Visit Trail Dust Town on the East Side and you can expect faux gunfights and beef-and-beans banquets — but you might be surprised to also find a restaurant with a modern vibe and fare such as herb-rubbed rack of lamb.
The Dakota Cafe and Catering Company — quite happily off-theme for the Old-West-style site at 6541 E. Tanque Verde Road — offers fine uncowboylike cuisine and artful decor.
Manager Patricia Budnik and executive chef Carl Hendrick make the Dakota a good choice for inventive, healthful food at lunch or dinner. The two are among four co-owners of the restaurant.
A recent dinner visit began with an appetizer of crab cakes ($11). A luscious blending of lump crab, herbed breadcrumbs, aioli and Dijon mustard, the cakes were served with an orange hollandaise sauce. We split this appetizer, but it could serve as a good light meal for one person.
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The Herb-Rubbed Seared Rack of Lamb ($21) was perfectly prepared and artfully presented with English plum sauce. The herb crusting on the lamb nicely tempered the slight sweetness of the sauce. A vegetable and potato of the day — broccoli and mashed potatoes on this occasion — completed the dish.
Another entree, the Braised Boneless Beef Short Ribs ($17), could not have been more tender — and the flavor of the beef was amplified with a cabernet wine sauce. This dinner also came with broccoli and mashed potatoes, garnished with fragrant sprigs of rosemary.
For dessert, we split a piece of Key Lime Pie ($5.50) — a slice of citrus sweetness that was pleasing on the palate after the rich main courses.
Decor inside the Dakota, which includes a small but well-stocked bar, features art hanging on the walls and a fabric canopy ceiling treatment. Outside seating is available on a covered patio and in a garden area, weather permitting.
We began a lunch visit to Dakota with Cream of Mushroom Soup ($5). The taste was typical of a good cream soup, and never have we encountered one quite so generously brimming with fresh mushrooms.
The Scallop Salad ($10.50) turned out to be a real overachiever. Lots of restaurants throw together a basic green salad and top it with some basic sea scallops. But Dakota took it well beyond the basics.
The tender sea scallops were lightly crusted with feisty red chile — raising them to make-a-statement stature while stopping just short of too-hot excess. The five large scallops crowned crisp mixed greens generously reinforced with Stilton cheese, papaya, avocado, red pepper and candied pecans.
It was a complete, healthful, fortifying and altogether pleasing dish.
Perhaps a little less flashy but no less satisfying was the Spinach Melt Sandwich ($7.50). A sautéed blend of spinach, water chestnuts, mushrooms, tomato and dill havarti cheese, the sandwich was served on grilled sourdough bread along with french fries.
Service at lunch and dinner was just right — prompt and attentive. Glasses of iced tea and lemonade were refilled well before they were empty. Plates were removed without delay when a course was finished, and a take-home box was ready to go when we were.
IF YOU GO
Dakota Cafe and Catering Company
6541 E. Tanque Verde Road. 298-7188. www.dakotacafeandcatering.com
• Hours: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. The restaurant is closed Sundays but available for Sunday catered events.
• Family call: Dishes for children are available.
• Wine list: Offerings include vintages from California, Oregon, Australia, New Zealand, France and Spain. Wine is available by the glass or bottle.
• Noise level: Quiet enough for normal conversation.
• Vegetarian choices: Pasta and salads.
• Dress: Casual.
• Reservations: Accepted.
• Price range: Dinner entrees range from $10.50 to $30.