Fire and Ice: Fuego Opens at Stephan Pyles in Dallas

Danyele McPherson and Matt McCallister and prepare Fuego

After months of anticipation, months more of discovery, and a year of of experimentation, Fuego, the small restaurant within a restaurant, has opened inside  Stephan Pyles, the restaurant.

For now, Fuego is the most exclusive eating event in town–the menu features a few preparation techniques used by molecular gastronomists combined with cooking and baking in a wood fire oven.

The synthesis of high culinary art combined with the latest culinary science, freshest organic local ingredients, and some iconic foods of the world  is  now available for you to taste.

Fuego at Stephan Pyles is only open on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. The small area at the bar seats only four people at two seatings  (6:30pm and 9pm). There is no  menu (until the end). Chef/owner  Stephan Pyles, execuchef, Matt McCallister, and sous chef Danyele McPherson are making some magic. (If you go, ask McPherson what was her grade was waterboarding when she attended CIA.) These three prepare “seven to ten courses” (that is according to the publicity -  according to my math the night I ate, there were 14) right in front of the guests.

They describe each one and talk about it with you as you eat. It is an intimate and totally involving experience in which the food stars. If you desire, you can defer judgment over the drinks as well, and have a matched wine (which is sometimes a non-wine beverage) with each course. In that case, a wine waiter effortlessly moves drinks in and out in time with the delivery of the food. At several points, Pyles himself comes by, casting a judgmental eye on the food and talking excitedly about the grander scheme of this experiment.

Enough of the generalities, let’s look at the menu in a little more detail. (more…)