Excellence Without Pretense

Photo By John Anderson

Cafe 909 – Rustic Gourmet

909 Second in Marble Falls, 830/693-2126

Tuesday-Saturday, 5:30-9:30pm

www.cafe909.com

Within the past year, Cafe 909 in Marble Falls has become the Texas Hill Country's premier dining destination. Plenty of favorable press coverage and a Dine With Texas Wine award at the 2005 Saveur Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival have alerted folks around the state to what residents and weekend visitors to Marble Falls already knew: Chef Mark Schmidt's self-styled "rustic gourmet" cuisine is definitely worth the trip. Our early June dinner at Cafe 909 was perfect in every regard, but as the chef was making his way from table to table greeting customers, he happened to mention the implementation of his new summer menu was only a couple of weeks away. That rendered the rave review I was already formulating in my mind out of date before it hit paper. There was another trip to Marble Falls in my future.

While chef Schmidt regularly features sweet breads, foie gras, Angus beef, Texas game, and seafood flown in every other day, he changes the menu four times a year to incorporate the best of what's fresh and in season. The spring list showcased morel mushrooms, fava beans, asparagus, rhubarb, Manila clams, and ocean trout. The absolute star dish from that slate was Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras ($14) paired with a steaming pot of rolled oats seasoned with caramelized onions, applewood smoked bacon, and maple syrup. In the spring, the voluptuous richness of foie gras is most often contrasted with fruit sauces and berries. But in Schmidt's capable hands, the unusual combo of the toothsome sweet/savory grain mixture and a sauce of maple syrup thinned with a little veal demi-glace was absolute magic. If it ever makes a return engagement on the menu, order it immediately. I'd drive to Marble Falls for another bowl of that oatmeal any day.

When we visited Cafe 909 again two weeks later, the summer menu was in full swing, awash in sweet corn, haricots verts, English peas, figs, Hill Country peaches, and all manner of tomatoes. It's entirely possible to make a meal here from the appetizer list alone, and I immediately realized I hadn't brought enough dining assistants to try everything that piqued my interest. Schmidt admits to a special fondness for sweetbreads. His top-notch summer preparation, Seared Sweetbreads ($14), offers pan-sautéed veal sweetbreads in a light, creamy fricassee with big chunks of lobster claw and knuckle meat, haricots verts, and sweet corn. Even though we had many more dishes to savor, we couldn't resist sopping up the sauce from this plate.

The whimsical Fish and Chips ($11) harkens back to chef Schmidt's childhood summers in England. He serves a bowl of crunchy matchstick potatoes topped with lightly crusted fried sea smelts, drizzled with a malt vinegar and herb aioli. The bony little smelts were new to this land lubber, but I quickly developed a taste for them and would have loved a whole pot of the tangy aioli for dipping rather than just a drizzle. The crowning achievement that evening was the Diver Scallops ($13), an artful plate that captured summer perfectly for both the eye and the palate. Four delicately crusted scallops are nestled on top of an English pea griddle cake, garnished with grilled red and yellow teardrop tomatoes and an frilly tangle of micro greens. A vivid, piquant watermelon vinaigrette surrounds the griddle cake, and there's an incredible fresh burst of summer in every bite.

Our favorite entrée that evening had to be the Butter Roasted Rabbit ($28). A pan-roasted leg quarter anchors the center of the plate and medallions of rabbit loin stuffed with spicy Spanish merguez sausage are fanned around it. Sautéed fingerling potatoes, fava beans, and bright English peas complete the dish in an earthy pan jus. The rabbit meat is fall-off-the-bone tender, and the hint of red pepper and mint in the lamb sausage provides another subtle taste dimension to the milder meat. It's yet another inspired flavor combination that exemplifies Schmidt's rustic gourmet aesthetic.

When I first saw the words "rustic gourmet" in the Cafe 909 logo, I wasn't sure exactly what that meant, but now I understand completely. Rustic gourmet describes excellence without pretension in every aspect of the operation. The airy, high-ceilinged restaurant offers fine dining, but is never stuffy. It's formal enough so that you can dress up and celebrate a special occasion at a white-clothed table, but relaxed enough to allow seating at the long bar where you can observe the workings of the open kitchen. The servers are consummate professionals, both well informed and helpful without any hint of faux friendliness or snooty condescension. The wine list offers reliable pairing suggestions for every menu item as well as an inviting selection of food-friendly wines, several of them from award-winning Texas vintners. There's also a list of casual, refreshing aperitifs (try the Vineyard Spritzer made with Flat Creek Pinot Grigio and Topo Chico mineral water, $9) for under $10. These carefully crafted elements combine to produce an excellent restaurant, worthy of a sojourn to any location. One of the best things I can tell you about Cafe 909 is it's the kind of restaurant where food critics would spend their own money.