The Frito pie starts working before you start it. Same for the man behind it.
The pie works you and your imagination over with the piled sight of béchamel-style cheese sauce, the smell of sweet buffalo chili made with grandma's Cincinnati recipe and the sheer southwestern street food legend of the Fritos Bag opened in the plaza by the guy with the cart and filled with processed queso and chili and homemade salsa—now on your plate with some presentation and ghetto-fab sophistication.
Todd Fisher, the still-fresh executive chef at Tarpy's Roadside (647-1444) started working before he started.
He knew what he wanted. He continued scouting flavors adventurously. He tested all sorts of downhome-but-different "pickin' plates" and bacon menus.
He announced a plan to "bring that edge back to Tarpy's."
"What does the new American roadhouse look like?" he asked when hired. "It will fit very comfortably in my style."
Now he has two strong sous chefs in Gabrielle Arguilles and Andres Diaz with him and good energy in the kitchen, which is a lot harder than it sounds when you start talking about making 77 menu changes—77—which is what took place in introducing the brand new lunch and dinner menus, which got their soft opening last night.
His brunch menu came first, last month, a teaser for his feel for rustic Americana with flair.
Think cinnamon squarenuts (two griddled donuts with cinnamon caramel, $6), La’Quercia ham and fruit (with shaved proscuitto, hollister peaches and maple, $8), lobster and avocado benedict on griddled brioche ($23) and chili-crusted fried chicken and bacon-cheddar waffle ($24).
Immediately apparent highlights of his much anticipated lunch and dinner menus include the “cowboy crudo” and "shared plates.”
Check out tastes from each—like the electric orange sea scallop crudo and Carolina-style oysters with cornbread and bacon, respectively—on the menus as they appear below, with some additional notes.
And check out the slideshow of photographs from inside the kitchen last night (above right).
Becca Gerber contributed to this report.
•• Todd Fisher and Tarpy's New Lunch and Dinner Menus ••
The lunch and dinner menus are almost identical. The lunch offers more "sammies" including griddled pastrami ($12), crispy local rock cod ($13), truffle grilled cheese ($11), barbecue beef brisket ($12), and grilled salmon ($16).
Dinner has additional “large plates” like the wood-fired “hooch” chicken ($23), Guinness-braised boar shoulder ($27), and Maple Leaf Farms half duck ($29).
Cowboy Crudo
· Pacific oysters on the half shell, horseradish-oxtail mignonette ($8/$16)
· American buffalo, jalapeño oil, whipped garlic, pickled celery and fried shallots ($15)
· Spicy tuna “devilish” eggs, spiced raw tuna, hard cooked egg, aioli, nduja smear ($11)
· Sea scallop, gin and passion fruit vinaigrette, chili oil, candied walnuts and endive ($13)
Shared Plates
· Carolina style BBQ oysters, charred scallions, corn bread and crispy bacon ($9/$18)
· Honey & hot sauce glazed ribs, slow cooked, smoked, grilled and glazed on chopped slaw ($13)
· La’Quercia ham & stone fruit, prosciutto American, Hollister peaches and maple ($11)
· Frito pie, American buffalo chili, fritos, jalapeños and cheddar ($12)
· Pimento cheese, heirloom carrots, celery and warm bread ($10)
· Creole shrimp & grits, grilled shrimp, creole carrot jus and sweet pepper piccalilli ($14)
Greens & Such
· Roasted beet and baby arugula, baby beets, whipped goat cheese, candied walnuts and orange-hibiscus vinaigrette ($11)
· Iceberg wedge, smoked bacon, toy box tomatoes, gorgonzola vinaigrette ($10)
· Chopped kale, moonshine raisins, roasted Brussels sprout leaves,corn bread, red onions and smoked cheddar in bacon fat, honey vinaigrette ($12)
· Wood fired ahi tuna, spiked watermelon, cucumber, basil and red onion with frisee, feta and cider vinaigrette ($26)
Sammies
· Griddled pastrami, monterey Jack cheese and rainbow slaw ($12)
· Snake River Farms Kobe burger, ½ lb. with brie, bacon, Maine lobster and truffle aioli ($23)
· Crispy local rock cod, buttermilk fried, spicy remoulade, vine ripe tomatoes and slaw with spiked watermelon ($13)
· Truffle grilled cheese, asparagus and truffle-mushroom duxelle with fontina and gruyère cheese ($11)
· BBQ beef brisket, spicy BBQ sauce, cheddar cheese and smoked onions ($12)
· Grilled salmon, lime-chili aioli, tomato, baby spinach ($16)
Large Plates
· Sweet corn ravioli, roasted eggplant sofrito, corn butter, shaved radish, red wine shallots and fried kale with farmers cheese ($18)
· 20-ounce Tarpy’s T-bone steak, gruyère scalloped potatoes, roasted cauliflower and smoked bone marrow butter ($49)
· Maple-brined pork chop, sweet corn grits, roasted cauliflower and smoked apple mash ($23)
· Smokey BBQ baby back ribs, fries and spiked watermelon ($19/half; $29/full)
· Wood fired “hooch” chicken, spring vegetable panzanella, dino kale, harrisa and salsa verde ($23)
· Guinness braised boar shoulder, whole grain mustard whipped potatoes, baby turnips, heirloom carrots and spring peas in a vegetable sugo ($27)
· Cast iron seared sea scallops, coffee-cocoa rubbed Baker’s bacon, sweet cream grits, roasted cauliflower and bourbon syrup ($31)