Trading Post Wine Bar & Grill

Out in Galleria-ville, an upmarket newcomer tries to find its footing in a landmark spot

By Mike Sutter
AMERICAN-STATESMAN RESTAURANT CRITIC
Thursday, June 18, 2009

On the former ragged edges of town, it can't be easy to be the place that replaces one of the favorite places of the area's old-time citizens. You know, the ones who were Bee Cavers before the Galleria landed in Bee Cave, trailing houses and all those cars behind it.

That's how it seemed on a Sunday morning in June at the Trading Post Wine Bar & Grill at Texas 71 and Bee Cave Road, the former home of Jim Bob's Barbeque. Along with that smoked meat, Jim Bob's was known for some gut-busting big breakfast tacos. And just about every person who peeked in the front door that Sunday asked, `Is this still Jim Bob's?' Without missing a beat, the counter man would say, `No, it's the Trading Post now, but it's still Jim Bob's cooks.' Then the person would close the door and come back a minute later with the rest of the family to look over the breakfast menu on a dry-erase board behind the bar.

And for about eight hours on the weekends (and only on the weekends), the Trading Post is pretty close to the old place. Except that now you can order a fresh, indulgent taco with spinach, egg and feta cheese, instead of JB's brisket, for $2.99. Or French toast with vanilla-maple syrup and bacon for $3.99.

But during dinner hours Tuesdays through Saturdays, it's a whole different world, one with a nod toward the changing character of Bee Cave. You'll have to decide whether that's a good thing.

The Trading Post menu aims high, with surf-and-turf staples such as crab cakes with red pepper coulis for $9.90 and a beef filet topped with shrimp scampi for $26.90, plus two more $20-plus steak main courses, some grilled fish and obligatory menu-rounding shrimp and chicken pasta dishes. The look of the dining room trends upwardly mobile, too, with track lighting, black furniture and a red wall hung with black-and-white art photos of trees and livestock.

The wine list struts out a few pricey bottles (Far Niente chardonnay at $98, Robert Craig Affinity cab for $82), but most are in the $20s and $30s. They're all available by the glass, which raises the issue of how so many potential open bottles are kept viable between pours. Our pinot grigio tasted fine.

Testing the menu's high-end limits, we ordered the filet/shrimp combo. And as happens too often with land-and-sea dishes, the sea was a washout. The shrimp had an off-putting plasticine taste, though our waiter said he saw the shrimp being shelled that afternoon. At any rate, the shrimp were small, there were only five of them, and the bland white-wine butter sauce did nothing to improve their taste.

None of these afterthoughts hurt the thick piece of steak, seared mid-rare as ordered. My girls jockeyed for bites, neither one especially thrilled by two of the other choices at our table. One - Diablo Shrimp ($17.90) - was penne pasta tossed with those same small shrimp in a bland garlic cream sauce, tomatoes and lots of unadvertised fennel seeds (caraway, maybe; hard to tell in that macaroni mosh pit). What I do know is that at a table with three gals who don't like either, I ended up with El Diablo.

Marginally better was a decent-sized piece of mahi mahi ($20.50) overtaken by a sweet soy-ginger sauce, overcooked a full grade above the rare I asked for. But our waiter might have been too distracted by the cool-funk trio playing on the shaded deck where we were sitting to put in that request. Or more realistically, he was busy keeping up with the bread requests coming from our table of four getting busy with the `TTP' salads that came with each entree. Full of mixed greens, tangy olives, tomatoes and piles of toasted pine nuts lightly dressed in a balanced vinaigrette, the salads were a consensus favorite.

Jaice's Chicken ($16.90) was a predictable hit, too: a grilled chicken breast with mild goat cheese and sliced artichoke hearts, plus spinach and what the menu described as a lemon-basil sauce that wasn't developed enough to break through the competing flavors.

In addition to the salads and a `seasonal garnish' of cooked carrot sticks, the three non-pasta dishes came with a side vegetable, raising the notion that if all three promised more than they could deliver, at least they didn't come to the party alone. We tried asparagus with the steak and green beans with the fish. No real help for either main course, just green color elements dropped on plates that skipped dish-design class at cooking school. At nice-place prices, a kitchen can afford to try some of those poofy slicing-and-stacking tricks that people make fun of but secretly dig.

My daughter wanted french fries with her chicken, so we went for a haystack pile of potatoes (angel-hair fries?). It wasn't pretty, either. But the salty, earthen crunch gave the chicken the flavor lift it needed.

I've read in our newspaper that this is a small operation, with the owners doing repairs and renovations on the old building themselves, a real bootstrap story. But with the Iron Cactus across the highway, a great big Mandola's Italian Market on the way and a spanking new Waterloo Ice House (with 19 taps) open just a stoplight away, the Trading Post has some catching up to do in Galleria-ville.

msutter@statesman.com; 912-5902

Trading Post Wine Bar & Grill

12701 W. Texas 71, Bee Cave. 428-5727, tradingpostbeecave.com

Rating (fine dining):

Hours: Dinner 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Breakfast 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays and Sundays. Closed Mondays.

Prices: Starters $8.90 (tomato, goat cheese and basil bruschetta) to $9.90 (spicy fried shrimp, crab cakes). Salads $4.95 (`TTP' with greens, olives, tomatoes and pine nuts) to $18.20 ('WBG' with Atlantic salmon). Main courses $16.90 (chicken portabella pasta) to $26.90 (filet mignon with shrimp scampi), averaging $20. Desserts $6.90. Breakfast $2.99 (three-ingredient taco) to $6.50 (migas plate with beans and potatoes) to $7.99 (large tortilla stuffed with 'everything').

Payment: All major cards

Bar: 14 white wines by the glass and bottle ($5.50-$25/$20-$98), 19 reds by the glass and bottle ($5.50-$21/$20-$82) and two sparkling wines. ($8.50-$12.50/$32-$48). Bottled beer, including Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Real Ale Firemans #4 and New Belgium Fat Tire.

Wheelchair access: Yes

What the ratings mean:

: Food, service, atmosphere and value suffer flaws on every level.

: Serious room for improvement, with a few bright spots.

: A good overall experience. Clear mission, solid execution.

: Excellent across the board. Perfect in some areas, with only a few small distractions.

: An extraordinary restaurant experience from start to finish.