100 Favorite Dishes, No. 61: Heirloom Tomato Salad at Casa Rubia

Leading up to September's Best of Dallas® 2017 issue, we're sharing (in no particular order) our 100 Favorite Dishes, the Dallas entrées, appetizers and desserts that really stuck with us this year. I have a cookbook with a recipe called “Tomato Party," but I’m not sure that it can top...

By Brian Reinhart

July 4, 2017

Now that's a tomato party. Courtesy of Casa Rubia's Facebook page

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Leading up to September's Best of Dallas® 2017 issue, we're sharing (in no particular order) our 100 Favorite Dishes, the Dallas entrées, appetizers and desserts that really stuck with us this year.

I have a cookbook with a recipe called “Tomato Party," but I’m not sure that it can top the tomato party happening at Casa Rubia, Trinity Groves’ Spanish tapas restaurant.

For a limited time this summer, they’re running a tomato salad that’s not quite a tapa, not quite a main course — but far too good to share. A bouquet of heirloom tomatoes of all colors and sizes, from green-speckled cherry to big, juicy, ultra-ripe beefsteak, are artfully assembled with house-made labneh (thick Mediterranean yogurt) and tomatoes’ best friend, basil, then drizzled with a vinaigrette heavy on mustard seeds.

It’s an exceptional plate and a steal at $9 for such great produce. The tomatoes’ big flavor stands up nicely to the garnish of salt flakes that surround the plate as if it were the world’s healthiest margarita. Oh, and did I mention the big, flakey croutons are shot through with tiny strands of anchovy, the better to impart a bit of salty-savory gravitas? Tomato season isn’t nearly long enough.

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Brian Reinhart has been the Dallas Observer's food critic since spring 2016. In addition, he writes baseball analysis for the Hardball Times and covers classical music for the Observer and MusicWeb International.

Contact: Brian Reinhart

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Twitter: @bgreinhart