FT33 has been open several years but is still serving some of the most creative food in Dallas. It has 33 tables plus a bar area and the prime table for 4 (fire table) directly across from the open kitchen, or better known in restaurant talk as FT33. It is fun to have the show while you eat but it is also nice and a little less busy to eat at one of the floor tables. There are some sound absorbing features in the ceiling but the many hard surfaces provide a fair noise level or lively buzz as some may prefer to call it. Service is attentive, helpful and the staff appear to enjoy working there.
The bar is just as creative as the kitchen and thus they have a cocktail menu for you to peruse while you settle in. For food they have an a la carte menu of appetizers, mains and desserts and an off the menu 5 course tasting for $75 that includes 2 appetizers, 2 mains and one dessert, all selected by the chef. During the week you can call ahead and get a longer tasting menu but the weekends are just too busy to accommodate this. However the abbreviated tasting is a nice way to get to sample a larger number of the dishes, which offer good flavors and nice texture variations.
We started with roasted root vegetables, some of which were roasted and others were pickled. It included things such as carrots, beets, radish, herbs, onions and watermelon radish. It was crunchy and very fresh tasting but overall mild in the flavor category.
Next was the grilled octopus which supplied a much stronger flavors than the first. The octopus was cooked perfectly and nicely accented with crispy rice. The addition of seaweed introduced a slight fishy taste.
The gnocchi was wonderfully chewy punctuated with bit of strong Benton bacon. Fried sunchokes topped the delicious dish. This was a real winner.
The last savory was pork served on an amazing wheatberry porridge with Swiss chard to provide a nice visual highlight. Also included were a couple fried pork rinds that were wonderful. Another winner here.
For dessert we had the peaches served on a deliciously buttery pound cake that had been lightly toasted. The peaches were a tad firm but had a great taste. Under the ice cream was a little surprise streusel topping. A perfect amount of sweetness and left me great taste in my mouth.
