LOCALS ONLY

These items aren’t on the menu. You just have to know.

STORY BY CHRISTINA HUGHESBABB PHOTOS BY IAN COLE, ALISON FECHTEL, DANNY FULGENCIO AND CAN TÜRKYILMAZ

Only so much ink will fit in print. Ask any graphic designer. That’s one reason many restaurants serve a dish or two that is not on the menu. Off-menu dishes often are the result of chefs’ hidden passions or diners’ collective cravings and idiosyncrasies. And those items, when they turn out particularly tasty, gain a certain underground popularity. Here, enjoy a sampling of our off-the-menu discoveries at neighborhood eateries.

Go 4 It Sports Grill

This neighborhood sports bar and grill is known for its golden tater tots, robust salads and juicy burgers, but if they have the ingredients, they will make you what you like, says Tami Spain who owns Go 4 It Sports Grill with her husband Gene Martinez. A particularly delish dish that you won’t find on the menu is the pulled-pork burrito, filled with meat, caramelized onions, mushrooms, white rice and shredded cheddar topped with hatch green chile sauce and sour cream. Along those same lines, the kitchen will prepare quesadillas, taco salads, burritos, chimichangas and shrimp tacos with any combination you please. Go 4 It is one of the few places in Lake Highlands where you can catch a quality late-night bite. They stay open until 2 a.m. seven nights a week.

10677 East Northwest Highway

214.221.9440 go4itsportsgrill.com

Mariano’s Hacienda

is world famous because the owner, Mariano Martinez, invented the frozen margarita machine in the 1970s — the original now graces the Smithsonian museum. But did you know there is a margarita that isn’t on the drink menu? It will run you about $13, but patrons such as John Garza, who recommended it to us, swear “you get what you pay for — excellence!”

Mariano’s staffer Alexis Georgiadis says owner Martinez, a “devout margaritaphile,” came up with the “potent but polite algorithm” himself: 2.5 oz of Don Julio Reposado tequila, Combier liqueur and fresh lime juice. Ask for “The Mariano.”

And though Mariano’s offers a grande menu, there is a delectable dish that ain’t on it. Food and beverage director Juan Sotelo lets us in on the secret menu item people love, the shrimp poblano al carbon: a fresh poblano pepper stuffed with mesquite-grilled shrimp, baby bella mushrooms and Monterey Jack cheese, charroasted over mesquite wood logs and typically served with rice and fresh-grilled veggies.

6300 Skillman

214.691.3888 laharanch.com

Another Broken Egg

A few Casa Linda restaurants make our list (see Alligator Cafe and Torchy’s). Another Broken Egg, for example, has fried turkey pot pie and a Cajunseasoned fried turkey sandwich, items about which only those in the know, know.

1152 N. Buckner

214.954.7182 or 5500 Greenville

214.782.9927 anotherbrokenegg.com

Torchy’s Tacos is coming soon to Casa Linda Plaza. The “ace of spades” is taco-of-the-month once a year, but it’s available all the time. And it’s a whopper: a flour tortilla stuffed with jalapeño sausage, smoked brisket, a fried egg, cheese, green chili peppers, cilantro, queso fresco, sour cream and Torchy’s signature Diablo hot sauce. torchys.com

Mattito’s

Named and created for the Texas land commissioner who frequented Matt’s El Rancho in Austin, Bob Armstrong dip has become legendary — so much so that the owners of the restaurant’s sibling, Mattito’s, don’t need to put it on the menu. Ask, and you shall receive a heaping bowl of ground beef, guacamole, sour cream and queso layered together for optimum dipping.

7778 Forest

214.377.9576 mattitos.com

Asian Mint

At a place known for Asian fusion, it’s nice to curl up with something pure such as the green curry at Asian Mint. It’s a more traditional Thai curry compared to red or yellow, served with Thai eggplant and white Jasmine rice. It’s offered as a special some days, but you can order it any time.

11617 N. Central, Suite 135

214.363.6655 asianmint.com

Crossroads Diner is famous for its ooey-gooey fromscratch sticky buns, and the restaurant showcases myriad mouthwatering items on its menu. But chef and owner Tom Fleming says he frequently receives requests for his off-themenu smoked pork enchiladas and eggs.

“I’ve had a love affair with Mexican and Tex-Mex food forever. I spent my formative years in San Antonio. So I got some pork butts, smoked them, and created this as a special — I love it. People seem to love it and always tell me to put it on the menu,” he says. “But there’s an old secret in the restaurant world. When you put something on the menu, it dies. It dies a long and painful death.

“We had another item — a braised pork shank with caramelized onion and potato hash, and people said, ‘Put it on the menu. Put it on the menu.’ So I did, and no one ever ordered it. So I took it back off.”

Fleming says that patrons ordering off-menu is hardly ever a problem.

“It’s basic customer service to allow people to have what they want if we have it. On the other hand, if they want me to make foie gras like I did back [when I was] at The Riviera, I’m going to say, ‘No, that’s not us.’ ”

8121 Walnut Hill

214.346.3491 crossroads-diner.com

Mi Cocina

If you are one of those who religiously orders the brisket tacos and a Mambo Taxi at MiCo, we don’t blame you. But we do want you to know that there is more out there. Lake Highlands’ Mi Cocina store director Juan “Billy” Aguirre filled us in on a couple of secret items that the chef will happily whip up on request.

The Señor Chico, for example, is a grilled chicken breast with chili guajillo sautéed in garlic and olive oil, with mushrooms, green rice and avocado salad. “It is delicious,” Aguirre assures.

The chile relleno, despite its absence from the menu, is also frequently requested, he says.

“It’s a poblano pepper, deep fried and filled with Monterrey cheese and your choice of shredded chicken or ground beef — if you want to upgrade to fajita it’s possible, too — topped off with ranchero sauce. It also comes with green rice and beans and our famous Mexican coleslaw.”

7215 Skillman

214.503.6426 mcrowd.com

The Grape restaurant on Lower Greenville would not be so celebrated without its gregarious chef/owner Brian Luscher and his wife Courtney, Lake Highlands residents. Only those in the loop order baked brie with honey and nuts.

2808 Greenville

214.828.1981 thegraperestaurant.com

The Alligator Café,

which recently relocated to Casa Linda Plaza, shot a segment of “Heat Seekers” for Food Network. The kitchen created blackened alligator on dirty rice with a red Creole sauce especially for the show and ran it as a special that day. The segment has never run, but blackened alligator is still on the “secret” menu, and the spice can be ordered to taste.

9540 Garland

214.821.6900 eatgator.com