On a recent Saturday night, a flock of chairs was roped off in the middle of the store where a group of women cheered on a romance novelist who was enjoying a bit of a rock-star-like status. As I was passing the area, the author was speaking about the sultry tale of seven burly men living atop a mountain who got lonely, so they kidnapped women from the village below, then an avalanche trapped them all. Stockholm syndrome ensued, and after that point, I was out of earshot.
As I sat down at the table inside the restaurant at Half Price Books, I asked my husband, who was waiting for me, "Did you know Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is actually a smutty romance novel?" Then I accidentally knocked the candle off the table, and it shattered on the floor.
It's a small cafe, needless to say, tucked into the corner of this bustling bookstore. Henk's Black Forest Cafe was a longtime tenant of the bakery until the award-winning La Casita Bakeshop out of Richardson took over the space last year, serving their amazing little buttery pastries and coffee.
La Casita Expands
Husband-and-wife owners Alex Henderson and Maricsa Trejo jumped at the chance to take over the space, but they needed to match the store's hours, which extend until 10 p.m. seven days a week. Henderson knows from their cafe in Rowlett that a coffee shop doesn't do well past 3 p.m. and saw it as an opportunity (although when we were there, many customers were still buying coffee at 7 p.m.). "We kind of always envisioned doing something else there," Henderson says.
A tiki bar, specifically.
Beyond that, they wanted to offer a full menu from a kitchen (that at the time didn't exist) that was tiki-inspired with hints of Mexican flavors thrown in.
They transformed storage space behind the bar, which Henderson says was a closet, into a kitchen, adding a gas line and grease trap. "And it's still pretty much a closet," he adds. Diners at the bookstore-restaurant can see the working kitchen through a small window, and it is a tight space.
"It's such a weird space, which is why we kind of fell into it. We've always wanted to own a tiki bar because we love them so much. So, we thought if we're going to be in such a weird place, we want to put another weird place in it," Henderson says.
La Tiki Paisa
So, to make sure we're all on the same page: an award-winning bakery moved into the cafe space inside the largest used bookstore in Dallas, added a tiki bar and a kitchen, called the latter two La Tiki Paisa, and it serves tropical-tiki-Mexican dishes.The cafe, bar and restaurant all operate in tandem; there's a hostess stand to seat diners, a line for bookworms to grab a coffee and a mix of all of that. Soon, there will also be a patio.
There's a breakfast and lunch menu for La Casita Coffee, then a separate menu for La Tiki Pasia after 5 p.m. daily.
Cocktails lead off on the tiki menu. Most have a rum base, but some, like Primo Hermano, have a tequila base, but all are served in fun tiki mugs. There's a hot buttered rum and a mai tai for purists.
The food menu starts with small plates that naturally (and thankfully) include La Casita's house-made sourdough, lumpia, kimchi fries and a moco loco burger.
But our eyes were lured to the bottom of the menu, where fried fish tacos swim for a hefty $35. They're described as a whole branzino with a tomatillo salsa, cabbage slaw and house-made tortillas.
Just as I was pointing it out to my date — across our candleless table — a large plate of fish was set on the table next to us. I asked, "Is that the fish tacos?" to which he said, "I guess so," with a surprised look.
I have an admission to make: we hadn't come here for dinner. We already ate. We were just there for the tiki cocktails and, it turns out, a used copy of Foreigner's first album. But then there I was, ordering the whole branzino without a moment of hesitation.
The bent fish is stuffed into a fryer that is too small to allow for a long fish.
Lauren Drewes Daniels
Bent Branzino
The fish is positioned in a semicircle on the plate, almost nose to tail. "We have to prebend it to fit in the fryer to hold that shape," Henderson says. "So, then you have to watch it because if you leave it alone, it'll try and swim away, and it'll pop out of the fryer. So you have to hold it there for a few seconds to set the shape."
Henderson says there was a bit of trial and error; a couple of fish popped out of the fryer before they got it right. The fryer isn't large enough for a full-length fish.
So, the fish is served cuddling a pile of slaw with shaved lettuce, cabbage, radishes, pickled red onions, cilantro and cucumbers over a bed of house-made salsa verde. Several hand-made spinach and garlic tortillas help bring it all together.
It's best to dig in with your hands, allowing you to feel the meat for tiny bones that will naturally be embedded throughout. Grab chunks of white meat from any part of the fish to stack on a tortilla with the smudge of the salsa and pile of slaw. This meal is meant for sharing, easy enough food for two (particularly if it's your second meal of the night).
Henderson says this dish was partly inspired by his time working at Belly and Trumpet, where he worked more than a decade ago.
"We had a whole fried fish on our menu, and we did it with tabbouleh and couscous ... and I've always loved the presentation of that. I just thought it was so fun ... and a tiki bar is really supposed to be this totally different fun experience. So, all of the food is kind of meant to be eaten with your hands and shared," he says.
Mostly, he wants people to walk away from dinner and not soon forget what they had.
Instead, he says, "You're like, 'Oh man, I had this fish and it was crazy!'"
In a used bookstore! While a bunch of women were screaming for a romance novelist! We also had a mai tai in a ceramic shark vessel! And bought a loaf of sourdough on the way out! All of it was so crazy!
Also, save room for dessert, which, if we were able to eat after a second dinner, you can too. The night we were there, they had a tres leches cake infused with house coffee and topped with a pistachio cream that was every bit as amazing as you could imagine.
And an amazing tres leches with pistachio!
If you go for dinner, reservations are highly advised as the space is small. Go early and get the fish. Walk it off in the romance section.
La Tiki Paisa, 5801 Northwest Highway, Dallas, Sunday - Thursday 5 - 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 5 - 10 p.m.
