I had heard a lot about The Independent Bar & Kitchen in Dallas, a restaurant in Deep Ellum that’s described as European comfort food, so I was happy to stop in on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.
We were greeted by a friendly host and sat in a booth with the windows open nearby. For an appetizer, we ordered the Root Beer Pretzel Bread. It came with 3 dipping sauces – piccalilli, welsh rarebit and spicy mustard. If you’ve ever had warm pretzel bites, these are similar, but larger and more delicious. They were tasty all by themselves, without any of the dips. The 3 dips only enhanced the flavor. The fresh piccalilli and mustard paired nicely and, of course, the welsh rarebit was divine. We will definitely order it again when we return (note: we did, and the bread didn’t taste as fresh on our second visit).
My friend ordered the Shepherd’s Pie, which he described as perfectly mashed potatoes floating on a stew-like gravy with lamb, beef and peas. He doesn’t even like peas, but he had no problem eating them in this dish. I tasted it and, despite how much I liked what I ordered, I may order the Shepherd’s Pie on the next visit.
I ordered the Mussel Frites — a generous portion of mussels with tonkotsu broth, torn herbs, a side of house chili paste and rye bread, with a side of thinly-sliced hand-cut fries. The mussels were tender and full of flavor, bathed in the tonkotsu broth (a Japanese broth made from simmered pork marrow or pork bone which is typically prepared by boiling the bones for about 8 to 12 hours).
Normally, we would have ordered beers, but we simply weren’t in a drinking mood. We will definitely try several of the beer options next time we visit. We also have our eye on the Scottish Eggs.
You can see IBK’s full menu and find more info on their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/476846839186850/menu/?p_ref=pa.
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