled the country in search of the best ramen noodles. Having found what’s supposedly the “best recipe,” Lin now owns over 120 Kyura- men locations in the U.S. and Japan. It could be the ramen that draws lines of eager visi- tors out the door. Or maybe it’s the unique geometric dining theme. Or maybe it’s just a byproduct of social media virality that’ll subside in a couple of months. Regardless, curiosity brought us in for a meal. Kyuramen’s menu is pretty extensive. The appetizers themselves take up half of the menu, with offerings reminiscent of what you might find in Japanese street food stalls. Almost everything on the starter menu is some iteration of fried food. Purple sweet potato, shrimp, corn kernels and Jap- anese oysters are just some of the things dunked into a deep-fryer. If you’re looking for a high-end delicacy, go for the deep-fried squid tentacles, which come garnished with lemon juice and served with a soy-based dipping sauce. Takoyaki balls are also a pop- ular precursor to the meal, stuffed with deep-fried octopus coated in pancake batter. The ramen menu is no less overwhelming. Diners can choose from 10 different varieties of ramen, in adventurous flavors like spicy kimchi alongside slightly sweeter ones like the tonkatsu curry. Bowls come filled with marinated egg, crispy bamboo shoots and flaky seaweed strips. Both portion sizes and flavors are slightly underwhelming; don’t ex- pect shareable sizes here. Especially after long wait times, you may need to order a cou- ple of bowls to satiate the table’s hunger. But, quite counterintuitively, it’s not the ramen that’s brought Kyuramen all the way to Frisco. The chain’s most popular menu item is the Japanese delicacy Omurice, which is a fluffy Japanese omelet perched on a bed of fried rice. Perhaps what makes it popular among diners, though, is the way it’s served at the table. Servers cut the omelet right in front of diners, just deep enough for a filling of finely shredded eggs to ooze out from inside. After it’s cut, it’s generously drenched with a teapot of curry or black pepper sauce, de- pending on which you choose. It’s kind of like a show at the table. Have your cameras out. The dining aesthetics continue in the bev- erage options. Kyuramen has a selection of over 30 different teas, lemonades and smoothies. For a healthy post-ramen cleanse, order a glass of the Ginger Fun, which comes blended with kale, cucumber and other fi- brous ingredients. Of course, drinks like the matcha-brown-sugar balance out the health- ier options. All beverages are made in house with fresh ingredients, courtesy of TBaar, an Asian tea chain also owned by Gary Lin. Different colored ombres, milk foam top- pings and fancy cylindrical glasses add to the camera appeal. Top your drink off with different chewy add-ons like tapioca beads, grass jellies and puddings. It’s all part of the Asian tea-drinking experience. Take a look at the menu before your visit and order quickly when you arrive. Service is slow, and the robot servers don’t help too much. Our verdict is that if you stop by, you’re paying mostly for the unique dining aesthet- ics ... and perhaps the FOMO of not hopping on the latest Instagram bandwagon. Kyuramen, 9351 Warran Parkway, No. 111, Frisco. Daily, 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. ▼ FRIST LOOK PINKALICIOUS FLAMINGOS AND COCHINITA PIBIL LAND AT LA COMIDA IN BISHOP ARTS. BY E.MAYNE I f you’ve driven into Oak Cliff’s Bishop Arts district lately, you may have noticed significant changes to the area. New apartment buildings now hinder the view of the majestic Dallas skyline that was once visible from Beckley Avenue. With the onslaught of new residences in- vading the once-quiet gateway to Oak Cliff come rolling waves of traffic against the shores of Bishop Arts. But among the dreary concrete edifices that block the natural light sits a shiny beacon that glows a radiant hot pink. That light is from one of the newest restaurants to bless Oak Cliff. La Comida is just across the street from the Flatiron building in a structure that once housed the popular Spiral Diner. It sits on the corner of Zang Boulevard and Beckley Avenue near neighboring establishments Restaurant Beatrice and Beckley 1115. La Comida is owned and operated by brothers Ivan and Mario Urtecho. If Chris Wolfgang Barsotti’s new interior speaks in classic Italian restaurant vibes. | CITY OF ATE | ▼ Dish Chris Wolfgang Barsotti’s Sunday Gravy dish >> p14
