Gastrognome-Daddy Jack’s New England Lobster and Chowder House
by Pete GWelcome to Gastrognome, our recurring dining feature that aims to highlight the unique and varied dining landscape in Fort Worth. We’ve all got our own weird dietary quirks, so this will make for some good reading in the coming posts.
We’ll start this feature with a review of a seafood restaurant in Sundance Square, but just because our first restaurant has a couple $$ in the summary doesn’t mean we’ll always be dining with rich folks, drinking coffee and smoking big cigars. You get to read about the places we like. We aren’t food critics; we are folks that don’t mind spending our hard earned scratch on some good food.
So what’s with the name, Gastrognome? I don’t know, man…We have a weird sense of humour and as soon as I can cook up the graphic, it will make a lot more sense.
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Daddy Jack’s New England Lobster and Chowder House
American Seafood/817-332-2477/353 Throckmorton @ 3rd/$$$/ Reservations seem like a good idea
http://www.daddyjacks.org/
I dunno…I guess it was the understated exterior or the juxtaposition of red gingham tablecloth and fine tableware, but I wasn’t sure what to expect from Daddy Jack’s, a New England-ey seafood restaurant near Sundance Square in Downtown Fort Worth.
Walking through the door, a lighting bolt of a realization shot into my brain. I am wearing jeans and some Chuck Taylors…and…this place is fancy…Will they be snooty to me, will I get seated? Oh man, my wife is going to be pissed if we get kicked outta here. I mean, it’s not like I look like a total dirtbag and I generally make an acceptable appearance in society, but then again I ain’t got no french cuffs either.
Fortunately, the restaurant’s friendly casual-elegant experience began with a kind exchange with a kindly maitre’d and continued throughout our meal. The staff was attentive, friendly and extremely professional.
We started with a special appetizer; shelled Blue Crab claws served in a white wine-butter sauce with large chunks of garlic and fragrant freshly chopped herb bits. With a tender tug the crab meat pulled off the shell, practically dissolving on the tongue in a wave of flavor.
It was so surprisingly good, the meal could have stopped there. Dipping chunks torn off the provided whole wheat bread wedges made for an almost rustic experience, with the subtle notes of white wine adding a touch of sophistication. Wholesome, simple, well prepared food like this is why you try new restaurants.
The first entree we tried was the shrimp pasta, subbing the tomato cream sauce for a marinara. Daddy Jack’s did the thing that drives me nuts at pasta serving restaurants–they served the dish with hearty sprinkling of parmesan. It wasn’t listed in the item description on the menu, nor do I prefer parmesan on my pasta, and if I did, I would certainly want to determine the helping myself. I am the dude with the keyboard and the blog, so I get to say cheese with seafood is kinda queer to me.
Let me warn you, this was a big gosh darn dish of pasta. Did I make a mistake and order a family style dish? I know things in Texas tend to be, well, Texas-sized, but this was an epic serving. Three responsible eaters could have quite happily shared this single serving.
That said, Daddy Jack’s executed a dish as simple as pasta with marinara with fresh, wholesome finesse. The healthy sized shrimp were seared perfectly, but really didn’t add much to the dish overall, other than occasionally interjecting a bit of texture and change of flavor during the pasta eating onslaught.
When I ordered this dish, I have to confess, I had the excellent seafood pasta of a nearby trattoria in mind. Their dish has clams, mussels, shrimp and scallops. Daddy Jack’s offers a similar dish served with lobster, but I balked at the $29 price tag. I ain’t gonna tell a fine restaurant like Daddy Jack’s what to do, but they might consider offering a lesser expensive version of the pasta dish sans lobster. Based on the meal we had, I am sure the Daddy Jack version would be superior.
Next, we tried another special, a redfish served with cream sauce, pico de gallo and shrimp. As with all their non-pasta entrees, the dish came with a fluffy baked potato, grean beans and carrots.
One thing that really works for Daddy Jack’s is the use of fresh ingredients. The carrots and green beans, simply sauteed in oil with a bit of salt and pepper, had a crisp snap and robust flavor. I could really taste the carrot and beans. I don’t know where they were buying this stuff, but those were the best tasting carrots and green beans I’ve had in a long time.
With a sea-salt encrusted skin, the ubiquitous ol’ baked potato, an after-thought at most restaurants, was so shockingly good it deserves mention. I can’t think of a time when I’ve ever felt the urge to say “That’s a damn fine baked potato” but I am saying it right now.
The vegetables were so fresh and divine–if the restaurant wasn’t situated in Downtown Fort Worth, I’d be snooping around out back to get into that garden Daddy Jack’s must have somewhere. I don’t believe there’s a store in Fort Worth where I can get produce this fresh and flavorful.
Back to the entree–the expertly grilled redfish fillet tenderly crumbled with a slight fork stab, and like the crab appetizer, seemingly dissolved on the tongue. The delicate and subtle preparation of the fish was totally bulldozered by the cream sauce and pico de gallo salsa. The odd combination was evocative of nacho cheese sauce.
Again, I am not so down with the whole cheese and seafood deal, so I found the combination to be a bit crass compared to the excellence that marked the rest of the meal. The pico de gallo alone would have been interesting enough.
Vegetarians will find a few options like the tempting Portabella Mushroom salad and the equally enticing Pasta Primavera.
Obviously our meal didn’t cover the whole range of Daddy Jack’s offerings, but our meal indicated that the restaurant’s approach combines fresh, flavorful ingredients with simple preparation. It takes experience and mature restraint to let the ingredients speak for themselves.
Tags: dining, Gastrognome, restaurant, review, seafood
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