Saturday, January 3, 2015

Meddlesome Moth - Dallas

The Meddlesome Moth, located at 1621 Oak Lawn Lane in Dallas, Texas may rank in the top ten of restaurants I've been to (along with The Fort, Animal, Incanto, Kaikaya By the Sea in Tokyo, FIG, True, Red Medicine, Hen of the Wood, and Au Cinquieme Peche). I love everything about it: the name, very creative and original; the setting, comfortable and open; a great waiter; and most of all, the food, unusual, fresh ingredients, original, creative and delicious.   


The Most Delicious Deviled Eggs were eggs somehow cooked in soy, note the brownish exterior which permeates into the interior a little bit, and topped with Sriracha sauce. Sprouts that accompanied them added texture to the taste. A simple dish, with simple ingredients, but very good.
My favorite of the dishes, and this ranks high on any dish I've ever had, was the Crispy Sweetbreads. Some sort of brain (cow, pig, I don't know), lightly breaded and cooked in a mixture including sorghum and fire-glazed cider. I've only eaten brains a few times and was a bit squeamish about it, and the taste was so-so, but these were first class. The texture was firm, with a nice mouth feel, and a sweety, savory taste that I luxuriated on. I love any chef that can take offal and turn it into wonderful. 
Crispy sweetbreads 
The sweetbreads are visible inside this bit-sized piece. 
Next we had beef bone marrow with salsa verde and capers. The presentation was stunning with the vivid green salsa blanketing the marrow. The bone marrow was a little better at The Fort and at Animal, but this was still great.

Chinatown Fried Farro was farro, a type of wheat that is cooked but still crunchy, sugar peas, hen of the wood mushrooms, ginger, egg and "bourbon barrel soy." A one of a kind dish for me at a restaurant. The soy added a real salty flavor, the farro was warm and crunchy and the egg and mushroom added a nice contrasting soft element and flavor.

Pieces of mushroom and egg are visible in the farro.
Last, we had spiced lamb breast with white beans and leeks. The lamb was spread out and rolled into a roll and then cut into slices. It had a filling that appeared to be spinach and something else I couldn't identify. It was the most unusual lamb I've had, with a deep red color that almost made it look like corned beef. Despite the "spiced" label, it was still quite mild. The white beans were mild and the leek was mostly decorative.
Our waiter was fun, told us about the owner who owns Six Flags and other restaurants that all have something to do with flight.

Each of the five dishes was good and there were other menu items that looked fun like griddled bobwhite quail with pumpkin grits, grilled yellow tail collar, chicken skin chips, sesame duck wings, rabbit pot pie and steak and stout pot pie. 

2 comments:

  1. How can you resist a restaurant with a great name like that? Nicely presented food.

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  2. The soy egg reminds me of a noodle place in LA

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