They don't look like much, but Local Oak's Texas Surfers make for totally worthy bar food. The neighborhood bar opened late last year in Oak Cliff, but it wasn't till January that they released their current dinner menu. There are burgers, wings and the other expected staples to choose from, but the Texas Surfers stand out all on their own.
It's the Spam, in case you're wondering about all the lame surfer lingo. Hawaiians love the stuff, and they love surfing too, which is about as much of a reason a bartender could give me for the creation and naming of the dish. "We just wanted to do something with Spam," he said. Queue up a few bong hits (or some equivalent, I'm almost certain) and Texas Surfers were born.
And the thing is, they're kind of aggravatingly delicious.
The buns are the soft, gummy dinner roll variety you can get at the grocery store (hatching ideas already, aren't you?), and they're toasted in butter before they receive a modest slice of lightly seared Spam. Add a red cabbage slaw for some creaminess and body, and pineapple minced with chiles for a little sweet and a little heat, and you've got three small sandwiches that can disappear before you can get a few fingers into your beer.
Spam, if you've never indulged it, has a small but loyal following, but the salty, processed meat has a bouncy, spongy texture that doesn't sit well with many tasters. That it's packed in jiggly jelly certainly doesn't help things, either, but sliced and seared to a crisp and tossed on a sandwich with complementary ingredients, it makes for a totally radical sandwich, bro.
