Cadillac Ranch, stick a fork in it!

John Franke, executive chef for the new ‘Texas” themed eatery in the old Bahama Breeze space, Cadillac Ranch, invited some of the Winn meat folks for their mock service last Friday.  Todd and Julie Winn, Steve Stumpf and his wife Tamber along with me and Carol are sure glad we went! Located at 857 W. Highway 114 in Irving, on the north east corner by Champps, this place is going to be packed! The grand opening is Monday, November 17th.

I’ve been to many mock services and believe me they are not always fun. In fact, they are often a disaster! Kudos to chef John and his team. This is a big restaurant and they packed it pretty good. The service,  food and beverage was excellent. 

They have given the space a very Texan feel. The bar has a roadhouse – honky tonk look and will  have live music. I found the lady bartenders uniforms to be …interesting in a Twin Peaks kind of way. We enjoyed Stevie Ray Vaughn on the big screen while we waited on our table. The restaurant is much more upscale with a sophisticated, Hill Country vibe. While the space is large, it is sectioned off in a way that makes it seem cozy. The plates and cutlery are heavy and feel expensive.

The food was really impressive all around. Braised short ribs, red snapper, chicken fried steak and bacon wrapped shrimp were all impressive and complete with seasonal, well thought out sides. The star of the show, without a doubt was the American Kobe flat iron steak. Wow, this was like eating beef butter.

John and I worked together at the then Harvey Hotel DFW Airport back in the mid 90’s. Small world. As great as the food and experience was, the kicker is it is very reasonably priced. Good food, good price, good atmosphere, good service, this just might work!