Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 26, No. 05, Ed. 1 Friday, June 19, 2009 Page: 67 of 96
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life+styled ng
Blythe's
spirit
Chef Beck brings sexy back to L
Central 214 with her naughty cuisine
By Arnold Wayne Jones Life+Style Editor
You have to understand this about Blythe
Beck's food: When the self-labeled "naughty
chef" conjures up her "naughty dishes," she's
not talking about flautas that resemble male
body parts or erotic cakes best viewed at a bach-
elorette party. By naughty she does not mean
"salacious" — although Beck, with her throaty
laugh and wicked sense of humor, can double
entendre with the best of them.
She means indulgmi.
Margarine? Sacrilege! Heavy cream is always
— always — preferable to milk (don't even say
the word "skim" or "fat-free" in her presence).
And cayenne pepper is meant to be sprinkled
over dishes like fairy dust over Never Never
Land. Why show restraint when reckless aban-
don is so much.... naughtier? (Beck is the living
embodiment of the adage, "never trust a skinny
chef.")
You get what you get with Beck: No one can
say she doesn't deliver what her personality
suggests. She talks to her salads the way gar-
deners talk to plants, and for the same reason.
Her butter budget alone must rival a small
country's national debt.
For several years, while she was at Hector's
on Henderson—first as the sous chef, then run-
ning the place — Beck practiced her cult of more
is more, using cheese and candied apples as
\
Central 214's executive chef Blythe Beck
combines bold, sexy cuisine with a girly-girl love of pink
cudgels to slap the culinary conservatism out of
her patrons. Early this year, she was tapped by
Central 214, the fine-dining destination inside
the Hotel Palomar, to lead their team, which
had been without an executive chef for a year.
Now they're cookin'.
But to fully understand her food, you really
have to start at the end: Desserts.
I'm not sure Beck even draws a bright line
between courses. Food is meant to be enjoyed
with passion, whether the dance of sugar and
caramel from the sticky buns and fudge waffles
or the pantingly racy tinge of cayenne on her
poached shrimp deviled eggs. Maple, vanilla
bean, chocolate: These are the building blocks of
good eating. It's why God invented treadmills.
This isn't purely about fattening foods
spooned down your throat like a Jewish moth-
er, although the concept of comfort food gussied
up is definitely a theme. But there's a massive
amount of creativity going on with this sexy
New American style once you open yourself to
the potential of audacious flavors.
"Audacious" may be overstatement in regard
to the pimento cheese sandwiches, but it's a
good way to catch the drift of how the style
Continued on Next Page
THE POWER OF THE PYRAMID
Another hotel restaurant that's enjoyed a recent
makeover is Pyramid inside the Fairmont Hotel
Downtown. Like Central 214, its entrance is domi-
nated by an open and visually appealing bar. But
the real interest is on the menu.
Chef jW Foster has evidenced a firm commit-
ment to using fresh and local ingredients — virtual-
ly none are sourced more than 100 miles from
Dallas, and some barely 100 feet from the restau-
rant: There's a 3,000-square-foot herb and veg-
etable garden on the pool terrace that grows pro-
duce from watermelons to tomatoes to limes.
Foster has relaunched a new menu for summer,
a pared-down version of his winter menu. There's
more thematic unity now— a clean, focused vision
where everything looks tantalizing. Just choosing
from among the bill of fare is a Hobson's choice.
I kicked off a tasting with an appetizer of soft
shell crab tacos (pictured), rolled in locally-made
corn tortillas and stuffed with crisp, delicious crab.
I craved more than the dab of tomati No .salsa and
avocado creme along the side, mostly because both
accented the tacos so well, as did the carrot slaw.
The heirloom tomato salad is prepared caprese
style, with basil so fresh and aromatic, even with-
out a piece on the fork the flavor wafted onto the
mozzarella and antique-red cherry tomatoes. A cup
of shrimp ceviche packed a nice wallop, especially
with the heat off a wafer of pappadum.
For an entree, I opted for the special — a bone-
in tenderloin capped by a lobe of foie gras... maybe
not a heart-healthy dish, but an intoxicatingly rich
treat nonetheless. As with the regular beef entree (a
trio of tenderloin, short ribs and gratin souffle), the
meat was sensuously soft atop a melange of pureed
potatoes and root vegetables. The salty, thick slices
of Peking duck exuded an authentic Chinese style.
The Meyer lemon sabayon was less tart than I
was prepared for (you can't scare me with citrus!)
but a lovely finale nonetheless. Forget about eating
a square meal — a Fyramid will do very nicely.
— Arnold Wayne Jones
WQ<33hMmuQ
A*e
Hostesses
Edna Jean
Robinson
& Chanel
Barbara KOA
Miss Life Walk 2008
I ma Lush
Miss LifeWalk
Emiritus 2004
Iowna Trailer
Miss LifeWalk 2006
Sabrina Starr
Miss Llfewalk 2005
June} 28'
mnTTTrno&gabaa
Special Guests
TexAnn Flagg, and Wonder Walker
Applications available at the
-* BOUND DP SALOON
For info call Nick at 214.454.6497
All proceeds to benefit AIDS Arms LifeWalk For more information about AIDS ARMS
or UFEWAIK, go to www.aidsarms.org,www.aidslifewalk.org or call 214.443.WALK
06.19.09 I dallas voice I 67
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Nash, Tammye. Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 26, No. 05, Ed. 1 Friday, June 19, 2009, newspaper, June 19, 2009; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth239069/m1/67/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.