If you are a football fan, you know about The Star in Frisco. The shiny new 91-acre, $1.5 billion complex is home to the Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters, a 12,000-seat stadium and a 50-yard football field, among many, many other things, all laid out on streets with names like Winning Way, Avenue of Champions and Hall of Fame Lane.
But even if you find football approximately as interesting as municipal bonds or Honduran weather patterns, you have a great reason to visit this glittery gridiron theme park. That's because it is also home to the 4-month-old Zaytinya, one of the most exciting restaurants around.
Dallas food mavens have been buzzing about this place since late 2016. That was when José Andrés -- the immensely talented chef whose laurels include two Michelin stars and a Humanitarian of the Year award from the James Beard Foundation, and whose empire extends to some 29 restaurants -- announced plans to come to Frisco. The Star would get an outpost of his Mediterranean restaurant of the same name in Washington, D.C.
The Spanish-born Andrés has long been an apostle of the tapa, and Zaytinya's menu (which is almost identical to the one in D.C.) is focused on Turkish, Greek and Lebanese-style tapas: small, shareable plates called meze. Dozens of them, in fact. While you're contemplating this head-spinning array, you might start things off with a glass of raki, the potent anise-flavored Turkish liquor, served on a silver tray with ice and water. You pour the clear raki over the ice, then turn it milky white with a dollop of water.
Some of these meze will seem familiar. But they will only seem so, because at Zaytinya the dips and kebabs and such are elevated into a different realm by top-notch ingredients and fine technique. You will have had, of course, dolmades, the stuffed grape leaves. But you will almost certainly never have had dolmades like these--stuffed with perfectly cooked rice, pine nuts, sultanas, fresh fennel and, for a surprising note of tart-sweetness, pomegranate molasses.
And sure, you've had grilled octopus. But the octopus Santorini at Zaytinya will convince you that what you've had before has been under- or overcooked. Here, the meaty, succulent disks of tentacle emerge from the wood-burning oven with exactly the right resistance to the tooth. They come on a bright-yellow split-pea purée, brightened with a scattering of marinated onions and capers. It may be some of the best octopus you've ever eaten. And you've probably had some sort of red-pepper spread. But you have almost certainly never tasted any as explosively flavorful as this Greek htipiti, finely chopped roasted pepper spiked with vinegar and shallot, enriched with olive oil and feta cheese, enlivened with fresh thyme -- and placed atop the same spread, puréed, for textural contrast.
Maybe, too, you have tried pastirma, the Turkish answer to pastrami. But I'll bet you've never had it this good: dried beef loin redolent of its cure of cumin, fenugreek and paprika. You can have it plain -- four thin slices drizzled with a little olive oil -- or, intriguingly, topped with rehydrated dried apricot and slivers of radish and red onion. You roll the whole thing up and pop it into your mouth for a sparkling burst of beefy, spicy, salty and sweet.
Other dishes here are less familiar, but no less good. There's a terrific Lebanese-style tartare, kibbeh nayeh, made with coarse-ground Texas Wagyu beef mixed with bulgur wheat, allspice and mint. It also gets an exotic tart note from dried sumac. There are crispy circles of fried eggplant called bantijan bil laban nestled on a pool of roasted-garlic yogurt spiced with mint and cardamom and topped with a scattering of barberries and pistachio. There are lovely fried patties, called kolokithokeftedes, made of grated zucchini and sheep's milk cheese on delicious caper-zapped yogurt. And there are some of the best meatballs you will ever have -- the soft and savory keftedes kapama made of beef and lamb, swimming in a light tomato sauce warmed with cinnamon and allspice.
As befits a Mediterranean restaurant, Zaytinya has a particularly deft way with lamb. It's a tough choice, but the best dish I've tried here is the hünkãr begendi, lamb shank braised in veal stock until it's falling apart and intensely meaty, served on a purée of eggplant and cheese spiked with nutmeg.
The name means "the sultan liked it," and I'll bet he did.
A close second is the lamb kleftiko, a Greek dish in which the lamb is usually roasted in parchment paper. Here, the shoulder is spit-roasted and sealed in phyllo dough with feta and dill, and then baked in the wood oven. And kebab fans should go for the juicy Adana, ground lamb spiced with Aleppo pepper and grilled on the immense, dramatic wood-fired grill that runs along one wall of the dining room. It's a spare but classic dish, served with grilled tomatoes, sliced onions sprinkled with sumac, and tiny but punchy pickled yellow peppers.
Not everything at Zaytinya is an eye-opening delight. Oddly for such a standby, the hummus is bland and unexciting. So too the wood-oven pitas, which are a necessary accompaniment for all those dips and spreads. Although the servers talk them up, they're pale and wan. A better bet from that oven is the soujouk pide, a boat-shaped pizzalike flatbread topped with spicy sausage, kasar cheese and a slightly runny egg.
The servers recommend an average of three dishes per person, which is about right; each meze is large enough to be shared among four diners. Even after several visits, with several guests, you will have sampled only a portion of this vast menu. The variety's dizzying, and there's lots going on: the big hearth that looks like some complicated medieval torture device with its spit and adjustable grills; next to it, the wood-burning oven; a crudo bar facing a long, busy prep table where cold dishes are assembled; and, behind that, the open kitchen. All that, plus seats for north of 100. (Many of those seats are downright weird, though: They're 3 or 4 inches too short, making you feel like a kid at the grown-ups' table. The vast dining room with its touches of Mediterranean blue is otherwise comfortable and airy.)
But it all runs like clockwork under the head chef, Jon Thompson. The flurry of plates is well-paced, and if you don't know your kolokithokeftedes from your kleftiko, the servers in their vaguely Turkish garb are friendly, helpful guides. The wine list, which has many unusual selections from the same regions as the food, is similarly helpful, grouping unfamiliar offerings under labels like "floral, aromatic and exotic." One that's deliciously all three: the Chateau Musar Jeune Blanc, a blend of chardonnay, viognier and vermentino from Lebanon.
None of this may be quite what you expect in the middle of this shrine to the Cowboys. But never mind. Forget the football. Come for the food.
Mark Vamos is a journalism professor at Southern Methodist University.
Zaytinya (4 stars)
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Price: $$$-$$$$ (brunch dishes $7 to $12; brunch, lunch and dinner meze $7 to $20; family-style plates $36 to $95; desserts $2 to $8)
Service: Smooth, professional and friendly. The servers are helpful guides to the complex menu and its often unusual dishes.
Ambience: The vast, airy dining room feels Mediterranean-modern, mostly white with accents of deep oceanic blue. The tables are well-spaced (though the chairs are oddly short), and there are some pasha-plush lounging areas around the perimeter. The main room is anchored by a big, dramatic wood-fired grill. Many of the dishes are served on intricate and beautiful Turkish tableware.
Noise level: Somewhat loud at peak times; the barrel-vaulted ceiling can't quite overcome the absence of sound-absorbing surfaces.
Location: 6655 Winning Drive, Frisco (at The Star); 972-324-3060; zaytinya.com
Hours: Lunch and dinner Sunday-Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Brunch Saturday-Sunday 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Reservations: Accepted
Credit cards: All major
Wheelchair accessible: Yes
Most recent health department inspection score: Not yet available
Alcohol: Full bar, with house cocktails and traditional aperitif service of Turkish raki, Greek ouzo and Lebanese arak. The wine list features more than a dozen offerings by the glass, plus an intriguing and well-organized selection of unusual bottles from around the Mediterranean.
Ratings legend
5 stars: Extraordinary
4 stars: Excellent
3 stars: Very good
2 stars: Good
1 star: Fair
No stars: Poor
