La Grange Lunch es la Delicioso

Red wine braised chicken legs. On the bone. But barely.

​Falling. Off. The. Bone.

OFF. THE. BONE.

That is what the red-wine braised chicken I ate for lunch was doing. The bone it was on, it was falling off of that bone. So tender. So braised. So totally what you would expect from ex-Libertine chef Roseanne "Ro" DiLeo, poached by Deep Ellum's La Grange to create lunch, dinner and brunch menus of Tex-merican goodness. Yes, the same La Grange I gushed over in this week's Brunch Drunk Love. It's not just that the bar-slash-restaurant is my favorite flavor of the week, it's that they happen to be having a pretty eventful week. Beginning yesterday, they'll be serving lunch and dinner all week long. Beginning now, you need to make plans to eat there.

I convinced a somewhat skeptical Observer crew to join me at La Grange for lunch today -- there was no menu online, and they are a picky bunch. But a bowl of tangy, mild tomatillo salsa, which chef Ro says she's been making at home for years, and fresh-out-the-fryer tortilla chips shut their prissy mouths right quick. Competition for space in the tomatillo bowl was just short of UFC-levels, though we were admonished not to order another bowl lest we spoil our lunches. Those La Grange folks, they look out for you.

La Grange, le menu.

​My chicken legs came with crunchy polenta croutons, while Pete Freedman opted for a mushroom melt that looked mighty fine. Merritt Martin reported several positive things several different times about her ham and turkey melt, though if I had to go again (and oh, what a burden!) I'd opt for Noah Bailey's fare: smoked chicken nachos, with the melted cheese on the side. So's you pour it over the chips as you eat them. So's it doesn't get soggy. So's it's all evenly distributed to your liking. Brilliant, and almost everything on the menu could be had for under a tenner.

Bar owner Stephanie Schumacher says they'll be open from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays for lunch, 5 p.m.-10 p.m. for dinner those same days, along with late night tacos available Fridays and Saturdays.

La Grange
2704 Elm St.
241-741-2008

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