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closeWednesday, Aug. 26, 2009
Hattie’s is a haven of Southern hospitality in Oak Cliff
By LESLIE BRENNER
Special to dfw.com
Walk into Hattie’s, the 7-year-old Southern restaurant in Oak Cliff’s Bishop Arts District, and all the little annoyances of the day start to melt away. Is it the welcome, which is warm but not hurried? Is it the light in the dining room on a summer evening, playing off the pale yellow walls? Is it the hospitality, the easy "let us take care of you" attitude?
Everything about the restaurant radiates grace, quiet confidence and balance. The split-level dining room, with its vintage-look tile floors, white tablecloths, high tin ceilings and outsize blue-willow plate wall hanging, invites you to sit back and slow down. Chef Estevan Galindo, 32, who has headed Hattie’s kitchen since 2004, cooks with a sure hand, balance, restraint and plenty of flair. A bowl of tomato bisque ($5.50) is just that, unadorned except for a mini grilled-cheese sandwich on the side. But the texture is wonderfully velvety, and the flavor is pure and intense, round and full: It tastes like great tomatoes.
Fried oysters wrapped in bacon and dabbed with horseradish cream come five to an order, served on tangy red and green coleslaw ($7.95). Galindo’s fried green tomatoes ($7.50) may be the best I’ve ever tasted, the lovely, crisp cornmeal crust melding seamlessly with the bright-flavored green tomatoes. Our waiter, seeing us marvel at the miracle, came over and explained that the chef soaks the tomatoes in buttermilk overnight to achieve the perfect adhesion. With a soupçon of ranch dressing, it’s just right.
The waiter’s manner was just as lovely. This is not the kind of place where young servers take 10 minutes to explain sous-vide technique (even though you didn’t ask) when they’re reciting menu specials or interrupt your conversation to ask whether everything’s wonderful.
But they will take the time to make good by-the-glass wine recommendations and make sure you have enough bread.
Maybe one reason the diners all look so comfortable and relaxed is that the prices are so gentle. A big, soothing bowl of shrimp and grits, one of Hattie’s signature main courses, features plump prawns with super-shrimpy flavor and terrific, rustic grits with dabs of goat cheese and a tomato-bacon-Tabasco pan sauce. It was superb, and a bargain at $16.95. A brilliant bacon-wrapped Texas quail is stuffed with tender, surprisingly mild jalapeño that suffuses the fowl with a bit of chile flavor but not the heat. That’s $15.95.
The straight-ahead four-Cheddar mac ’n’ cheese ($9.50) was the most satisfying I’ve had in many moons, creamy, cheesy and rich as it should be. Not that everything’s perfect: Closer attention could be paid to the seasons. I understand that the prosciutto-wrapped black mission figs ($8.50) is a signature dish that has been on the menu since Day One — and it was lovely — but how odd to eat dried figs when it was the height of the season for plump, juicy fresh ones. The brief wine list is fine but uninspired. How much fun would it be to see a wine or two from Virginia, a Yankee wine from Long Island, N.Y., or at least a couple from Texas? But the wine service was professional. Desserts were less impressive than other dishes, except for a killer fried pie I tasted earlier in the summer. No seven-year-itching to do something crazy at Hattie’s, no resting on its laurels. Just really good, unpretentious yet sophisticated cooking and servers who are real professionals, all in a beautiful, graceful setting.
418 Bishop Ave. (Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff)
Dallas
214-942-7400; www.hatties.com
Hours: Lunch 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday, dinner 5:30 p.m. until diners stop coming (usually 9:30 to 10:30 p.m.) Tuesday-Sunday; brunch 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Sunday
Cuisine: Sophisticated Southern
Essentials: Major credit cards; full bar; wheelchair-accessible (upper level only); no smoking area
Entrees: About $9.50-$32.95
Recommended for: Those who like to be well taken care of when they dine.
Good to know: Sunday brunch features soups, salads, sandwiches and myriad tempting entrees.
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