Best French Food in Dallas: Leslie Brenner is Off Her Rocker

Posted on February 25th, 2010 1:34pm by Nancy Nichols
Filed under Celebrity Chefs, Celebrity Diners, Diets are stupid, Ethnic Food, Food Fight!, Procrastination is part of the creative process, Rants, Restaurant News

French Chefs: Be on the lookout for Leslie.

OMG. I mean, oh mon dieu! DMN dining critic Leslie “Caron” Brenner has lost more than weight on her Restaurant Critics Diet. She has lost a large portion of her cerebellum.

This morning La Brenner reveals Best in DFW: French Restaurants along with a little essay on French food in Dallas.

Her top picks are Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, Toulouse Cafe & Bar, St. Martin’s Wine Bistro, Bijoux, Rise No. 1, Saint-Emilion, and The French Room.

Excuse my probable overreaction to her words but I am on Day 3 of pancake withdrawal and this article really pissaladière-ed me off.

I would like to go into a short back story on French food in Dallas and then talk a little about the endangered status of French food in Dallas and the U.S. Then I will do a Q&A with La Brenner’s text. Okay? Let’s get this party started.

Earlier this morning, I spoke with Mercury chef Chris Ward. He knows a lot about French food. He worked as an apprentice at Taillevent in Paris four times. “When I came to Dallas everything was French including the chefs,” he said. “Now there aren’t even real French restaurants left in New York, except maybe La Grenouille. Lutèce and La Caravelle are closed, Joel Robuchon has a Japanese chef, Daniel Boulud may be French but his menu is all over the place.” Jean-Georges Vongerichten is doing Asian street food.

Update: Please note I have changed Chris Ward’s quote above. The last line re: JGV is my statement.

Q&A (Text from Brenner’s article.)

La Brenner: “When I came to Dallas one year ago, I was amazed at the number of French restaurants the city boasts. I couldn’t wait to dive in and start exploring them. Once I did, one thing became rapidly clear: Most of our French restaurants are old-fashioned French restaurants. Very old-fashioned.”

Moi: It took you a year of eating red-sauce Italian food and steak au poivre to come to the conclusion that the majority of Dallas diners do not have adventurous palates. (R.I.P Il Mulino) There was a time when formal French food ruled the upscale dining scene in Dallas. There was the Pyramid Room, The French Room, Patry’s, Jean Claude’s, Callaud’s, Mr. Peppe, and The Enclave. We ate sauce with butter. Then we got hooked on Jane Fonda’s workout tapes, went nouveaux, and never looked back. We heart olive oil. Sorry, I’m off task–why didn’t you call this list Best French-style Restaurants?

La Brenner: “For some reason I still have not understood, the kind of French cooking that continues to dominate the Dallas dining scene is the kind that was found all over America in the 1950s and ’60s. Dishes such as escargots, Dover sole meunière, roasted duck à l’orange, dessert soufflés and crêpes suzette celebrate a period of French cooking before nouvelle cuisine revolutionized dining in France in the 1970s. Other American cities have moved on to more modern French cooking, but curiously, not Dallas.”

Moi: Perhaps you should have widened your search—oh wait, we don’t know which or how many restaurants you considered before determining the best. Were you looking  for modern French or French cooking. or a combination of both.  I’ve seen “modern French.” Did you go to Aurora? Did you go to Lavendou? I’m curious of where you looked.

La Brenner: “In the past 12 months, I’m pretty sure I’ve dined in every French restaurant in Dallas, as well as most of the French restaurants in the rest of the D-FW area.”

Moi: Name them please.

La Brenner: “While I did taste duck confit and so-called “coq au vin,” I don’t think I’ve come across a real coq au vin – meaning a bird marinated in wine and aromatics overnight, then simmered in wine for hours. Nor have I seen pissaladière, a boeuf bourguignon, a daube, petit salé aux lentilles, or a clafoutis. In other words, the kinds of dishes that people cook and eat in France.”

Moi: Hmm. I am confused. I thought you didn’t want to see those old dishes? Did you find a boeuf  bourguignon at the Mansion? You “don’t think” you’re come across “a real coq au vin.” Jeezy Pete, I would hope you would know one when you tasted one. I mean you are proclaiming to know the best French food. Curious.

La Brenner: “Happily, there are a few fabulous French restaurants in and around Dallas. Some of them even serve escargots and soufflés. And a couple of them are very modern. I’ve listed the best of them, in no particular order.”

Moi: Happily, I’ll give you Saint-Emilion, Rise No. 1 and, with some hesitation, St. Martin’s “the menu is written in French” Wine Bistro. I haven’t experienced The Mansion (waiting for season to change) but I suspect Bruno Davaillon hits your “modern French” G-spot. (The breakfast menu offers French toast.) However, let’s talk about what you consider French at The French Room.

La Brenner: “Quality may have slipped a bit since the hotel’s executive chef, Jason Weaver, left in the spring to be replaced by Marcus Strietzel, but the jury’s still out. (Marcos Segovia continues to head up the French Room kitchen.) In any case, one bite of the cauliflower panna cotta with American hackle-fish caviar makes it clear that it’s still one of the best French restaurants in the city.”

Moi: Murmur. “Cauliflower panna cotta with American hackle-fish caviar makes it clear that it’s still one of the best French restaurants in the city.” Huh?  Is that French modern? Also, if you named The French Room a “best,” how come “the jury is still out” on Marcos Segova? While we’re at it, let’s dissect the French-ness of one of the French Room’s tasting menus.

1. Hamachi Sashimi, Watermelon Radishes, Parmesan Crostini, Yuzu Vinaigrette  (Japanese) Chateau De La Tuilerie, Costieres De Nimes 2007 (French) Works for me. 2.   Intermezzo (Italian)
3.   Tenderloin of Veal, Pancetta Wrapped Prawn, Avocado Whipped Potato,
Marsala Wine Sauce paired with Twenty Bench Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley 2007 (Jump ball)
4. Mango Custard, Prickly Pear Sorbet, Candied Red Chiles (whatever) Saracco Moscatto d’Asti, Piedmont 2008 (si pas français?)

Leslie, I know you speak French so you can scold me on my translations, but please tell me why L’Ancestral, with a lovely all-French wine list didn’t steal your heart. Or Lavendou, where Pascal Cayet  offers Coquilles Saint Jacques aux Tomates et Basilic and Entrecôte Grillée des Halles alongside seasonal French dishes such as Choucroute Garni à l’Alsacienne  and Mirabelle plum tarts?

L’Ancestral has operated in Dallas for 27 years for a reason. I spoke with owner Alain-Pierre Vuilleret who was busy seating customers. “There are not many French restaurants any more,” he said. “As Stanley Marcus would say ‘this (L’Ancestral) is the best kept secret in Dallas.” Vuilleret runs a French country restaurant. “I went to Paris in January and found that chefs were using guacamole,” he said. “It is sad that when Cadot opened that they didn’t want to be French, they wanted to be French American,” he said. “I ate at the Mansion on Sunday and it is not French nouvelle, it is American French. He (new execuchef Bruno Davaillon) was using poblano peppers instead of bell peppers. You would not find that in France.”

Leslie, Vuilleret’s wine list alone should have stolen your heart. No he doesn’t list vintages because it is too expensive to reprint the ever-changing list. Vuilleret scours the French wine market for unusual wines like a red Sancerre which he offers as specials. “I don’t want a dictionary sized wine list,” he says. “I like introducing my customers to a red from Loire valley or a Pinot Noir from Alsace, but I have a small list of 35-40 wines and promote every region of France.”

Call me a le vieux sac sentimental, but I consider that modern and French. Now, I’m off to Mecca. Somebody pass me the syrup.

59 comments

  1. Brenner’s latest piece is as ignorant as the absurd “What This Town Needs..” piece she scratched together after six months here.

    Dump this embarrassment and bring back Bill.

    @ 1:49 pm on February 25, 2010

  2. Leslie is simply a snobby West Coaster who thinks she is so much smarter than us simple Texans. She will move on soon anyway.

    @ 2:18 pm on February 25, 2010

  3. The Mansion is totally French.
    Gnocchi with pancetta? French.
    Hamachi sashimi? French.
    Curried lobster? French.
    Spanish chorizo-crusted halibut with stuffed piquillo? French.
    Tortilla soup? French.
    Salmon in miso broth with enoki mushrooms and ginger? French.
    Hamburger with truffle oil fries? French.
    Club sandwich? French.
    Pappardelle with beef cheek ragout? French.
    Roasted eggplant with goat cheese ravioli? French.

    @ 2:21 pm on February 25, 2010

  4. Rumor has it Brenner is the only one at the DMN getting a raise anytime soon.

    @ 2:26 pm on February 25, 2010

  5. Leslie clearly loves a name and star power. And she loves to show off her brain’s food power. In all of her reviews, her l’arrogance is amazing. Her reviews talk down to any chef not named Pyles or Rathbun.

    @ 2:51 pm on February 25, 2010

  6. Does that make Dean’s Rattlesnake Bar French too?

    @ 2:55 pm on February 25, 2010

  7. Jean Girard: Just say, “I love crepes.”
    Cal Naughton, Jr.: You know, just to put this in there, I had a whole mess of crepes this morning. They’re just like pancakes, maybe even better.
    Ricky Bobby: Wait, are they the really thin pancakes?
    Cal Naughton, Jr.: Yeah.
    Jean Girard: Yes they are. They are the really thin pancakes. It’s just a French word for them.
    Ricky Bobby: Oh, my god, I love those.

    @ 2:58 pm on February 25, 2010

  8. I tend to actually like Ms. Brenner and her reviews. I would agree that this is a real miss. We can’t all bat 100%.

    @ 3:26 pm on February 25, 2010

  9. If this list doesn’t designate Dallas as a world class city, I don’t know what will. St. Martin’s????????? Toulouse?????????

    @ 3:29 pm on February 25, 2010

  10. Forget La Brenner’s Shingler’s List:
    The real ‘Best Of’ is when La Nichols is so heated that steam rises from her brows while sweat streams from her matted bangs like molten lava, pounding her keyborad standing up like Jerry Lee Lewis wailing ‘Great Balls (Mountain Oysters Provenciale, y’all?) of Fire!’

    @ 3:56 pm on February 25, 2010

  11. I smell, CAT FIGHT!

    @ 4:01 pm on February 25, 2010

  12. I’m not really convinced that it’s worth it to eat French food here in Dallas. I usually just wait until I go to Chicago.

    @ 4:05 pm on February 25, 2010

  13. Yeah, I like her too but, I think she may have backed herself into a controversial corner she may not be able to claw out of.

    @ 4:05 pm on February 25, 2010

  14. From the photo, it looks like the Restaurant Critic’s Diet is working for her.

    @ 4:19 pm on February 25, 2010

  15. luniz: I see your point but recommend you try the Choucroute and the Cassoulet at Lavendou.

    @ 4:41 pm on February 25, 2010

  16. Jean-Georges is doing Asian street food? Ward apparently hasn’t been to Jean-Georges and/or any streets in Asia.

    @ 5:34 pm on February 25, 2010

  17. CJ: Spice Market.

    @ 5:53 pm on February 25, 2010

  18. Il Mulino was never considered “real” Italian by those who know “real.”

    @ 6:31 pm on February 25, 2010

  19. Il Mulino was/is overpriced. Decent fare but c’mon! My client’s wife ordered a branzino special at their outpost in San Juan (they never mentioned the price) when I got the bill it was $82. Fastest way to keep me from ever spending a dime with them.

    @ 6:50 pm on February 25, 2010

  20. Nancy: JGV is in the kitchen of Jean-Georges almost daily and rarely sets foot in any of the other restaurants he has a stake in. If Ward wants to talk about a Michelin three star chef, he should do so in terms of that chef’s three star restaurant, not an unstarred Asian-fusion sideshow.

    @ 7:13 pm on February 25, 2010

  21. YIKES. I just reread my piece. Chris Ward’s quotes were supposed to end after “place.” The JGV observation is mine. Blame me.

    @ 7:26 pm on February 25, 2010

  22. Bravo on mentioning L’Ancestral! One of my favorite Dallas restaurants is a true hidden gem. It doesn’t get enough credit

    @ 7:27 pm on February 25, 2010

  23. Il Mulino’s problem was never the food but its arrogance. That and it was so dark you couldn’t read the menu. I usually like Ms. Brenner’s comments but this “Best Of” seemed really off the mark. Bravo! Nancy for hitting it dead-on while making us smile at the same time.

    @ 10:10 pm on February 25, 2010

  24. She has no place in Dallas. Why come to Dallas and compare it to California? Just go back to California. I don’t want to hear about the tablecloths and decor. We have great restaurants and they DESERVE a ligitimate food critic.

    @ 10:26 pm on February 25, 2010

  25. I am so tired of hearing that Dallas does not have real Italian food. Do Toulouse and St. Martin’s serve real French food???? Alfonso, what is your idea of a “real” Italian restaurant???????? One that serves your wines???????

    @ 11:15 pm on February 25, 2010

  26. That’s a good one mr/ms comme il faut. We all know Alfonso is just as cranky as La.

    “Un jour vous réveillerez et réaliserez, les dieux ne vous veulent de toute façon” hehehee

    @ 1:23 am on February 26, 2010

  27. To all of you idiots who are downgrading Il Mulino, It was dark to set the mood which it did perfectly, the idiot with the branzino comment is the perfect example of why Dallas didn’t get it. The menu is the orginal menu from when the restaurant opened in New York, and is basically family style portions as this is the way italian food is meant to be eaten, shared multi course in a way that provokes conversation and a very involved and relaxed atmosphere. I have heard so many people complain about the menu at Il Mulino, you could order the pasta dishes in as small as a 1/4 order which could even be split, all u had to do was ask??? Il Mulino was about service and all one had to do was participate in the experience and ask questions that would be answered by the most knowledgable staff in Dallas at the time, only problem is Dallas Diners don’t know what questions to ask and instead take their cues from the sheepheard of steak house faithfull, see Ocean Prime Review. Nancy I don’t know what woke you up but please don’t stop. From the Smoke review to Ocean Prime to taking on Brenner I believe you are right on point and understand this food scene like no one else writing about it. This is a turning point in this country and Dallas is sitting back watching it all go by making snide remarks while continuing to think oil is the way and Bush was right taking us to Iraq. Dallas the future is calling and your not answering so it will just have to happen somewhere else.

    @ 1:24 am on February 26, 2010

  28. @Joseph – I was with you until you tried to link politics with restaurant reviews. Kindly save that crap for the DO.

    @ 7:35 am on February 26, 2010

  29. Joseph – Il Mulino didn’t work for myriad reasons, the least of which is because they had goombahs like you calling people “idiots” when they didn’t share your grandiose vision.

    @ 8:29 am on February 26, 2010

  30. I like pie

    @ 9:15 am on February 26, 2010

  31. Il Mulino is only slightly less “French” than some of Brenner’s selections.

    Has it ever occurred to anyone that maybe she makes such off-the-wall picks just to get people to talk about her? Even if people are outraged or laughing at her, it drives traffic to Dallas Morning News web pages, getting eyeballs on ads. She’s the Glenn Beck of food writers. Getting worked up over her blustery ignorance gives her just what she wants.

    @ 9:50 am on February 26, 2010

  32. I did notice that about the ads. Eats and Dmn is littered with cheasy ads. Click on a restaurant link and you get redirected to a zedo link advertising teeth whiting and car insurance. But as I mentioned before, the schtick is lame and it’s going to be borderline dangerous for her to run her mouth without consequences. Furthermore, a newspaper that has to rely on adsense ads to survive is one that is short on revenue and in turn, short on talent. PS, if a restaurateur would take their own life what do you think a sane pissed off restaurateur do for revenge of a critic’s shameless attacks ? You are not anonymous as you think La.

    @ 11:02 am on February 26, 2010

  33. “Glenn Beck” that’s good.

    I liked Il Mulino, thought it was fantastic. But I’m not an expert on “real” Italian food like some people around here.

    @ 11:12 am on February 26, 2010

  34. Hey now – this is her job, her opinion, we can agree or not with her assessment. But taking cheap shots at The DMN or Leslie Brenner isn’t cool. There are still people working for that paper who work hard to put out a good product and take pride in their work. Blog discussions don’t always have to disintegrate into name calling and nastiness.

    @ 11:35 am on February 26, 2010

  35. Switzerland, what about the restaurants that she attacks and demotes? Don’t you think there are “still people working… who work hard to put out a good product and take pride in their work”? Taking cheap and shameless shots at restaurants isn’t cool either.

    @ 11:46 am on February 26, 2010

  36. Listen, a good old, fashioned blog duel can only help everyone. Go girls, go.

    @ 12:03 pm on February 26, 2010

  37. Jason Weaver told me no less than a dozen times that his food at the French Room was new American. And I’m struggling with any French list that doesn’t include Aurora, Cadot, and L’Ancestral.

    @ 12:20 pm on February 26, 2010

  38. Me thinks there is some jealousy here. Could Leslie Brenner be the new Queen of Dallas restaurant literary criticism???

    @ 12:26 pm on February 26, 2010

  39. maybe its french american but we had a great meal at Cadot for my dad’s birthday.

    @ 1:33 pm on February 26, 2010

  40. Leslie has explained herself with a patented Theory of Franco-Asymmetry. If French cuisine heavily influences another country’s cuisine, the latter becomes French cuisine. If any other cuisine (Japanese, for example, or Italian) heavily influences French cuisine, French cuisine remains French cuisine. This is why a French restaurant can preserve its Frenchness, even if it serves risotto, sashimi, gnocchi, and hamburgers, but a New American restaurant automatically becomes French if it serves foie gras or a thyme-heavy Béarnaise. You might as well plant the drapeau tricolore at any upscale restaurant in Dallas.

    She says that she would have put Soley on her list, had it not closed. Add duck confit to chiles en nogada and the French conquer Mexico once again!

    @ 5:59 pm on February 26, 2010

  41. John Richards, I am not jealous of Leslie Brenner. She can be queen of restaurant literary criticism.

    Cletus, oh. my. i am very confused. in fact, i am speechless. So how does Aurora listing with five stars in the DMN’s French category not head this list or get a mention “Oh it was shitty when I visited” would suffice.

    @ 6:36 pm on February 26, 2010

  42. Aurora? Either she didn’t go there (in which case she’s lying about having been to every French restaurant in Dallas) or she went there and found it worse than Toulouse and St. Martin’s (in which case Aurora deserves a new review with a much lower star rating, which Leslie will get to as soon as she gets steakhouses out of her system; so, maybe 2014).

    @ 7:03 pm on February 26, 2010

  43. Are Franco-American SpaghettiO’s, French, American or, Italian?

    @ 10:49 pm on February 26, 2010

  44. Here is a quote from Brenner’s book American Appetite

    “At some point, it becomes impossible to distinguish between regional cookery and one that’s been influenced by a foreign cuisine. What’s a Michigan morel risotto with wild ramps served in a Chicago restaurant? Certainly it’s an Italian preparation adapted to local ingredients–but it feels very American. The driving impulse behind it is American, as is the combination of ingredients. Eventually it becomes silly to talk about the convergence of local ingredients and foreign techniques or foreign ingredients and regional preparations, trying to pin something down; at some point, one needs to admit that American cuisine has already been born.”

    So what is French again? I’m confused?

    @ 12:33 am on February 27, 2010

  45. To Avner & Celeste

    Looks like karma came around BIG this time. All those long hours you worked to make yourselves world class and the DMN b**** can’t even recognize you as being at the top of your game.

    Maybe it’s not all about your grandiose genious culinary creations. Maybe she found out about the thousands (and ladies and gentlemen, I mean thousands) of dollars you stole from the employees tips to pay for your cash flow negative wannabe Disneyland of French marvels , and refused to honor such fraud.

    All the brains and drive and you still don’t get it. You screw your faithful and the community will find out. We could have all still been the greatest team ever. You had the best but why do you like to destroy relationships?

    @ 10:06 am on February 27, 2010

  46. FYI….
    http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2010/feb/26/dallas-restaurateur-raises-questions-about-credibi/

    @ 3:52 pm on February 27, 2010

  47. Celeste comes on way too strong with the sense of entitlement, but she does have a point. Aurora is a better restaurant than most on #’s list.

    @ 4:43 pm on February 27, 2010

  48. Leslie has hit it right on many things…not so much this. I agree with NN about L’Ancestral – it is one of the loveliest little restaurants – and French – in Dallas. Looks like Leslie needs to do better research in the future.

    @ 5:43 pm on February 27, 2010

  49. @Joseph- If the menu or ordering concept needs describing, the server should do so without the customer (used to traditional American customs) having to ask. That would be good service. Not slapping down a dish that was clearly meant for one (his wife), charging $82, then expecting them to know post-dinner that it should/could have been meant family style. How would one know this? The server should be responsible, and read how the diner is ordering and what quantities they are ordering and suggest appropriately. Geez.

    @ 5:15 am on February 28, 2010

  50. Cj I have eaten at Jean-Georges at least ten times. I have also eaten at Spice Market, Perry Street, Mercer Kitchen, Dune in Nassau, Jean-Georges in Paris, and his now shuttered steak house in ther Time Warner building. What is your point?

    @ 11:08 am on March 2, 2010

  51. Jean- George’s food has heavy Asian overtones

    @ 11:13 am on March 2, 2010

  52. Jean-Georges serving street food was a misprint or misquote. I respect his restaurants.

    @ 11:41 am on March 2, 2010

  53. The point was that it is a gross misrepresentation to say that Jean-Georges cooks Asian street food now. Since you’ve been to his flagship restaurant at least ten times, you should know that. You don’t need to snap at me, if you misspeak or are misquoted.

    @ 1:37 pm on March 2, 2010

  54. Hello, I made the statement about Jean-Georges. The point is he isn’t just doing French. Please note where Chris Ward’s quotes end.

    @ 1:52 pm on March 2, 2010

  55. I LOVE Pie

    @ 6:11 am on March 3, 2010

  56. Whether it was Ward or Nancy that said Jean-Georges was doing Asian street food, they said it in support of Ward’s claim that “Now there aren’t even real French restaurants left in New York”. But Jean-Georges is a French restaurant, and a damned good one. Bad example.

    @ 7:19 am on March 3, 2010

  57. CJ, Have you looked at Jean-Georges menu lately? It” s not too French. All spice and star anise are used frequently. It has a lot of Asian overtones. Maybe you are like Leslie and do not know what “Claasic French” food is.

    @ 10:28 am on March 3, 2010

  58. I try to look at the menu whenever I eat there, Jamie. And every time I’ve looked at the menu, it was modern French. Modern French is not the same thing as what you’re calling “Claasic French.” Does Ward think that only “Claasic French” restaurants are “real French” restaurants? If so, he may have noticed that “real French” restaurants are on the decline in France, too.

    @ 2:20 pm on March 3, 2010

  59. Why dont you call Chef Ward to convey your argument. You seem to know it all.

    @ 7:05 pm on March 3, 2010