Two lucky lucky restaurants from Dallas-Fort Worth scored a ranking on the latest traffic-trolling "top restaurants" list, this one generated by The Daily Meal, a list-delirious website ostensibly dedicated to topics of food and drink. The "101 Best Restaurants in America" includes Fearing's at the Ritz-Carlton, Dallas at No. 94 and Woodshed Smokehouse in Fort Worth at No. 92.
For DFW, that is all she wrote.
The list's top three slots go to the most trite-and-true restaurants in the country: French Laundry, Gramercy Tavern and Le Bernardin. It goes without saying that the list is dominated by New York and California restaurants, with 28 list-makers from New York and 20 from California.
A list like this can be a wonderful thing, because it gives us a chance to evaluate our weaknesses — which can be basically summed up as, we're not California or New York.
But no tears: A list like this can be a wonderful thing, because it gives us a chance to evaluate our weaknesses — which can be basically summed up as, we're not California or New York. Honestly, we're just grateful for any scraps on the national table. We're thrilled with a showing of two restaurants, because it could have been none at all.
And looking more carefully at the two restaurants that do appear, it doesn't seem questionable in any way, shape or form that both are headed by two of our most well-publicized, highly prominent Food Network regulars: chefs Dean Fearing and Tim Love. They're two of our very best chefs, and they deserve every tout they get.
We even like Woodshed and have taken some heat for our praise from local diners who've not been as enchanted with Love's casual patio hang.
But you do have to wonder how the evaluation went down. A truly qualified list would have required someone from the crack Daily Meal team to come to DFW and eat at Lucia, Tei An, FT33, and all the various and sundry other restaurants that opened in 2012, then deem them less worthy than Fearing's and Woodshed.
Alas: Judging from the list of obscure bloggers and random journalists that make up the "illustrious members of their expert panel," there were no representatives from Dallas. The main Texas contributor appears to be Pat Sharpe of Austin-based Texas Monthly.
Another way that you can tell how legit this list is — and that it has nothing to do with gross, shameless, unbridled trolling for traffic — is the inclusion of Shake Shack, the stupidly overrated New York burger place. As the story reads, "There were winners that will be certain to infuriate detractors and inspire advocates. In its first year on the list, Shake Shack’s claim to the 11th spot (above Jean-Georges, Daniel, Alinea, Chez Panisse, Del Posto and Per Se) will likely anger more than In-N-Out lovers."
Yes! In-N-Out! Anger! Outrage! Click click click.
Honey and thyme-glazed grass-fed lamb chop on parsley root puree with Kennebec potato fries, cheese pierogi on braised lamb choucroute, and fresh shaved black truffles at No. 94 Fearing's.
