Lovely lunch.

With May being such a hectic time, my Cooking Club decided to go out to eat for our monthly get together. We met at the Screendoor, a fairly new restaurant in Dallas' trendy One Arts Plaza downtown, billed as a "Modern Southern Kitchen."


Screendoor is on the right-hand side




One Arts Plaza as viewed from the restaurant patio




We all loved the decor in the restaurant



We had a fabulous meal! Our server suggested an array of favorites for us to share. The kitchen divided the appetizer and the gumbo for us; the rest of the dishes we ate family-style so that we could also enjoy the beautiful presentation.


Our first course: Fried Green Tomato and Mozzarella Salad with Red Pepper Jam


Our salad: Grilled Ahi Tuna with Mixed Greens, Tomatoes, Kalamata Olives, Deviled Eggs and Haricots Verts. This was a real stand-out! The tuna was absolutely perfect and the deviled eggs quite scrumptious


Main courses: in the foreground Screendoor's Shrimp and Grits (with the grits shown at the back): jumbo shrimp with house-smoked turkey "ham," stewed tomatoes and Parmesan grits; and in the center, Big Mama's Fried Chicken, accompanied by a baked cheddar macaroni and braised collards


Chili Fried Catfish, over black-eyed peas with East Texas Slaw


Grilled Scottish Salmon, with red bean succotash and candied onion marmalade

To my surprise our favorite entrees were the two dishes I would have been least likely to order on my own: the fried chicken and the salmon. The fried chicken was unbelievably moist and flavorful; it must have been brined before being fried. I also loved the collards, though I typically dislike greens, and how can you go wrong with homemade mac and cheese? The salmon was also delicious and the succotash - yum!


Our sampling of desserts: Creamy Key Lime Pie topped with citrus whipped cream in a graham shell; Peach Cobbler with vanilla bean ice cream; and Screendoor Chocolate Moon Pie (rich chocolate brownies sandwich with marshmallow cream, dark chocolate and gianduja mousses, and tart raspberry coulis) served with a mini-glass of RC Cola. Notice the "man in the moon" shortbread cookie garnishing the moon pie

All of the desserts were good. I especially liked the peach cobbler, but that's a favorite of mine anyway.

Our server was exceptionally friendly and accommodating, and he even brought the chef out to meet our group. We enjoyed the opportunity to visit with the chef and amongst ourselves as well as the chance to sample a lot of delicious food.

Truly a lovely wrap-up to another great year of Cooking Club.