Bin 555 was by far my favorite. The meal started with a complimentary amuse bouche of oyster lettuce, red wine vinaigrette and sea salt. The effect was supposed to be of eating a raw oyster. It was pretty close. Briny, salty and refreshing! Prince Edward Island Mussels in a traditional white wine and garlic broth for an appetizer. So tasty. An entree of rabbit kiev with asian vegetables was next. A delicately fried ball of rabbit stuffed with butter that exploded with flavor when you cut into it. We finished with a Nutella torte for dessert which sounds heavy but was really light and not too rich. We also ordered a lamb meatball pizza to take home for lunch the next day but we had to have a piece while it was fresh out of the oven. This pizza had so much flavor. It was decadent and elevated, but not pretentious.
I had high hopes for Le Frite but was under impressed. We ordered the Pesto (basil, garlic, herb butter and white wine) and the Chai (red curry, coconut milk) mussels. The Pesto was very heavy on the butter and the stems from the basil and various herbs were left whole and were woody and inedible. The Chai was slightly more flavorful/memorable, but again, very heavy on the butter. Don't get me wrong, everything's better with butter, but when I order mussels, I want mussels, not a bowl of butter. The mussels we had at Bin 555 were much better. (Frankly, MY mussels are better.) The fries were heavenly! All criticism aside, however, the staff was lovely and accommodating. We arrived almost a full half hour before they opened and were prepared to hang out in the the hot Texas sun but they let us come in and sit in the air conditioning and served us some drinks while they were setting up. So nice.
Luke was also a delicious meal. Oysters, braised short ribs, sea bass and a light and fluffy pot de creme. The highlight however was the caramelized onion tart we had as an appetizer. It sounded good to me, but my mom was really intrigued and insisted we order it. I'm so glad she did! I expected a filled pie shell or at the very least a folded over crust, but what came out was more like a thin crust pizza topped with caramelized onions, Emmentaler cheese and bacon! The crust was SUPER crispy and the combination of the toppings was salty, rich and luxurious.
Below is my attempt to replicate this savory masterpiece. The surprising thing about this dish is that the caramelized onions are the star, NOT the bacon! (Although admittedly, I did my best to highlight the bacon as much as possible.) Caramelized onions are an easy and yet time intensive endeavor. You HAVE to cook them over low heat or they will scorch and just taste burned. If done correctly however, the onions will be slightly sweet and buttery. Do not attempt this recipe unless you have a full 1.5 hours to devote to it!
Because I was experimenting, I opted to use store bought pizza dough that I had in the fridge instead of making my own. The pizza crust that was served at Luke was a traditional white, but I made mine on whole wheat because... well, that's what I had. I also had to improvise with the cheese a little. My store does not sell Emmentaler cheese (a mild Swiss) so I bought a combination of Gruyere and Jarlsberg. I think the result was VERY close. I hope you enjoy!
(Luke's) Onion Tart
1/2 pound bacon, chopped into bits
2 T butter
1 T Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
2-3 softball sized (or bigger) yellow or sweet onions, chopped into half moons and then in half again
Pizza crust, big enough to fit on a 12-in pizza stone
1 t caraway seeds
4 oz Emmentaler cheese (or 2 oz each Gruyere and Jarlsberg), grated
Salt to taste
In a large skillet, over medium high heat, cook bacon pieces until crisp. With a slotted spoon, remove bacon to a plate covered with a paper towel. Drain (but not completely) bacon fat to an appropriate receptacle. Leave approximately 2T of bacon fat in the pan.
In the same pan, over medium high heat, add the butter and EVOO. Let the butter melt and when it starts to bubble add all of the onions (you should get a great sizzle sound).
Do not be alarmed at the volume of onions. They will reduce about 75%, so don't worry that you're cooking too much.
Toss the onions to completely coat with bacon fat/butter/EVOO mixture. (Mmm...) Sprinkle the onions with a hearty pinch of salt and continue to toss onions for approximately 5 minutes or until onions are just starting to turn translucent. At this point, turn the heat down to medium low. This is where the waiting begins. The good thing about caramelizing onions is that you can now prep the other parts of this recipe while they're cooking. And when you're done with that, you can read a book or have a kitchen dance party... or something. Just make sure you stir the onions every couple of minutes.
Using a pastry brush, use some of the drained bacon fat (from your appropriate receptacle) to grease a pizza stone (or cookie/cake sheet if you don't have one). Roll out your pizza dough very thinly and place on your stone. Brush another thin layer of bacon fat on top of the pizza. Prick the dough with a fork a few times just so your dough doesn't get puffy. Cook the pizza crust according to package directions. I think mine was 10-12 minutes at 375 or 400 (I can't remember). In any case, you want the crust slightly browned and crispy. Remove to a cooling rack so your crust doesn't steam underneath and become soggy.
You didn't forget to stir your onions did you? :o)
Place your caraway seeds in a small dry skillet and toast over medium high heat just until the seeds start to put off their aroma. (If you're nervous about toasting seeds - I've burned my fair share - you can skip this part.) If you have a mortar and pestle or spice grinder, place your caraway seeds inside and grind to dust. If you don't, give them a chop with a very sharp knife making them as dust-like as you can. Warning, they WILL go everywhere, so just be mentally prepared for that.
When your onions are done they should look like this.
It will take 45 minutes to an hour for them to look like this! (Truthfully, I erased the final picture when I pulled the onions off the heat. These are almost done. But see how much they've reduced!!!)
Set your oven to Broil.
To assemble your tart, place your crust back on your pizza stone and sprinkle half of the cheese over the crust. Then sprinkle all of the bacon bits over the cheese. Next, spread out your onions as evenly as you can. (Caramelized onions do get a bit stringy, which is why I suggested cutting the half moons in half so that you don't get long strings of onions trying to follow you off the tart after you've bitten into it. This also makes it a tad difficult to evenly distribute the onions.) Sprinkle the caraway dust over the onions and then top with remaining cheese. Place the tart on the middle rack under the broiler for a couple of minutes, just until the cheese is melted. DO NOT WALK AWAY FROM THIS! Broilers are HOT and burning is eminent if you don't pay attention. In fact, my mom actually leaves the oven door cracked when she's broiling something and watches it intently until it's ready. If you have that option, do that. :o)
Cut the tart into pizza-like slices or squares and enjoy!
*My sister and I ate this tart with a side wedge salad. If I stop to think about it, wedge salads are fairly preposterous to me. A) It's not good for you. Bacon, bleu cheese dressing and crumbles and the nutritional void that is iceberg lettuce. B) When purchased at a restaurant, the markup is ridiculous. A head of iceberg costs less than $2, which in turn makes 4 salads, and yet I've seen restaurants charge as much as $14 for the damn thing. Are you kidding me?!?! Buuuuut... the reality is, they are SO delicious! The crisp and cold iceberg and tomato are so refreshing and the salty bacon and bleu cheese give it intense flavor. It really is sheer perfection... when you make it at home and don't have to pay $14!!!
