Zest 817 // FEATURE - Uncooked

Uncooked

The raw food movement has subtly worked its way onto local menus.

BY ERIC GRIFFEY PHOTOS BY TWIG CAPRA

Hatsuyuki Handroll Bar might be the calmest dining room in Fort Worth. At dinnertime recently, serene men busily working behind the horseshoe-shaped bar, quietly patting rice with reverence, molding it into form, served single rolls (one a time) to gawking crowds of hushed patrons. The exchange felt more like a religious ceremony than a meal.

The Uni Plus at Hatsuyuki Handroll Bar (907 Foch St, 817-720-5330) is a masterpiece of uni (sea urchin), salmon roe, and a raw quail egg swaddled in a thin nori wrap.

Photos by Twig Capra

Besides the rice, nothing on the menu of Hatsuyuki sees an oven or any other form of heat. Beautifully supple, precisely cut pieces fish are loosely swaddled in frail panes of seaweed. The nori is lustrous and nearly black, chewy and crackly at once, with a delicate flavor, like the saline imprint after downing an oyster. It’s toasted just enough to be malleable without losing crispness, and it doesn’t wilt, despite the warmth of the rice. Hatsuyuki’s bill of raw fare is multifarious, as playful as it is precise.

Hatsuyuki Handroll Bar (907 Foch St, 817-720-5330)

Photos by Twig Capra

Less than a decade ago, Fort Worth diners were still acclimatizing to the idea of sushi and other uncooked delicacies. Just a decade later, a bounty of raw fish, oysters, steak, and many other choices appear in kitchen windows as wide-ranging as sushi joints and upscale French bistros. The raw food movement swept the coasts a few years ago, and it has finally found a home at a few local places.

If you want a true gauge of just how far the raw food movement has come locally, consider the oyster –– a territory once owned by the Gulf version of the mollusk now shares space with, and in some cases has been overtaken by, East- and West-Coast varieties. Oysters have quietly enjoyed their own mini-craze, subtly encroaching on menus all over the 817. Public demand is clearly apparent as the palate of local diners has become more refined.

Chef Jon Bonnell’s Waters: Bonnell’s Coastal Cuisine (301 Main St, 817- 984-1110) was on the forefront of the local raw foods movement, serving, among many other options, these Summerside oysters from Maine.

Photos by Twig Capra

Countless chefs across the area have come to a similar conclusion, and the result is a crop of ambitious new restaurants that start with the humble oyster bar and take it in fresh directions, applying all the precepts of the modern culinary canon: a focus on seasonality, an eagerness to surprise, and a commitment to preparation styles that maintain regional identities even as they breach national borders.

Chef Jon Bonnel

Photos by Twig Capra

On the forefront of the local raw food movement, Waters: Bonnell’s Coastal Cuisine offers a vast array of local ingredients, as well as other exotic, far-flung seafood. The downtown institution was the first non-sushi eatery in town to offer such a variety of raw dishes. Chef Jon Bonnell goes out of his way to seek out his own suppliers –– mining the shores of Texas and beyond for the very best seafood, and he reveres his oysters with the same meticulous passion as a NICU nurse treating a patient.

There’s no shortage of raw dining options at Pacific Table (1600 S University Dr, Ste 601, 817-887- 9995), including this array of nigiri sushi, tuna tartare, and West- and East-Coast oysters.

Photos by Twig Capra

If Waters was the innovator of local uncooked food, Pacific Table represents the next wave, offering an assortment of sushi, tartare, and East- and West- Coast oysters among a menu of modern takes on Pacific Northwest classics. In its relaxed, chic setting on University Drive, Chef Felipe Armenta makes the once-unusual-sounding raw dishes more accessible to a new generation of diners.

The steak tartare at Saint-Emilion Restaurant (3617 W 7th St, 817-737-2781) is made with hand-cut tenderloin, accompanied by housemade potato chips, and topped with a raw farm-fresh egg.

PHOTOS BY TWIG CAPRA

Though some might see venerable French bistro Saint-Emilion as an unlikely frontline in the uncooked movement, similar recipes to its classic rendering of steak tartare date back more than a hundred years. The dish, once known as “beefsteack à l’Américaine,” has appeared in literature as far back as Alexandre Dumas’ 1846 novel The Count of Monte Cristo. As you dine on the dish of raw beef at the quaint, upscale West 7th dining room, someone in a posh Parisian bistro is probably enjoying the same thing.

This shrimp ceviche at Magdalena’s –– Catering and Events, Fort Worth (502 Grand Av, Ste A, 817-740-8085) is loaded with Texas peaches, Fresno peppers, English cucumbers, prickly pear, and pickled onions.

Photos by Twig Capra

One of the hallmarks of Chef Juan Rodriguez’s standout catering/ events/dinner club eatery Magdalena’s is respect for his ingredients. His inventive interpretations of classic dishes like shrimp ceviche maintain the integrity of the original recipe while infusing his own original twists, careful to allow the components of the dish to shine. His version of ceviche (and almost everything else he touches) could be the best in town. At his well-appointed Northside dining room and catering kitchen, diners are likely to sample the sort of fare you might see a posh restaurant in the West Village.

Thanks to Hatsuyuki Handroll Bar, Magdalena’s, Pacific Table, Saint-Emilion, and Waters: Bonnell’s Coastal Cuisine for giving our readers a look at the skill and precision it takes to serve the very best raw food in Fort Worth.

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