Much has been made about the oddities surrounding Fuse. It’s housed in the old Power & Light building (hence, the name) and the restaurant design makeover resulted in a shabby chic, industrial cool layout of shiny steel, low lighting, dramatic floor to ceiling drapes, and sporadic touches of Asian art. The restaurant and lounge double as the lobby for the apartment building above so tenants as well as diners and bar magnets are traipsing all through the place. Around 10:30 or 11 on the weekend nights, the restaurant gives way to one of the hottest 20-something bar scenes in Dallas. It was opened in the pre-embryonic stages of the downtown renaissance and still requires you to navigate the construction and transients to make your way to dinner. And to complete the conundrum the food takes the whole fusion craze to an even more peculiar level combining Asian and Texas cuisine. So, is it a congruous upper class mishmash or just a deranged, Sybil-like arrangement of odds and ends that can work singularly but have no chance to work to a collective success?
After several visits now, I am no less perplexed on the formula and how Fuse manages to serve so many masters but am crystal clear on how very well it works. The crowd, the scene, the food, the drinks, the service – all play their role into one of the most unique and enticing melting pots on the Dallas dining scene.
Like everything else at Fuse, the menu gives you plenty of things to consider and many directions to go. Their sashimi and sushi is in the upper echelon in the city and they have most of the standards we’ve grown accustomed to in our landlocked city. The yellowtail and big eye tuna sashimi stood out as extrafresh on our last visit. The rolls are also the roster of usual suspects though the Downtown Roll – tempura yellowtail, cream cheese, and roasted jalepenos – was particularly fiery and interesting. But, honestly, how hard is it to put together a successful sushi menu? I mean, not to diminish how skilled a run of the mill Dallas sushi chef is or how many years those poor aspiring sushi masters in Japan labor away as a rice apprentice before they ever get to put a knife in their hand, but if you’ve got really fresh fish, reasonable knife skills, some personality and a little plating creativity, you could probably make it here as a sushi chef right? I know there are dramatic exceptions to the stereotype I've just laid down, but I just don’t put those chefs on the same level as a classically trained one. Sorry.
So, that brings us to the Appetizer section where the genuine Tex-Asian journey begins. Start off with the ever popular Edamame. Instead of the traditional generic steamed version, Fuse’s comes drizzled with olive oil, dusted with a toasted chili spice mix, and topped with a pinch of sea salt. These are unquestionably Texas style soybeans so it’s best to have a cold sake or cerveza handy. Following that fiery intro, we needed a bit of a cool down and found solace in their refreshing shooter of king crab meat and gulf oysters served in a tomato cucumber puree.
We’ve been unable to resist the braised beef potstickers on any of our visits and this night was no exception. Texas brisket housed in a traditional potsticker is dipped in a citrusy soy sauce dotted with slivers of roasted Anaheim chilies. This is hands down one of the best appetizers in town (and one of our Dishes to Die For).
Hawaiian Blue Prawns 2 Ways was very interesting. One of the prawns was poached in a citrus marinade and served with a wasabi “cocktail” which was served in a little plastic pixie stick looking thing. The idea is to put the prawn in your mouth then squeeze in the wasabi juice. A little hokie perhaps but the flavors were a great match. The second was a nice plump prawn with panko crusting, served with a splash of zesty tomatillo and smooth avocado puree. Nothing quirky about this one; it was just dead on good.
We’ve done the hot rock thing many times before but were suckered in again and are we ever glad. Slices of Kobe beef are served with pickled vegetables and lettuce cups. The idea is to sear the beef and create your own lettuce wraps. The Kobe is so tender, we ended up eating most of our order by itself. For our final appetizer, we chose and very much enjoyed the Ravioli of Texas Sweet Corn. The corn is charred and folded with chopped shitake mushrooms for the filling and is then served with a nutty brown butter sauce. For an extra $6 you can add shaved truffles to the dish (no brainer). I’m not sure I saw or tasted any Asian elements in this dish but the sweetness of the corn, earthiness of the shrooms, and nuttiness of the butter combined for a really luscious dish.
You’ll notice there are only five entrees on the menu. With all the sushi options and the extensive appetizer and Fuse Tasting sections, you don’t feel shorted by the limited offerings. So, for what I’ll term our entrée course, we tried the Big Eye Tuna pizza and Hawaiian Red Snapper. The pizza had a nice thin crust and was generously dotted with shards of rosy rare tuna with plenty of heat coming from the fresh sliced japs. Cilantro, shaved red onion, and just a dab of grated cheese rounded out the pie flavor profile. The Hawaiian Red Snapper is simply seared and served with jasmine rice studded with Texas pecans and a sake sauce. The snapper was perfectly cooked and the sake sauce was gutsy enough to be relevant but mild enough to work with the fish.
The collision of cuisines doesn’t end there though so dessert is all but required. Now, I really, really hate to use the term ‘the bomb’ but the Blackberry Panna Cotta was the quintessential culinary bomb. Humongous Texas blackberries crowning the delicate custard with strands of candied ginger, dollops of lemon curd, and fresh mint surrounding it. This was off the charts good.
The Tahitian Vanilla Bean French Toast was also outstanding. Texas Toast size bread is slathered with an obscene amount of butter and powdered sugar and topped with carmelized bananas, toasted Texas pecans, and 2 huge scoops of banana ice cream. You could make a meal out of this one.
The wine list is solid with a not so surprising emphasis on sparkling and other whites. They have all the Champagne heavyweights – Cristal, Veuve Yellow Label, Dom Perignon, Perrier Jouet, etc. It's no secret Asian cuisine pairs well with Rieslings and Sav Blancs so they have a respectable amount of options to choose from as well as some interesting chardonnays, pinot gris, and roses. Based on the seafood focused menu, the contingency of red wines is quite impressive. Hey, I know the silly rule of white wine with fish is, just that - silly. Some people like Cab with salmon so, rules be damned! And doesn’t everybody that’s anybody have at least 10 pinot noirs to choose from these days??? We were pleasantly surprised to notice the mark up on the grape juice list seemed to be in the 50% over retail range on most selections as opposed to the normal 100-150% increase you see at many places.
Like a lot of the tenants and clientele we saw at dinner, the waitstaff is primarily young and cool but also astute. And I had a positive service experience that I’ve only encountered on a couple of other occasions in the world. First, when calling to confirm our reservation, the hostess answered the phone, “good evening Mr. Russell, how can I help you?” I realize Caller ID has been around for a while but that was a pretty neat touch. Then, the next afternoon I got a call from someone at the restaurant wondering if we enjoyed our dining experience and if there’s any feedback we had that might be helpful to them. To clarify, this visit was prior to the website and they had no clue who we were so this seems to be protocol. Who doesn't dig that kind of customer service?
With its multiple personalities, it would have been pretty easy for Fuse to abandon the original blueprint and morph into a built in watering hole for the tenants that turns into a hot spot after hours that just happens to have a menu. With a chef this talented, that would have indeed been a shame. For the many things that Fuse is, kudos to them for not trying to be something they’re not.