Restaurants bloom in the West Texas desert

The stretch from Marathon to Marfa is no longer a dry culinary region

By Dale Rice
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Sunday, September 09, 2007

MARATHON — When Paul Petersen received his first shipment of supplies at Café Cenizo, he was satisfied. Three days later, when the next batch of meat and produce arrived, he looked it over, pronounced it inferior and told the delivery man to pack it up and take it back.

The next week, the same pattern ensued: The Friday shipment was acceptable; the Monday was not. So he sent the goods back a second time.

That prompted a phone call from the supplier, who wanted to know what Petersen's problem was. After all, he told the chef, he was sending him the same thing he delivered to one of Austin's five-star restaurants.

Not so, Petersen said. He had worked in the Austin area, as chef-owner of the four-star Little Texas Bistro in Buda, and he knew exactly what top restaurants in Austin received. And this wasn't it.

That discussion ended the problem, and every shipment since then has been fine, enabling Petersen to produce the same level of cuisine in this small town 90 miles north of Big Bend that he brought to the table back in Central Texas.

The dispute over quality demonstrates that the supplier, located a few hundred miles away, might have assumed that the stretch of U.S. 90 from Marathon to Marfa was as gustatorically arid as the land. But anyone who thinks West Texas has not emerged from the culinary equivalent of the Archaic Period hasn't spent time dining in the northern third of the Chihuahuan desert recently. "The food quality has gone up incredibly in the past five years," says Charles Mary Kubricht, an artist who divides her time between Marfa, Houston and New York City.

The evidence of that assertion is abundant: The chef in a renovated gas station in Marfa — where the old hydraulic lift now supports a large, acrylic, communal dining table — is serving Moroccan- and Spanish-influenced fare. A small trattoria/coffeehouse in Alpine offers pasta with a delicious wild mushroom cream sauce. Petersen's restaurant in the Gage Hotel in Marathon delivers an exquisite five-course tasting menu, including a scallop on white salmon flown in from Oregon and garnished with beets from his garden behind the hotel.

That kind of upscale and diverse culinary scene is the result of the changing social and economic fabric of the region. There has been an influx of people from Texas' major cities, as well as the East and West coasts, who have

retired or moved to the area, drawn by the landscape and the emerging art

scene in Marfa. Locals are astonished at what's happened to the price of real estate; it can cost as much as $200,000 for a small fixer-upper in Marfa.

Not bad for a county seat that was mostly home to Tex-Mex and Texas roadhouse fare just a few short years ago.

Perhaps the first to recognize the potential in Marfa was Maiya Keck, who opened a fine-dining Italian restaurant on a street of mostly empty storefronts that led to the Presidio County courthouse. Kubricht credits Maiya's with kick-starting the culinary explosion.

That's not to say there was no fine dining in the area before that.

Reata, originally home to chef Grady Spears and his cowboy cuisine, had stepped up the pace of dining earlier in Alpine by offering something that was at once familiar and upscale, such as the beef tenderloin tamale with pecan mash.

But Alpine, the largest city in the area and home to Sul Ross State University, had more of a crowd to draw from. While tourists help restaurants a great deal, they might be seasonal and unpredictable. "The locals are what will sustain them," Kubricht says.

That's probably true, except in Marathon, where Petersen is expected to put on a spread equal to the rejuvenated, expanding, first-class Gage Hotel. There, hotel guests make up the majority of diners.

Besides the scallop over salmon, a recent tasting menu at Cenizo brought an amuse-bouche of Pecos cantaloupe and yellow tomato gazpacho, proscuitto-wrapped morbier cheese with figs, sweetbreads over balsamic onions and foie gras over chardonnay raisins, Gulf shrimp, Texas beef tenderloin, Mexican chocolate cake and crème caramel.

Another lineup like that might be appearing soon.

Tom Rapp and Toshifumi Sakihara earned critical acclaim, as well as a Michelin star, with Etats-Unis, their nouvelle American restaurant in Manhattan. But on a trip to Marfa, they — in a story heard repeatedly from chefs and diners — fell for the desert region that runs north to the Davis Mountains.

"We moved for the small town life, the weather, and the amazing number of friendly, worldly, interesting people, both natives and newcomers, who were all just crazy in love with Marfa," they wrote in an e-mail.

They moved to West Texas and began renovating a building that will become their restaurant. The name, they say, most likely will be Grasslands, and they hope to have it open by the end of the year.

When their Marfa version of Etats-Unis is up and running, it will join an increasing number of eateries, from home-style bakeries to upscale establishments, that are blossoming in this once-arid dining region. Here are some of them (call ahead; hours are limited):

Marathon

Shirley's Burnt Biscuit: If you want early-morning caffeine and fuel, Shirley's is your place Monday to Friday. The tiny bakery has baking powder biscuits so good you'll want to take a dozen with you. If you still have room after the biscuits, try the fried pies and cookies, which come in a variety of flavors. U.S. 90, Marathon.

Marathon Coffee: In an old gas station, this Thursday-to-Monday breakfast-and-lunch spot can run out of homemade muffins pretty early when there's a big crowd next door at the Gage Hotel. Breakfast tacos and lunchtime burgers are popular choices, as are the outdoor tables. U.S. 90, Marathon.

The French Co. Grocer: When you want to grab something fast to take along on a hike in Big Bend National Park, try the freshly made, prepacked sandwiches, such as turkey on whole wheat, in the produce cooler at this all-round, open-daily grocery store. 206 N. Avenue D, Marathon. (432) 386-4522.

Café Cenizo: This is fine dining at the Gage Hotel, where executive chef Paul Petersen, formerly of the four-star Little Texas Bistro in Buda, now offers five-course tasting menus to augment the regular lineup of sophisticated dishes that come with Peterson's unique twist on Lone Star cuisine. 102 W. U.S. 90, Marathon. (432) 386-4205.

Alpine

Bread & Breakfast Bakery Cafe: A breakfast-and-lunch eatery with homemade baked goods that include doughnuts and cinnamon rolls, this bakery is popular with the locals. The bakers can go through three full pans of cinnamon rolls by late morning on a Saturday. 113 W. Holland Ave., Alpine. (432) 837-9424.

Sixth Street Bakery: An all-day affair, this bakery features great-looking breads and desserts, including mini cranberry scones, large currant scones, cinnamon rolls and pies. It also offers soups and sandwiches for those who want more of a meal. 114 N. Sixth St., Alpine. (432) 837-2253.

La Trattoria: It starts out as a coffee shop in the morning and becomes an Italian restaurant by dinner, with lunch that straddles both. Lunch will be filling and delightful whether you choose the penne with wild mushroom cream sauce or homemade marinara. Save room for a lemon bar or tiramisu. 202 W. Holland Ave., Alpine. (432) 837-2200.

Reata: The home of "cowboy cuisine," this restaurant offers fine dining with a Western edge. Dishes include a superb beef tenderloin tamal with pecan mash and carne asada topped with cheese enchiladas in a mole sauce. Save room for white chocolate bread pudding served in a corn husk with cinnamon ice cream. 203 N. Fifth St., Alpine. (432) 837-9232.

Marfa

Pizza Foundation: Orders can stack up at lunchtime to the point where the wait for a whole pizza can be an hour or longer. If that happens, go for the slices or a calzone. The pizza, with a thin, crisp crust, has earned its reputation and the calzone (I enjoyed the one filled with pepperoni, ricotta and spinach) had an equally thin crisp crust. 100 E. San Antonio St., Marfa. (432) 729-3377.

Squeeze: This coffee shop with breakfast and lunch items is the only source in the United States for the scrumptious chocolate of Swiss maker Vollenweider (love the citron covered in dark chocolate), say the proprietors. Look for its brightly colored sign on the courthouse square, which is on Lincoln Street. 215 N. Highland St., Marfa. (432) 729-4500.

Coffee & Wine: There are homemade pastries, such as chocolate chip cookies and candied ginger scones (varying by the day) to go along with the java, latte or espresso. Plus, there's wine if you'd prefer. (And the Marfa Book Co. doesn't mind if you take it next door to enjoy during an author's reading.) 109 Highland Ave., Marfa. (432) 729-4546.

Blue Javelina: Fusion fare following the Spanish colonization route brings dishes such as a quesadilla made with lamb, sundried tomatoes, Kalamata olives, manchego and feta cheeses and blackened pistachios. Local products, such as melons from Pecos, get featured in a variety of dishes in this 1940s gas station renovated by co-owners Kevin Stewart and Richard Cordray. 1300 W. San Antonio St., Marfa. (432) 729-1919.

Maiya's: One of the key restaurants in building the West Texas dining scene, this Italian spot, opened by Maiya Keck, offers a lovely array of appetizers, pastas (the spicy vodka penne is a favorite), fish, steak and desserts. 103 N. Highland St., Marfa. (432) 729-4410.

Fort Davis

Hotel Limpia Dining Room: The buttermilk-and-honey biscuits, chicken-fried chicken and homemade pies (if you're lucky, you'll be there on a day when there's apple) will have you ready to return to the restaurant of this restored historic hotel in the Davis Mountains. 100 Main St., Fort Davis. (432) 426-3241.

drice@statesman.com; 445-3859