Abacus [Dallas]
Abacus, among the very best in Dallas, is one of our favourite restaurants for special occasions.
This is where we celebrated our last two wedding anniversaries. Last year (when I made the reservation) they gave us a copy of the specials menu signed by the sous chef.
I had a special craving for pan seared foie gras. Before making up our minds where to go, we checked the online menus of a handful of French restaurants here in Dallas and only two had foie gras on their menu. One was a cold dish, which wasn’t too bad, and the other guys served the pan seared foie gras with a chocolate and sweet corn sauce. There’s no real need to get that fancy. Anyway, only one place offered exactly what I wanted and that place was Abacus.
When the waiter asked me if I enjoyed my foie gras, I looked up and just stared at him making helpless gestures with my hands. I was literally lost for words. Delicious, scrumptious, delectable… no word seemed appropriate. He didn’t seem surprised by my reaction and simple said “It’s that good, eh?” Oh yes!
Sean had Kobe beef carpaccio with shaved Parmesan and fresh arugula. It was awesome (an overused word, but the food really did inspire awe)
We ordered three delicious side dishes: risotto with truffle oil (perfectly al dente, creamy, rich, great flavour and aroma of truffles), Southwestern grits (very creamy too, had some jalapeno and fresh veggies on top) and bacon mac and cheese (almost too rich, great bacon flavour, lots and lots of cheese).
I had the fennel crusted venison with white truffle oil, mushrooms, fresh watercress and really wide pasta ribbons for main. Unfortunately, I spotted a human hair on my plate and (reluctantly) sent it back. No less than three people came to apologise for the hair! They handled the whole thing very well, as expected, and didn’t charge us for it. The new venison was very well cooked and incredibly tender and the pasta was al dente.
We had no room left for desert but had very nice espresso with a couple of chocolate truffles.
The service was excellent and could not be faulted. From the moment we got off the car, the experience was incredible.
(The bill was for $160 including a bottle of viognier and excluding the venison.)
4511 McKinney Avenue
Dallas, TX 75205
(214) 559-3111
