Fort Worth Weekly - News, Entertainment, Restaurants, Music

Critic's choice: Button's, 4701 W Fwy, FW

Traditionally, the "soul food" category is reserved for joints that aren't quite so upscale. But chef Keith Hicks and partners have worked dilligently to develop what Hicks calls his "house of love," where people come together to appreciate the universal beauty of soul music and soul food. While it may not include everything soul - no Kool-Aid here - the menu runs the geographical gamut of Southern eats. From the deep South, fried green tomatoes, fried chicken and watermelon salad, pork chops and ribs done several ways, collard greens, mac-and-cheese, corn cakes, and black-eyed peas. From coastal Mississippi and N'awlins, gumbo and shrimp-and-grits. Soul food and an environment that feeds the soul: Button's is replete with all that, along with a wicked Georgia peach cobbler.

Menudo

Critic's choice: Los Alamos Café, 1446 N Main St, FW

Restaurants tend to serve menudo only on weekends, because of the dish's well-known rep as a hangover cure. Well, that sucks. Sober folks like to eat menudo during the week for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Los Alamos understands this and usually keeps its menudo available all week (and if they're out, they usually have posole, which is similar to menudo except with pork instead of tripe). Both are excellent at this little hole in the wall that's been owned and operated by the same family for more than 50 years.

Ice Cream

Reader's choice: Marble Slab Creamery, 3000 S Hulen St,  Ste 151, FW

Critic's choice: Chadra Mezza

Chef/owner Nehme Elbitar is Fort Worth's own molecular gastronomist, working in the medium of ice cream. His rotating menu of essence-infused scoops includes a rosewater ice cream that smells like perfume and tastes like Valentine's Day; a comforting sweet corn and cinnamon flavor that recalls Grandma's Sunday casserole; a marvelously nuanced spice cream with top notes of cayenne and clove plus a dozen other zingers; and whatever else he might have dreamed up that day. Nehme cheerfully - he does everything cheerfully - takes suggestions for new flavors, though apparently he's still working on our request for lamb chop and hummus.

Buffet

Readers' choice: Zorro's Buffet

Critic's choice: Chadra Mezza

For our money, the best buffet deal in town - and by far the tastiest - is to be found on Friday nights at lovely, convivial Chadra Mezza. Start with garlicky hummus, smoky baba ghannouj, minty tabouli, and the wonderful house feta salad. Then it's on to Italian- and Lebanese-inspired entrées - the line-up varies, but favorites like penne alla vodka, grilled salmon, sirloin-stuffed eggplant, and the aptly named Heavenly Chicken make regular appearances. Save plate room for the glorious lamb chops, edge-charred for flavor, pink and juicy inside. If you've ever suffered the anxiety of choosing just one dish from Chadra Mezza's enticing menu, Friday night will set you free.

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Readers' choice: Reata

Critic's choice: Magnolia Avenue restaurants

Magnolia Avenue continues to expand its stable of independent, non-chain eateries, and many are now offering sidewalk service, taking  advantage of the vibe of the area, where cyclists, roller skaters, and the trendy meander. So sit in front of any one of them - Nonna Tata, Lili's Bistro, Scampi's Café, the Spiral Diner - and sip some wine and watch the hipper-than-thou roll on by.

Sushi

Readers' choice: Sushi Axiom, 4625 Donnelly Av, FW

Critic's choice: Sushi Zone, 915 Road to Six Flags St E, Arl

In a field like sushi, where sleek and stunt-oriented are the norm, qualities like "comfortable" and "dependable" are sometimes the most important. Sushi Zone has fantastic lunch specials that combine rolls, tempura, and teriyaki or a variety of sashimi into one reasonable price. Their signature rolls don't come across as flashy experiments; items like the Wild Ginger and the I Love Sushi make yummy sense in terms of flavor combinations. Above all, everything is fresh. Sushi Zone feels like the place where you first fell in love with raw Japanese fish, the one you keep returning

Off-Campus Lunch Spot

Critic's choice: Joe's Pizza and Pasta, 3000 S Hulen St, FW

For students in Fort Worth, finding the perfect lunch spot can be as difficult as avoiding people in brightly colored Nike shorts. Lots of places qualify as decent student hangouts, but Joe's Pizza and Pasta on Hulen is one of the very few that caters to students from more than one school. Joe's provides a lunchtime haven to students from Arlington Heights and Paschal high schools  as well as TCU. A chill, no-frills atmosphere, good conversation, great pizza, and no fuss over parking, long lines, or elusive seating - what more could you ask? Even paying at Joe's is almost fun: For $5 you get two big pieces of freshly made pizza and a drink, and the prices are even lower for Horned Frogs. Joe's offers an escape not only from the cafeteria but also from the stress that the whole school day piles on. This is chillin', chilluns.

Quesadillas

Readers' choice: Dos Gringos

Critic's choice: Benito's, 1450 W Magnolia Av, FW

The quesadillas at Benito's aren't some mild appetizer or light dish for a quick lunch. They are knee-deep in melted cheese, stuffed with nuggets of crispy chicken, anointed with a spicy sauce. Forget dinner. You can die happy after a plate of these.

Chicken-Fried Steak

Readers' choice: Babe's

Critic's choice: Lucile's Stateside Bistro, 4700 Camp Bowie Blvd, FW

This platter-sized portion is not for the weak. The cube steak gets cozy with garlic before rolling in the spiced-up batter. The crisp outer shell makes up half the meal. Saturated with black pepper and paprika, it's downright delectable. The entire mess of bread and meat is topped with big, bold gravy; if you manage to eat even part of it, you won't be hungry again any time soon.

Best-Kept Secret

Critic's choice: LightCatcher Winery, 6925 Confederate Park Rd, FW

You'll have one of those "It doesn't get any better than this" moments sitting on LightCatcher's lovely, breezy patio overlooking lush gardens, listening to live jazz (if it's the first or third Sunday of the month), sipping a glass of one of LightCatcher's award-winning wines, and dining on sublime bistro dishes. The small menu changes frequently to take advantage of the best fresh, local produce, but in owner-winemaker-chef Caris Turpen's hand you'll never go wrong, whether she's dreamed up an asparagus-ricotta tart, smoked duck with fig jam and pearl couscous, or an orange panna cotta with dark-chocolate sauce. How have you never heard of this marvelous place? Well, mostly because you actually have to drive through two other towns to get there. But for lovely scenery, amazing food and wine, and sometimes even legendary jazzbo Johnny Case on the ivories, LightCatcher is well worth the trip.

Mariscos

Critic's choice: La Playita, 3025 Cleburne Rd, and 4200 S Fwy, Ste 1630, both FW

Not only does La Playita offer an ocean of preparations in Mexican style, it does so until 4 a.m. on weekends. Ka-ching for Southside late-nighters! One can choose anything from vuelve a la vida (shrimp, oyster, octopus, and ceviche) to filete a la diabla (white fish in a fiery chipotle sauce). All the mariscos are as fresh as possible and prepared authentically. If the abundant menu and a glass of fresh horchata aren't enough to satisfy, the restaurant also offers karaoke on Fridays and Saturdays.

Cheap Groceries

Critic's choice: Town Talk Foods, 121 N Beach St, FW

You know those pints of gourmet ice cream that go for $3 or $4 at Central Market? You can get them here for $2 or less. This unassuming venue on the North Side has its drawbacks (chief among them being closed nights and Sundays), but the goodies   are at cut-rate prices, and they range from Indian food to chocolate Skittles. If you want Dean & DeLuca fare at Costco prices, this is the place.

Carb-loading

Critic's choice: Ginger Brown's Old Tyme Restaurant, 6312 Lake Worth Blvd, Lake Worth

Carb lovers find happiness from the moment they place an order at Ginger Brown's, because the first thing that arrives at the table is a delicious basket of hot, buttery, soft rolls. Then, after a meal of homestyle cooking (think plenty of deep-fried goodness and butter-soaked veggies) each diner receives, free, a decadent, gooey, tasty cinnamon roll for dessert.

Fast Food

Critic's choice: Pollo Campero, 2830 SH 121, Euless

Pollo Campero looks like any monster-chain fast-food outlet - fluorescent lights, bright orange and yellow plastic booths, and cartoon renditions of the animal you're about to enjoy. The similarities end when your order is delivered: lightly spiced, crispy-outside, juicy-inside fried chicken with sides like sweet plantains, yuca fries, and black beans. All taste freshly made and are astonishingly good. Fast food from heaven? Actually, from Guatemala - now in 12 countries and spreading fast all over the world. Look out, KFC.