Dee Lincoln's Tasting Room & Bubble Bar, by the Crescent Hotel

Dee Lincoln's Tasting Room - 3.5 *s

Dee Lincoln was a co-founder of Del Frisco's Steakhouse and left to establish this place. Her first place was at the Cowboys Stadium in Dallas. We came to the Rosewood location for our first Restaurant Week dinner. I loved the glittery, silver style of this venue. There were dancing images of bubbles on the wall projected by some kind of light. Shiny glitter and silver was the theme of the place. I loved the silver pillows and the paintings of women drinking wine.

The emphasis here seems to be more on hosting events, parties, and perhaps people at the bars. They have wines on display with their prices for 2 ounce glasses, 4 ounce glasses, and 6 ounce glasses. We saw people coming up to these machines, inserting cards, and somehow receiving wine in glasses. According to the website, these are special machines shipped from Italy that deliver customers wine at the perfect temperature. I do think having a small taste of wine sounds great. Dee Lincoln's is one of those places that has that Sex in the City girl talk vibe. Most of the patrons were groups of women tasting wine. There may have been 2 male patrons, other than us, who looked like they were on a date. It would be a great place to host an event or go out for a Girls' Night Out.

However, we did not try any wine, and I am here to review the food. It did have quite an extensive food menu for a bar and would be a great place to go if you're looking for a bar/lounge with good food. They do have a Cigar list on the wine menu. I'm not sure I would pay $20 for a cigar, but that did make me grin. Apparently the owner is a smoker.

Dee Lincoln mentions her cajun background in the website for the restaurant. That may be why the New Orleans Barbeque Shrimp was the star of our dining experience. It may also be why, with a quasi-Northeastern background, our party was so disappointed in the cheesecake.

The sauce on the shrimp was delicious. I was getting some more bread to dip in it (to feed my addiction), but the waitress had taken away the plate by that time. The shrimp had smokey, salty, awesome flavor and a nice blackening from the grill. Considering that I've never been a huge fan, I'm impressed with any rendition of shrimp that leaves me wanting more. I think the real lesson here was that if you eat here, the Cajun items are the way to go. This item came from the regular menu, not the Restaurant Week menu. I admit, though, I'd be tempted to try the Swedish Meatballs next time. A Sushi Pizza also intrigued me.

Yum-tastic..

For my first course I chose the Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho. I'm pretty much addicted to gazpacho. It's one of those weird things where I hate tomatoes, but can't say no any tomato-based product. I was a little wary of the pimento-stuffed shishito pepper since I am deathly allergic to spicy food.The waitress, however, said the gazpacho itself wasnt spicy and that the pepper was served on the side. So it wasn't exactly on the side. More like in the gazpacho. Originally I picked the pepper out, but I later had a bite and it wasn't spicy at all. In fact, nothing seemed overly spicy here at Dee's tasting room, which suit me just fine. The gazpacho itself was very good. It had burrata, which is a soft cheese, some interesting herbs, and that delicious tomato flavor I'm addicted to. It was unusually well presented, had a nice thin texture, and is among the best gazpachos I've tasted.

Gazpacho!

My father ordered the Salumi plate since he was eager to try  the "raisins on the vine." The raisins just kind of tasted like fancy raisins. They were raisined (dried out) still on the vine of the grape. They looked like grapes that had been left in the refrigerator for a long time.  I came up with a name I liked better: withered grapes on the branch. The plate of salami was a-ok. Pretty standard. I had a favorite salami and a least favorite, but I forget the names.

Salumi. Or perhaps Salami?

A closeup of the wizened grapes.

The Ricotta Nudies were the free Fourth Course we got with our coupon from Central Market. Everyone at the table quite liked them. They did have good flavors and reminded me of a Pasta Carbonara (a dish with eggs, parmesan, bacon, and black pepper). I liked the mushroom, bits of Parmesan, and the taste of oil and bacon. My dad aliked the herbal flavor the dried sage leaves imparted, as well as the texture they added. The bacon itself was very good, and the little japanese mushrooms were delicious. However, the nudies had the texture of mashed potatoes which left me personally in a state of ennui.

Ricotta Nudies. Just how I like them. Nude?

The Braised Short Ribs with peach and kimshi emulsion was my favorite entree. Its a good thing I ordered it. Then again, with the huge size of entrees Americans seem so fond of (by the way, I am American), I still didnt quite finish my plate. Plus, this was a 4 course meal. It's a cooked thing my plate -lapping father was there. I thought it was well-cooked, salty, smokey, beefy, fatty deliciousness. Not super-fatty, but enough fat to keep it interesting. I love it when the shortribs fall in tasty shreds off the bone. The kimshi (aka the spicy korean vegetation known as kimchee) emulsion was, of course, a bit spicy for my blood. I still liked the flavoring on the rice around the beef. It was nice and savory.

The Braised Short Ribs. I'm not sure how well this picture
translated. The sauce on the rice was another addictive sauce.

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