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Posted on Thu, Aug. 02, 2007

Kudos to Ovation for menu, live acts

By Bud Kennedy

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Dallas has a new House of Blues.

But Fort Worth has Ovation Restaurant.

Defying the odds, Ovation is celebrating a year of mixing Southern comfort food with blues and jazz.

By day and early evening, Ovation is the place to go for chef Keith Hicks' cooking: pot roast, fried chicken and waffles, shrimp and jalapeño-cheese grits or fried catfish with collard greens.

Later, Ovation turns into a music club, drawing the crowds that used to mingle at old Fort Worth clubs such as the Bluebird or the Caravan of Dreams.

Hicks knew steaks from working at Mercury Chophouse and now-closed Gunsmoke Grill. But he brought Southern flavors that he learned from his grandmothers, one from West Virginia and another from Alabama.

The fried chicken and waffles with collards ($14) gave Ovation a reputation for what one writer called "upscale soul food."

But the menu also offers chops, steaks, pastas and gumbo with a choice of 12 vegetables and sides.

The herb-roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans ($15) would sell for more in other fine-dining restaurants. The chop menu starts with a double-cut pork chop ($18) with apples and the jalapeño grits. Steaks sell for $25-$36 including sides.

Ovation's lunches, mostly $8-$11, include a stylish plate of four gourmet miniburger "sliders" for $8.

They're his answer to the upscale burgers from other star chefs. Instead of White Castle burgers, Hicks calls them "Black Castle Burgers."

"Man, all these other cats have got a cool burger," Hicks said this week. "I had to come up with a cool burger."

Ovation will add Sunday brunch in September.

It's open for lunch and dinner seven days a week at 6115 Camp Bowie Blvd. 817-732-8900; http://www.ovationrestaurant.com/.

South Arlington is closer to landing a Cheesecake Factory.

But the company still hasn't made it official.

Cheesecake Factory has applied for state permits to open inside the former Mervyns space at The Parks mall, and some sort of construction is under way there.

Mall officials declined comment this week, referring questions to the restaurant chain, which is notoriously careful about announcing plans.

Dusty Young at Dusty's Diner, a River Oaks Boulevard cafe carrying on a 40-year legacy, got tired of paying $10 or $12 for a burger and fries at newer restaurants.

"I think we sell a good burger for $3.50," he said. "If people want burgers, I've got 'em."

A Dusty's plate lunch sells for $7, including chicken-fried steak just like his family made since the 1960s at the old McCullough's and Marie's cafes downtown.

Dusty's is open 7 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays at 4837 River Oaks Blvd.; 817-625-2302.