The first Del Frisco’s Grille in New York has been open for a while in very modest digs (ha!) at 50 Rock which is just down the street from their steakhouse in Manhattan. The NYC DFG is rocking. So is the Nick & Sam’s Grill, the light version on Nick & Sam’s here in Dallas. Judging from the crowd’s I’ve seen at Del Frisco’s Grille on McKinney, I think Del Frisco’s opening on McKinney Ave in the heart of uptown is a good idea.

Three major concerns leapt to mind before my first visit to DFG: it’s a new glitzy spot in douche bag central, casual off shoots from fine dining restaurants rarely wow me, and inevitably the bar will be 4 deep and I don’t like to wait on drinks. So I decided to visit mid-afternoon and I didn’t have to wait on a couple of Bentleys to move so I could get to the valet stand.

Jump for it.It’s a beautiful space and gigantic (18,000 sq ft) with an upstairs and a two-level glass wine cellar. The service staff appears very Uptown: cool hair and cool names but, at least when I visited, it wasn’t very busy and the service was attentive and friendly.

The was nothing particularly mind blowing on the menu and I didn’t see the need to order a steak (we know these guys can kill a cow with the best of them), so we ordered a crab cake with lobster sauce ($16), pimento cheese fritters with chipotle ranch ($9), NOLA BBQ shrimp with po’ boy bread ($14), and a main entree of veal meatloaf with wild mushrooms and Bordelaise sauce ($19).

The crab cake was exactly what I expected: 90% lump crab delicately held together until a simple nudge from the fork breaks it and the meat tumbles into the lobster sauce. Crab cakes in any steakhouse should be good and DGS’s lived up to my expectations.

I don’t know or trust anyone who doesn’t like fried cheese. [Ed. Note: make me your first!] DFG’s version was tasty. You could definitely taste the pimento and the breading was fairly light. I didn’t get any of the promised chipotle taste in the ranch dipping sauce, but there was something dark floating in there so presumably it was present.

I will go head to head with anyone on New Orleans-syle BBQ shrimp. I’m an expert. I love to eat it and I love to cook it. It’s so simple to make: basically butter, oil, garlic, rosemary, and Tabasco. Given DF’s New Orleans roots, I had high expectations for this starter.  Four big daddy U-10 shrimp with a good sear were served in a shallow pool of the famous sauce. Unfortunately, it tasted like someone in the kitchen was into “flour power.” The flavors were good but I couldn’t get past the grit from the flour that I suppose was added to thicken it up? The po’ boy bread was nicely toasted and would have been great for dipping if I hadn’t already hit carbo-overload on the sauce.

The screw-up factor is pretty low on meatloaf and DFG’s serves a good rendition. It’s moist with a good crust on top and the portion is huge–two big slabs over a mound of mashed potatoes. I’m not so sure the mushrooms as “wild” as the menu claimed. They sure looked like halved portobellos to me and the bordelaise was good not great. The dish was actually heightened by the fact that it was cold and raining and I needed some comfort food.

The wine list has the usual suspects from California and a short list of $10-$14 Pinots, Malbecs, and Shiraz to accompany the $15 Del Frisco’s Reserve Cabernet on their by-the-glass list. Overpriced reds in a steakhouse?  Who woulda thunk it?

As my late lunch lingered into happy hour, the douche bag factor began to grow exponentially. But that made for good people watching and some good pictures to put on my Pinterest page.

Risotto with shaved Perigord truffles.

Hey y’all, remember the Snooty Foodies? The dashing couple who dine out so much they had to take a break from their blog? Well, they’ve decided to dip their toes back into the blogosphere by sending in a snippet whenever they bloody well feel like it. That’s why we call them snooty. Plus they use “I” instead of “we.” Here, they go.

I like Nosh.  A lot.  These guys have bridged the culinary gap between a Houston’s (or Hillstone or whatever they call themselves this week) price point and a chef-driven fine dining restaurant. Quite the anomaly, at least in the Park Cities.  There are no gimmicks, no hooks, and no real defined concept other than just kicking out straight-up damn good food cooked by talented chefs. Speaking of chefs, partner Jon Stevens (Neighborhood Services, Jardineire, Ritz-Carlton San Fran) runs the show behind the stove. Sure, Avner Samuel is prominently mentioned in all the press releases, but in my 25 or so visits to Nosh, I’ve yet to see him in the kitchen. He and wife Celeste are content to hand out smiles and hugs in the front of the house and the formula seems to be working.

Stay with them.

Artichoke flan with Jonah crab fondue.

During those 25-plus visits, I’ve tried everything on the main menu. I recommend you try the Kobe meatballs with Béarnaise sauce, poached duck egg over duck confit toast, or whatever foie gras preparation they have going that day. They also put out a respectable croquet monsieur as well.

On the mains: the halibut with chorizo has become a fan favorite as has the espresso- rubbed short rib. The scallops over mashed sweet potatoes and bacon jam make me want to touch myself in a familiar way. Like most bistros, the chef’s creativity shows up on the chalkboard specials and Nosh is no different. Artichoke flan with Jonah crab fondue and risotto with shaved Perigord truffles are two recent specials that blew me away.

So, with everything going so well, how can one screw this deal up? Opening more locations, that’s how. When I first heard location two was in the works, I certainly wasn’t surprised. Business boomed and the Samuels had already expanded the Oak Lawn location to include a banquet room. One more location seemed natural. But what almost always goes hand in hand with a plan to expand?  Right.  Raid the kitchen of the original location and farm them out to new place. Almost always, the original place goes out of  focus and the quality of food and service slips.

Despite the fact that the new location at Plano Parkway and 4701 W. Park Blvd (across the lot from Yao Fuzi) is set to open in the next few weeks, I’m not even remotely worried that Thing 2 will kill Thing 1. It breaks down like this:  Chef Stevens will now be the corporate guy presumably rolling the tires off his car driving back and forth from Plano and Oak Lawn.  Chef Andrew Bell will man the stove at the original. Andrew was on the Aurora staff and recently owned Dr. Bells BBQ downtown. Very interesting dude and, despite his chronic case of bed head, can cook his ass off. Plano will be cheffed up by Norman Grimm. No, he’s not a Dr. Seuss character though he could be a stunt double for Jim Carey. [Ed. Note: Huh?] Grimm spent 3 years with Sharon Hage at York Street, a year in the south of France, and he worked at Napa hot spots Tre Vigne, Bistro Jeanty, and Red. He also worked with Chef Stevens at Jardiniere and Ritz SF. These guys aren’t exactly line cooks from Chili’s. After tasting their cooking many times, I applaud the Nosh team for making the investment on the talent to insure a successful expansion.