Restaurant Week 2012 review: Lanny’s Alta Cocina Mexicana in Fort Worth

by Josie Singleton of Eat This Fort Worth

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The menu provided an exciting and interesting mix of flavors that surpassed its $35 price tag.

FORT WORTH — I’ve written about Lanny’s Alta Cocina Mexicana many times already. I just wanted to recap their Restaurant Week Menu for this years' Restaurant Week. As always, Lanny’s provides a stellar fine dining experience. I love to take advantage of their Restaurant Week menu because it is simply too good to pass up, and this time was no exception.

If you’ve never dined at Lanny’s, Restaurant Week gives you an opportunity to see what the food is all about. You’ll find a sophisticated and sometimes subtle blend of influences in the food that range from traditional Mexican ingredients to Moroccan to French.

Perhaps one of the nicest details at any meal at Lanny’s is the amuse-bouche and the mignardise. Think of the amuse-bouche as the chef’s way of teasing or “amusing” your palette. The amuse-bouche is a small bite size hors d’oevre chosen by by the chef, and you aren’t charged for it. The same goes for the mignardise, which is usually an additional sweet or cookie that comes at the end of the meal. For this meal, we had a creamy avocado soup topped with smoked salmon as an amuse-bouche and Mexican wedding cookies as the mignardise.

We had a large group so we could try everything. Our first course started with a creamy and rich soup with saffron and corn topped with huitlacoche agnolotti. The soup was a soothing choice on a rare rainy summer night. The other course option was a piece of house cured yellow tail tuna topped with jicama and avocado. The dusting of red chile powder on the jicama reminded me of classic Mexican street food and was a refreshing combination with the tuna.

Lanny’s offered an optional additional course which was seared Diver scallops topped with thinly sliced fennel and haricot verts. Each bite of the expertly seared scallops was perfection. I highly recommend going with the extra course. (You can even receive this course for free if you get a coupon at Central Market.)

Our main course options were carne asada or halibut. The carne asada would please any steak lover. A rich yukon potato and manchego cheese gratin and thin serrano ham wrapped asparagus accompanied the perfectly-prepared carne asada.

The nicely-portioned halibut came with lentils du puy mixed with finely diced chorizo and tomatoes. The buerre blanc sauce surrounding the dish complemented the halibut nicely.

We barely had room for dessert, but we all persevered and chose between crème brulee and key lime goat cheese cake. The black and white crème brulee gave that satisfying crack upon first bite and revealed a delicious layer of chocolate on the bottom of the brulee. The key lime goat cheese cake had a great texture to the cake and crust. The dots of raspberry beet puree were nice for swirling pieces of cheese cake.

I chose to go with the wine pairings they offered, and they added a great element to the food and an introduction to some new wines I haven’t tried before. I particularly enjoyed the malbec rose.

The Restaurant Week menu at Lanny’s provided an exciting and interesting mix of flavors that surpassed its $35 price tag. If you missed out on Restaurant Week last week, Lanny’s is one of a handful of restaurants that have extended their Restaurant Week Menu until August 26. Reservations are required, and make sure to indicate that you would like the Restaurant Week Menu.

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