Thursday, April 3, 2008
Restaurant Review: La Duni
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La Duni's Slow Roasted Lomo
The La Duni restaurants receive lots of recommendations on Chowhound as a must-try for out-of-town visitors. More than that, the La Duni restaurants are also neighborhood favorites for Knox-Henderson and Oak Lawn.
Our destination was the McKinney location in the fabulous Knox-Henderson neighborhood. Knox-Henderson, pedestrian- and pet-friendly, is unlike any other neighborhood in Dallas. People can walk to restaurants and shops here. People can take their dogs for patio dining here. It doesn’t even feel like Dallas… where’s the extra large parking spot for the family sized SUV? Urban oasis among the otherwise highway-heavy, trafficky scenery? Sort of. This neighborhood is also insanely trendy, and therefore, expensive.
La Duni Latin Cafe is priced similarly to many other restaurants in Knox-Henderson. You can enjoy a sandwich for under $10 and entrees for under $20. It’s mid-range pricing for Knox-Henderson and by all means reasonable, even when judged by the suburban eye. But you can’t come to La Duni and just get a sandwich. People flock here for the drinks and the desserts. The food is just something to fill the time and stomach void between those two dazzlers. To La Duni’s credit, the food can certainly stand on its own. But the drinks and the desserts are out of this world.
La Duni's Peppered Picanha
We started the evening with a pisco sour (a popular Peruvian cocktail), a margarinha (a hybrid of margarita and caipirinha that makes the best of both these worlds), and a couple of mojitos. All were pleasing to the crowd, all were relatively strong. Don’t worry, I didn’t drink all of them by myself, I was dining with friends. And at $10/cocktail, I can’t afford to be an alcoholic at La Duni. The cocktails were excellent, but they were actually more expensive than our dinners, as all of us ordered sandwiches.
Slow Roasted Lomo ($8.95) was citrus-marinated pork loin with avocado, tomato, manchego cheese, mayo, and greens. The menu indicates that the diner has the choice of bread between a freshly baked popover or Peruvian Pan de Yema. However, the waitress must have decided our table looked like popover fans, as we were not given a choice and all of our sandwiches came on the popover bread. Not that I’m complaining. I found the soft, airy interior of the popover with its crusty, harder shell truly delightful. I’m a sucker for freshly baked goods. Just reason #101 why Donna can’t do the Atkins diet.
The sandwich came with a choice of yucca fries or side salad. I chose the salad in an attempt to balance out the calorie count (I was without a doubt getting dessert!). Fresh greens and simple vinaigrette, an excellent companion to my citrusy, slightly smoky pork loin sandwich.
Peppered Picanha ($8.95) was marinated and grilled pepper crusted beef loin with watercress, tomato, chimichurri sauce, and manchego cheese. This fellow diner also noted the charming novelty of having a sandwich on a popover, though he did think that the Peppered Picanha was a little on the dry side. Perhaps a slice or two of avocado would have helped this sandwich. They provided the perfect amount of moisture in the Slow Roasted Lomo.
Many have sung the praises of La Duni's quatro leches cake, but few have photographed it so capably.
Then it came, the much anticipated dessert, Quatro Leches Cake. At one more "leche" than traditional tres leches cake, it’s got to be good, right? This soaked-in creamy goodness, drizzled with caramel delight, melt in your mouth moist delicacy is perhaps La Duni’s most famous dessert. $7.25 is a little steep for a slice of cake, but the portion is large enough to share. The drinks and entrees were nice enough, but this ending definitely topped it all.
My only objection with this meal was the barely passable service. Between every course (if you can even consider drinks a course) was a lengthy wait.
So I confess to the Knox-Henderson/Oak Lawn residents, I am jealous. I wish La Duni was my neighborhood eatery. It’s an attractive place to relax after work with the luscious cocktails, a chic place for celebrations with those fabulous cakes and desserts, and a reliable choice for a weeknight dinner with those affordable entree options. But it’s also the kind of place where I’ll be busting the budget and busting the diet asking for one more margarinha or another slice of cake. The full dessert and cocktail-inclusive experience at La Duni will run you a pretty penny and require a few miles of payback on the treadmill.
Pegasus News content partner - Donna Cooks
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Comments
DC Anonymous
This might have gone better if you would have just gone ahead and had all 4 drinks.
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Billusa99 Anonymous
The food is just something to fill the time and stomach void between those two dazzlers.
WTF?
La Duni's food is always of the highest quality ingredients at some of the most reasonable prices around.
And perhaps lay off the booze, as you pay those prices for those kind of cocktails anywhere. Their wine list is extensive and extremely well-priced, esp. for the varied choice of Argentinian Malbecs and Chilean Cabs.
Give it another try... or just do what DC said.
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
luniz Anonymous
can't believe I've never been there...but there's no way I'm eating that entire giant piece of cake by myself.
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
James Scott Verified
Bill - for someone who so fervently defended TG over someone's over-analysis of her sarcasm, you sure are quick to jump on Donna's a$$ here. Her review states that she enjoyed the food. The comment you mention seemed not an indictment of their dinner options, rather an overly enthusiastic praise of drinks + dessert.
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
DC Anonymous
What you are seeing here is a fine example of why editors were invented:
We started with this:
"People flock here for the drinks and the desserts. The food is just something to fill the time and stomach void between those two dazzlers. To La Duni’s credit, the food can certainly stand on its own. But the drinks and the desserts are out of this world."
Imagine, if you will, Bill's response to these very slightly tweaked phrases:
"People flock here for the drinks and the desserts. For those unfortunate vapid soul-suckers saving money for table service at Wish, the food is just something to kill the time between cocktails and sweets.
However, to La Duni’s credit, the food can certainly stand on its own as our party soon discovered. The service is pretentious, the food slightly better than adequate, but the drinks and the desserts are out of this world."
http://www.just-whatever.com/wp-conte...
I hope you all have a "Claw-some" time at La Dunce - Duni.
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Donna Chen Verified
Bill, you should keep reading past that sentence, which is meant to express the attitude of the La Duni happy hour crowd (who love the booze and the sweets), not necessarily my own. As James Scott points out, I clearly write in the review that I enjoyed the food (and how affordable it is).
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Scott Doyle Verified
What we've got here is failure to communicate.
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
jack Anonymous
La Duni is my absolute favorite restaurant in the city! I would recommend that you all check their new concept, Alo, which is Peruvian and Mexican street foods (Tapas) at Knox and I-75, next to Pei Wei...great drinks, great food, great looking restaurant...
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
DC Anonymous
I detect some masturbatory overtones in that shot you chose, Scott.
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Scott Doyle Verified
Are you rubbing your nipple rings with glee?
Just happened to be one of the first Cool Hand Luke images that popped up when searching "failure to communicate".
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
daveg Anonymous
I'd also like to mention that La Duni is an excellent spot for brunch. I shouldn't say this in public, but I think the pacing and service are much better at the Oak Lawn location, especially because it isn't as busy. Of course, that is only based on lunch and brunch visits, not dinners.
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Billusa99 Anonymous
James: I'm jumping on nobody's a$$. Also, her piece is not written sarcastically so don't try and float that canard line.
Donna: Where did you state that was the attitude of the "happy hour crowd" and not your own? It's right in the middle of this: *People can take their dogs for patio dining here. It doesn't even feel like Dallas… where’s the extra large parking spot for the family sized SUV? Urban oasis among the otherwise highway-heavy, trafficky scenery? Sort of. This neighborhood is also insanely trendy, and therefore, expensive.
La Duni Latin Cafe is priced similarly to many other restaurants in Knox-Henderson. You can enjoy a sandwich for under $10 and entrees for under $20. It’s mid-range pricing for Knox-Henderson and by all means reasonable, even when judged by the suburban eye. But you can’t come to La Duni and just get a sandwich. People flock here for the drinks and the desserts. The food is just something to fill the time and stomach void between those two dazzlers. To La Duni’s credit, the food can certainly stand on its own. But the drinks and the desserts are out of this world.
So, are those all your opinions, or are they all surveys from the bar patrons?
Additionally, while we are at it, how can K-H be expensive and at the same time La Duni is priced like, and is reasonable like, a lot of other K-H places. Is K-H expensive or reasonable? Who determined that, compared to what?
And why can't I "just drop in for a sandwich?" There's 7 tortas on the menu, for heaven's sake.
And this: The drinks and entrees were nice enough, but this ending definitely topped it all.
So, are the drinks killer, luscious cocktails or are they just nice enough?
Sorry, I stand by my comments -- I don't understand what any of your conclusions are because you are all over the roadmap here. As DC said better than I: What you are seeing here is a fine example of why editors were invented.
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
The Law Reviewers Verified
A One Act Play, by The Law Reviewers: Last Friday Night at Kirk Brewer's House
[A long time ago, in a household not far enough away...]
Kirk's Mom: "Kirk, sweetie! Come up from the basement! Billusa99 is here for dinner!"
Kirk Brewer: "Heyyyyyy, don't call me 'sweetie' in front of the foodie crowd! How many times do I have to tell you that? I'll be up in a minute; I just have to finish this post on Internetfoodietoughguys.com... Heh, take THAT, Bill Addison. Or should I say, Bill SADison?"
[later...]
Billusa99: "Mmmm, Mrs. Brewer, the mashed potatoes are serviceable, but the turkey dressing has hints of gooseberry-almond flanges, which, as you should know, have no place in a harissa xylene based dressing. You said there would be wine at this dinner, and all I see is a 1999 Caberlot blend. And where are the tomato-infused harlots with the mushroom-pancetta base I was promised?"
Kirk's Mom: "Uh, thanks, Billusa99...?"
Kirk Brewer: "Yeah, and the food sucks, too!"
Billusa99: "Hee - good one, Kirkster! This reminds me of the time we went to Star Canyon and you planted the waterbug in the foam dressing of the escargot souffle so we could get the bill comp'ed. Good times."
Kirk Brewer: "Good times, indeed! Hey, after dinner, let's go to the Inwood Lounge and glare at the people on dates."
Billusa99: "Deal. Thanks for the awful mess you call 'dinner,' Mrs. Brewer. What is this, a Whataburger? Pfft."
aaaaaaaaand, scene!
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
DC Anonymous
SD, maybe I am.
DoCn has an obvious interest in the material.
In the meantime, maybe everyone should chillax over some stone crab CLAWS before the season is out.
http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/sc...
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Donna Chen Verified
Bill, do I seriously need to pull up some property value data to prove that Knox-Henderson is a bit of a pricy neighborhood? This is some prime real estate for Dallas, no?
They're all my opinions, which specificially are: 1) La Duni is mid range price for K-H, therefore not too much sticker shock for the suburbanites. 2) Food is good here. One of the sandwiches needed an extra element of moisture. 3) Dessert was the best part of my meal. 4) Drinks are expensive, especially when judged against the rest of the menu. A martini at Stephan Pyles is the same price as a margarita at La Duni.
I didn't literally mean the La Duni staff won't allow you to order just a sandwich, I meant that you're missing out on some of the best stuff if you just order a sandwich. I don't live in K-H, it would be a crime to drive all the way to La Duni and skip dessert.
If we're going to sit here and pick apart my choice of diction for every word, then please, apply with Pegasus to be an editor for these reviews. I welcome the input. Perhaps I'm not getting the idea across to readers as effectively as I need to be. But since I work for free here, I can't exactly afford to hire my own editor.
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Michael Frink Verified
I bet you could take that play to Broadway...hilarious!
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
SockPuppet Anonymous
SockPuppet senses Oscar potential and volunteers her/his anonymous casting director services...Jack Black: Billusa99, Steve Buscemi: Kirk Brewer
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Worzel_Gummidge Anonymous
How dare you describe Pisco Sour as Peruvian! You will go to the top of every Chilean hit list.
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Donna Chen Verified
Worzel, La Duni seems to side with the Peruvians on the Pisco debate, describing the drink on their menu as the "Pisco Sour (Peru)." Let the angry mobs quiet down, according to Wikipedia, the origin is debated as to whether it's from Peru or Chile.
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
James Scott Verified
Bill: "I'm jumping on nobody's a$$"
Ok, well when the first thing you say is "WTF", I'd call that an a$$ jump dude.
Yeah, I duded you.
...and since when did a food review need to be edited for content? I guess you would have her edit the review to say the food was equally as good as the dessert and drinks? It's not exactly her review then, is it? It would be your review. But wait, this isn't your review.
WTF is right.
Happy Friday!
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
pepper Anonymous
Who in their right mind gets the salad over yucca fries?? The yucca fries are WHY I go to La Duni. And then I get a six pack of popovers to go. Carb-a-licious!!!
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Billusa99 Anonymous
Law Reviewers: Keep working on your humor. It still does need work... and some pineapple.
James: I'm not the syncophant comparing a press release (that Teresa snarked) to a restaurant review. Nice try, though, and an even better canard.
Donna: You said K-H was expensive and then immediately went into La Duni pricing. You didn't say K-H property was expensive. Are we supposed to read that part of your mind, too? It's not my fault you jump from 'a' to 'c' while meaning 'b.' We can only read what you write, not read what you mean.
I didn't write, and you didn't write, that La Duni staff won't let you just order a sandwich. You wrote "But you can’t come to La Duni and just get a sandwich." If you meant something else, then write it.
This has nothing to do with you. It's my take on a review that makes no coherent sense. If you don't want public feedback, don't post in public. The fact that you have other commenters here, like the two aforementioned, spouting incoherently and channeling the Beaver may make you feel loved, but it won't make you a better writer (or a better sit-down-and-type comic).
Read it aloud next time to yourself and see if it makes sense . Then do it with someone else. That's what writers all over do, on their own time. And it's free, too. Unless you're a lawyer -- they'll just laugh at you and pretend they're experts wandering the guacamole trail of life.
So, cool the ego and take that suggestion to heart - it works. I'm so done with this thread.
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Scott Doyle Verified
Attention
From a non-foodie's POV, I believe Bill intended to be entirely constructive in his first comment. When y'all clashed with his feedback that put him on the defensive, and the rest is history. Perhaps be a bit more open to other people's opinions?
Donna, I think Bill makes at least one very good point that I hope you'll grow from. Concise writing tends to be more effective (imo), especially with reviews. You summed the majority of your review up with one paragraph in your most recent comment...and the wordiness seems to have been what sparked this whole mess to begin with.
If there's one common thread among you foodsters, it's that you always seem to be at each other's throats upon the slightest difference in opinion. Can't we all just...get along, mmmkay?
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
SockPuppet Anonymous
That's right Donna, where's your thick skin and willingness to learn? Say it with me: "Thank you BillUSA99 Scott Doyle, Kirk Brewer: May I have another?"
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Scott Doyle Verified
By all means, continue with your pissing contest if you just need something to do.
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
James Scott Verified
Wow, Bill's the second coming of Bemused with the thesaurus. BTW, for someone so obsessed with editing, you'd think you'd try to spell everything in your comments correctly at least. Glad you're done with this thread. I am now too.
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Rawlins Gilliland Verified
Hey, a quick aside. Everybody from Donna to Bill refers to the Knox Henderson area as (Bill's words) 'insanely trendy', etc. I smiled broadly because I grew up my entire first 24 years in that neighborhood and 1) People always made fun of where I lived because that was considered a so-so address on a good day. and 2) All through the 70s and 80s into the 90s, I told people that 'someday Knox-Henderson will be insanely trendy'. Everybody laughed and made further diparaging remarks. So thanks for giving ME the last laugh.
PS: I find La Duni quite reasonable by Dallas eat out standards. In fact it is a bargain and one can flex on the eat-out budget there if they want/need. And I have told BillUSA more than once that he should be a food critic. It's his thing and he's a natural. Me? I'm not much on upscale dining unless it's on someone else's dime or I'm in love.
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Donna Chen Verified
"I welcome the input."
I am being sincere when I say I appreciate the feedback. As I had previously stated in a long discussion about my Tasty Wok review in which Kirk Brewer gave me feedback. So Bill, I'll restate, I welcome your input.
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Michael Frink Verified
"aaaaaaaaand, scene!" lol
1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
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