The George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum is located on the campus of SMU (Southern Methodist University) in Dallas, Texas. Cafe 43, so named because "W" was the 43rd president, and the restaurant is on the premises. We decided to try it and were pleasantly surprised.
We were given a basket of wonderful cheddar cheese rolls that tasted home-made and also some cheesy nutty flat bread.
It was cold outside and we had to walk a ways to get there, so I was intrigued by the poblano chicken chili with avocado. It had wonderfully fresh ingredients with nice chunks of poblano pepper, some avocado, corn and chicken, but it was disappointingly mild, mild, mild. When I see poblano, I think heat, and this lacked it. With some seasoning, I could have transformed this mild concoction into something really good.
I also got "Mrs. Bush's Favorite Sandwich" which was tomato, avocado, mozzarella and mayonnaise on very fresh, moist bread. I got it with some fresh fruit which was ripe and flavorful. Mrs. Bush has good taste as her sandwich combination has incredible mouth feel and mild, but distinctive flavors.
Judy got a roasted beet salad with mache, blue cheese and a sherry vinaigrette. Mache is also known as lamb's lettuce and has a rounded leaf and deep green color. It had slices of both yellow beats and red beets and tiny round, pointy red peppers I'd never seen before. I've identified the peppers as pimenta biquinho, also known as little beak peppers, a very nice tasty addition to a salad. They have 500 to 1,000 Scoville units compared to a paprika chili pepper which has 250 to 1,000 Scoville units.
In the land of steak and bbq where vegetables consist of cheesy corn, french fries and fried okra, this was a wonderful find. The restaurant fits the warmth and charm of the Bush family.
Isn't it great to stubble onto a good restaurant when you don't expect to? The food looks yummy.
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