New Yorkers have long enjoyed the always crowded but exquisite French bistro. the bilboquet on East 63rd Street near Madison, on the Upper East Side. He has now come to Dallas, not in name only, but accompanied by his wonderfully gifted chef and some of his staff from New York. He occupies that venerable space at Travis in the Knox/Henderson area that has long been devoted to fine French cuisine, the late and much missed. The Ancient.
When I first saw the dazzling advertisement for The Bilboquets new opening in North Texas in the 2013 Restaurant Edition of modern luxury dallas (which ranked it second of the “Five Most Exciting New Restaurants” in Dallas and gave it a breathless review), I didn’t make the New York connection and mistakenly read it as “The Library” French for “library” or sometimes even “bookcase”, or more memorably in “the National Library of France” which is France’s equivalent of our National Archives in Washington.
No, this beautiful new Dallas restaurant gem, The Bilbao, It’s named after that charming French childhood game where you try to turn a ball into a string into a cup into a stick, a stick that has one end of the string attached to it. There is an American version of the game where the string is replaced with a sturdy rubber band, making the moving ball much more difficult to catch in the cup. So that’s the meaning of bilboquet.
How the restaurant space has changed! And for the better! anyone who remembers the ancient you will find inside the bilboquet unrecognizable. Gone are the ghastly images of ancient ancestors on the walls. The walls themselves, in fact, are gone. They have been opened up and replaced with large clear glass windows that admit wonderful North Texas natural light. Tables are smaller (and perhaps too cramped), and the average age of diners has dropped from 70 to 30 years old. In short, everything about the place in Travis that you can remember has been transformed, and much for the better.
The interior is as wonderfully classic as the food, and I was pleased to find bright white tablecloths, fresh-cut flowers on every table, and of course, an unexpected bath of natural light. chef from new york the bilbouquet, “Momo” Sow, has moved to Dallas with some of his key associates, and the results are spectacular. The food is solid Parisian bistro fare, with a suspicion of Momo’s great appreciation for novelle cuisine and her own distinctive multinational style, but always with a strong French accent.
My partner and I started with a light appetizer, crab and avocado salad, which was delicious and tasty without being filling. The lump of crab meat fresh from the ocean, tossed with thinly sliced spring onions, a twist of lemon in the whipped mayonnaise, and of course avocado and some greens: chopped lettuce and celery. It was like out of this world.
For the starter we both chose a veal dish cooked in a light lemon sauce, veal cutlet with lemon, perhaps the most tender beef morsels I have tasted in the last year, in a delicate sauce and served with a fresh salad and of course French fries cooked in the proper way (I can’t bear to call them “fries” which in America they are usually cooked in vegetable oil, which makes them tasteless, even if they are supposedly “good for your heart”). It was nice to have the salad served with the main course, rather than before. The beef was simply excellent, because Momo understands that the most important thing to remember about tasty beef is what happens to it long before you start cooking it. Chops should be pounded until tender and melt-in-your-mouth. They were magnificent.
For dessert we both had a superbly fresh Catalan cream that was clearly made minutes before it was served to us. Outstanding! Then, to wake us both up, my friend had a cappuccino and I had an espresso as we watched the elegant crowd of young men and women from Highland Park who seemed to be doing very well. and happy to spend two or three hours having lunch. Trust funds are a wonderful invention and not uncommon in Dallas. And they make it for lovely diners.
The service was excellent and prompt (our young waiter was a bright student finishing his first year of college). A lunch to remember, and to repeat for sure, and soon.
the bilboquet it is at 4514 Travis Street between Knox and Armstrong. It’s often packed, especially for dinner, so you’ll definitely want to make a reservation by calling (469) 730-2937.