This year's trip to the Ft. Worth Opera festival offered me only one chance to dine out with one of my client's after the closing of the wonderful new opera ANGELS in AMERICA. She chose DADDY JACK's at 353 Throckmorton St in downtown and it was a good simple style choice from the checkered tablecloths to the adorable large mural over the bar with a cowboy riding a giant lobster! It was almost 100 degrees outside and the inside was comfortable and even more so with the dozens of high ceiling fans.
I dared to try the New England Crabcake appetizer which is a large cake for the price with filling (though not alot) and slightly soft rather than firm. A pool of remoulade is on one side and cocktail sauce on the other (which was really unnecessary). A glass of KENDALL JACKSON Grand Reserve Chardonnay (or anything cold in this heat) was welcome and worked great with all the seafood.
My CHILI CRUSTED HALIBUT in RED PEPPER CREAM SAUCE was slightly spicy, firm tasty fish and perfectly prepared, although delivered as I still had three bites of crabcake left! The server did offer to keep it warm, but I said it was okay (I told my guest that all they needed to do was put it on the sidewalk for 2 minutes!). The fish was not really "crusted" but seasoned which was fine and the sauce was not too creamy which was also good. The carrots and string beans on the side were superb as was the baked potato with sour cream. Welcome to Texas where plates and servings are huge and often well-priced!
I tasted my guest's mini CRAB CLAWS in Garlic butter which were nice but not meaty as I like them (and they never really are!). We could not eat a bite more, but really enjoyed the simplicity of the meal and the fact that we were not totally bloated as we headed to yet another opera!
