Texas French Bread

Tonight!

Murph — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 11:45:17 +0000

Pappardelle with dai due chorizo, local spinach, and the infamous fried poached egg is back on the menu tonight. Check out the rest of our menu here:

www.texasfrenchbread.com/dinner

Lettuces are Gorgeous right now.

Murph — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:30:06 +0000

Most of us think of beautiful lettuces as a summer obsession – as though we all lived in some gorgeous European seaside villa where one spends the summer tending the garden and drinking wine in the late afternoon on the veranda with a good book. Well seriously. This is Texas – and as those of us who enjoy a nice cup of joe no doubt realized some time ago, the Texas climate can tend to relate more closely to Arizona than Provence. So we’re all mixed up. We get beautiful leafy greans in the dead of winter when the northern ancestors of the cuisine we love would be sustaining themselves on root vegetables, dried beans and lentils. Whereas their salad season occurs during our dog days of peppers, squash and okra.

Pictured below are butterheads and romaine from Boggy Creek Farm. Smoke’m (I mean, er..) Eat’m if you got’m – summer will be back all too soon. Tonight’s full Menu will post by 5:30p or so – come join us for dinner.

Valentine’s Day is Coming soon – reserve a table now.

Murph — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:27:42 +0000

Kara & Austin will entertain, and we’ll have a menu posted in the next few days.

The Sicilian Pasta is Back

Murph — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:10:38 +0000

I’m pleased to announce the return of the Sicilian – Pasta that is. This is not to be confused with the Sicilian Defense – which oddly, as I understand it, is really an offensive strategy conducted by white who as we know moves first – oh, never mind.

The Sicilian Pasta, as those of you who’ve dined with us for a few years are no doubt aware – uses my favorite fish, the sardine. The lowly sardine is my favorite first and foremost because it tastes like tasty fish – salty, oily, and delicious. Secondly, sardines are really good for you (filled will omega 3 essential fatty acids) and just as important, harvesting them is not too hard on the ocean (they tend to be plentiful and they are quite low on the food chain).

Anyway, this pasta of which I speak originates, as you might imagine, in Sicily. We use our homemade papardelle – add extra virgin olive oil, lots of garlic, crisp ciabatta bread crumbs, saffron, a hint of chili, the aforementioned sardines – and then, for the piece de resistance (that’s French ya’ll), we add golden raisens. Now, not being a particular fan of mixing the sweet with the savory – and being particularly indisposed toward cooked fruit – I resisted the idea of this particular piece de resistance. But I must say, once I tried them, I was sold.

We’ll have tonight’s final menu posted by 5:30pm or so. Hope you can join us.

bon appetit,

murph

Tonight

Murph — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:30:21 +0000

It’s Wednesday – a perfect day to let us cook. We re-upped our chicken supply from Dewberry Hills this morning and our rather modern interpretation of the French classic – Coq au Vin – featuring a roasted half poussin, will be back on the menu tonight. Check the menu on your left (styled “dinner menu”) to see what else we’re serving.

Come eat!

Happy New Year

Murph — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 08:55:36 +0000

Wow. Its the last day of 2011. I can’t believe it.

Its been a great year for Texas French Bread. While there is always much to improve upon, over the course of the last twelve months I think we’ve gotten a little better at what we do. And we’ve seen our business grow. Thank you for supporting us.

Murph is still on vacation in Mexico, but I am plugging away in the kitchen getting ready for dinner tonight. We are working on a special New Year’s Eve salade compose (say that in your best French accent) with roasted wintery things like kohlrabi and squash, sauteed kale, blanched chard stems and arugula. The rabbit terrine is done, the beef daube resting, the winter salad lettuces washed; the cheeses have been portioned, the lemon tarts baked. And we went for broke on one entree: tonight we will have porchetta. We have taken a whole pig from Richardson Farms, handed it off to Ben Runkle of Salt & Time to be dressed and stuffed with herbs, lemon zest and garlic. And now it is slow cooking in our oven. I can’t wait.

We are no longer taking reservations for tonight but walk-ins are welcome. I’d love to find you a seat. If not tonight another time.

All the best & happy new year,

Ben

*******************

DECEMBER 31, 2011

AMUSE BOUCHE
Black eyed pea crostini

FIRST
Rabbit terrine, chicken liver pate, pickled texas onions

Cured salmon, beet salad, creme fraiche

Winter squash, kohlrabi, arugula, chervil creme

SECOND
Catalan seafood soup

Porchetta, white polenta, kale

Daube of beef, fingerlings, carrots, orange, olives

THIRD
Winter market salad

DESSERT
Chocolate torte

Armagnac prune tart

Citron tart

Butterscotch budino

3 cheeses from Antonelli’s

$55 per person – byob, corkage inclusive

Choose 1 from each course / $10 supplemental to add cheese course

Join us for New Year’s Eve

lennie — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 08:51:51 +0000

Join us tonight for a delicious 4 course Dinner. We are no longer accepting reservations, but will gladly accept walk-ins (first come, first served). Happy New Years!

DECEMBER 31, 2011

AMUSE BOUCHE
Black eyed pea crostini

FIRST
Rabbit terrine, chicken liver pate, pickled texas onions

Cured salmon, beet salad, creme fraiche

Winter squash, kohlrabi, arugula, chervil creme

SECOND
Catalan seafood soup

Porchetta, white polenta, kale

Daube of beef, fingerlings, carrots, orange, olives

THIRD
Winter market salad

DESSERT
Chocolate torte

Armagnac prune tart

Citron tart

Butterscotch budino

3 cheeses from Antonelli’s

$55 per person – byob, corkage inclusive

Choose 1 from each course / $10 supplemental to add cheese course

Email Lennie@texasfrenchbread.com for reservations.

Open today – closed for dinner tonight.

Murph — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 02:31:36 +0000

Hi friends – Ben and I are both out of town and as such we will be closed for dinner tonight (Monday 12/26). We are open for lunch today however and we will reopen for dinner tommor evening (Tuesday 12/27). We plan to post the New Years Eve menu later today, but go ahead and send os a request if you want to reserve a table. Wishing you all the best and hoping you had a lovely holiday so far.

Murph

Tuesday is Tango Night – or is it Risotto Night?

Murph — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:54:40 +0000

Hope the holiday week is shaping up nicely for all of you. Personally, I feel like I’m getting squeezed between a rock and a hard place – “3PO – TURN OFF THE TRASH COMPACTORS ON LEVEL 6!!!” Seriously – how’s anybody with a job and normal responsibilities supposed to get through Christmas week anyway? My answer? Come join us for a nice relaxing meal. Bring a bottle of your favorite wine – no forget that – spend an extra $10 and get the good stuff. And, let’s all hang out and remember that at some point there is an actual holiday to celebrate meaning we do what we can, and let go of the rest.

On the menu tonight, we’ve got a lovely risotto right up the comfort food alley – all vegartian with lots of Reggiano Parmesan and butternut squash from Boggy Creek and Johnson’s Backyard. We’re also making another of our fresh pastas – tonight featuring porcini mushrooms and some Oregon white truffles (and I assume some cream). Hope you can join us.

bon appetit,

murph

PS – check back around 5p for an updated on-line menu. also – we will close at 3pm on December 24. We will reopen at 8a on Monday December 26, and we’ll let you know about Monday dinner.

We’re Cooking Tonight.

Murph — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:40:43 +0000

Folks – really enjoyed doing a special event last night for a private group, but we missed seeing you. We’re back open for dinner tonight and I’ll send out menu news as soon as we get tonight’s line up set. Hope to see many of you this evening or later in the weekend.

bon appetit,

murph